Jun Buli still had no idea how to answer Jun Yaotiao’s question when she suddenly asked, “Big Brother Emperor, can I rip her clothes off too?”
Pfft!
Jun Buli genuinely choked. Just as he was about to answer, Jun Yaotiao’s small figure flashed past, nimbly slipping around him—and she rammed the door open with her whole body!
Li Qinqin, who had been eavesdropping outside the door in a state of frazzled nerves, didn’t even have time to react before she was sent flying and crashed to the ground!
Just as she started to get up, Jun Yaotiao pounced, landing heavily on top of her, the impact jolting every organ in her body.
“You little brat, let me tell you—”
Before Li Qinqin could finish, there came a ripping sound—”riiip”—as a long tear opened down the front of her robe.
“Ah—Jun Buli, get her off me right now, or don’t blame me for being rude!”
Li Qinqin shrieked. If it weren’t for the arrangement she had with Jun Buli, there was no way she’d let herself be knocked around by this brat like this!
“Jun Yaotiao!” Jun Buli’s voice turned sharp—he was genuinely serious now.
But there was exactly one person in the world who wouldn’t care about his stern tone. Even Ziqing and Jun Beiyue might worry about upsetting him, might fear damaging the peace between them, might feel a twinge of guilt toward him.
But Jun Yaotiao feared nothing.
Completely ignoring her furious brother behind her, Jun Yaotiao clamped one hand onto Consort Li’s neck.
This little girl was clearly trained in the martial arts—and an extremely skilled one at that. Her small hand wasn’t even as thick as Consort Li’s calf, yet she managed to pin her down so firmly that Consort Li couldn’t move at all.
Because, as luck would have it, she’d struck a vital point.
Unless Consort Li resorted to her martial skill, there was no way she could get up.
With one hand pinning Consort Li down, her other hand went to work tearing furiously—”shhk, shhk,” “rip, rip”—strips of thin fabric flew through the air, rising and falling, rising and falling.
In no time, Consort Li’s flimsy robe had been reduced entirely to scraps scattered across the floor.
It wasn’t that Jun Buli didn’t try to stop her—it was that the girl’s movements were unbelievably fast. No, “fast” wasn’t quite the word—”efficient” was more like it. Remarkably efficient.
By the time Jun Buli managed to pick her up, Consort Li had been stripped down to practically nothing, lying in a wretched heap on the floor with only a few scraps of torn cloth left to cover herself. She had never in her life been humiliated like this.
If Jun Buli had been even one step slower, Jun Yaotiao might have torn the very skin off her!
Terrifying.
This little devil.
With the back of her robe caught in Jun Buli’s grip, Jun Yaotiao didn’t struggle at all. She turned back with a dazzling smile. “Big Brother Emperor, that was so fun! Next time you tear her clothes off, remember to call me—we can play together!”
“Pfft!”
Consort Li genuinely felt like coughing up blood. Mortified and furious, she snatched up a gauze curtain to wrap around herself, scrambled to her feet, and shrieked, “Your Majesty, this girl has gone too far! You must get justice for me!”
Her tone was utterly resolute as she glared venomously at Jun Yaotiao, wanting to make clear to Jun Buli that she was dead serious.
This was outrageous. This brat was clearly putting on an act—what had Consort Li ever done to offend her, that she’d come barging in here to cause a scene the moment she arrived in the capital?
At Consort Li’s shout, Jun Yaotiao froze, her smile stiffening on her face, her thin lips pressing tighter and tighter together as a storm brewed. “Big Brother Emperor, she’s being mean to me!”
“Enough. She’s just a child who doesn’t know any better—why are you taking this so seriously with her?” Jun Buli snapped, fiercely protective.
He had always sided with Consort Li before. But it seemed the tide was turning now.
Consort Li felt a surge of anger lodge in her chest, her face flushing red with fury. “You—!”
Jun Buli merely shot her a sharp look, another warning not to push things too far.
Consort Li took a deep breath, about to speak, but Jun Buli had already stopped paying her any attention. He scooped Jun Yaotiao up and turned to leave. “Little one, coming here without even telling your brother first—where are Father and Mother?”
“At the manor.”
Jun Yaotiao lay draped lazily over her brother’s broad shoulder, answering without much interest. She blinked her big eyes, glancing at the fuming Consort Li with an expression of pure innocence, as if nothing she’d just done had been on purpose at all.
Consort Li swung a furious fist in her direction, but Jun Yaotiao didn’t even spare her a second glance, tilting her head to rest against her brother’s shoulder as if she’d grown tired. Watching the siblings’ figures recede into the distance, Consort Li narrowed her eyes.
That Jun Buli. He used to at least show her respect, treat her with some regard. But ever since his parents had returned, he’d essentially reduced her to nothing more than a tool to be used.
He used to shield her in front of his parents, but now, he simply let her be humiliated by some little girl.
“All these years, Jun Buli—this time I really do want to see whether you can actually manage to walk away from me!” A flash of something sinister crossed Consort Li’s eyes as she slammed the door shut with a resounding bang.
Jun Buli had originally planned to change his clothes before heading to Prince Yao’s estate, but Jun Yaotiao had fallen asleep on his shoulder.
This girl really was still as a maiden and quick as a hare in motion.
Unwilling to disturb her, he carefully draped a cloak over her and took a carriage to Prince Yao’s estate.
He’d received an invitation from Duku a few days earlier—Guxi and Baili Xiaosheng were getting married!
This was truly an unexpected piece of good news. He never imagined that the task his mother had once entrusted to him, which he’d passed along to Guxi, would end up fulfilling a marriage.
No one in the world understood what kind of man Guxi was better than he did.
Over those past ten years, how many times had he felt afraid, how many times uncertain, how many times had he thought of giving up—it was Guxi who had held him up, who had helped him endure it all.
He had once wanted to grant Guxi the title of a prince of the first rank, but the man had refused, content instead to serve as head of the palace guards, spending his idle hours sitting on rooftops, gnawing on steamed buns, watching over the gate.
This was a man with true contentment in his heart.
For a woman as wild as Baili Xiaosheng to win Guxi’s heart—she’d truly struck gold!
Thinking of this, a faint smile tugged unconsciously at the corner of Jun Buli’s handsome lips. From the bottom of his heart, he wished the two of them well.
His mother and father had surely received the invitation too, and probably meant to attend the banquet together with him.
Soon, the carriage came to a stop outside Prince Yao’s estate. Jun Yaotiao was still fast asleep.
Jun Buli carried her carefully as he got down and went inside.
The moment Ziqing saw Jun Yaotiao sleeping so soundly, she couldn’t help but laugh. This little troublemaker slept without a care in the world, always with excellent sleep quality, and always managed to leave behind a big puddle of drool.
“Mother, Father!” Jun Buli called out. When the whole family was together, there was never any need for formal ceremony.
Ziqing carefully took Jun Yaotiao into her arms, but before she could even settle her properly, Jun Beiyue snatched the girl away. Ziqing had predicted, back when she was pregnant, that she’d end up jealous—and sure enough, here it was.
Jun Beiyue doted on this daughter the way one dotes on a little sweetheart, enough to make anyone green with envy.
Watching his little sister receive such favor, Jun Buli couldn’t help but recall his own childhood—he’d actually been just like Yaotiao, preferring to snuggle in his father’s arms, loving nothing more than sitting on his father’s shoulders.
Now that he’d grown up, his own shoulders had become just as sturdy as his father’s, carrying just as much weight.
Noticing a flicker of melancholy in her son’s eyes, Ziqing patted the seat beside her and said with a smile, “Little Bear, come sit.”