Yunxiao kept glancing anxiously toward the courtyard. When Qingliu noticed, she tugged at him.
“Mind your behavior!”
“Don’t embarrass the Princess!”
Qingliu’s voice was very low. Yunxiao looked around before saying, “I’m going to step away for a moment. You stay here and keep watch.”
Qingliu jumped. She hurriedly pulled Yunxiao a little farther away from the two household guards.
“Yunxiao, what are you planning to do?”
Yunxiao looked completely innocent. “I’m not planning anything!”
“I just need to relieve myself…”
At his words, Qingliu’s face flushed bright red. She let go of him and waved her hand dismissively, her expression full of distaste.
“Fine! Go on, go on!”
Yunxiao smiled, then walked over to one of the guards and asked where the privy was.
The guard was extremely polite. Not only did he point out the way, he also called over another guard to escort Yunxiao there.
A flicker passed through Yunxiao’s eyes as he followed the guard away.
Inside the room, a game of chess had already come to an end.
Duoduo pouted.
“Aw…”
“I still lost!”
The Emperor looked at Duoduo’s regretful face, his gaze profound.
“Do you know how many people under Heaven can finish a game of chess with me? You could count them on one hand.”
Duoduo tilted her little head, her face full of disbelief.
“Their chess is even worse than mine?”
When she saw the meaningful look on her grandfather’s face, realization dawned on Duoduo.
“Oh! I understand now!”
“Grandfather, you deliberately let me win, didn’t you?”
“Mm-hmm. Grandfather, that’s not right!”
“There are no fathers and sons on the battlefield! You didn’t need to go easy on me!”
“My tutor said that competition is what helps people improve!”
“If you let me win, I won’t learn anything, and I won’t be able to improve!”
After saying this, Duoduo pouted, looking rather dejected.
The Emperor was utterly helpless when he heard her.
Whether he had let her win or not, he knew that better than anyone.
She called this chess terrible?
Then his own chess couldn’t be much better either.
Wait!
Why was he putting himself down?
“‘Competition helps people improve’? Your tutor taught you that?” The Emperor found the saying rather interesting.
Duoduo nodded enthusiastically.
“That’s right! Daddy found my tutor for me!”
“My tutor is really interesting!”
“If we get the chance, I’ll introduce him to you!”
Then Duoduo remembered why she had come today.
“Grandfather, you still haven’t answered me. Why are you at Imperial Physician Li’s residence?” she asked, her face full of curiosity.
The Emperor stroked his beard.
“I’m recuperating here.”
Duoduo blinked and looked him up and down.
“There’s nothing wrong with your health!”
Suddenly, Duoduo felt as if something in her mind were stirring restlessly.
With a thought, the little insect appeared in the palm of her hand.
The Emperor was startled by the sudden appearance of the insect.
When he saw clearly that the thing in Duoduo’s hand was an insect and not a snake, he let out a sigh of relief.
“You’re a perfectly good little girl. Why are you playing with something like that?”
His tone held both displeasure and sternness.
Duoduo lifted the insect before her eyes and stared at it intently.
It seemed as though she were listening to the insect speak.
When the Emperor saw that Duoduo did not answer him, his expression darkened.
“Changle! Throw away that insect in your hand!”
“As the ancients said, indulging in amusements ruins one’s ambition. Do you understand?”
Duoduo’s quick and clever replies had pleased the Emperor greatly just now.
He had even secretly lamented that Changle was not a boy.
Otherwise…
But now, seeing her play with an insect and completely ignore his words, he felt even more disappointed.
There was also a simmering anger in his heart—the frustration of seeing someone with potential waste it.
The Emperor reached out to snatch the insect from Duoduo’s palm, intending to throw it onto the ground and crush it to death.
However, the moment his hand touched the insect, it bit him.
“Ah!”
The Emperor cried out in pain.
A dozen guards immediately rushed into the room.
They drew their swords and charged at Duoduo.
Duoduo hurriedly shielded the insect against her chest and ducked behind the Emperor.
“Stop!”
“Get out!”
The Emperor recovered and waved at the guards.
The guards froze for a moment, then quickly vanished from the room.
Duoduo crouched on the floor. Once she saw the guards disappear, she cautiously raised her head and looked at the Emperor.
Seeing her expression, the Emperor assumed that she had been frightened.
He held out a hand to her.
“Do you know that no one has ever dared to harm My Imperial Body?”
“Your pet actually bit me!”
“By rights, I could issue an edict and exterminate its entire clan!”
Duoduo stood up in confusion.
“Entire clan? Insects have clans too?”
At her question, the displeasure caused by the bite disappeared from the Emperor’s heart.
He tapped Duoduo lightly on the forehead.
“It doesn’t have a clan? It didn’t just spring out of a crack in a rock!”
Duoduo nodded, looking enlightened.
“Oh, right!”
The Emperor held out his hand to her.
“Hand it over.”
“What?” Duoduo clasped both hands behind her back.
“Don’t play dumb with your grandfather! I know you understand what I’m asking for.”
The Emperor’s face showed his displeasure.
A flicker passed through Duoduo’s eyes.
The insect had just conveyed a message to her.
Duoduo’s expression changed.
She raised her head and looked at the Emperor.
“Grandfather, can you quietly listen while I explain?”
The Emperor assumed that Duoduo simply did not want to hand over the insect, and his expression grew even more unpleasant.
“Does your father know that you’re neglecting your proper pursuits by playing with such things?”
“A young lady should be virtuous, refined, and demure. How can a girl from a noble family play with insects?”
Seeing that the Emperor’s misunderstanding of her had already taken root, Duoduo knew that she would be in trouble if she did not explain herself clearly.
She took the Emperor’s hand and looked him in the eye.
“Grandfather, please listen to my explanation.”
“If you still insist on what you just said after hearing me out, Changle will do as you say and throw it away!”
“But please let me finish speaking first. Is that all right?”
The Emperor kept his face stern.
“Fine!”
“Go on!”
Seeing how displeased he was, Duoduo blinked.
“This isn’t an ordinary insect. It’s a gu worm.”
“What?!”
The Emperor shot to his feet in shock.
He even took several steps backward, putting as much distance between himself and Duoduo as possible.
Duoduo stood up, her face full of helplessness.
“Grandfather, don’t be afraid!”
“My gu worm is connected to my heart. It won’t hurt you!”
The Emperor held up the hand he had been bitten on and examined it carefully.
There were two little red dots where the insect had bitten him, and they had already scabbed over.
Even so, the Emperor felt that something was wrong with his body.
He simply could not say exactly what it was.
The Emperor looked at Duoduo with deep suspicion.
As an emperor, he had never been one to trust people easily.
Changle was one of the only two members of his bloodline whom he trusted.
Could he have misjudged her?
“What did you do to me just now?”
“Did you plant a gu in my body?”
“Take it out!”
The more the Emperor spoke, the more agitated he became. He reached out and grabbed Duoduo by the throat.
