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CHAPTER 11: Please dumb it down

Before the sunrise, Xiao Hua had already woken up and did the usual morning jogging around the manor with Duan Xi Ying.

Duan Xi Ying did not know what had fired up Xiao Hua today to be able to finish the morning jogging before the sunrise when she usually completed them after the sun was high up in the sky.

The thing that fueled Xiao Hua's energy was her anger towards the Third Prince that had not ebbed since last night. Why was he not following the script? She should be the attacker, teasing the shy, inexperienced boy. Instead, she was the one being teased until she had to run away before her chastity was taken!

Duan Xi Ying allowed Xiao Hua to rest until the beginning light of the sunrise appeared before moving on to the next agenda, which was private training. Today's training would be a little harder for Xiao Hua in order to improve her experience. The blindfolded Xiao Hua was standing in the middle of the clearing, feeling nervous and paranoid.

The blindfold was to help Xiao Hua to sharpen her senses instead of only relying on her eyesight. Duan Xi Ying would throw sticks with her inner energy coated over it, letting Xiao Hua familiarize herself with energy sensing as well as to practice her evasion skill.

As expected, Xiao Hua failed to dodge even one and ended up being the stick's target pole instead. There was one time when she predicted the direction of the incoming stick wrongly and tripped over her own foot.

At the end of the lesson, Xiao Hua could feel her whole body ache as if she had been lightly whipped all over. It was not overly painful but it was an uncomfortable sensation. When she removed her blindfold, her eyes immediately closed again from the sudden brightness.

"Xiao Hua, take a short rest here." Duan Xi Ying picked up Xiao Hua, who still had her eyes tightly closed, and brought her into the pavilion to rest under the roof that could more or less block most of the blinding sunlight.

Feeling depressed at how easily Duan Xi Ying had carried her despite the fact that she had gained weight and was taller than before, Xiao Hua nodded and waited until her eyes slowly got used to the light again. Picking up the small towel to wipe her sweat on her face and neck, she gave Duan Xi Ying a grateful look when she received a cup of warm honey water.

"Xi Ying, do you know of any way for me to sense inner energy easier?" Le Xiao Ting was used to being spoon-fed by her mother and teachers, with all the answers dropped onto her lap so that she could mostly answer questions or problems she faced in life, school and workplace.

But Xiao Hua was not given an answer or method when it came to training. When she was told to throw the knives, they let her practice by herself, only telling her what they expected as the final result, believing that it would be better for her to discover the way on her own. Fortunately, Eunuch Lau Liu had explained to her the mechanics in doing so or else she would be in greater difficulty.

Le Xiao Ting wanted to cry. She was forced to be hardworking and have her brain think more in this world!

"Hmm, Xi Ying just needs to close her eyes and spread Xi Ying's senses to sense inner energy."

Please dumb it down for this young lady. In the first place, how do you spread your senses?

Xiao Hua wanted to ask more questions, but Duan Xi Ying had seen that Xiao Hua's eyes were back to normal and ushered her back to her room to take a quick bath and change into her uniform.

The Third Prince was already waiting when Xiao Hua entered his room for their usual breakfast routine.

"Good morning, Your Highness," Xiao Hua greeted with a curtsy.

Long Zhu could see Xiao Hua was still annoyed with him from how she avoided eye contact and the lack of joy when she greeted him. He felt a momentary sense of helplessness. Would she act like this whenever he wanted to be more intimate with her?

Fortunately, he had ordered the cook to prepare duck congee for breakfast today.

His little flower had said she missed eating duck congee during their trip back home from the Xuanwu Kingdom and Tian Chi so happened to have extra duck meat purchased this early morning.

The Third Prince stood up and approached Xiao Hua slowly with a smile that screamed, 'Look, I'm so pitiful so forgive me please'.

"Come, let's have breakfast."

Cautiously, he took one of Xiao Hua's hands and when she did not resist, he gently directed her to take a seat beside him.

Tian Zi and Tian Chi were inside the room as well and saw how their master made pleading, pitiful eyes at Elder Sister Hua to forgive him. Their mind itched to know what their master had done to make Xiao Hua, a pretty easy-going person, to be angry with him.

Their actions and behaviour betrayed nothing of their curiosity, but if one were to look at their eyes properly, they would immediately break out in shivers at the fierce hunger plainly visible in their eyes.

Tian Zi scooped the congee into two bowls before retreating to the corner of the room beside Tian Chi, trying their best to act invisible. In contrast to their sensible ap-pearance, their ears and eyes were actually working overtime to catch any hidden message.

"I remembered that you wanted to eat duck congee, so I had Tian Chi to cook it. Be careful not to burn your tongue."

Xiao Hua's remaining frustration towards the Third Prince dispersed. He had remembered what she said days ago! Her smile was especially sweet and pleasing to his eyes as she nodded docilely.

The couple found the duck congee extremely delicious today.

After the delicious breakfast, the Third Prince was thinking of a reason for her to spend more time with him, other than making Xiao Hua grinding ink for him when Steward Lau Zheng requested to meet him.

"Your Highness, a missive arrived from the Eighth Prince."

Curious, Xiao Hua lingered behind to eavesdrop. The Third Prince raised a hand and the steward promptly placed the sealed letter on it. After doing so, Steward Lau Zheng took his leave, leaving the couple alone.

Unsealing the cover, the Third Prince unfolded the letter and read the content. It only took him a second or two to read it before folding it back.

"Your Highness, is everything all right with the Eighth Prince?" Xiao Hua asked worriedly.

"Hmm... my eighth brother had sent an invitation for you to enter the palace to visit him."

"...Eh?" Did she hear wrongly? "But he usually comes by to visit me... could it be that he found something and could not bring it out?"

The Third Prince chuckled. "I doubt that's the reason." He handed the letter, allowing her to read it herself, at the same time testing her knowledge after learning some Chinese characters from Heise.

Long Zhu had wanted to teach his little flower, but his eighth brother suggested it before him and Xiao Hua had already agreed. Fortunately, both of them held nothing but friendship for each other, or else he would disagree with his eighth brother teaching Xiao Hua characters.

Xiao Hua took the letter and immediately identified that there were two people writing it. She recognized the slightly messy handwriting as Heise's, so the beautiful strokes must be Eunuch Heng's.

The letter originally started by Eunuch Heng, writing greetings and such which she skipped since most of it was still unknown characters to her. She paid attention to Heise's writing, which indicated he had snuck in once in a while to drop his own comments on the letter.

"The Emperor and Empress forbid the Eighth Prince to visit me?" Xiao Hua asked in confusion.

The Third Prince nodded. "Yes. Mother Empress had found out about the unpleasant story between you and my eighth brother and wished for my eighth brother to remain in the palace."

His men inside the palace had reported that the Empress had found out about the story thanks to a certain babbling wife of a minister. He had used his position and connection to suppress the stories but he could not suppress all of it.

"I will accompany you to the palace but you will be visiting my eighth brother alone. I need to discuss some matters with my eldest brother."

"Alright." She would have to ask Heise what he did to make the Empress angry again. She could have asked the Third Prince if he knew, but she did not want to miss the chance to annoy Heise.

CHAPTER 12: They cut, snap, and slay

Three people versus twenty people, perhaps more.

That side with a large amount of numbers would be a safe place to be in if they were your allies. Unfortunately for Xiao Hua, she was in the three-person group, with herself included in the headcount.

Their group of three was just heading to the Eighth Prince's compound inside the palace when suddenly a large group of fully armored soldiers with weapons in hand surrounded Xiao Hua, Duan Xi Ying, and Da Bei.

The Third Prince had parted ways with them to meet up with the Crown Prince, who also lived inside the palace instead of having his own residence outside the palace due to safety reasons as he was the Crown Prince.

"The Empress ordered that the maid, Xiao Hua, to have an audience with Her Majesty!"

After that was said, Duan Xi Ying and Da Bei, without giving any face to the Em-press, started to cut down the soldiers, making way for them to escape. Da Bei spilled blood with every slash of his thin blades and Duan Xi Ying snapped every limb her quick and flexible hands managed to grab onto.

Xiao Hua helped by throwing her knives at the guards' blind spot that was revealed when they were busy guarding against Duan Xi Ying and Da Bei's attacks, but she was still hesitating as they were the Empress's soldiers.

The Empress was the Third Prince's biological mother after all!

She was just a maid and by defying the Empress's order, she would have her head chopped off her neck!

But seeing Duan Xi Ying and Da Bei just beat them down one by one without con-cern, Xiao Hua decided to trust them. After all, they were in the same boat and those soldiers could be lying about the Empress demanding Xiao Hua to meet her.

However, the trio had underestimated the number of soldiers that the Empress had sent to 'invite' her. They cut, snap, and slay continuously yet the soldiers kept coming, not giving them any break time.

Luckily, Xiao Hua was a cultivator and despite being only at first rank, she still had more stamina and strength compared to when she was still a normal person. But very soon, she got tired of constantly defending and attacking continuously until her body was half auto piloting. Noticing Xiao Hua's tiredness, the other two had to cover her slack as well as protecting her.

In the beginning, she felt excited to fight just like how those heroes did when they had a solo fight against a large number of cannon fodders in anime shows. She was no longer excited about it when her energy depleted quickly and her overused muscles screamed with tiredness. She only longed for the fight to end and when it still con-tinues, her anger reared its head.

"Okay, this is bloody enough! Stop!" Thanks, Qiang Laohu, this young lady will worship you for teaching me the word 'bloody', allowing me to use it to express my anger!

Astonishingly, the fight ceased with everyone stopping to look at her, except for a soldier standing right in front of her. In the silent field, his screams were especially ear piercing to Xiao Hua's ears. His eyes were filled with tears as he stared at her in a beseeching manner.

"What's wrong with you?"

Duan Xi Ying giggled before helpfully pointing at the screaming soldier's hand but did not make a move to help the poor fellow. As it turns out, Xiao Hua had moved in reflex and blocked the incoming swing of a sword by stabbing at the owner's hand, letting the sword fall to the ground harmlessly. The soldier had not stopped in time when she yelled and fortunately for Xiao Hua's little life, her high tension and alertness saved her from being slain.

"Oh gosh! I'm so sorry!" She quickly ripped her knife away from his hand and he howled like a wolf in heat- cough- pain.

Honestly, Le Xiao Ting had heard many wolves howling under the moon from movies, and it was always the same tune. The howling by the guard was similar but more... flirty, which might be contributed by his teary eyes.

A fellow guard hurried over to rescue his fallen comrade and pulled him to safety behind their group, but not before giving Xiao Hua a nasty glare.

I should feel sorry and guilty, but don't you remember you guys are the ones that attacked this young lady first?

Besides, she was actually surprised that the injured soldier did not retaliate against her. Perhaps the Empress had ordered them to not harm her? Could that be the rea-son? After all, they looked strong yet they had not inflicted any serious injuries on her..

Now that the fight stopped and her adrenaline slowing down, Xiao Hua winced as the small cuts she received started to let their presence known, unwilling to be ig-nored.

"May I know why the Empress requested to see me?" Xiao Hua asked as politely as possible. Being nice usually helps when asking for information.

"A servant like you has no right to question Her Majesty!"

Xiao Hua had to bite down her lower lip from scolding them in return. Scolding irrational people might work in her original world where she has human rights with some freedom of speech, but here she needed to play with words and hide her true thoughts behind a polite facade, or else she would be killed for offending them.

But then she was not exactly powerless in this world! She straightened her back and stared at them coolly. "I am the Third Prince's personal maid. Being rude to me indicates that you are disrespecting the Third Prince!"

Since she has power, she would wave it around like a life protection medallion!

One of the soldiers quickly said before the rude one could open his mouth, "We mean no disrespect to the Third Prince. We are here to invite Elder Sister Hua to meet the Empress. To decline the invitation, Her Highness would assume the Third Prince is unfilial towards his mother, which even his servant dares to not accept the Empress's personal invitation."

.. Ai, this young lady's cheek hurts!

That would teach herself a lesson for underestimating other people's brains.

"Usually, the Empress would send an invitation card," Duan Xi Ying injected smoothly into the conversation, pulling aggro from the NPC [7] - cough - from the soldier onto herself to protect Xiao Hua. "Did little brothers perhaps forget to hand the calling card?"

The 'nicer' soldier stiffened before smiling with an attempt to look innocent but

ended up looking feral with his tanned face and rough skin.

"This sister is right that I've forgotten to hand the calling card to Elder Sister Hua."

He took out a beautiful looking card with dry flowers pressed on it and handed it over to Duan Xi Ying, who then gave it to Xiao Hua after making sure nothing was wrong with it.

Xiao Hua received it carefully and read the content grimly, with Duan Xi Ying peeking at the contents right beside her. Such beautiful calligraphy, but the content was only beautiful on the surface with hidden threats behind it.

The words practically demanded Xiao Hua accompany her for a chat and drink some tea. If she was worried about permission, the Third Prince would never stop his own mother to meet her own son's servant. The Empress even 'kindly' sent out her guards to lead the way in case Xiao Hua got lost.

Most of the character was unknown to Xiao Hua, but her imaginative brain easily constructed and filled the empty holes.

So the excuse of not having the Third Prince's permission to visit the Empress was out.

Duan Xi Ying looked troubled, which means she could not think of any ideas to get out of meeting the Empress. On the other hand, Da Bei was readying himself to fight with how he gripped his blades in his battle-ready posture.

Xiao Hua sighed inwardly, knowing that meeting the Empress would be bad, but not going would give the Empress the reason to label her rude and disrespecting the royal family.

"Brother guards, please accept my apology for our previous offense. The truth is, we are just intimidated by your strong figures and automatically defend ourselves in pressure. Xiao Hua humbly accepts the invitation from the Empress, so please look over our small offenses."

This young lady had to smash down her pride to apologize, explain the reason, boost your ego, and even agreed to meet the Empress. If they still want to pursue the matter, I can scream from the top of my lungs that you guys are barbaric and difficult to please! I will also do my best to tarnish your reputation and even the Empress's as well!

Fortunately, the soldier's representative nodded, willing to look past it. "It's no harm, Elder Sister Xiao Hua. This is also our fault for dressing in full armor to meet you. We just obeyed the Empress's command to protect you during the journey and to reassure you of our capabilities."

Dressing up and looking cool automatically means you are capable?

Le Xiao Ting wanted to laugh. She had met a lot of interns and they dressed up smartly and tried to look confident, but their supervisor gleefully smashed their ego to pieces during their two-month stay. The supervisor that oversees the interns was the

'shark guy', a nickname someone gave and it stuck. The shark guy loved the nickname and decided to live up to the name, much to the interns' despair.

Perhaps that was the reason why the number of interns staying kept on decreasing Xiao Hua smiled, ignoring the dude's bullshitting. "Thank you for the kind consid-eration. Please, lead the way. We must not make the Empress wait."

The soldier stiffened but held back his retort. It was true that they should not make the Empress wait, but her way of speaking twisted it to mean that Her Majesty was waiting for a maid.

How preposterous!

The guards surrounded the three of them as they walked towards the Empress's quarters.

"Xi Ying, Da Bei, my life will count on you," Xiao Hua whispered. She truly hoped the meeting would not end bloody.

"Xi Ying will protect Xiao Hua even if Xi Ying has to cut down the Empress." Xiao Hua flinched, her eyes darting around, and much to her relief, the guards remained indifferent to Xi Ying's statement.

"Xi Ying, don't say that!" Xiao Hua hissed softly, afraid that the guards would hear her.

Just then, Da Bei decided to add his opinion. "I will kill the Empress if she hurts you."

Xiao Hua felt her mouth curl upward without her permission. She felt happy even when she was not supposed to.

CHAPTER 13: Throw her own son's affection onto her face

The Empress's courtyard was indeed beautiful. The garden was filled with beautiful flowers that were planted on the fresh soil, blooming beautifully. The space of the courtyard was spacious as well, and the air was fresh and sweet thanks to the flowers.

Butterflies in different patterns and colours were flying around the garden, enjoying the flowers.

For a moment, she wondered if she had accidentally stepped into another world.

Two maidservants in yellow dresses with looks that were more attractive than other servants approached them before they curtsied towards Xiao Hua, both easily recognizing her identity thanks to her uniform. However, they had performed the curtsy with disdain, as if they were forced to pay respect to someone underneath their status.

"Elder Sister Hua, Her Majesty is waiting for you." One of the maids with plump curves that would be irresistible to certain males that preferred their woman with meat on them spoke in an overly cloying sweet voice. What was even worse was how she tried to act spoiled with her slow blink.

Xiao Hua had to resist her goosebumps from appearing on her skin. She was straight even if she liked looking at beautiful ladies. Or do they think showing off their looks and charms would make Xiao Hua feel inferior?

Sadly, Le Xiao Ting had experienced inferiority before and learned to overcome it as she got older. Her body was given by God and her parents. To feel unsatisfied with what she has would invite bad luck as dark thoughts with envy often make one act irrationally.

RIP cannon fodders.

If her mother had not scolded her for thinking in such a way when she was younger, Le Xiao Ting did not know where she would be now.

Should Xiao Hua act like a pig when she meets the Empress, just like the female lead from 'To Be A Virtuous Wife' Chinese novel? But somehow she gets the feeling she will be hated even more if she does the pig acting.

"Then, this sister will count on sisters to lead the way," Xiao Hua said as clearly as she could, even twisting her tongue to make her voice sound a little higher class.

The maids just smiled and led the way, releasing the soldiers from the task and allowing them to return to their task, which was patrolling the Empress's courtyard until Xiao Hua and the rest finished visiting the Empress.

Reaching deep into the courtyard, they stopped before a room and the two maidservants pushed open the door before motioning Xiao Hua to enter. Xiao Hua did not dare to enter as she could not see beyond the room with a widescreen of a red phoenix flying in the sky painted on it that was placed after the entrance inside the room to hide the rest of the chamber's view.

"Would one of the little sisters inform the Empress on this elder sister's arrival? It would be terrible to surprise Her Majesty." Xiao Hua clapped inwardly when she was certain that the two maid's smiles dimmed slightly.

So Xiao Hua was right to remain on guard and think even more. This method must be one of the traps for her to commit mistakes so that the Empress has a reason to censure her.

Is it too late to run away?

One of the maids stepped into the room and announced Xiao Hua's arrival. It was only until the Empress verbally allowed her to enter did Xiao Hua step into the room.

But the two maidservants quickly stopped Da Bei and Duan Xi Ying. "Her Majesty only allowed Elder Sister Xiao Hua to enter."

Shit!

Xiao Hua pinched her hand, the movement hidden under her wide sleeves, to clear her mind and control her panic before stepping back out of the room.

"These sisters, the Third Prince had ordered Xiao Hua not to go anywhere without the two of them, for Xiao Hua is still inexperienced with the royal etiquette and would perhaps offend important people. Please inform Her Majesty that Xiao Hua does not wish to disobey her master's order and could only decline her invitation."

"Let them in," a familiar voice of the Empress called out from inside the room.

Naturally, she had heard everything.

"Please excuse this inexperienced servant's blunder," Xiao Hua said loudly before stepping into the room with Duan Xi Ying and Da Bei.

The two maids were willing to let Duan Xi Ying pass, but their reluctance was painfully obvious when Da Bei stepped into the room, who looked unconcerned that he just stepped into a lady's room.

Since Xiao Hua had already offended them, she might as well go all the way. She just hoped her golden thigh, the Third Prince, would be able to save her if things get out of hand. She purposely stopped before she could step out of view from the widescreen and started with her plan.

"Oh, this incompetent servant had offended the Empress for asking a male to enter Her Majesty's bedchamber!" Xiao Hua made her voice shaky and apologetic, even twisting her face to look guilty. "This servant will ask Da Bei to return to the Third Prince's side quickly!"

The two maid's responses were so slow that the Empress was forced to speak.

"There's no need for that. Have that male servant stand outside and wait."

"But Your Majesty-"

"Just leave it at that. No need to trouble my son just because of a bodyguard."

"Your Majesty, this servant is worried about my master. It would still be better to have more bodyguards with the Third Prince."

"Nonsense!" The Empress's voice raised a notch. "My son does not need one more trifling bodyguard to protect him. You two, why are you still standing there and not settling things for this Empress? The two of you will be working in the kitchen for a week for your incompetence."

The Empress: Incompetent servant? Ha! Who was this little stinky maid trying to fool? If that boy was sent to Long Zhu, he would know his personal maid was in her hands!

"Please forgive us, Your Majesty." Even if they feel wronged, as it was the Empress that told them to let them in when they tried to block them from entering, the two maids were forced to swallow their grievances and accepted the punishment. But their dislike towards Xiao Hua bloomed to hate.

The Empress had told them to do their best to display Xiao Hua's incompetence so that she could use it to hold it over the Third Prince's head and force him to change his personal maid. After that, one of them would take over the personal maid position.

The Third Prince's personal maid position was empty for years and most of the maidservants had eyed it for years. Their hearts could not accept the fact that an unknown girl suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stole the position they had worked hard for.

In their eyes, Xiao Hua was a commoner, only suited to be a low-ranked servant.

Her looks were plain, with nothing to brag about. But she managed to throw them off the game and forced them to be punished.

Fortunately, they were just sent to the kitchens for a week, which meant that the Empress had not given up on them.

But the two of them were just young maids, not experienced or sly enough to lead Xiao Hua to fall into a trap. There were still inner maids of the Empress, along with her personal maidservant. Soon, that lowly maid would suffer her own retribution!

"Come in, Xiao Hua," the Empress invited, and as expected, her voice showed nothing but pleasantry, as if she truly welcomed Xiao Hua's arrival.

Xiao Hua finally stepped past the screen divider and was secretly amazed at the spacious room. There was another divider at the further end of the room, hiding the Empress' inner chamber.

The Empress was dressed in red and gold with a similarly shaped phoenix as the entrance's screen divider embroidered on her dress. Behind her stood two maidservants around An Jing and An Wan's age, with the air of experience and maturity.

Giving the best curtsy she could perform, Xiao Hua politely greeted, "This servant greets Your Majesty. Please pardon this servant's faults."

The Empress inwardly wanted to slap the stinky maid in front of her. Faults?

Incompetence? The way she kept on asking her to excuse them was utterly shameless!

Was that not just to give her a leeway to escape punishment if she offended her, the Empress?!

Her rage stewed but outwardly, the Empress's smile grew wider as her phoenix eyes twinkled. "This Empress had met you once before and you have grown."

"It's thanks to the Third Prince's great effort that this servant managed to grow this much."

The Empress's smile grew even wider. "This Empress is amazed that you could cultivate, and even able to reach the first rank of the higher stage in such a short pe-riod. Seeing from before that there wasn't even a single strand of cultivation in you, this Empress had thought you did not have any fate when it came to cultivation."

The Empress picked up her teacup that one of her inner maidservants had passed to her, and calmly sipped the tea, flashing the catchy golden nail protector on her right hand's pinky.

Xiao Hua, who had to sharpen her mind to dissect every of the Empress's words to make it sound as mean as possible, came into the conclusion that the Empress had insulted Xiao Hua in having no fate in cultivating, but having good fate in riding the Third Prince's tailcoat.

With a polite smile, Xiao Hua said demurely, "It was all thanks to the Third Prince's generosity. He had given this servant Nutrient Pill and since then, this servant could cultivate. The Third Prince has an unending kindness for constantly supplying Nutrient Pill to this servant once a week."

Heise had not written if the original Xiao Hua could cultivate or not, so Xiao Hua just assumed that this body was able to cultivate was thanks to the Third Prince.

The Empress's face turned unpleasant and the sharp clang was rather loud when she placed down the teacup on the porcelain teacup holder.

This stinky girl dared to throw her own son's affection onto her face?

CHAPTER 14: Old ginger was still the spiciest

Fortunately, Xiao Hua was watching the Empress so she did not flinch from the loud bang from the slamming cup.

But...why was it rather easy to piss off the Empress? Shit!

She had thought she would need to trade a lot more insults before the Empress would snap when she was finally unable to hold in her anger anymore.

The taller maid standing behind the Empress hurriedly took out a napkin and wiped the Empress's hand that was covered with spilled tea from the earlier move.

Fortunately, most of the warm tea had landed on the Empress's dark red sleeves and protected her skin.

If the Empress was not a cultivator, her fingers would have gotten scalded from the hot tea.

"Hurry and kneel before Her Majesty to beg for forgiveness!" the shorter maid with a fierce scowl demanded as she glared at Xiao Hua.

Xiao Hua felt her knees shake when a fierce pressure hit her, which seemed to be coming from the shorter maid. She would have fallen onto her knees if Duan Xi Ying had not stepped in front of her, blocking the pressure.

"This sister, the Empress had yet to say anything, yet you stepped out to sentence punishment on Her Majesty's behalf. Being our master's servant, you should know what your master's thoughts are after years of serving the Empress. Xi Ying believes that the Empress is kind and forgiving, and would not discipline Elder Sister Hua for speaking the truth in a bold manner as she is still learning etiquette and language. Xi Ying will properly educate Elder Sister Hua when we return to avoid offending Your Highness again."

Thank you Big Sis Xi Ying!

"Impudent!" the Empress growled and slammed her hand onto the table with a loud bang. Her hairpin swung violently from the movement, and it shone from the reflection of the light. As an Empress, it was only suitable for her hair to wear numerous hairpins, but the current swinging and shine made her hair resemble a decorated Christmas tree.

Xiao Hua wondered if the Empress's anger had momentarily blocked the pain or that she had banged her palms on a hard surface so many times that she no longer felt pain from it.

"Xin Dan, step back and remember your position," the Empress reprimanded after she had gotten her temper back into control.

It was laughable how a girl half her age would be able to make her this angry and even managed to break her composure that she was proud of. This girl knew her sensitive point, which was her son's unreasonable indulgence towards a lowly maid, and used it to drive the knife into her wound repeatedly!

Xin Dan, the shorter maid that had been pulled into the mud by Duan Xi Ying, docilely stepped back, her anger wisely hidden. "This servant is wrong, Your Majesty.

Please punish this servant for being foolish!" Never once had she been scolded for acting this way before, but that maid dressed in a clinging purple robe spoke words that made the Empress put all the blame on her.

"I will look past it this time. Don't do it again or I will not be forgiving!" The Empress had no desire to punish Xin Dan, for she had not minded her actions. Punishing Xin Dan would only please the lowly maid and injure her pride.

Xin Lin, the taller inner maid that wiped the Empress's hand previously, replaced the Empress's cup with a new one as the previous one could no longer be used with a long crack on the surface. She had even prepared a cup for Xiao Hua, which the Empress belatedly noticed.

"How forgetful of me. I've yet to offer you a seat. Surprisingly, my neck does not hurt while talking to you, so this Empress did not notice," the Empress said in a regretful manner, but her phoenix shaped eyes showed her glee.

Xiao Hua felt that the Empress and Long Lian were rather similar. Like mother like daughter! The righteous expression on their faces when they got angry or the way they pouted when things did not go according to their plan were exactly the same.

Even when they ridiculed a person, they would sound proper, but their eyes showed the glee they actually felt.

However, the Empress's words had more bite to it. Old ginger was still the spiciest!

"If Your Majesty does not mind, this servant can massage your neck. This servant is pretty good in massage and my late mother often sang praises of my talent. Only my late mother had the chance to experience it and I've not given the Third Prince a massage before!" Xiao Hua boasted without shame.

Oh, she gets the insult of her height from the Empress, but Le Xiao Ting had never felt inferior about her height, hence she was not sensitive towards the topic. Plus, Xiao Hua's body was still growing and with enough stretching, she could guarantee she would grow taller.

The Empress's mouth twitched before it was back to a polite smile. This stinky brat dared to boast about her massage skill? And even dared to assume this Empress would feel honoured because her son never experienced a massage from this stinky brat before?

"My son not asking you for a massage is a wise decision. You are an untrained servant and with your coarse hand and wild strength, you will hurt him instead."

"This..." Xiao Hua acted shyly, even going as far as imitating the shy maidens from olden Chinese drama where they would make half-assed attempts to hide their embarrassed face. "This servant's hands are no longer coarse all thanks to the Third Prince's kindness! He had given this servant a cream to rub on my skin. It's truly a miracle!"

Xiao Hua even 'shyly' raised her hands to show her smooth, fair-skinned hands, and just like she predicted, the Empress's eyes burned with anger.

The Empress: This unfilial son! So he lied about having no more cream to his own mother?!

When her son gifted a box of cream to her as her birthday present last year, she was overflowing with joy when her wrinkles noticeably lessened after applying the cream on her face. The amount of cream in the box was only enough for a month's usage, and the Empress asked Long Zhu for more after it was finished. But her unfilial son gave her a sad look, saying that the cream was rare and it would be a while before he could give her another.

And now she clearly saw the proof of her unfilial son's lie on the hands of a stinky maid!

She knew it was the same cream as her sharp nose caught the familiar fragrant coming from the stinky maid's hands, with the help of enhanced senses belonged to a third rank cultivator. Ordinary cream would not be able to erase a commoner's coarse skin that quickly and beautifully!

"Xin Dan! Prepare for a massage session. Since my son's personal maid admitted her skill in massage, this Empress wants to experience it herself." Xiao Hua: The Third Prince is indeed the Empress's kryptonite.

The Empress: I want that pair of hands to return back to its original state! With one mistake from the massage, I will throw her to prison and live a rough life!

The Empress's sanity was long gone since the moment Xiao Hua started to show off the Third Prince's affection right in front of his mother. To the Empress, Long Zhu was her biological child that she adored even more than her daughter as he never failed to please her.

Except for the incident of attempted murder towards the Second Prince when he was mere eight years old, he had never disappointed her. But after he took in an unknown girl as his personal maid, he disappointed her far too many times and those actions were an act of betrayal to her eyes.

In the deep recess of the Empress's heart, she felt as if her son's love towards her was stolen by a lowly maid.

Xin Dan hurriedly prepared things that one usually needed for a massage, her bruised ego slowly healed at the thought of the Empress giving Xiao Hua a bad time when the slut gave the Empress a massage. After Xin Dan was done preparing, Xin Lin guided the Empress to a wide couch.

But Xiao Hua quickly spoke up. "Your Highness, this servant suggests lying face down on the bed would be more suitable for the massage. This servant is embarrassed to admit that I work better that way."

"How could a servant enter the Empress's bedchamber? That's improper!" Xin Dan bellowed just like an aunt in the morning market to Xiao Hua's ears.

Xiao Hua honestly wondered if Xin Dan was hired as an inner maid because of her pretty looks and the minion-like personality. The servant would act as the bad person so that the master's reputation would not be sullied.

"But... this servant had never said to use the Empress's bedchamber. Just a bed for the Empress to lie down is enough." Xiao Hua only needed to cover her lower face as she forced herself to yawn to gather water to moisture her eyes. With a soft-spoken manner and teary eyes, people would think she was wronged.

Le Xiao Ting had watched plenty of dramas during her younger days and always wondered how the actor and actress could produce a realistic reaction, such as crying.

Although it was exposed that most of them used eye drops in the past, most of the actors and actresses had leveled themselves up and managed to cry without using props.

But for Le Xiao Ting, when she yawned, there were always tears forming in her eyes and there were few times when her friends often mistaken her yawning tears as crying.

"Xin Dan, go and prepare a room," the Empress ordered, annoyed at the delay. Her heart, which was full of anger, wanted to have an outlet but her servant kept on complaining without solving the matter and thus delaying her explosion. She could clearly look past the lowly maid's acting like a wronged party.

"Yes, Your Highness!" Xin Dan bit her lips and quickly went to prepare an empty room, releasing her frustration onto a few lower ranked servants by ordering them around to help her clean the room.

CHAPTER 15: This servant never had the intention to make you faint

The room prepared for the massage session was pretty small, but it would be enough for their purpose. Xin Dan and Xin Lin were allowed to be inside, along with Duan Xi Ying, who smiled with a gaze that made one unable to defend their heart from. Fortu-nately, everyone here was female so it did not have much effect on them.

The only one that was not allowed to enter was Da Bei. He reluctantly stood guard right outside the room after asking Duan Xi Ying to scream or make a ruckus if Xiao Hua encountered danger so he would be notified.

Needless to say, the little boy that placed no importance on the hierarchy angered the Empress. She knew that Da Bei was one of her son's shadow guards, but his rudeness was another sign that her son no longer loved her as much as he used to.

"Don't just stand there and waste this Empress's precious time," the Empress said coldly.

"As the Empress wishes." Xiao Hua bowed demurely. "The Eighth Prince should also be worried about this servant's lateness."

The Empress breathed in and out a few times to calm down her anger. She will hold it in for now!

"Your Majesty, please remove your outer robe and hair accessories," Xiao Hua said. "My massage would make the clothes crease."

With a nod from the Empress, Xin Lin swiftly helped her master to remove her outer robes and most of the hairpins, leaving only two behind to hold the bun up.

Xiao Hua calmly washed her hands with water and rose petals floating on the basin. Duan Xi Ying helped Xiao Hua to tie 'tasuki' sash style with a long cloth that Xiao Hua had stored in her spatial bracelets. The roll-tab sleeves no longer worked well, in addition to needing to stitch long cloth on all of her uniform. That was why Xiao Hua tried to figure out how 'tasuki' sash was tied and in the end, Duan Xi Ying helped her to figure it out.

Knowing that her bracelets would hinder the massage, she slipped them off her wrists, only to slip them onto her ankles. Amazingly, the bracelets could adjust its size according to its owner, and judging from Long Lian's surprised and envious look when she first saw it happen, this showed that the bracelet was truly rare and specially made.

Picking up a small unlabelled bottle filled with oil, she poured some onto her hands. She noted that the oil smelled of rose as she rubbed them until it covered every surface of her palms. Perhaps the Empress has a special fondness for roses?

There was a screen of embroidered maidens dancing being placed before the bed and when she stepped behind it after she finished her preparation, an irritated Xin Dan was the first thing Xiao Hua saw.

Xin Dan's irritated expression slipped, surprised to see Xiao Hua as the latter had not made any noise before entering, before putting on a calm mask and stepping past Xiao Hua to walk to the other side of the screen. She even ignored Duan Xi Ying, who was following Xiao Hua closely from behind.

Standing beside the bed silently was Xin Lin, with the Empress sitting on the bed with only her inner robe.

Seeing the Empress's body shape, Xiao Hua immediately knew that Long Lian got her body shape from her mother. The thin inner robe pretty much outlined the voluptuous chest and shapely curves of her hips that a mother usually possessed.

Hmm, perhaps Duke Heng has a good taste after all!

"This Empress looks highly on your massage skill. If it isn't up to my satisfaction, you will be sent to prison for lying."

How cruel of you, Empress.

Xiao Hua's confidence wavered. Le Xiao Ting had originally thought since her picky paternal grandmother, who had refused to stay with her only son's wife, demanded her massage once a week, the Empress would be easy to satisfy. But she did not think that the Empress would purposely fail her!

Then no matter how good her fingers worked on the Empress, she would still be sent to prison just because she was disliked.

She glanced over her shoulder at Duan Xi Ying but she only got a smile in reply.

Perhaps she meant she would save Xiao Hua if she got into trouble?

Since she would be visiting the prison either way, should she give the Empress her usual massage or try the 'stepping on body' massage that she usually saw in the movies that were less suited to a younger age audience?

Stepping on the Empress would be satisfactory, but that would make her get angrier...

"This humble servant understands. The Empress deserves the best massage and this servant hopes to be the one that gives it. Please review this servant's performance without prejudice, Your Majesty."

"You spoke of prejudice?" the Empress thundered in fury, her anger that she worked hard to keep in bay was unable to be restrained any further. "Are you saying this Empress would purposely fail you? How daring of you, just a mere servant to accuse this Empress of being partial when I am the honoured Mother of this Kingdom!" «This servant does not mean it that way!" Xiao Hua hurriedly explained with a lie.

"What this servant meant is the Empress might praise this servant's insignificant talent just to please the Third Prince for having a sharp eye when it comes to sighting hidden talent in this lowly servant."

"You.you..you..." Everyone was shocked when the Empress's eyes suddenly fluttered and she fell onto the bed.

"Empress!"

"Your Majesty!"

"She fainted!" Xiao Hua exclaimed in a mixture of fear and shock. She had never angered a person until they fainted before!

"I will call for the royal physician." Duan Xi Ying darted out of the room to call for a doctor, knowing that it would be bad if Xiao Hua accidentally harmed the Empress.

Xin Lin quickly opened all the windows and, realizing that Xin Lin wanted more fresh air for the Empress, Xiao Hua quickly helped out. Next, Xin Lin leaned over the Empress as she held out a salt pouch under the Empress's nose.

Only when the Empress finally stirred, slowly coming into consciousness, did Xin Lin remove the salt bag.

When Duan Xi Ying suddenly barged out of the room and passed by her without explanation, Xin Dan quickly entered the room and rushed behind the screen. Im-mediately, her eyes spotted the Empress lying on the bed with an anxious Xin Lin hovering over her. Next, her eyes saw Xiao Hua standing beside the bed, looking guilty and Xin Dan's mind jumped straight to the conclusion.

"You harmed the Empress!" Xin Dan, with a burst of speed, approached Xiao Hua with an unsheathed sword on her right hand.

Xiao Hua, who was standing between the incoming Xin Dan and the weak Em-press, knew that if she dodged it, the sword would hit the Empress. She did not know why she would Xin Dan move in slow motion, or how she got the selfless bravery to remain standing before the path instead of succumbing to her survival instinct to throw herself aside.

There was no large weapon inside Xiao Hua's spatial dimension bracelets and only knives were stored in them. But if Xiao Hua were to bend downwards to take out a knife from her bracelets, it would be too late to block Xin Dan's sword.

She had not trained her toes to hold onto knives!

With no other choice, she widened her stance and held out her hands with the intention to stop the sword by grabbing the blade with her palms wrapped with inner energy to protect herself. She had yet to learn how to control her inner energy to wrap around her palms properly, but right now she had no choice but to bet on it.

There might be a better way to block the incoming attack, but her panicking self could not think of a better way!

A loud bang followed by a violent crash distracted Xin Dan and her speed faltered as a blur of black approached her. Xin Dan screamed in pain when her wrist was forcefully snapped backward and the sword slipped from her hand onto the ground with an ear-piercing clang.

Not satisfied, Da Bei mercilessly twisted Xin Dan's left wrist too, and coincidentally crushed the fingers along the way. The intense pain had Xin Dan drop onto her knees, screaming continuously as she held her broken wrists that were quickly becoming dark purple.

It was not until Da Bei used his feet to step onto Xin Dan's back to hold her down and his hand reached out to grab onto her head did Xiao Hua snap out of her terror.

"Stop! Da Bei, stop!"

Xiao Hua let out a shaky breath, relieved that Da Bei halted his actions to snap Xin Dan's neck. The cold, bloodlust eyes were ones that she had never seen on Da Bei be-fore.

She was honestly terrified of this side of Da Bei.

Her fear slowed down her awareness and in the blink of an eve, they were surrounded by soldiers with their weapons drawn and pointed at them.

"Move away from the Empress!" a guard close to Xiao Hua barked, his sword positioned closely to her neck.

Xiao Hua slowly straightened herself and raised both of her hands to indicate her surrender. When she moved too slowly for his taste, he grabbed her arm and yanked her away, nearly tripping her.

"Touch her again and I kill this one," Da Bei growled threateningly, his hand that was still on Xin Dan's head tightened. Xin Dan finally stopped screaming and only whimpers of pain came from her mouth. Her arrogant demeanor was long gone, her tear-filled face and agonized expression belong to a defeated.

"Soldiers, stand down!" the Empress commanded weakly. With the help of Xin Lin, she slowly sat up and the soldiers removed their eyes from the half-dressed Empress.

Xin Lin helped the Empress to wear her outer robe, somewhat regaining her bearing of an Empress.

Xiao Hua quickly kneeled down with a face filled with remorse as she sincerely apologized. "Empress, this servant never had the intention to make you faint!"

The Empress that was slowly calming down took in a harsh breath as she could feel her blood threaten to burst out of her mouth. There was no need for this rude maid to remind her of her anger!

However, Xiao Hua was truly innocent. In most of the novels she read, the matriarch or mother-in-law always fainted so she believed that it was something that often occurred. So she should quickly apologize while the Empress was still feeling weak and difficult to summon her anger.

With that intention, Xiao Hua quickly apologized with the thought that an apology would make the Empress less angry without mentioning the reason so as to avoid the Empress thinking Xiao Hua was trying to humiliate her.

CHAPTER 16: Angered by a monkey and its trainer

Xin Lin finally got all the guards out of the room using the newly made convenient route that used to be a wall. The beautiful, white sturdy wall now had a large hole enough for an elephant to pass through easily.

How on earth did Da Bei create this large hole?

Xiao Hua did not dare to stand up as the Empress had yet to allow her, so she remained kneeling while silently complaining about how hard the floor was. Da Bei had let go of Xin Dan and stood before her protectively while glaring fiercely at the Em-press.

Noticing it, the Empress was displeased with it. "Do you think your master does not need to obey his mother anymore? I am still his mother and the Empress of this King-dom!"

When Da Bei chose to remain deaf towards the Empress's outburst, the Empress or-dered, "Xin Lin, have this insolent boy dragged to the prison! Tell the guards to especially take care of his eyes."

Xiao Hua gaped in terror as Xin Lin moved towards Da Bei with her inner energy unmasked. Xin Dan's inner energy was not even half as strong as Xin Lin's so it could be said Xin Lin has higher cultivation.

Xiao Hua's body trembled at the heavy pressure and despite her need to move to help Da Bei, she could not do it as fear crippled her. This hateful feeling was just like what she had felt during the firework incident, but this time the fear was from outside influence, forcing her to feel fear. There was nothing she could do to overcome the fear, especially when she could hardly even move a finger.

She could only helplessly watch Xin Lin make her way towards Da Bei as her inner energy got stronger and stronger in every step. Surprisingly, Da Bei was not at all affected by Xin Lin's aura and Xiao Hua swore that there was a glint of anticipation flashing in his eyes.

Already preparing herself to witness violence and blood, Xiao Hua was surprised when a light blue sleeve made from a high-quality cloth covered her view with a familiar smell of forest. Without needing to look, she already knew who it was just from the smell when a familiar pair of arms wrapped around her trembling form pro-tectively.

The fear that paralyzed her slowly eased and relief crashed down on her. "T-Third Prince..."

The gentle smile that was usually worn on his face was missing, his eyes swimming with worry and regret. He gently wiped her cheek using his sleeve and she realized she was crying.

Embarrassed, she quickly lowered her head to hide her crying face. Their close distance had Xiao Hua's head touching his chest which the Third Prince permitted and he further encouraged it by pressing her body closer to him.

But to the Empress's eyes, Xiao Hua was clearly seeking refuge from her son, even going as far as portraying herself as the innocent party with crocodile tears. To even buttering her son by throwing herself onto his chest, how shameless!

"Imperial Doctor, please hurry and identify what had caused Her Majesty to faint." Opposite of what they had expected, Duan Xi Ying had actually rushed to find the Third Prince to inform him of the matter before seeking a doctor for the Empress.

"There's no need for Doctor Li to diagnose this Empress." The Empress stopped the old doctor's approach with a cold gaze. This was truly embarrassing. Never once had she fainted, not even when she fought against the Emperor's hundreds of concubines!

The Empress had restrained herself from punishing Xiao Hua outright and instead made traps for her to fall into so that she would have a reason to punish her. After all, she knew that if she acted domineering without an excuse, she might strain her relationship with her son. But this stinky maid dared to insult her just because Long Zhu favoured her!

The Third Prince stood up with Xiao Hua in his arms and with familiar ease, lifted her up despite she had gained more weight and height recently. "Mother Empress, we will take our leave. Please allow Doctor Li to check your pulse to put this son's worry at ease."

The Empress said frostily, "You claim to worry about your mother yet you've already spoken of leaving. I doubt your sincerity when you only rush here to check on your maid instead of your own birth mother."

"Bring a chair for this prince."

Duan Xi Ying brought a stool over for the Third Prince to sit down, with Xiao Hua on his lap, cradled protectively in his arms. Xiao Hua truly wanted to escape from his grip but the Third Prince refused and used his arms as her cage. She was very aware of the Empress's deathly glare towards her.

"Mother Empress, please allow Doctor Li to diagnose you," the Third Prince said, half pleadingly.

Her anger blinded her from seeing her son's worry for her. "Why bother when this Empress already knows why and your maid was the one that caused it!" Originally, the Empress was embarrassed for fainting, but once she thought she could pin this crime on that stinky maid, she no longer found it to be as humiliating as before.

"I know that you like your maid, but she had offended your mother until I fainted.

Are you going to shelter her from punishment? If this news is to be spread to the pub-lic, your hard effort in maintaining your reputation of a filial son and benevolent prince will be destroyed."

"Mother Empress, Long Zhu is a filial son. Whatever your request of me, I always fulfilled it, but this time I had to refuse your request. Mother Empress, this son is truly fond of Xiao Hua and wishes to treasure her."

"My requests are not demanding as I only want the best for you. I overlooked your little habits and secret activities as long as it did not harm you or embarrass the royal family. But now, do you know what you have done?" the Empress questioned and stood up angrily with the help of Xin Lin.

"Did you know I had to calm down your father when he wanted to have your little maid removed? Everyone knew how well you treated her and the voice of you being unsuited for the throne is getting louder. The Emperor does not wish to see another son of his to marry a maid and brings shame to him again. He gave excuses to his ministers that you are just being kind and soon you will return to your normal self, but we all know you won't!"

The Empress slammed her palm on the bed and it cracked, slowly spreading until the bed collapsed. The beautiful lady with prideful air, with her back facing a scene of destruction... It was strangely captivating despite the heavy atmosphere filling the room.

"Mother, this is the only thing I will not let anyone control."

"Don't follow your fourth brother's bad influence! I never asked you to kill or throw her to the streets. I only want you to choose a better personal maid and have that girl occupy a lower rank."

"Mother, I do not wish to have a personal maid to begin with. But that is the only

position where I can keep Xiao Hua close to me so I can keep her safe."

"Long Zhu, stop being unreasonable! You do not want to enrage your Father Emperor!"

The Third Prince sighed. "I can handle Father Emperor, Mother. Xi Ying, escort Doctor Li to rest outside for a moment. Da Bei, drag that injured servant out of the room." Long Zhu waited until they left before he continued. "I truly admire my fourth brother for being strong and brave enough to marry the one he loves. Mother Em-press, if you continue to involve yourself with my marriage, regardless of whatever excuse it is, I won't hesitate to give up on the right to the throne."

"Long Zhu, you know you must not give up the right to the throne. You are the last choice if Long Qian is killed and Long Shan decides to rebel!"

"If you understand that Mother, then don't push on this issue again."

The pain reflected in the Empress's eyes made Xiao Hua feel bad for her. "Do what you want. But know that I won't agree to this."

The Third Prince stood up and allowed Xiao Hua to stand by her own feet. "Then this son will be leaving. As for today's matter, Xiao Hua is merely defending herself against Mother Empress's schemes, so there should be no need for punishment."

The Empress was too tired to make a fuss. "Xin Lin, bring me to my room to rest.

This Empress is tired after being angered by a monkey and its trainer."

The monkey: '.... Fine, this young lady will look past the monkey comment if I can escape from punishment.

With a hand on Xin Lin's arm, the Empress stepped out of the vandalized room and straight towards her bedchamber.

The Third Prince seeked out the doctor after they stepped out of the room. "Doctor Li, please check on Mother Empress's health. This prince had never seen her faint be-fore."

"This one will go and diagnose the Empress now," Doctor Li said with a low bow.

"Xi Ying, accompany Doctor Li to check on Mother Empress."

"Yes, Your Highness."

After they left, the Third Prince gently gripped Xiao Hua's hand. "Are you alright?"

"I'm alright. I apologize for causing trouble for you."

The Third Prince smiled and gently pulled her out of the Empress's courtyard. "Xi Ying told me most of what happened on our way. You only told Mother Empress the truth."

"You are not angry?" Xiao Hua asked doubtfully.

"No, why should I be?"

I just bullied your mother yet you are not angry and are even smiling at me?!

Seems like the Third Prince was the type where the husband will love the wife more than the mother...

The Third Prince suddenly stopped walking and Xiao Hua, whose hand was still in the Third Prince's grip, was forced to stop as well. Xiao Hua sucked in a deep breath when she saw two familiar people that they happened to cross paths with.

Long Shan and Liu Chu Chu!

CHAPTER 17: I know you are kind no matter how much you deny it

Xiao Hua quickly pulled her hand away from the Third Prince's grip. It would be better to have lesser people know about their relationship, especially from the hero and heroine. They might use her as leverage against the Third Prince to get rid of him from the throne competition.

Although the Third Prince said he supported the Crown Prince to be the next Em-peror, he had not declared that he would step out from the competition so he could still compete for the throne if anything happened to the Crown Prince.

The Third Prince gave her a look but allowed her to pull away, knowing that it was a wise choice to keep more of his advantages hidden in his sleeves. "Second Imperial brother, what a coincidence," the Third Prince said charmingly, even giving the man he hated a smile that revealed nothing but gentleness.

Xiao Hua truly marvelled at how he could restrain his great hatred towards his murderer, to be able to smile and happily chat with Long Shan. If it was her, she would have already picked up all the sharp things that her hands could reach and start attacking.

Le Xiao Ting could still remember when she was very angry with her fellow roommate in her university days. She regretted offering her roommate to use her shampoo once but her roommate translated it as permission to use it as long as she wanted. As a result, Le Xiao Ting had to restock her shampoo a month earlier than it should. She was tight on money and with how her inconsiderate roommate could not get a clue when she had already complained to her, she had no choice but to prank her roommate in a way that would permanently stop her.

The end result of her prank was her roommate was forced to cut off most of her hair but it worked as Le Xiao Ting wished for her roommate to never touch her stuff ever again. Le Xiao Ting's smile that was full of promise to do more evil was the one that stopped her roommate from even thinking of retaliating.

Xiao Hua suddenly felt scared. She had easily angered the Empress, but what if she secretly remembered all her deeds and repaid her three-fold when her guard was down?

"Third Imperial brother," the Second Prince greeted indifferently.

Liu Chu Chu curtsied gracefully, followed by the two maids behind them. "Greetings to the Third Prince."

Xiao Hua quickly followed along. "Greetings to the Second Prince and Fifth Miss Liu."

Today the golden couple was dressed in matching attire. The heroine, forever dressed in red despite the colour would be too bold for daily wear, was spotted in another red attire with artful splashes of white. The hero, forever dressed in white, was dressed in white attire with similar splashes of red like the heroine's attire.

Their looks complement each other pretty well. Not to mention their...preference, even their ability was matching. The hero, Long Shan, possessed an ice element, and the heroine, Liu Chu Chu, possessed a water element. One supplying water, one freezing it, how harmonious!

Long Shan's eyes drifted onto Xiao Hua for a second before looking away. It would be inappropriate for him to look at another female. It was only because she was Long Zhu's personal maid did he spare her a glance, only due to curiosity. He had heard of the Emperor and Empress being dissatisfied with Long Zhu because of his favouritism towards his personal maid.

However, the maid could not be considered as the most beautiful female in Guilin, but it was quite endearing the way she gripped onto her fingers nervously with her eyes wandering around while trying to be sneaky in stealing a few glances of him and Chu Chu.

As for Liu Chu Chu, she appraised Xiao Hua openly, as both were females and she was never one that cared much about this era's etiquette anyway. However, her gaze was not friendly but filled with dislike. Liu Chu Chu did not know why her heart would feel bitter and immediately disliked that maid. She just felt as if that maid had taken something that should be hers.

Long Zhu disliked the attention his little flower got. "Second Imperial brother is here to visit Imperial Concubine He?"

"Concubine mother wishes to spend more time with Chu Chu," the Second Prince confirmed. "How is Mother Empress doing?"

Without needing to ask, both knew that the other was here to visit their birth moth-er. After all, they were at the courtyard that concubines stayed in. It so happened that the Empress's residence was located near the harem so that if anything happened, she could be reached easily to deal with the matter.

"Mother Empress is doing fine. Second Imperial brother should visit Mother Empress often. What would others say if you visited your concubine mother more often than your principal mother?" the Third Prince chastised lightly.

Xiao Hua noticed the atmosphere turned slightly colder, seemingly coming from the Second Prince. Liu Chu Chu subtly reached out to hold his hand and the chill slowly decreased.

"Third Imperial brother does not need to worry. I will visit Mother Empress when she is free to accept my visitation. I visited her just a few days ago, but she is too busy to grant me audience. I've sent some health products to ensure that Mother Empress could take care of her health."

The Third Prince smile turned even wider, his tone slightly chastising. "That's strange, Second Imperial brother. Whenever I visit Mother Empress, she would always spare some time for me despite her busy schedule."

Xiao Hua: These two, ah... if the Empress is able to hear their conversation, she might be overjoyed. But why are they bragging about the wrong stuff? If they truly care about the busy Empress, help her lessen her workload then, stupid sons!

Too irritated at these two princes, even if one of them was her boyfriend, she looked away and caught a pair of eyes filled with hostility.

Xiao Hua blinked, her irritation was forgotten as her mind was occupied in wondering who this person was. The hostile eyes belonged to a maid that was standing a few feet behind the Second Prince and she did not even bother concealing her glare towards Xiao Hua.

She had never seen this girl before, especially when she was obviously the Second Prince's servant. She might be pretty bad at remembering people's faces, but she was pretty sure she had not seen her before.

It was a plain face that was pretty rough looking with thin eyes and a wide mouth.

As if to make up for the plain face, she had a curvy body that could capture the male's attention to look at her for the second time. She was dressed in light green clothes that were the uniform of the servants of the Second Prince and her hair was pinned up with a simple hairpin.

The existence of the hairpin indicated that she was not a low ranking maid, so she must be the Second Prince's inner maid. Xiao Hua did not get to indulge her curiosity as the Second Prince and heroine no longer had the patience to play insults and make excuses to leave.

"Could she be Pang Pang or Tang Tang?" Xiao Hua mumbled as she watched the backs of the two green uniform maids.

Pang Pang and Tang Tang were the two maidservants that were especially loyal to the heroine. However, Pang Pang was described as chubby and Tang Tang was missing teeth from too much sweet intake. But the hostile maid was curvy, not chubby, and there were no missing teeth.

"Pang Pang and Tang Tang?"

Xiao Hua blinked. "Third Prince, you knew them?"

The Third Prince nodded. "They are Tian Zi and Tian Chi. I bought them from the slave market and gave them a better name."

In the novel, Liu Chu Chu was lacking servants so she decided to visit the slave market, which the location was revealed by her cheap father. The original Liu Chu Chu's father was a great merchant that was involved with a lot of underground busi-ness. She found the pitiful two girls and brought them back but did not change their name because Liu Chu Chu wanted them to retain something that was solely theirs.

Pang Pang was actually one of the heroine's small cheats, whose name was now changed to Tian Chi. Xiao Hua knew it was her even if Tian Chi was not chubby. Tian Chi loved eating meat while Tian Zi preferred sweets. Both of them were known as

'Foodie Duo' among the readers!

Pang Pang, now known as Tian Chi, could heal people using her spiritual energy and that was why she needed to eat a lot of food to replenish her energy.

But for the Third Prince to take away a small cheat from the heroine... this young lady gives you a 'Like' [8], darling boyfriend!

The Third Prince took her hand and gently pulled her along to continue walking to the exit.

"Coincidentally, I found them at the slave marketplace. If the seller did not mention their name, I would not have recognized them."

"Then you know about Pang Pang- er, Tian Chi's ability?"

"Yes. That's one of the reasons why I took them away."

"...Thank you for saving them," Xiao Hua said softly as she remembered what she read about the foodie duo's ending.

"I did not save them."

"You did," Xiao Hua said firmly. "You saved them from being killed for saving Liu Chu Chu's ass."

"They could be killed in the future for protecting me," the Third Prince pointed out.

"But you would never carelessly have them risk their lives to save yours."

"They will need to risk their life for mine as they are my inner maids."

Xiao Hua huffed in frustration and looked around. Seeing that they were alone, she demanded, "Then what's your excuse when you treat the original 'Xiao Hua' well?"

"I wish to repay the gratitude so I treat 'you' well."

"Which Liu Chu Chu will not do! Actually, she might, but she would never go as far as how you did. She would think that giving them nice food and giving them a good place to live would be enough in her opinion. She would never be like you, treating them well and making sure their indulgence did not risk their health."

Xiao Hua knew that Tian Chi ate a lot yet her body did not expand sideways, which was a feat she envied. As for Tian Zi, she enjoyed eating sweets but she restrained herself not to eat much and managed to keep her teeth in a proper state.

"Unhealthy servants would be no use to me," the Third Prince explained, and he was confused when Xiao Hua smiled even brightly.

"No matter what excuse you use, to me, you still saved them."

I know you are kind no matter how much you deny it.

CHAPTER 18: Teach Elder Sister Hua the dangers of society

During their carriage ride back to the manor, the Third Prince told her that General Tang and Ping Shui had fled from the Second Prince and were currently hiding in the Pearl Courtyard.

Tian Chi had healed their physical wounds, leaving only their mental fatigue, which would be recovered as long as they took the time to rest. Using her inner energy to heal was pretty rare and useful in this world, but it could not be compared to the heroine's cheat, which was the spring water that could heal any injury, even neutralizing the strongest poison in the world. But Heise had not written if the spring water could regrow a limb back.

When they finally returned to the Third Prince's residence from the palace, An Jing and An Wan were waiting for them at the gates.

"Welcome back, Master. Welcome back, Elder Sister Hua."

"Yes, I'm back, Sister An Jing, Sister An Wan," Xiao Hua replied to their greeting.

"Your Highness, Grand Tutor Ping wishes to speak to you. He had returned from the mountains and had arrived earlier to visit Madam Ping Shui. Right now he's at Pearl Courtyard, waiting for the master to return to discuss the matter," An Jing in-formed.

"I will meet with him now. Xiao Hua, go and have some rest before the night meal." Xiao Hua nodded obediently. "Yes." She needed some time alone to reflect on her behaviour. The guilt of making the Empress angry until she fainted finally surfaced.

The Third Prince rubbed her head. "Don't think too much about it. Mother Empress isn't a weak person."

Xiao Hua tried her best to school her face to calmness. Is her face that easy to read?

To her surprise, only An Wan accompanied the Third Prince to meet with Grand

Tutor Ping. Turning to An Jing curiously, she received a gentle smile from the elder woman.

"Elder Sister Hua, I've prepared snacks and tea for you to enjoy in the Spring Courtyard."

Xiao Hua smiled. "Thank you, Sister An Jing. Will you join me?"

"I would love to."

So ... An Jing wants to talk to her?

Following An Jing to Spring Courtyard, she saw Tian Zi standing under the pavilion with snacks and tea ready on the table. When Xiao Hua saw what was today's dessert, she could already feel her saliva gathering and threatening to escape from her mouth.

Egg tarts! And they were not small-sized and the egg custard was more than thepastry!

Le Xiao Ting loved egg tarts very much and often ate them when she was younger.

But the shop that sold the delicious egg tarts had closed down a few years ago. There were other shops that sell egg tarts but their taste was still not to her satisfaction.

It might be her memory making the egg tarts from her childhood more delicious than in reality, but she still could not accept how tasteless the egg custard tasted from most shops. Her favourite was Portuguese egg tart, as the pastry was crispy and there was more egg custard filling.

She had not thought that egg tarts would already exist in this era! Perhaps she should not use the historical record in her original world to compare to this world as she found some items already exist in this era when it should only have been created in her original world years later.

Easily noticing the eagerness in Xiao Hua's eyes, An Jing smiled softly, "Please take a seat, Elder Sister Hua. Have a cup of tea to moisturize your throat." Sister An Jing! You are the gentlest and caring lady I've met! ('v') / ~ O

"Thank you." Discarding her manners, Xiao Hua greedily drank a cup of tea, suddenly realizing her throat was relatively dry. It must be all the talk she did earlier in the palace that dried up her throat.

Tian Zi giggled and placed a small plate with an egg tart on it in front of Xiao Hua.

"Tian Chi baked some egg tarts earlier and I managed to save some for us before she finished eating them. Taste one, Elder Sister Hua. Tian Chi is good at baking!"

"Then I won't be polite and help myself to it." Xiao Hua used her fingers to reach for the egg tart but was quickly stopped by An Jing.

"Elder Sister Hua, please use the chopstick provided to eat it."

"Oh yes, of course! Thank you for reminding me." Xiao Hua laughed awkwardly before picking up the chopstick. She was too used to eating dry pastry using her hands and the large size of the egg tart made one feel intimidated to pick it up using a chopstick without risking it falling down. She could already imagine the mess once the egg tart fell and missed the plate.

Fortunately, she managed to avoid embarrassing herself as her chopstick managed to lift up the egg tart with one try. Without holding back, she took a large bite from it and let out a satisfied hum at the delicious taste. Tian Chi was indeed a good baker.

"Elder...Elder sister Hua." Tian Zi could not bear to continue looking and called out.

"You should cut it into smaller pieces to eat."

This was the first time she heard cutting an egg tart into pieces.

But she followed what Tian Zi suggested and placed the half eaten egg tart back on her plate. Wielding her chopstick like a knife, she struck it down and cut the tart into two. Just like she expected, the plate was filled with scattered pastry crumbs and the egg custard had cracks on the surface.

An Jing and Tian Zi were rendered speechless at Xiao Hua's crude way of cutting the egg tart. Seeing that Xiao Hua had already picked up one of the sliced egg tarts and was eating it, they chose to turn a blind eye over it.

"Hmm~ this is so good!" Xiao Hua praised happily and An Jing took out a napkin to wipe away the crumbs around her mouth.

"T-Thank you." Xiao Hua looked embarrassed. Her mom only helped her to wipe her mouth until she entered kindergarten.

Tian Zi took an egg tart to eat as well. As a sweets lover, being able to resist eating the egg tart despite being teased by the delicious aroma while waiting for Xiao Hua to return was already an amazing feat.

As an excellent maid that picked up the skills to consume her food in a short period of time, Tian Zi was quick to finish the egg tart when Xiao Hua only started eating the second half of the egg tart. An Jing calmly drank her tea, not at all interested in the egg tarts.

"Elder Sister Hua, are you alright?" Tian Zi asked worriedly. "We heard the Empress invited you for tea."

"You heard about it?" That was surprisingly quick for the news to reach their ears.

"Da Liu told me," An Jing explained. Her husband was always beside their master so he knew everything.

As their master did not mind, Da Liu would often tell his wife about things, except for truly important matters such as Xiao Hua and Heise being transmigrators. This time, he quickly told his wife about Xiao Hua meeting the Empress was for her to find out if Xiao Hua was truly alright and did not suffer any mental damage.

"Did the Empress do anything to you?" Xiao Hua shook her head and explained to them what happened.

Tian Zi and An Jing were once again rendered speechless. The Xiao Hua they knew was different from the Xiao Hua that socialized with the Empress!

"Elder Sister Hua, are you not afraid for your life?" Tian Zi finally asked frantically.

Xiao Hua lowered her head, feeling guilty. She angered the Empress, disregarding her safety and those that worried about her. "I'm sorry."

An Jing rubbed her head just like how the Third Prince did to her. "Just don't do it again."

Xiao Hua nodded like chicken pecking rice. "I won't!" If the Empress made trouble again, she promised to hold most of her opinion back, unless it was for self-defence.

Tian Zi sighed tiredly. "You scared everyone when we heard you were meeting the Empress. Elder Sister An Jing's face was pale when Sir Da Liu told us you had angered the Empress! Elder Sister Hua is truly brave, daring to talk back to the intimidating Empress!"

Xiao Hua blushed as she mumbled softly, "She's just like Long Lian." An Jing and Tian Zi were cultivators, hence they easily caught Xiao Hua's words.

"The Empress is just like Princess Long Lian? Princess did inherit the Empress's beauty after all," Tian Zi said understandingly.

"No, that's not exactly what I meant," Xiao Hua explained. "It's the way the Empress had acted. Her attempt to show off her power is just like how Long Lian does it and it's cute so I'm unable to stop myself from teasing her."

Truthfully, Xiao Hua felt that the Empress was acting like a love rival instead of a mother towards her son's maid. It was until the Empress suddenly fainted did she become aware that she was flirting with danger!

...They will need to teach Elder Sister Hua the dangers of society!

CHAPTER 19: Muscles? They look flabby to me

Everyone in Guilin was celebrating. Their beautiful Empress was once again expecting a child! The Emperor awarded a bag of rice to every household and a bolt of sec-ond-grade quality cloth to every second and first rank minister. It showed just how happy the Emperor was of the news.

But there were also people that were not happy with the news.

A beauty dressed in a mixture of bright coloured clothes was smashing priceless items in her room. Her pure, lovable face was no longer in sight, replaced with an ugly expression of anger and jealousy. Concubine He might have played hard-to-get games with the Emperor but she made sure the Emperor always stayed at her place every night.

To her, it was revolting to touch that disgusting pig but in order to secure the throne for her son, she would tolerate his ugly face and pretend that his irritating affections were working on her. It was only thanks to the drug she fed the Emperor, giving him false illusion of their nightly activities, that saved her from dirtying her body with his slimy hands.

The only time she failed to lure the Emperor to her bed was during the Third Prince's birthday. Who would have thought the Empress's body was still fertile and would have gotten pregnant just from one night?

"Mother, stop it or you will hurt yourself." The Second Prince stepped into the room without any care of the sharp pieces scattered over the floor. "Do not let your anger hurt your health."

"How could she be so lucky?" Concubine He snarled and smashed a pot of flowers

that had just bloomed. "It was just one time and she got it!"

Hearing the Empress was pregnant had poked Concubine He's sore spot in her heart. She had tried to get pregnant again with her lover during their secret ren-dezvous, but no matter how many times they tried, she could not get pregnant.

"Shan Er', she must not give birth to that baby!"

"Calm down, Mother. That man still adores you." Long Shan carefully guided his mother to stand at a spot without sharp broken pieces on the floor. "As long as you show your acceptance and encouragement of the Empress's pregnancy, he will believe you are kind and gentle."

"I don't want to accept it!" Concubine He roared with eyes filled with jealousy.

"The Empress's pregnancy would not last long."

Concubine He brightens. "You have a plan? You will end her pregnancy?"

"We will speak of this in the next room. Chu Chu is there, waiting to greet you."

"Quickly bring me to see Chu Er'. Ask the servants to prepare steamed buns that my daughter loves."

Concubine He was very pleased with her future daughter-in-law. She was beau-tiful, intelligent, and talented in cultivation. In just half a year, her zero cultivation had jumped to the second rank! Not to mention, her being the disciple of the solitary Legendary Doctor Bai forced everyone to respect her.

"Mother, you do not need to worry. Chu Chu has prepared some dishes for you to try. You need to fill your stomach so you will have enough energy and maintain your good health. Your health is the most important, so leave your worries to us. We will handle it."

The usually cold prince was kind and thoughtful towards his mother, for she was the one that loved him and pursued a better life for him since he was a baby. His mother was the best he could ever ask for.

"Your mother never regrets giving birth to you." Concubine He smiled as she patted

a hand on her son's arm. "You will help Mother get revenge, won't you?"

"Yes, Mother. Just leave it all to your son."

~~~

Xiao Hua loathes Heise.

"Hey hey, don't get distracted! You will get hurt!"

The warning came too late as the branch's sharp side scratched Xiao Hua's neck, leaving a long red line before falling to the ground, playing dead.

"Hey, you alright?!" The Eighth Prince jumped out from his hiding place and hurried over to Xiao Hua, examining her injury.

"It's nothing," Xiao Hua said darkly. She rubbed her new wound on her neck, find-

ing a twisted pleasure from the sting.

"Let's have Tian Chi heal it for you," the Eighth Prince suggested, which Xiao Hua immediately shot down.

"It's just a small cut. There's no need for Sister Tian Chi to waste her energy to heal such a small thing."

Originally, she was happy when she could finally sense spiritual energy, which was thanks to the tyrant Xin Lin, the Empress's inner maid, who had unleashed her inner energy and paralyzed Xiao Hua in fear.

The Eighth Prince was finally allowed to visit Xiao Hua thanks to the Emperor being in a good mood from the Empress's pregnancy. When he arrived, Xiao Hua was training with Duan Xi Ying, and seeing the fun of throwing sticks at Xiao Hua, the Eighth Prince decided to take over Duan Xi Ying's job.

Even when Heise had revealed that he was a sports addict, his current appearance unconsciously made one doubt his word. And so Xiao Hua suffered from her ignorance.

Xiao Hua nearly vomited blood when she heard the Eighth Prince revealed with a face that did not know of his good fortune. "I'm in the final stage of the second rank cultivation now."

His cultivation speed was even faster than Long Lian who had started cultivating when she was five. Xiao Hua's self-esteem suffered a harsh blow! (TTF)

Never say the Eighth Prince could not read people's moods. "Let's take a break! I'm hungry!"

"Hungry? It's not even lunchtime yet. No wonder you are getting rounder. I can't even differentiate between your neck and chin."

"Hey! It's muscles, okay!"

"Muscles? They look flabby to me."

"That's because you're blind! Here, touch them and see!"

"Xiao Hua~" Duan Xi Ying called out sweetly, stopping their antics. "It's time for lunch and there are salted egg yolk buns for dessert."

"Time for lunch!" Xiao Hua cheered, her mood immediately lifted.

The Eighth Prince mumbled, "two-faced monster" before staring at Duan Xi Ying suspiciously.

Duan Xi Ying smiled before reminding him helpfully, "Xi Ying understands very well that the Third Prince would punish the Eighth Prince for indecent exposure."

"What indecent exposure?!" the Eighth Prince roared and the birds were scared away from the trees, launching off so quickly that the trees shook from the force.

"Hey, don't scare off the cute birds! You will be hated by Cinderella!" Xiao Hua called as she stood still and let Duan Xi Ying wipe her sweat with a towel.

The Eighth Prince snorted. "You are the Cinderella? Then my third brother will be Prince Charming?"

"Obviously I'm not Cinderella. Are you blind or something? I'm saying Cinderella's spirit will curse you to be a stepmother."

"What stupid reasoning is that?!"

"My brain is tired," Xiao Hua said flatly. "Xiao Hua failed to think up a good lesson for the young Eighth Prince to learn being caring towards small animals."

"You crazy person!"

"Feed me food and I will be sane again."

"Hah! I'm not the fat one, but you! Recently you only wear new clothes. The old ones must be too small for you right now, right?" The Eighth Prince snickered cruelly.

Xiao Hua could not defend herself because... he's right! (°°#)

Her body was no longer as thin or short as the beginning when the Third Prince picked her up as his personal maid. Right now she looked just like a pampered young miss of a noble family if not for her uniform that indicated otherwise.

"Xiao Hua is growing and needs more food. Xiao Hua is looking even more beautiful as Xiao Hua ages," Duan Xi Ying praised, softening Xiao Hua's ire.

The transmigrated duo's eyes immediately sparkled when they saw their lunch on the table. The steamed fish with ginger slices still had hot vapour coming from it. Next to it was the braised pork belly that was enough to fill three people's stomachs. The final dish was stir-fried green beans with thin pork slices.

Duan Xi Ying giggled seeing their hungry eyes and sniffing noses. Although it was not intentional, that sound was rather seductive that even the bend Eighth Prince stared at her with interest.

"Xi Ying, where is the Third Prince? Will he be joining us for the meal?" Xiao Hua asked while the Eighth Prince had already started eating.

Duan Xi Ying shook her head as she gently cleaned the cut on Xiao Hua's neck with a wet cloth before bandaging it. "Master is currently having a meal with Duke Heng."

"Ah! Hey, Xiao Hua, that Duke Heng is being weird," the Eighth Prince said while chewing. "Since the New Year festival, he kept on sending presents to me." The Eighth Prince was talking to Xiao Hua, but his eyes sneakily glanced at Eunuch Heng, which was noticed by Xiao Hua. Although Heise's acting had improved, he was unable to fool Xiao Hua, who was used to hanging out with him and able to recognize his habits.

Xiao Hua chewed on a green bean as she glanced at Eunuch Heng that was standing behind the Eighth Prince. Since Eunuch Heng was sent in by Duke Heng, naturally the boss should have sent some instructions to the minion. That must be what the Eighth Prince had thought as well.

Pleased that Eunuch Heng looked worried, Xiao Hua swallowed the food in her mouth. "Did he visit you?"

The Eighth Prince shrugged. "Everyone that wishes to meet with me had to go through the Empress first so if Duke Heng did try to visit me, the Empress should have rejected him."

"But why would the Empress do that? Aren't you Duke Heng's nephew?"

"To my knowledge, he never paid any attention to the Eighth Prince before. To suddenly send gifts over..he might be planning to do something evil to me!"

"Duke Heng would never do that!" Eunuch Heng exclaimed, finally unable to keep watching them having the wrong impression of Duke Heng.

And the trap successfully caught the prey

CHAPTER 20: You failed your task, bro

"Duke Heng wants to meet Xiao Hua?" The Eighth Prince stared at Eunuch Heng in disbelief.

"Why?"

Eunuch Heng sighed in self-pity. He's going to be scolded by Duke Heng again ... (7 @) "Duke Heng wishes to taste Elder Sister Hua's tea again." Xiao Hua froze in terror. Duke Heng knew her identity! E(°A°|| DI

She had naively thought that Duke Heng would not know her identity since she was not Long Lian's maid and that she had never been officially introduced to him as the Third Prince's personal maid.

Heise had more or less been updated about Xiao Hua's tea brewing cheat, which she had gotten from the Third Prince and knew it must be kept a secret for her safety.

He glowered at Eunuch Heng. "Did you tell Duke Heng about Xiao Hua's tea?"

"This servant would not dare to!" Eunuch Heng immediately kneeled down in fear.

"This servant only obeys you, the Eighth Prince!"

"Wait, Heise, I did not tell you about Duke Heng and the King of Munzhu competing in tea brewing with me. Duke Heng should have figured out about my tea from that time."

"What! Such a big thing happened and you did not tell me?"

Xiao Hua laughed guiltily. "I forgot..."

At that time Long Lian was already angry with her and when she finally got the chance to privately talk to Heise without the princess around, the topic of visiting the person that might know how to get them back was more important. The Eighth Prince only knew about Xiao Hua's tea brewing cheat skill because of the angry Long Lian.

He failed to question how Long Lian discovered it.

She quickly told him about that incident and the Eighth Prince's frown grew deeper.

The Eighth Prince turned to look at Eunuch Heng. "You never tell Duke Heng anthing about me and Xiao Hua, right?"

Eunuch Heng shook his head so fiercely that his hat nearly flung off from his head.

"This servant would never do that! If Duke Heng knew about it, he would kill you! You must never tell him your secret, Your Highness!"

Staring strangely at his eunuch, the Eighth Prince asked, "Isn't Duke Heng the one that sent you to protect the original Eighth Prince?"

Eunuch Heng nodded sadly. "Yes, this servant was only sent to protect the Eighth Prince after the death of Imperial Concubine Heng. This servant had never met the Eighth Prince before his unfortunate loss of rationality and did not have as much affection as Duke Heng had towards him. Duke Heng often visited Imperial Concubine Heng whenever he could and adored the Eighth Prince before that unfortunate inci-dent."

"But.....since the day I came to this world till now, I've never met Duke Heng." With a confirmatory nod, Eunuch Heng explained, "It hurts his heart to see the previously cheerful and smart prince changed into one that does not recognize him and always asked to meet his mother. Unable to endure it, Duke Heng assigned me to protect the Eighth Prince in his stead."

Xiao Hua: You failed your task, bro. The real Eighth Prince had died.

The Eighth Prince: What a cruel person to send a young boy into the palace as a eunuch to take care of a mentally ill prince!

"This servant felt guilty for being happy that Your Highness possessed the Eighth Prince's body, but this servant wished for Duke Heng to be happy again!"

When Eunuch Heng went as far as to kowtow at the Eighth Prince, the said prince was shocked and jumped out of his seat to avoid accepting the gesture.

"Your Highness, please meet Duke Heng and ease his unhappiness! The Lord must feel terribly guilty for not being able to protect Imperial Concubine Heng and the Eighth Prince! If..If Your Highness let Duke Heng see the current you, it would ease his bitterness and guilt!"

"Eunuch Heng," Xiao Hua interrupted grimly. "Did you talk about this with the Third Prince?"

He hesitated before shaking his head. "No."

"As someone that has met the real Eighth Prince, Duke Heng would easily look past Heise's act." Xiao Hua pointed out the possibility.

"Heng Xin, you know it would be impossible for the mentally ill Eighth Prince to be suddenly cured," the Eighth Prince added.

"T-I know. But just a little!"

Duan Xi Ying patted Eunuch Heng's head as one does to a pet. "Xi Ying thinks this is a great idea»"

"Eh?"

"The Eighth Prince does not need to be cured, just being able to recognize Duke Heng will be finer"

Eunuch Heng quickly nodded. "Yes, that will work! Duke Heng was mostly sad because the Eighth Prince was unable to remember him!"

"No way! I don't even know him!" the Eighth Prince protested fiercely.

"Xi Ying knows Eunuch Heng does not know the previous Eighth Prince, so Xi Ying will request master to help in tutoring the Eighth Prince about the previous Eighth Prince's habits and behaviour."

"Heise, you need to make Duke Heng happy," Xiao Hua encouraged with a serious expression. But there was a trace of sarcasm that caused the Eighth Prince to snap.

"You two-faced girl!"

"Shut it. I'm such a nice elder sister, helping you to find an opportunity to eat Duke Heng's tofu [9]. He's really good looking you know~" If Xiao Hua does not have the Third Prince as her boyfriend, her second choice would be Duke Heng!

"What does being good looking have to do with eating tofu?!"

Xiao Hua tsk-ed at the Eighth Prince for being simple-minded. "Come on, little kids usually hug their parents and relatives. Duke Heng is your uncle now, so you will get to hug him! Even if the original Eighth Prince does not do that, right now you are mentally a kid so you can hug him as much as you want! Use that opportunity to grope him too while you are at it!"

The onlookers: '..' Elder Sister Hua seems to be possessed by a lewd demon! E(O_O)

"Hey, that's a great idea!" the Eighth Prince exclaimed with bright eyes.

The onlookers: '...' The Eighth Prince got affected too! [(°7°)

"Of course! Just act cute and smile, he won't reject your advances!" Xiao Hua continued on with her corruption. "As a doting uncle, he would never hate your hugs! In fact, he would even welcome them!"

"...No, I can't do that!" The Eighth Prince finally came back to his senses, pushing away the devil's lure. "I'm in a relationship!"

"In a relationship?" Xiao Hua stared at the Eighth Prince blankly.

"Yes! I'm dating Heng Xin!"

"Oh~" Xiao Hua stared at Eunuch Heng meaningfully and cheerfully said, "Congrat-ulations to both of you! I will fully support your relationship and will try my best to have the Third Prince help out if the Emperor and Empress refuse to accept your rela-tionship."

The Eighth Prince blinked rapidly so that the tears would not fall from his eyes.

"Xiao Hua-"

"Why wouldn't the Emperor and Empress accept our relationship?" Eunuch Heng quickly asked with a hint of panic in his voice. "This servant is dedicated to serve and protect the Eighth Prince! Did this servant commit any wrong?"

Suddenly, Xiao Hua's bad feeling intensified.

"Eunuch Heng, are you not the Eighth Prince's lover?" Duan Xi Ying asked the question that Xiao Hua feared to ask.

"This servant does not dare to claim so! This servant is only His Highness's servant, nothing more!"

The Eighth Prince felt as if lightning just struck his heart! "B-But... You return my kisses!"

Eunuch Heng looked embarrassed. "As a servant and a dedicated servant, whatever my master wishes for me to do, I will do it. This servant understands about urges and since the Empress deemed Your Highness as a child and had forbidden any female servant around you, this servant is willing to help-"

"No!" the Eighth Prince cried out in despair. "I did not kiss you because of these so-called urges! I love-"

"Stop!" Xiao Hua snapped just in time before Heise would say something stupid.

"Xi Ying, can you bring Eunuch Heng to a side so I can speak to the Eighth Prince alone?"

Duan Xi Ying nodded and led the confused Eunuch Heng away, leaving Da Bei to guard over them silently.

Xiao Hua sighed and turned in her seat to look at the Eighth Prince, who was keeping silent as she ordered. He glared at her in displeasure, yet the fear and denial could not be hidden in his eyes. It was heart-breaking to watch. "Heise, do you love Eunuch Heng?"

"Of course I do!"

"Let me rephrase my question. Do you love Eunuch Heng for his face or his person-ality?"

"What kind of question is this?!"

"Answer me, Heise. Is Eunuch Heng your ex-girlfriend's substitute?"

"No! No...no..." The Eighth Prince's eyes flickered with realization as he broke down and cried. "I still love him. I know it's wrong but I just... I just could not help but imagine him-"

"Shh... I know." Xiao Hua gathered the crying boy into her arms, patting his back to comfort him.

"You don't know anything!" the Eighth Prince snapped angrily, trying to pull away but Xiao Hua refused to.

"I know because I used to love a man that has the same face as the Third Prince." The Eighth Prince stiffened and did not interrupt, letting her continue except for the occassional sobs. "But I do not force my love for that man onto the Third Prince because I know they are two different people. It helps that both of them have a completely different personality. Does your ex-girlfriend and Eunuch Heng have the same personality?"

"..They are both gentle and nice towards me."

Xiao Hua sighed sadly, able to imagine Heise's dilemma. "You cannot force people to love you."

The Eighth Prince pushed her away roughly, nearly pushing her off the chair as he gave her his fiercest glare. Fortunately for him, Xiao Hua did not fall to the ground or else Da Bei would beat him. "You have no right to say that! Just because you get to be with your Third Prince does not mean you have the right to act haughty to me!"

"I don't," Xiao Hua countered calmly, but inwardly she was sweating like crazy with her heartbeat quickening in fear. "But I want you to be happy with someone that genuinely loves you in the way couples love each other instead of loving you because of your position or forced to do so."

"Heng Xin loves me!"

Xiao Hua gulped, gathering her courage to throw more facts to open his eyes.

"Logically, unless he's a shota-con 1101, it's impossible for him to love a ten-year-old boy romantically. And did you not hear what Eunuch Heng said? He saw you as his master, not a lover."

"You shut up! What bullshit about your liking Danmei, you are homophobic!" Xiao Hua clutched her hands tightly, forcing her expression to remain calm despite feeling far from it. "Then call him back and ask him again. We will know the truth then."

"Call him then!" the Eighth Prince snapped fiercely.