Duoduo held on to Lüdou. “I still have to wait for Great-Grandmother’s people. Great-Grandmother said she would send someone to escort us out of the palace.”
The moment Lüdou heard that, she immediately stretched her neck and looked around.
A short while later, she spotted the figure of a palace maid.
“Princess, they’re here!” Lüdou’s voice was filled with barely contained excitement.
Sure enough, once the palace maid approached, she bowed to Duoduo.
“Princess, this servant was ordered by Her Majesty the Dowager Empress to escort you out of the palace.”
“I have already had your luggage sent to the palace gates.”
Duoduo smiled. “Good.”
The palace maid stepped aside, and Duoduo led Lüdou and Nanny Li forward.
All three of them walked rather quickly.
Their longing to return home had reached its peak.
A journey that normally took the time it took to burn an incense stick was completed today in the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
When they reached the palace gates, the palace maid presented her identification token to the guards.
After checking it and finding everything in order, the guards stepped aside.
The palace maid curtsied to Duoduo.
“Take care, Princess! Her Majesty the Dowager Empress says that when you have time, you must visit the Palace of Benevolent Tranquility and keep her company.”
Duoduo nodded with a beaming smile.
“Go back and tell Great-Grandmother that Changle will definitely visit!”
Lüdou and Nanny Li took the luggage from the other palace maids.
Supporting Duoduo between them, they walked out through the palace gates.
“Princess, please wait here for a moment. This servant will find a carriage.” Nanny Li released Duoduo’s hand.
“Princess, that carriage over there looks a little like the one from the prince’s residence.”
Lüdou had sharp eyes. At a glance, she spotted the carriage parked outside the palace gates.
The carriage belonging to the Prince of Pingyang’s residence was just an ordinary one covered in blue oilcloth.
However, the horse pulling it was the Prince of Pingyang’s own mount—a jujube-red steed.
It stood out unmistakably.
Duoduo tilted her head. She let go of Lüdou’s hand, gathered up her skirt, and dashed toward the carriage.
A certain possibility had occurred to her.
She desperately wanted to know whether her guess was correct.
She ran straight to the carriage and quickly climbed inside, lifting the curtain.
Duoduo saw her father reaching out both arms toward her.
Without the slightest hesitation, Duoduo threw herself into them.
“Daddy!”
She wrapped her arms around Xiao Yi’s neck.
Xiao Yi gently stroked her back. “Come on. We’ll talk when we get home!”
“Mm!”
Duoduo answered in a muffled voice without lifting her head.
Xiao Yi held her tightly and called out to the coachman, “Back to the residence!”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The coachman responded, turned the carriage around, and soon set off toward the Prince of Pingyang’s residence.
“Are you hungry?”
Xiao Yi took some pastries from a compartment beside him and placed them on the small table in front of them.
Duoduo gently shook her head.
She released his neck and curled up in his arms instead.
“Great-Grandmother gave me lots of tasty things. I’m not hungry!”
Duoduo patted her round, bulging belly to show Xiao Yi that he did not need to worry.
Xiao Yi glanced at it and secretly let out a sigh of relief.
“While you were in the Department of Punishments, did anyone give you a hard time?” he asked casually.
Duoduo hurriedly shook her head.
“No! Don’t worry, Daddy!”
Xiao Yi nodded. “That’s good.”
Seeing that Xiao Yi seemed somewhat dispirited, Duoduo seized his large hand and placed a money pouch into his palm.
“Daddy, this is for you!”
Xiao Yi looked at the heavy pouch in his hand, his eyes filled with confusion.
“Is this the silver he gave you as compensation?”
Duoduo blinked.
He?
Compensation?
Oh! Duoduo understood at once.
“It wasn’t Grandfather the Emperor who gave it to me. Great-Grandmother gave me this!”
As she spoke, Duoduo opened the pouch, revealing the golden beans inside.
“Nanny Li said these gold beans don’t bear the marks of the Imperial Household Department, so they can be used anywhere.”
“Daddy, I’m giving them all to you!”
Xiao Yi let out a cold laugh.
“What? He falsely accused you and had you imprisoned, and he didn’t even compensate you?”
Duoduo did not understand why her father’s attitude toward Grandfather the Emperor had changed so dramatically.
Although her father’s relationship with Grandfather the Emperor had never been good, he had now stopped even calling him “Father.”
Duoduo keenly sensed that something was wrong.
“Daddy, Grandfather the Emperor said he would make it up to me later.” Duoduo tried to speak on the emperor’s behalf.
“Hmph! Later?” Xiao Yi sneered.
“Daddy, do you know why Great-Grandmother gave me the gold beans?”
Duoduo did not want there to be a rift between her father and Grandfather the Emperor, so she quickly changed the subject.
Xiao Yi lowered his eyes to look at her and followed her lead.
“Why else? Your great-grandmother must have known that you were wrongly accused, so she gave you compensation.”
Duoduo shook her head. “You guessed wrong, Daddy!”
She was just about to reveal the answer when she suddenly remembered that she had promised Great-Grandmother not to tell anyone.
“Daddy, it’s because I helped Great-Grandmother with something.”
“I did a really good job, so this is the payment she gave me!”
Xiao Yi’s gaze deepened.
“Payment? What did you do?”
Duoduo quickly covered her mouth. “I can’t tell you!”
“I promised Great-Grandmother that I would keep it a secret!”
That only aroused Xiao Yi’s curiosity even more.
“What was it? Why does it have to be kept secret?”
Duoduo covered her mouth and shook her head vigorously. Even the little tufts of hair atop her head swayed back and forth.
Xiao Yi pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Well, well. You’ve piqued your father’s curiosity, but now you refuse to tell me the answer.”
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you, you little rascal?”
Duoduo grinned and pretended not to understand.
After teasing her for a while, Xiao Yi released her. Thanks to Duoduo’s playful antics, his mood had improved considerably.
“I’ve been keeping this from your mother. When we get home, don’t let anything slip,” Xiao Yi reminded her.
Duoduo nodded like a little chick pecking at grain.
“Daddy, I’ll remember!”
At the thought of soon returning home and seeing her mother, Duoduo’s spirits soared.
“Daddy, has Grandmother troubled Mother these past few days?”
This was what Duoduo had worried about most while she was in the Department of Punishments.
Old Madam Su was Su Xian’s mother. If she behaved unreasonably, Su Xian could not reprimand her too harshly.
At the mention of this, a smile appeared at the corners of Xiao Yi’s lips.
“Don’t worry. Your mother is quite formidable now.”
Duoduo’s heart filled with curiosity.
“Really? Mother is formidable? How formidable?”
“Ask your mother when you get home, and you’ll find out.” Xiao Yi deliberately kept her in suspense.
Duoduo’s longing to get home grew even stronger.
“Daddy, how is Aunt Xu’s shop doing?”
After worrying about her mother, Duoduo began worrying about the business of making money.
She had made a bet with her father, after all!
Xiao Yi lowered his eyes to look at her.
“Since you’re already out, why don’t you go and see for yourself?”
Duoduo nodded, then shook her head.
“Daddy, let’s go home first. I miss Mother!”
Xiao Yi nodded. “All right.”
Duoduo nestled contentedly in Xiao Yi’s arms, utterly dependent on him.
Suddenly, she remembered a question.
“Daddy, how did you know I would be leaving the palace today?”
