ARTTEDSBGT Chapter 66
Xiao Rulei was laughed at by two people inexplicably, so she got angry and started to make a fuss. Li Zhizhi quickly comforted her, “Alright, from now on, A’yang will stay in the princess’s mansion and live with us.”
Xiao Rulei became happy again and said joyfully, “I want to be Sister Zhizhi’s husband!”
The Grand Princess and Li Zhizhi couldn’t help but suppress their laughter. The Grand Princess touched Xiao Rulei’s head and said, “A’yang is truly a lively little treasure.”
Xiao Rulei affectionately rubbed against her and proudly declared, “A’yang is the lively little treasure of Aunt and Sister.”
Being a child at heart, after playing for a while, Xiao Rulei began to feel sleepy. She lay down on the Grand Princess’s lap and fell asleep. The Grand Princess gently combed through her hair, revealing a smooth forehead. The girl’s sleeping face was peaceful, with slightly parted lips, as if dreaming.
Just by looking at Xiao Rulei, she appeared quite beautiful, especially her eyes, resembling both the Grand Princess and Xiao Yan. They were phoenix eyes with a slight upward tilt at the outer corners. However, Xiao Yan’s eyes were slightly elongated, giving off a scheming aura when he squinted, as if he were plotting something.
In contrast, Ayang’s eyes were slightly round, with clear whites and black pupils, appearing particularly pure and innocent. Even when she was asleep, her fine and dense eyelashes cast a honey-colored shadow under the candlelight, resembling a spread-out fan, giving off an air of innocence.
Thinking of A’yang, who looked so beautiful but was actually a child who would never grow up, Li Zhizhi couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of regret and asked, “Can A’yang… get better in the future?”
Without explicitly saying it, the Grand Princess understood her meaning and laughed, “Are you talking about her mental condition? It’s congenital. Despite A’yang calling you Sister Zhizhi all the time, she’s already fifteen this year, about the same age as you. When she was five, she still couldn’t speak well, only saying ‘brother’ and ‘mother,’ and often stumbling while walking, always ending up with bruises. At that time, her mental condition was already evident.”
She sighed softly and continued, “The imperial physicians all said there was no solution. When A’yang’s mother was still alive, she tried many folk remedies, tried everything, even sought help from G.o.ds and Buddhas, reciting scriptures every day, but it was all in vain.”
“Reciting scriptures?” Li Zhizhi suddenly remembered the string of sandalwood prayer beads on Prince Xiao Yan’s wrist and asked in surprise, “Did His Royal Highness also…”
“Little Five?” The Grand Princess smiled and said, “Speaking of which, he was still very young at that time. He followed the n.o.ble consort to the temple to pray. He was quite clever from a young age, just a few years old, barely recognizing a few characters, but he could memorize many complex scriptures. Later, when the n.o.ble consort fell ill and was bedridden for those years, he went to pray and recite scriptures alone, also taking care of A’yang. Looking back now, it was hard for him.”
The Grand Princess recalled something and asked Li Zhizhi with a smile, “Did he tell you not to play with A’yang before?”
Li Zhizhi nodded and said, “I understand the concerns of His Royal Highness. He was afraid that I was intentionally getting close to A’yang, using her.”
“Because some unpleasant things happened before,” the Grand Princess sighed, “A’yang is too innocent. With the n.o.ble consort looking after her in the past, but after the n.o.ble consort pa.s.sed away, only Little Five was left. At that time, he was just over ten years old, still having to go to the study every day, how could he take care of his sister? The palace is not a good place; those palace maids all flatter and belittle each other. Seeing A’yang is ignorant, they bully her behind her back, secretly withholding her food, items, and even took away the longevity lock left by the n.o.ble consort for A’yang.”
Just hearing this made Li Zhizhi furious, furrowing her brows, she said, “How can they do such things? Bullying an ignorant child!”
“Good and evil vary greatly, and the human heart is hard to fathom,” the Grand Princess said, “In this world, there are many who bully the weak and fear the strong. Later, A’yang fell ill once, and Little Five, worried in his heart, secretly ran back from the study to see her. He found that the palace maids had all slacked off, and there was no one taking care of A’yang. She was lying in the flower garden, covered in ants, and her forehead was burning hot.”
Grand Princess Chang’s eyes revealed a hint of pain as she spoke, saying, “At that time, when I entered the palace, I encountered Xiaowu carrying A’yang to the imperial physician, running and crying. He thought A’yang was going to die. When he saw me, he knelt down and begged me to save his sister. Now thinking back, I still feel very sad. Clearly born into the imperial family, how did it come to this?”
Her gentle phoenix eyes tinged with a faint shade of moist red, she continued, “Since then, Xiaowu dared not leave A’yang alone. Wherever he went, he had to bring his sister along. If he couldn’t see her for a moment, Xiaowu would search everywhere. Even if I suggested bringing A’yang to the mansion to take care of her, he wouldn’t agree. I think that period of time must have been very difficult for him; after all, he was just a child.”
Seeing her shed tears, Li Zhizhi quickly handed her a handkerchief and hesitated, “Crown Prince… doesn’t the Emperor do anything about it?”
Grand Princess paused for a moment before saying, “Because of the Empress’s matter, there’s a rift between father and son. When the Empress’s illness worsened and she was on her deathbed, the Emperor didn’t come to see her for the last time. That night, Xiaowu knelt at the palace gate for a full three hours until dawn, but the Empress had already pa.s.sed away.”
Li Zhizhi could hardly imagine that scene, and she heard Grand Princess continue slowly, “Since then, whenever Xiaowu had any problems, he no longer sought the Emperor’s help. Fortunately, A’yang gradually grew up and became more sensible. At least, she no longer behaved like a crying, ignorant child. If someone bullied her, she knew to report it.”
At this point, a hint of affectionate smile appeared on Grand Princess’s face as she said, “However, she still has some deficiencies in her character. If others pretend to be kind to deceive her, she falls for it.”
Li Zhizhi keenly sensed something and asked, “What happened later?”
Grand Princess, instead of answering directly, asked her, “A’yang is also afraid of water. She never goes near the water. Do you know why?”
Li Zhizhi’s expression changed slightly. She was afraid of water because in her past life, she was drowned. And A’yang was afraid of water…
Li Zhizhi couldn’t believe it and said, “Could it be that someone deliberately deceived her, causing her to fall into the water?”
The Grand Princess nodded, her expression calming slightly, and said, “There are always people in the palace who want to climb the ranks. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. People aim for higher positions, and water flows to lower places. However, some people have malicious intentions, trying to please the Fifth Prince intentionally, befriending A’yang to get close to him. At that time, the Fifth Prince had just been declared Crown Prince, and there were countless people with such thoughts. A’yang, being naive, didn’t discern well and got along with everyone. But the Fifth Prince noticed it, didn’t let those people succeed, and some with evil intentions held grudges against A’yang and tricked her into falling into the water.”
Li Zhizhi fell into silence. The Grand Princess quickly grabbed her hand and smiled, saying, “The Fifth Prince, once bitten by a snake, becomes fearful of the well rope for ten years. At that time, he misunderstood you. Don’t take it to heart. Mother knows you are a good child, different from those people.”
Her hand was warm, and Li Zhizhi looked at her, unable to speak for a moment. After a while, she finally spoke, “I… if it were me, I might not have done better than him.”
Undeniably, during the last visit to Qionglin Garden, when Xiao Yan misunderstood her, she was indeed angry. At that time, she felt that the Crown Prince looked down on her, thinking she wanted to climb the ranks and get close to A’yang for ulterior motives.
But now, hearing the words of the Grand Princess, it turned out that the highly esteemed Crown Prince didn’t always have it easy. He cried and pleaded with his sister out of fear of her death, knelt in front of the Grand Princess all night, begged the Emperor to let him see his mother, but still didn’t get his wish.
The once high and mighty Crown Prince had experienced so many things he couldn’t achieve, so helpless and desperate.
Thinking about it this way, he didn’t seem so out of reach after all.
Li Zhizhi’s mood was indescribably subtle, as if she saw that person falling from a height, covered in mud and dust, with blood all over his head and face.
But it turns out, that person is just like her.
She just doesn’t know what that person looks like when crying. When she thought of those proud phoenix eyes turning slightly red and cryingThinking about the slightly reddened phoenix eyes filled with pride shedding tears, Li Zhizhi suddenly felt curiosity.
The tickling thought her heart feel itchy.
…
Early the next morning, before Li Zhizhi woke up, in the hazy state of half-consciousness, she felt something itching on her face, as if something was crawling…
Crawling?!
She was startled and abruptly opened her eyes, only to see Xiao Rulei smiling mischievously. Her phoenix eyes were clear and clean, filled with playful laughter. “Sister, wake up!”
Li Zhizhi then noticed the tress of hair in Xiao Rulei’s hand. It seemed that Xiao Rulei used it to deliberately tickle her. Li Zhizhi let out a sigh of relief and said with a wry smile, “What mischief are you up to so early in the morning?”
Xiao Rulei lay on her chest, blinked, and cheerfully said, “Sister, it’s time to get up! It’s already bright!”
She weighed heavily on Li Zhizhi, who struggled to catch her breath, and said repeatedly, “Alright, alright, A’yang, you can get up now.”
Xiao Rulei did indeed step back, and a maid came to a.s.sist Li Zhizhi in dressing. Her movements were careful and meticulous. At this moment, Li Zhizhi suddenly felt an itch around her waist. She exclaimed and laughed, “What are you doing?!”
Xiao Rulei seemed to have discovered something extremely amusing, and his eyes lit up. “Sister is afraid of itching!”
Li Zhizhi: …
This was trouble. Xiao Rulei, for no reason, started tickling her like a mischievous cat, just to see Li Zhizhi’s laughing expression. Li Zhizhi originally intended to endure it, holding her breath, standing still, gritting her teeth to let Xiao Rulei tickle her. She thought she could withstand it until he got bored, but she overestimated herself. After just a few tickles, she couldn’t hold back her laughter, even biting her lower lip couldn’t suppress it. So, she ran away to avoid her.
The two of them chased and played on the corridor, and Xiao Rulei called from behind, “Sister, I’m going to tickle you!”
Li Zhizhi lifted her skirt and ran, crossing the corridor. In front of her was a corner. When she saw Xiao Yan being pushed towards her, she couldn’t stop in time. In an instant, screams echoed.
“Miss!”
“Sister!”
“Your Highness!”
Li Zhizhi felt like she was flying forward, crashing into Xiao Yan. In a moment of dizziness, her forehead ached. Then, she heard a sharp inhale.
When she regained her senses and opened her eyes, she saw a deep blue collar in front of her. She hadn’t fallen painfully. Li Zhizhi was surprised. Hearing Xiao Rulei’s concerned voice, she looked up, “Brother, are you okay?”
When Li Zhizhi raised her head, she saw Xiao Yan covering his mouth with one hand, his sword-like eyebrows tightly furrowed. Slowly moving his hand away, his lips were cut, and the originally light-colored thin lips now carried a touch of bright red, revealing a hint of allure.
Xiao Yan raised his eyes to look at her. He must have been in severe pain just now. There was a slight moist red in his phoenix eyes, and there was a faint glimmer of water in them.
Li Zhizhi was momentarily stunned, subconsciously thinking, ‘Could this be considered crying?’