“Mm, I’ll wait for Sister Qiulin.” After Ah Yue agreed, Qiulin carried the douhua drizzled with honey to Li Chengzong’s room. The latter had already waited somewhat impatiently, and several nannies could do nothing with him. Seeing Qiulin enter like a savior, they quickly said, “Hurry and give the douhua to Da Lang—he’s been fussing for a long time.”

Li Chengzong pouted, “You came late. I’m going to punish you!”

Qiulin squatted down and said, “This servant was late because I was researching a new way to prepare douhua for Da Lang. Da Lang can’t blame this servant.”

“New way?” Li Chengzong stared at Qiulin with wide eyes, curious. In his little head, there was only one way to eat douhua—how could there be a second way?

Qiulin saw his thoughts and smiled as she ladled a spoonful and brought it to his mouth. “Come, Da Lang, try it. I guarantee you’ll like it.”

Li Chengzong dubiously took a bite. After discovering the taste was better than before, his appetite immediately returned. He ate spoonful after spoonful, quickly finishing the entire bowl and clamoring for more.

Seeing his delight, Qiulin was also extremely happy and quickly went to the kitchen to get another bowl. Since the charcoal fire had been keeping it warm, it was still hot, but Ah Yue was no longer there. If she went to find her at the eldest young madam’s place, Da Lang would have to wait anxiously. Qiulin could only add some honey according to her memory from earlier.

Although the taste wasn’t as good as before, Li Chengzong still ate most of the bowl, his little belly becoming round and full. Seeing Li Chengzong’s satisfied appearance, the nanny laughed, “Fortunately we have you, Qiulin. Otherwise we really couldn’t serve this little master.”

“I was just lucky.” After playing with Li Chengzong for a while, Qiulin was thinking about Ah Yue, so she had the nanny watch Li Chengzong while she went to Zheng Shi’s room to find Ah Yue. But when she got there and asked around, no one knew of Ah Yue.

Qiulin was truly confused. Ah Yue had clearly said she was serving at the eldest young madam’s place—how could no one know her? Could Ah Yue, being new, have mistaken where she was supposed to work?

Thinking this way, Qiulin asked unwillingly, “Are you sure there’s no one called Ah Yue here? She said she just came to serve here today.”

The servant was about to speak when someone walked over from the courtyard. “What’s going on?”

The servant stepped forward and bowed, “Reporting to the steward, Qiulin, the maid serving Da Lang, came looking for a maid called Ah Yue, saying she just came to work here today. But no matter how much I think about it, I can’t remember anyone called Ah Yue here.”

“Ah Yue…” The steward frowned and thought for a while, then shook his head. “I have no impression of her either. Moreover, we’ve only just settled here—no new people have come at all.”

“Then… could she be from elsewhere?” To Qiulin’s question, the steward shook his head. “I wouldn’t know that. You’ll have to ask yourself, or you could ask Second Young Madam. She’s been managing everything in this residence. She would know best who’s been hired and where they’ve been assigned.”

“I understand. Thank you for the guidance, steward.” After leaving there, Qiulin went to several other courtyards to inquire, but without exception, everyone said they didn’t know.

Qiulin vaguely felt something was wrong, but couldn’t say exactly what. In the following days, she never saw Ah Yue again. This person seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Ever since eating honey douhua once, Li Chengzong demanded it every day. Occasionally when Qiulin gave him the original soy sauce version, he would take one bite and say it wasn’t good, insisting on honey. Although Qiulin felt somewhat uneasy, thinking that honey was a good thing, she went along with him.

This continued for more than ten days. One day, taking advantage of the clear weather after snow, Qiulin and the nanny took Li Chengzong to play in the courtyard. Like all children, seeing the white snow, he was incredibly happy. His little feet in sheepskin boots ran back and forth on it, leaving small footprints. The entire courtyard was filled with his laughter.

Li Chengzong was so excited he didn’t notice someone standing in front of him. Qiulin quickly said, “Da Lang, don’t run! Be careful not to bump into anyone!”

Li Chengzong was perhaps too happy to hear Qiulin’s words and continued running forward, colliding with the person in front. Qiulin and the others quickly stepped forward and curtsied to the visitor, “This servant greets the princess.”

“No need for formality.” The visitor was Yunyi. She touched Li Chengzong’s small shoulder and said, “Did Da Lang hurt himself in the collision?”

Li Chengzong didn’t speak, just looked at her and giggled, then broke free from her hands and ran off to play elsewhere. Qiulin said, “Da Lang doesn’t understand propriety. Please forgive him, Princess.”

“It’s fine.” Yunyi watched the small figure running in the snow and smiled. “We’ve been here so many days, but this is the first time I’ve seen Da Lang. He seems to rarely come out normally.”

Qiulin lowered her eyes, “Da Lang is weak and often ill. Most of the time he stays in his room recuperating. Recently, seeing he hasn’t been sick much, I reported to my lady and only then let him come out to play for a while.”

Yunyi nodded, “He should come out and move around. Always staying cooped up in his room isn’t good for Da Lang either.” As they spoke, a small snowball hit Jixiang nearby—Li Chengzong had thrown it. Seeing he had hit someone, he laughed happily.

“How mischievous.” Jixiang originally didn’t want to pay attention, but Li Chengzong got addicted to throwing and kept pelting them one after another. Jixiang looked at Yunyi somewhat helplessly, who laughed and said, “Since Da Lang likes you, play with him for a while. But be careful not to hurt Da Lang.”

“Mm.” Jixiang responded, grabbed a small snowball and threw it back. Seeing someone playing with him, Li Chengzong became even happier, giggling continuously. Although Jixiang didn’t use force, he was still no match as a small child. He was quite clever though—seeing he couldn’t win, he pulled Qiulin in as help. Snowballs flew back and forth in great merriment.

Ruyi watched Jixiang playing with great enthusiasm and laughed softly, “Princess, look at Jixiang—she’s almost gone wild with playing.”

Yunyi smiled, “Having the heart to play is also a kind of happiness. Think about it—how long has it been since we were this happy?”

With her saying this, Ruyi also felt emotional. From childhood, the princess had lived under oppression, rarely having happy moments. After the eleventh year of the Daye era, there were even fewer such times. First Zheng Yang died, then Cui Ji was discovered to be a beast in human clothing. Later, they went to Jiangdu, where the princess repeatedly pleaded for the people but nearly suffered humiliation from His Majesty, and learned about her own origins.

And this wasn’t the end. The palace coup, regicide, imprisonment, coercion, being shot with an arrow—events occurred one after another until Second Young Master brought the princess back to Chang’an, finally giving them a few days of peaceful life.