Qingliu was just about to move when Duoduo raised a hand to stop her.
“Wait a minute. I have a few questions to ask him!”
Lüdou anxiously tugged at Duoduo’s sleeve.
She was worried that, in her longing for familial affection, the Princess might be deceived by the Second Young Master.
That was why she had wanted to settle things quickly and have Qingliu throw him out.
Duoduo glanced at Lüdou, then turned to Song Shuzhou.
“You want your sister to return to the family residence. May I ask where you’re living now?”
Song Shuzhou did not like the maid beside his sister, but since she had helped him just now, he did not mind answering her question.
“We live at the Song residence.”
Duoduo tilted her little head. “The Song residence? Which Song residence?”
A trace of disdain appeared on Song Shuzhou’s face.
“What other Song residence could there be? Of course, it’s my second uncle’s estate!”
“Do you know who stands behind my second uncle?”
“Once I tell you, it’ll scare you half to death!”
Duoduo blinked her large eyes. “The Emperor?”
An awkward look crossed Song Shuzhou’s face.
“Of course not, but it’s almost as impressive!”
As he spoke, Song Shuzhou cast Lüdou a tempting look.
“Little sister, our second uncle is currently one of the Crown Prince’s advisers.”
“The Crown Prince will become Emperor one day!”
“Once the Crown Prince ascends the throne, my second uncle, as one of his most trusted ministers, will surely have a brilliant future.”
“Father couldn’t bear to see you suffer in the future, so he specifically sent me to speak with you first.”
“Think carefully! If you miss this opportunity, you’ll never get another one!”
“You—” Lüdou was so angry that she nearly cursed him.
Duoduo hurriedly tugged at Lüdou, as she still had not figured out exactly why Song Shuzhou had come looking for her.
“Hmm. Second Young Master, your sister is a jinx.”
“Aren’t your father and the others afraid that taking her back will ruin your second uncle’s promising future?”
When Song Shuzhou heard Duoduo’s words, he could not help but look at her more closely.
Why did he feel that this maid actually made a lot of sense?
Then he remembered his father’s instructions.
It was the Crown Prince who had ordered his father to acknowledge his daughter and bring her back.
Neither his father nor his second uncle could figure out why the Crown Prince had given such an order.
All they could do was obey.
During the brief silence that followed, Duoduo was also thinking rapidly.
Whether it was the Crown Prince or the second son of the Song family, they were both selfish and calculating people.
Although the eldest son of the Song family appeared honest on the surface, people from the same family were cut from the same cloth.
He was no better than the rest!
Song Shuzhou had proposed that the Song family buy her back, which meant they clearly wanted something from her.
She had been neglected since childhood and did not possess a single penny. What could they possibly want from her?
Could it be that the Crown Prince wanted the Song family to lure her back with the promise of familial affection, then use her to manipulate her father?
Duoduo’s hand, hidden inside her sleeve, slowly clenched into a fist.
Hmph!
Song Shuzhou remained silent for a moment. When he saw that not only his sister but also the two maids beside her looked displeased, he quickly gave his answer.
“Nonsense! Those baseless rumors were made up by other people!”
Duoduo smiled. She had truly underestimated this Second Young Master.
He was remarkably skilled at lying through his teeth.
If not for the disdain on his face, and the fact that he was standing far away from them, she might actually have believed him.
“Really? That’s wonderful!”
“However, the Princess has her own courtyard at the palace. She eats delicacies from land and sea and wears the finest silks and satins.”
“If she returns to the Song residence, will your family treat her the same way?”
“She won’t end up with nothing decent to wear and nothing to eat again, will she?”
Duoduo’s face was filled with concern, as though she truly were the Princess’s maid and was worried about her mistress.
Song Shuzhou looked at Lüdou’s clothes, then at the cotton-padded garment he was wearing, and grew furious.
“You’re only a maid. Why are you so materialistic?”
“The greatest happiness in life is being reunited with one’s family.”
“Clothes and food are merely things outside the body.”
“Besides, Father has already caught the Crown Prince’s attention. Our Song family is about to rise to prominence.”
“Are you still worried that my sister won’t be able to wear silks and satins or eat delicacies from land and sea?”
“How short-sighted!”
Song Shuzhou’s face was full of disdain.
If his father had not given him strict orders to persuade his sister to return today, he would have left long ago.
This maid spoke in an affected, overly refined manner, but every word she said revealed her contempt for the Song family.
His father had promised that as long as he tricked his sister into coming home, he would send him to the best school!
Once he returned to Xianyang, he would make all his former classmates green with envy!
At the thought of this, the look Song Shuzhou gave Lüdou grew even more urgent.
Carefully, Song Shuzhou took a pastry from inside his sleeve and held it out to Lüdou.
“Little sister, this is your favorite hawthorn cake!”
“Your second brother bought it especially for you!”
Lüdou glanced at the oil-paper packet in Song Shuzhou’s palm.
The packet was only about the size of a palm, and inside was a small piece of hawthorn cake.
Because of the hot weather, the hawthorn cake had partially collapsed.
After being kept in his sleeve, its shape had become even more distorted.
It looked like a lump of red mud.
Lüdou’s expression was complicated.
Neither the Second Young Master nor the First Young Master had ever spared the Princess a proper glance back then.
How could they possibly know what the Princess liked to eat?
This hawthorn cake was something the Song family’s eldest daughter liked.
It was not the Princess’s favorite at all.
Lüdou lowered her eyes, feeling a pang of sorrow for the Princess.
Duoduo gave Qingliu a meaningful look.
Qingliu blinked.
“Ah, but I seem to remember that hawthorn cake is the very thing the Princess dislikes most.”
Duoduo chimed in, “That’s right!”
“I remember hawthorn cake is what the Song family’s eldest daughter likes to eat.”
“Second Young Master, did you remember incorrectly?”
Song Shuzhou froze for a moment, then hurriedly tried to take the pastry back.
“Oh, I took the wrong one.”
“This is what my elder sister likes to eat.”
“Right, this is the one my younger sister likes.”
With some reluctance, Song Shuzhou took a lotus pastry from his sleeve.
He had bought it especially from “Fuduo” Pastry Shop. It was one of their imperial-style pastries.
He had originally planned to taste it himself and find out what pastries from the imperial kitchen were like.
If he ever returned to Xianyang, he would be able to boast to his classmates that he had eaten pastries made by imperial chefs.
But now, he had no choice but to part with it.
Duoduo froze when she saw the familiar packaging.
Lüdou recognized it at a glance as well. It was a pastry from her own shop.
What was more, it was the most expensive variety—the one produced in strictly limited quantities each day.
Thinking of the hawthorn cake that had been crushed out of shape earlier, then comparing it with this costly lotus pastry, Lüdou could not help feeling tears well up in her eyes.
He kept talking about familial affection and wanting to bring the Princess home, but what had he actually done?
He had tried to trick the Princess into returning with a hawthorn cake worth only a few copper coins.
Meanwhile, he had kept the expensive pastry for himself.
There truly was not a single good person in the Song family!
