The Emperor saw Duoduo and couldn’t help but feel a fondness for her.
He felt that Changle was more endearing to him than the Fu’an beside him.
As Duoduo was happily watching, Prince Ling arrived with his men.
“Your student pays respects to the Grand Tutor,” Prince Ling said, cupping his hands from his lounge chair.
The Grand Tutor bowed to Prince Ling, and Duoduo quickly bent her knees in a curtsy.
“Prince Ling!”
“Changle greets her Second Uncle.”
Prince Ling glanced at Duoduo, then turned his gaze to the Grand Tutor.
“Grand Tutor, this is the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Today is also the day Father prays for rain. You should not be bringing idle people in.”
Idle people?
Was she the one he meant?
Duoduo blinked, then looked up at the Grand Tutor.
The Grand Tutor nodded. “Prince Ling speaks wisely.”
“Let’s go,” he said, motioning to Duoduo.
Duoduo was completely baffled.
Just like that?
With just one word from Prince Ling, the Grand Tutor didn’t even offer a rebuttal?
Wasn’t he the Grand Tutor?
And besides, the rain prayer hadn’t even yielded results yet!
Were they really just leaving like this?
Seeing the Grand Tutor actually turn and walk away, Duoduo quickly caught up.
Prince Ling watched the two depart and quietly gave an order.
The guard beside him followed Duoduo and her companions.
The Grand Tutor led Duoduo back through the path they had come, out of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and onto a carriage.
“Go,” the Grand Tutor instructed the driver outside.
The carriage began to move slowly.
Duoduo looked puzzled.
“Grand Tutor, weren’t we here to observe the ceremony? Why are we leaving?”
The Grand Tutor sat upright with a dignified air.
“Did you see the ritual just now, Princess?”
Duoduo nodded. “I saw it.”
She blinked. “Grand Tutor, do you mean we were only here to observe, and the outcome doesn’t matter?”
The Grand Tutor looked at Duoduo for a long moment before replying with a question of his own.
“Princess, do you think today’s prayer for rain will have any result?”
Duoduo thought for a while, then shook her head gently.
“I don’t know, but it’s still sweltering hot outside. I think it will be hard for it to rain.”
The Grand Tutor glanced out at the blazing sun before nodding softly.
“Since we already know there will be no result, why stay and keep watching?”
Duoduo was a bit surprised.
Was the Grand Tutor agreeing with her?
What Duoduo didn’t know was that as she left, the sun, which had briefly vanished over the Imperial Ancestral Temple, burst through the dense smoke and reappeared.
The harsh sunlight scorched everyone present.
After being exposed for half an hour, Song Shuyu finally couldn’t take it anymore and fainted.
That day, Prince Ling had specially secured a ceremonial robe for her to wear.
The robe was not only thick but also had layers upon layers.
Standing on the high platform, terrified next to the Emperor—the supreme ruler of the empire—and with burning firewood beneath her, Song Shuyu felt stifled and hot. Unable to catch her breath, she collapsed.
Luckily, the Emperor caught a glimpse of her falling from the corner of his eye and pulled her back.
Otherwise, Song Shuyu might have rolled off the platform and lost her life.
When Prince Ling saw Song Shuyu being carried down by Eunuch Li, his face darkened.
He had his guards take Song Shuyu over.
“Did Father say anything?” he asked Eunuch Li.
Eunuch Li shook his head. “Your Highness should return first. His Majesty’s heart lies with the world.”
With that, Eunuch Li shook his head again and walked away.
Prince Ling looked at the unconscious Song Shuyu, then up at the cloudless sky. Scowling, he waved his hand.
The guards lifted the lounge chair and quietly left the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
When the carriage reached a crossroads, Duoduo stood up.
“Thank you, Grand Tutor. Your student will disembark here.”
The Grand Tutor nodded, and the carriage slowly moved on.
A carriage that had been following behind suddenly lifted its curtain.
“Princess!”
Duoduo turned to look—it turned out to be Lüdou.
She smiled brightly at Lüou, hoisted her book box, and climbed into the carriage with Lüou’s help.
“It really was you!”
Earlier, Duoduo had noticed a carriage trailing the Grand Tutor’s.
Because it seemed like an ordinary carriage, she hadn’t paid much mind at first.
But after it followed for a while, she started to pay attention.
The more she looked, the more she thought it looked like the Prince of Pingyang’s carriage.
She decided to take a gamble.
If she was wrong, she’d just hire a carriage to go home.
And indeed, she wasn’t mistaken!
“Princess, shall we return to the mansion or go elsewhere?” came the driver’s voice from outside the curtain.
“Princess, shall we still go to the shop?” Lüou asked Duoduo.
Duoduo thought back to the ongoing prayer at the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the teacher’s words this morning.
“Let’s go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple,” Duoduo said, making up her mind.
The driver didn’t hesitate and immediately turned the carriage around.
“Princess, what are we going to the temple for?” Lüou asked, confused.
“It’s crawling with imperial guards out there! If we get caught, we’ll be in trouble!”
“Lüdou, grandfather is there!” Duoduo reminded her.
“Don’t you remember? We need to go get reinforcements!”
Lüdou also recalled that the Prince of Pingyang’s mansion was waiting for them to rescue it.
“Ah, right! Hurry up!” Lüdou urged the driver outside.
The carriage finally stopped outside the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
“Princess, the entire area ahead is patrolled by imperial guards. We can’t go any further,” the driver reported from outside.
Duoduo lifted the carriage curtain, took a look outside, and stood up.
“Lüdou, stay in the carriage. I’ll go down and check things out.”
“Let me come with you!” Lüdou started to rise, but Duoduo pressed her back down.
“I have grandfather’s jade pendant. I can get in.”
“But I can’t take you in.”
“It’s cool here. Wait for me in the carriage!”
With that, Duoduo jumped out of the carriage.
Lüdou stuck her head out, watching Duoduo’s back anxiously.
Duoduo walked up to the leader of the imperial guards and showed him the jade pendant the Emperor had given her.
The guard leader glanced at it briefly, then respectfully returned it to her.
“Please leave, Princess.”
Duoduo’s face showed surprise.
“This pendant is as good as having the Emperor here! Why can’t I enter?”
“Besides, I just came out of there!”
The guard leader remained silent, simply blocking Duoduo’s way.
“Hmph!” Duoduo stomped her foot in frustration.
Not letting her in?
Fine!
But that was out of the question!
She was going in, come what may!
Duoduo pointed at the sky.
“Oh! A dark cloud! It’s going to rain!”
Her shout made all the imperial guards instinctively look up at the sky.
Taking the chance, Duoduo slipped through the gaps between their legs and ran toward the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
What Duoduo didn’t know was that a dark cloud had actually drifted over the sky.
“There really is a dark cloud!”
“Is it really going to rain?”
“Hey, where’s the Princess?”
“Didn’t see her—maybe she left?”
The guard leader, snapping back to reality, panicked slightly and quickly glanced toward the temple.
There was no trace of Duoduo!
He couldn’t help but silently pray that the Princess hadn’t sneaked in.
If she had, they would be guilty of dereliction of duty—caned at best, or dismissed from their posts at worst.
At that moment, Duoduo was hiding quietly behind the doors, peeking at her grandfather on the platform.
She saw him kneeling on the ground, tears streaming down his aged face.
