"How infuriating, Master! I don't know which damned..."
Xiao Luzi was so angry that he cried while reporting, "You only got a pack of instant noodles, and there's none left..."
Wail.
Xiao Luzi was truly heartbroken.
"That instant noodles, even the Sixth Prince couldn't eat it. It was only because of Concubine Liu's idea to use preserved meat that the Imperial Kitchen made roast duck, which they specially prepared to serve you and Concubine Liu."
Instant noodles were a rare delicacy in the palace now!
Xiao Yunzhou decreed that the Internal Affairs Department and the Imperial Kitchen should work together to urgently produce a batch of instant noodles to first supply to the West Mountain Camp.
Even the Empress couldn't eat them at will; the West Mountain Camp's supply came first.
"It's fine, there will be opportunities in the future," Cheng Qian comforted him. "If you and I roam the battlefields in the future, you will definitely get to eat them."
The wind rustled the leaves.
On the crossbeam of the Qianxi No.5 Residence, a pair of eyes hidden in the darkness flickered.
"Find the seal I carved yesterday. After dinner tonight, I want to give it to my sister."
After finishing the instant noodles, Cheng Qian missed his adorable Chu Chu even more.
But this brother still had to go study in the study room. Only by making progress could he provide his sister with a better life in the future.
"Let's go. The tutor will be angry if we're late."
Cheng Qian got up, asking Xiao Luzi to check that his clothes were neat and tidy, then had him carry his books and follow him to the study room.
To get from the Qianxi No.5 Residence to the study room, they had to go through a winding stone path lined with bamboo on both sides.
Cheng Qian and Xiao Luzi hurried along, but halfway through, they heard a commotion.
"You little waste, you made the Head Supervisor Wei angry!"
"You bumped into the Little Princess and got Head Supervisor Wei scolded!"
"If you're smart, go apologize to Head Supervisor Wei yourself! Say you're not feeling well!"
Bumped into the Little Princess and Wei Zheng?
Cheng Qian frowned and stopped in his tracks.
He hadn't heard his mother mention this incident. His sister had been collided with?
Cheng Qian immediately left Xiao Luzi behind and headed towards the grove.
As he got closer, his brow furrowed and his expression darkened.
He saw five or six tall and burly eunuchs surrounding a rather thin and frail one, not only beating and kicking him, but also pressing his head into the pond.
His head was almost entirely submerged in the icy cold water of winter, his entire neck soaked.
A large part of his cotton robe was drenched.
But the frail eunuch struggled violently, trying to escape, only to be held down by the tall and burly group of eunuchs.
It seemed that his struggle was getting weaker and weaker.
"Stop!" Cheng Qian intervened without much thought, scolding the people who were about to drown the man to death!
In the bitter cold of winter, being submerged in freezing water.
Even if not drowned, the man would freeze to death!
"How dare you cause trouble in the palace!" Cheng Qian frowned.
The few tall eunuchs, upon hearing his voice, felt uneasy.
They turned around and, seeing Cheng Qian's prince robes, immediately paled and knelt down.
"This servant greets the prince! This servant did not mean it."
The few tall eunuchs knelt down.
The frail eunuch who had been held head-first in the icy pond water finally got a chance to breathe, coughing and gasping for air as he fell to the ground.
He was almost completely soaked, shivering from the cold.
"Prince, this disrespectful servant bumped into the Third Princess a couple of days ago. We were merely disciplining him to make him realize his mistake."
Cheng Qian frowned.
Collided with his sister?
But he hadn't heard his sister mention this incident.
If she had been hurt, his mother and wet nurse would have surely told him.
And his sister's heart-mind didn't mention it either.
"For an incident from two days ago, if you knew the circumstances, you should have reported it to the Head Supervisor Wei, informed the Emperor or the Empress, or had someone come and tell me! We would then have summoned the palace physician to examine if the Third Princess was injured."
Cheng Qian frowned at these arrogant and insolent tall eunuchs.
"There are proper channels to determine the truth. If he truly made a mistake, the Palace Justice Department will decide his crime and punishment," Cheng Qian said sternly. "How dare you take matters into your own hands and mete out private punishment?"
His sister was a reincarnated celestial being, carrying blessings and divine aura.
If someone truly bullied his sister, he, as her elder brother, would never let it go and would investigate thoroughly.
But if someone used his celestial-like sister as an excuse to oppress, insult, or even kill or maim others, causing his sister to bear the karmic consequences, he would never allow it.
He would never let his celestial-like sister become an excuse for others' power struggles.
"Xiao Luzi, find out their names and where they are stationed."
"Ask what they witnessed and heard. Write everything down for me. I'm not going to the study room today."
Cheng Qian was enraged.
After saying that, Cheng Qian turned and called over a guard in the distance, "Go and tell my mother to summon the palace physician to examine if the Third Princess has been injured or harmed in any way."
Cheng Qian was worried.
But as he turned around, he saw four or five eunuchs looking dazed.
They looked at each other, then kowtowed on the ground, "Fifth Prince... the Third Princess is fine... The Emperor knew about this... He had the palace physician examine her right away, she was just slightly bumped."
"Not a scratch."
"This servant... this servant was just... dissatisfied with Little Jiu in general..."
Cheng Qian could no longer restrain himself. He kicked a stone by the path, sending it flying and hitting the leading tall eunuch who had been holding the man down.
"You're simply outrageous!" Cheng Qian raged. "For your own selfish interests, you dare use the few-month-old Little Princess as an excuse!"
His celestial-like sister was pure and innocent, kind-hearted. If she knew someone had died or been injured because of her, she would be devastated.
"Take them to the Palace Justice Department and say they offended me!" Cheng Qian said sternly.
The four or five tall eunuchs were terrified.
And the frail, fair-skinned eunuch by the river, whose robes were almost completely soaked, his face already pale from the cold, opened his tightly closed eyes in shock.
Cheng Qian turned and took off his own light down jacket.
This was the one Consort Min insisted on making for him to wear, saying it was his mother's invention and she made it herself, so he had to wear it.
This down jacket was the warmest for withstanding the cold and would be sent to the West Mountain Camp along with the instant noodles.
Yet Cheng Qian didn't hesitate and, without disdaining the soaked frail eunuch, draped it over him.
"Are you all right?" Cheng Qian asked, squatting down and putting the hand warmer from his arms into the hands of the eunuch whose face had turned pale from the cold.
"What's your name and where are you stationed?" he squatted down.
This frail eunuch didn't know if he was startled by the warmth of the hand warmer or by Cheng Qian suddenly squatting down in front of him, but his whole body froze.
Afterward, his pale, slender fingers slowly grasped the warm brazier.
After a long silence, when Cheng Qian thought he had frozen stiff and was about to call someone to carry him back to the room, he finally heard the hoarse voice of the little eunuch.
"I... servant's name is Little Jiu. I serve tea before the Emperor."
"!"
Cheng Qian's usually mature and handsome features froze.
What?
Serving what?
Serving tea before the Emperor?
Cheng Qian looked down and only then did he recognize the pale, delicate face as resembling one of the eunuchs who served tea before his father.
Cheng Qian was shaken.
This was the "ultimate fighter" with a martial arts level of 99 that his sister had mentioned?!
Cheng Qian was astonished. Someone with a martial arts level of 99 could be pinned down in the pool?
Had his sister never been wrong before?
Or had he misheard her...?
But for some inexplicable reason, Cheng Qian suddenly recalled what his sister had said.
— The tea-serving eunuch's weaknesses: fear of cold and hunger.
Cheng Qian looked at the shivering figure and found himself asking inexplicably, "Are you hungry now?"
Jiu Xiao couldn't help but look up at this young prince, bathed in sunlight.
For the first time...
For the first time, someone cared whether he was hungry or not.
For the first time, someone cared whether he was cold or not.
Giving him their own clothes, giving him their own hand warmer.
And this was the imperial palace of Jing Nation, and he was a prince of Jing Nation.
One of the most esteemed people in Jing Nation!
"Why..." Jiu Xiao couldn't help but open his mouth, "Why... I'm just a servant."
Compared to him, Jiu Xiao was but a speck of dust.
*
[Ding, Transformation Progress 30%.]
Xiao Chuchu drank some milk, and before the overwhelming drowsiness set in, she directly wrote a lengthy passage.
[Oh man. That's rocket speed...]
