Seeing Lüdou’s teary-eyed, deeply moved expression, Song Shuzhou was instantly quite pleased with himself.
See? He had known it. She was only a little girl—of course she would be easy to coax.
“Little sister, as long as you come home with your second brother, I’ll buy these for you every day from now on!”
Song Shuzhou was still young, and in his excitement, he let something slip.
“The Crown Prince thinks highly of you. Maybe you can even take Elder Sister’s place.”
“Then you’ll be a princess!”
“After that, you can eat any kind of pastry you want. There won’t be anything you can’t have!”
Song Shuzhou was actually quite jealous that his younger sister had become the Crown Prince’s daughter.
What could a girl possibly accomplish?
Unlike a man like him, who could inherit the family business in the future and make a name for himself.
And yet, Song Shuyu’s status was now higher than his.
Whenever he saw Song Shuyu, he still had to kneel and bow to her.
Song Shuzhou also knew that the younger and elder sisters did not get along.
He believed that his younger sister must be just as jealous of the elder one as he was.
If he put it this way, surely she would come home with him.
Deep down, Song Shuzhou held a faint hope.
He hoped that his two sisters would start fighting.
Then he could step forward at the right moment.
Perhaps the Crown Prince would notice him immediately!
Song Shuzhou had heard that one of the Crown Prince’s sons had become an idiot, while the Crown Prince was not very satisfied with the other one.
Song Jiang had told these things to the Old Madam after returning home.
Song Shuzhou had happened to overhear him.
He had been happily plotting ever since.
Duoduo’s eyes flickered when she heard Song Shuzhou’s words.
So the Song family wanted to acknowledge her because of the Crown Prince.
No wonder.
She had known it.
If they had truly felt guilty, they would have come looking for her back when she was still in Xianyang.
Why wait until now?
They really wouldn’t get up early unless there was something in it for them!
Duoduo slowly shook her head.
“Song Shuzhou, go back and tell your father this.”
“When he sold me, he said that from that moment on, I would have nothing more to do with the Song family!”
“I remember very clearly that your grandmother and your mother said the same thing!”
“Finally, let me tell you one more thing.”
“The person you were looking for was me, not her.”
“You’re an older brother who can’t even tell who his own sister is.”
“What gives you the right to pretend to be family in front of me?”
“If the Song family wants to curry favor with the Crown Prince, that’s the Song family’s business.”
“Don’t drag me into it!”
“My surname is Xiao, not Song!”
“Qingliu, see them out!”
Duoduo was not polite in the slightest.
Qingliu had been holding herself back for quite some time.
The moment she heard Duoduo’s order, she seized Song Shuzhou by the collar and threw him outside.
“Get lost!”
“If you come to the Prince of Pingyang’s residence and bark again, I’ll knock every one of your dog teeth out!”
As she spoke, Qingliu dusted off her hands with an expression of disgust, as if she had touched something filthy.
The gates of the Prince of Pingyang’s residence slammed shut with a loud bang.
Duoduo turned to Lüdou and smiled until her eyes curved into crescents.
Lüdou felt terribly sorry for Duoduo and took her hand.
“Princess, they’re blind and foolish. Please don’t take it to heart.”
“The Prince and Princess treat you so well! Though they aren’t your birth parents, they treat you even better than birth parents would!”
“And even if we take a step back, you still have me. This servant will never leave your side for the rest of my life!”
Qingliu immediately stepped forward as well.
“Princess, you have me too!”
“I wasn’t with you through your hardships before, but I’ll definitely stay by your side from now on!”
Duoduo’s eyes curved into two crescent moons.
“Lüdou, you managed to fool that idiot Song Shuzhou today.”
“You were amazing!”
“And Qingliu, you threw him out in one move!”
“You were amazing too!”
Duoduo kept things fair, praising one and then the other, making sure neither of them was left out.
“It’s all thanks to the Princess’s guidance.” Lüdou promptly flattered Duoduo.
Qingliu nodded vigorously. “Exactly! We take after our mistress. Our mistress is even more amazing!”
“Hahahaha!”
Duoduo burst out laughing.
She knew that the two maids were worried she might be upset.
But she wasn’t upset at all!
“Come on, let’s go back!”
Smiling brightly, Duoduo took Lüdou’s hand and headed inside.
In a secluded corner not far away, Xiao Yi waved at Yunxiao.
“Let’s go back!”
Yunxiao answered in a low voice and began pushing the wheelchair back.
Just now, a guard had come to report that the Princess had gone to the entrance to meet someone outside.
The Prince had rushed over the moment he heard.
As a result, they had heard everything from beginning to end.
Yunxiao had secretly noticed that the Prince’s expression had remained dark the entire time.
Yunxiao could not quite figure out what the Prince was thinking.
The Princess had clearly rejected the Song family, yet the Prince still looked displeased.
Could it be that the Prince was upset because the Princess had not driven them away immediately?
Yunxiao pondered this in secret. He decided that he would remind the Princess later.
Otherwise, the Prince might stew in anger while the Princess remained unaware.
Whenever the Prince lost his temper, life became very difficult for the servants attending him.
If that happened, he would have the Princess coax the Prince a little. Surely everything would return to peace then.
Outside the gates of the Prince of Pingyang’s residence, Song Shuzhou had been thrown onto the ground.
The pain in his backside brought him back to his senses.
He had actually mistaken the girl!
The one who had spoken to him just now was the Calamity Star Song Duoduo!
As Song Shuzhou recalled Duoduo’s every word and action, he finally understood.
No wonder Duoduo had always seemed so familiar to him.
She was his real younger sister!
Song Shuzhou was extremely frustrated.
This younger sister of his was truly infuriating!
He had mistaken her for someone else, so why hadn’t she simply told him?
Instead, she had deliberately teamed up with her maid to deceive him.
How hateful!
Seething with anger, Song Shuzhou got to his feet.
He dusted off his clothes and noticed that his sleeve felt sticky.
He reached out and touched it. The hawthorn cake had been crushed beneath him.
Red liquid was smeared all over his sleeve.
It looked just like he had been injured.
Song Shuzhou’s eyes shifted. He raised a hand and rubbed at the corners of his eyes.
“Little sister! I’m your second brother!”
“Back then, our family was under so much pressure that we had no choice but to give you to someone else.”
“Now that our family is capable of bringing you home, how could you have someone beat your own second brother?”
“Second brother knows that you’re a princess of the Prince’s residence now, and that you look down on the poor family you came from.”
“I even planned to pass the imperial examinations and earn you a noble title in the future!”
“And yet you had your servants break my hand!”
“Little sister, you used to be such a kind girl.”
“How did you become so heartless?”
“Waaah!”
Song Shuzhou’s cries quickly attracted a crowd of onlookers.
As he wept, he twisted the truth and thoroughly smeared the reputation of the Prince of Pingyang’s residence.
He claimed that the Prince of Pingyang had used his power to seize his younger sister from the family back then.
Now, when the family wanted to buy her back, the Prince of Pingyang had instructed her servants to break his hand and ruin his future in the imperial examinations.
More and more people gathered around.
The more Song Shuzhou spoke, the more impassioned he became.
