Not foolish?

Sui’er stared at Wei Yi’s consistently clear eyes, shaking her head slightly.

She pondered again, “You… shouldn’t be a fool, right?”

Wei Yi looked at the little girl, the corners of his mouth curving up imperceptibly. “Everyone says I’m foolish, and I truly am a fool. You might as well consider me one.”

“Why?” Sui’er was surprised. “Look at you, speaking so coherently. How are you foolish? They must be talking nonsense, thinking you’re easy to bully.”

“Is that so?”

He didn’t care!

Sui’er was originally a talkative girl, and now with curiosity added, she couldn’t restrain herself even more.

She simply squatted down and asked, “Let me ask you, why did Consort Xiao lock you up here?”

He shook his head!

“Don’t know? How can you not know? Don’t you know why you were captured? There’s no reason not to know. Don’t you know what you did to upset Her Ladyship?”

Like a repeating machine!

She asked “don’t know” N times in succession.

Sui’er was really the pot calling the kettle black. Previously when Consort Xiao asked her what she did wrong, hadn’t she been unable to answer the same way?

Although Wei Yi was also quite talkative, being bombarded with such rapid-fire questions by Sui’er, he couldn’t handle it.

“I really don’t know.” He uttered a sentence.

“Strange. How can someone be captured and not know why?”

Wei Yi let out a soft sigh. His silvery bright eyes glanced outside, darkening slightly, then settled on Sui’er’s confused gaze. He said, “Sui’er, can you help me with something?”

“What?”

“Can you find me some thin bamboo and white paper? And bring some writing materials—brush, ink, paper, and inkstone?”

“What do you need these for?”

“I want to make a lamp.” His eyes brightened, sparkling with a smile.

Extremely handsome.

His deep gaze revealed specks of starlight.

Sui’er looked somewhat dazed, a shy feeling flowing through her small eyes. She thought to herself, this man is really good-looking.

After not receiving a response for a while, Wei Yi asked, “Can you?”

Snapping back to her senses, Sui’er immediately nodded. “Yes, of course I can.” But after thinking, she added, “If you want to make a lamp, why don’t I just add another lamp to this room for you? Then you won’t have to make one yourself and save the trouble.”

He shook his head lightly, insisting, “I want to make it myself.”

Sui’er didn’t say anything more. She looked back toward the courtyard. “Then I’ll go out first. Stay here properly. Once I gather the materials, I’ll bring them to you.”

“Okay.”

Before Sui’er left, Wei Yi thanked her.

The little girl couldn’t be happier. When she returned to her own room, she was still smiling faintly.

The other palace maids sharing her room saw this and asked her a few questions.

“Sui’er, what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.”

“Looking at you like that, did some master reward you again?”

Upon hearing this, Sui’er became anxious and quickly said, “Don’t talk nonsense.” She covered her injured face. “How would I still dare hope for rewards from the masters? After the lesson I learned last time, aren’t I scared enough?”

Once bitten by a snake, ten years afraid of rope.

The palace maid asked, “Then what’s wrong with you?”

She lowered her head, stood up to close the door, and pulled the girls over to ask, “Didn’t you say that the person locked up is a fool?”

Several people nodded. “Yes, of course he’s a fool. Do you even need to ask? Last time the princess even brought him into the palace. That fool was so amusing—we offered him pastries and he wouldn’t take them, wouldn’t drink water either. He just sat in the courtyard waiting for someone with eager eyes. At the time, we were really amused.”

They giggled away.

“Then why did the princess bring him into the palace?”

“Don’t know. It seems to be because of Master Ji.”

“Master Ji? Who is Master Ji?” Sui’er was curious.

Several maids exchanged glances. “You don’t even know this? That Master Ji is quite formidable. Last time when the princess brought that fool into the palace, Master Ji said something—we don’t know what—and the princess let him go. At the time, the princess was unhappy for several days in a row.”

“Isn’t that right? I saw that Master Ji was fair and refined. Maybe the princess was…”

“Shh!” Someone quickly nudged her. “Don’t talk nonsense. If the princess hears, she’ll have your life.”

The little girl was terribly frightened and quickly covered her mouth.

Sui’er had just entered the palace not long ago and came from the countryside, so naturally she had never heard of any Master Ji. She thought about it, then turned her attention back to Wei Yi.

She tugged at those people. “Sisters, tell me, why did Consort Xiao lock him up and forbid us from telling anyone outside?”

“How would we know? Anyway, we just follow Her Ladyship’s orders. Don’t be nosy. You just take care of that fool obediently and don’t cause any more trouble, or your other half of your face will be ruined too, and then you’ll really have something to cry about.”

Ugh!

They weren’t just scaring her.

Everyone knew Consort Xiao’s temper—slapping faces and threatening heads at the drop of a hat. The eunuchs and palace maids in Zhangzhi Palace lived in constant fear every day, afraid that one morning they’d wake up and their heads would roll.

Sui’er was indeed afraid.

Her little head shrank back. She covered her face with both hands, thinking that if the other half of her face got ruined, she might as well not live anymore.

Just as everyone was still on edge, there was a knock at the door.

Urgent!

“Why did you lock the door? Open up quickly.”

It turned out to be a palace maid who shared their room. Everyone thought someone had overheard them gossiping and were nearly scared to death.

They quickly opened the door.

It was Duan’er, a personal palace maid to the princess. Her face was miserable, one hand supporting the door frame, the other clutching her aching abdomen. “Does anyone have time to help me deliver a meal to the princess? My stomach hurts—I can’t take it anymore.”

Ah!

Everyone stepped back a few paces, declining in succession. “We’re not going. The princess’s condition has been off lately. We don’t dare go. If something happens and Her Ladyship blames us, it could cost us our lives.”

“It’s just delivering a meal. It won’t take long. I won’t say more—I need to hurry to the Imperial Medical Office to see Imperial Physician Hu.”

With that, she left.

Everyone began pushing each other.

You go!

No, you go!

No one was willing to go.

Finally—

They all turned their gazes to Sui’er and pulled her up from the bed.

“Sui’er, you should go.”

“You’re the most obedient and sensible.”

“Yes, you should go.”

They pushed her out the door.

Sui’er didn’t even have time to refuse before they forcibly assigned her the task.

Who told her to be the newcomer!

“But I…”

“No buts.”

“Her Ladyship ordered me to watch that fool.”

“The fool won’t run away. The door is locked. Hurry and go. Sister Duan’er treats you the best normally. Now that she’s not feeling well, you can’t not help her.”

“I…”

“Go, go.”

Before she could say anything more.

“Bang!” Everyone closed the door.

She stood there stunned for a while, sighing.

Everyone knew the princess’s condition had been very bad lately. Ever since that failed hanging attempt last time, she seemed like a different person, in a daze all day long. Just watching her made one’s heart ache, not knowing when she might do something foolish again.

Hanging!

Slitting wrists!

Just thinking about it made one break out in a cold sweat.

So the attending palace maids were all very careful, collecting all the sharp objects in the room to prevent the princess from harming herself and implicating them as well.

But now this hot potato had landed in Sui’er’s hands.

She had no choice but to accept it.

After all, she was the newcomer.