Xiao Che stared fixedly at Duoduo, as if weighing the truth of her words.
After a long moment, he lowered his eyelids.
“My mother the consort’s birthday is coming soon. I want Father Emperor to go see her.”
Duoduo’s mouth fell open.
Oh no!
She’d just shot her mouth off!
Xiao Che raised his head and looked at Duoduo’s expression with a hint of mockery.
“What’s the matter? Can’t manage it?”
Duoduo puffed out her cheeks. “I can help you meet Emperor Grandfather once.”
“As for your request, I think it would be more sincere if you said it yourself!”
The mockery on Xiao Che’s face faded.
“You can really take me to see Father Emperor?”
Duoduo’s eyes darted around. “Though it’s a bit difficult, I can give it a try.”
As soon as Duoduo finished speaking, she saw the mocking expression return to Xiao Che’s face.
“You’re a prince, and even you can’t necessarily see him. I’m only a commandery princess—wouldn’t that be even harder?”
“Also, who are the people chasing you?”
“I can’t afford to offend them just to help you!”
Duoduo went in and out of the imperial palace every day, and she didn’t want to bring trouble on herself.
Xiao Che looked at Duoduo, as if pondering something.
Duoduo didn’t rush him. Calmly, she gestured for Lüdou to open the food hamper.
Xiao Che caught the scent of the dishes, and his stomach promptly began to growl.
He glanced at the sky.
It was already late!
Even if he hurried back now, all that would be left was cold scraps—he might as well skip it!
When Duoduo heard Xiao Che’s stomach rumble, she broke into a smile.
“If you don’t mind, you can eat with us.”
Su Xian worried that Duoduo would get too tired from her studies, so she always had extra food prepared. Sometimes Duoduo and Lüdou couldn’t finish it all, and they would give the leftovers to beggars on the street.
“Commandery Princess!” Lüdou wanted to stop Duoduo.
Xiao Che was taken aback. He looked at the abundant dishes and hesitated.
“If I eat some, won’t you two have enough?”
Duoduo nodded. “Definitely.”
“But if you feel bad about it, you can answer my question from just now.”
Duoduo motioned for Lüdou to fetch another pair of chopsticks.
Xiao Che pressed his lips together. The food on the table gave off an enticing aroma.
He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he last had such a lavish meal.
“I don’t know, either,” Xiao Che said quietly.
Duoduo’s mouth fell open again, her face full of disbelief.
You're not just trying to mooch a meal by feeding me some half-hearted answer, are you!
Xiao Che’s face reddened.
“Believe it or not!”
Duoduo bit down on her chopsticks, eyeing Xiao Che with deep suspicion.
“Never mind, let’s eat! I’m hungry!”
Food was the top priority!
Duoduo began wolfing down her rice, and Lüdou placed the chopsticks in front of Xiao Che before starting to eat herself.
Xiao Che was stunned. This was the first time he had ever seen a servant and master eat together.
After a few bites, Duoduo noticed that Xiao Che hadn’t touched his chopsticks. She looked at him curiously.
“Eat up! If you don’t, you’ll be hungry.”
Hearing this, Xiao Che picked up his chopsticks and reached toward his bowl.
He grabbed a piece of meat and put it in his mouth.
The seemingly ordinary meat quickly conquered his taste buds.
“This is delicious!” he couldn’t help praising.
Lüdou couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
Xiao Che took another piece of meat and shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth.
Duoduo also grabbed a piece of meat and took a bite of rice.
Seeing Xiao Che eating fast and furiously, Lüdou quickly started moving meat into Duoduo’s bowl.
Duoduo sped up her eating as well.
And so, the three of them devoured the meal as if in a contest, fighting to finish every last bite.
Xiao Che patted his full stomach, a look of embarrassment on his face.
It seemed he had accidentally eaten a bit too much.
Lüdou took the hamper to the kitchen to clean it, while Duoduo stood up and wandered around to aid digestion.
She picked up a small watering can and began to water the flowers in the yard.
Xiao Che hesitated, then followed behind Duoduo.
“I wasn’t lying to you just now. I really don’t know who those people are.”
“The reason I went to the Imperial Ancestral Temple that day was because I received a note.”
As he spoke, Xiao Che fumbled in his sleeve, pulled out a small scroll of paper, and handed it to Duoduo.
Duoduo unrolled it and saw a few characters written on it:
“There is an assassin at the Imperial Ancestral Temple.”
The characters were written in ordinary regular script, with no identifying marks.
After reading it, Duoduo looked at Xiao Che.
“You believed this note from an unknown source? So you rushed there specifically to save Emperor Grandfather?”
Xiao Che hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.
“I didn’t believe it. But I was afraid, just in case it turned out to be true.”
Duoduo looked at Xiao Che with great curiosity.
Wasn’t he reborn?
Shouldn’t he—like the tutor said—know every key moment of events as they happened?
Didn’t Xiao Che know whether Emperor Grandfather had been attacked?
Could it be that Emperor Grandfather had actually been ambushed after all?
But obviously, nothing had happened!
Duoduo shook her head, feeling completely confused.
What Duoduo didn’t know was that assassins had indeed been lying in wait along the emperor’s route, planning to kill him. But because Duoduo had succeeded in praying for rain, the emperor, in his excitement, ordered the retinue to turn back to the Imperial Ancestral Temple. The hidden assassins, thinking they had been discovered, swiftly withdrew.
No one knew any of this—not even the emperor.
Duoduo looked at the note again and handed it back to Xiao Che.
“Do you receive notes like this often?” she probed.
Xiao Che, who had been touching the flowers, paused for a moment.
“Yes.”
Duoduo blinked.
“Have you never found out who sends them?”
Xiao Che’s face showed a trace of bewilderment.
“They always appear suddenly in places I can see, as if materializing out of thin air.”
Duoduo grew intrigued.
“So, what do you think? Is the sender friend or foe?”
Xiao Che pondered for a long while.
He had never told anyone about the notes before. Today, for some reason, he felt the urge to tell Duoduo.
“I’m not sure. But whatever they predict seems to work in my favor.”
Xiao Che took the small watering can from Duoduo’s hand and began to water the flowers himself.
Duoduo blinked, suddenly recalling the content written in gold.
According to what had first appeared, Xiao Che should have died long ago.
If he had been reborn, that meant he only knew what had happened before—not what was going to happen afterward.
If the notes accurately predicted future events, did that mean there was another person, also reborn just like Xiao Che?
And that person was secretly helping Xiao Che?
Who could it be?
Would he pose a threat to the Prince of Pingyang’s Mansion?
Duoduo filed this thought away in her mind. She would definitely tell her father when she got home.
While Duoduo was thinking, Xiao Che was also mulling it over.
Was this person a friend or an enemy?
Because every time he acted on what the note said, he encountered danger.
After too many coincidences, he had finally grown wary.
“Do you remember when you received the first note?”
