Chapter 126.1 – Peaceful Times
The meeting with Qi Bo seemed to have just been a small interlude, and Qi Yang and Lu Qipei couldn’t figure out his attitude for a while. Other than being more prepared, there was really nothing more that they could do for now. Lu Qipei had the idea of sending Qi Bo back to Jiangnan for retirement, but it wasn’t something that could be done overnight, at least not until she completely dismantled his influence.
There was no meaning to talking about these things more right now, so Lu Qipei only secretly had some people keep an eye on Qi Bo and didn’t do anything else. At this time, she didn’t know yet how much her negligence at this moment would cause her trouble in the future.
But she didn’t know the future, so she put this matter behind her with peace of mind and continued with the New Year.
The family of three went for a stroll for half a day before returning to the mansion. They didn’t bring back anything other than a lot of snacks, and all of them also had a full stomach. They were so full that by the time they returned to the mansion in the evening and was faced with the delicious food prepared by the kitchen, the three of them had no appetite.
It was the first time Lu Sheng grimaced when holding her rice bowl. She looked around and finally said in a pleading tone, “Your Highness, Uncle, Ah Sheng’s stomach is so full. Is it alright if Ah Sheng doesn’t eat?”
Everywhere, children who ate snacks too greedily and cannot eat dinner would be disciplined. But the two adults here right now were in no place to educate the child, because they were also full from all kinds of snacks. Right now, they also had no interest in raising their chopsticks when faced with the delicious food in the table.
The two of them immediately looked at each other and put down their bowls and chopsticks. Lu Qipei pretended to be serious and told Lu Sheng, “If you don’t want to eat today, then let’s just forget it. But Ah Sheng, you have to remember. Eating snacks and not eating dinner, this time is the only exception!”
Lu Sheng nodded, looking like she understood but also not. Although she was still young and perhaps didn’t understand what an exception meant, she also knew she didn’t have to fight this bowl of rice tonight. She immediately put down the bowl and chopsticks, and sighed in relief as she rubbed her round belly. The small face with some lingering fear not only made not only Qi Yang and Lu Qipei, but also the maids by the side unable to help but laugh.
In the end, the dinner was taken back without anyone taking a bite, but the there who couldn’t eat had no problem eating their snacks.
The weather was colder this winter, and there was heavy snowfall just two days ago. Although the weather had cleared up for a while today and most of the snow had melted, but it was when the snow was melting that it was the coldest. After dinner, neither Qi Yang nor Lu Qipei showed any interest in going outside, and they nestled together with the child inside the room, warming themselves by the fire. While chatting, they roasted the pumpkin seeds that they bought in the afternoon by the brazier and ate them.
Qi Yang was the one relaxing the most. She liked eating pumpkin seeds but didn’t like peeling them herself, so Lu Qipei kindly peeled them and fed them to her. Although Her Royal Highness The Princess had never been short of people serving her, being fed sweetly by her sweetheart was obviously not comparable to being served by a maid.
Whenever this happened, Lu Sheng always felt like she was just an extra. Although she was still young and didn’t understand what being a third wheel was, she always felt that there was no room for her to intervene whenever those two started getting intimate.
Fortunately, even under such circumstance, she would not show her envy on her face. She turned her head and hugged her rabbit close, and even learnt from Lu Qipei to peel the pumpkin seeds and feed them to the bunny.
The rabbit ate everything, but its triangle shaped mouth moved too fast, and Lu Sheng’s peeling speed could not keep up. The rabbit seemed to dislike her sluggishness and finally simply leaned forward and chewed all the unpeeled pumpkin seeds in her palm.
Lu Sheng was taken aback, and with a small exclamation, went to grab the rabbit’s mouth to tell it to spit them out.
As you would imagine, there was soon another wave of ruckus. Fortunately, the rabbit’s nails had already been trimmed and filed by the maids, so it would not easily scratch anyone. The rabbit had also been raised by Lu Sheng for a long time and did not bite her, and things became even more noisy.
Qi Yang and Lu Qipei watched the lively scene, and laughed especially hard seeing the child persistently trying to open the rabbit’s mouth. In the end, Qi Yang couldn’t bear to watch anymore and helped the rabbit out, saying, “Alright, Ah Sheng, it’s just a little pumpkin seed shell, it’s alright. Look at the rabbit’s sharp teeth, it will be fine. The things it bites are harder than pumpkin seed shells.”
This was the truth – many of the furniture in Lu Sheng’s room had been gnawed by the rabbit. The furniture used in the princess’s mansion were made of fine wood, but it would still fall into a mess if it fell into the rabbit’s mouth. The rabbit’s teeth were so powerful, and mere pumpkin seed shells were no problem at all.
Lu Sheng was a bit skeptical, so she put a pumpkin seed in her mouth, chewing it without peeling the shell off. Pumpkin seed shells were thin, and even her baby teeth could chew them, but the taste was… blergh, it wasn’t delicious at all!
The little dumpling couldn’t understand the rabbit’s taste at all, but considering that it usually loved to eat grass the most, she gave up on delving deeper into it.
She angrily stopped paying attention to the disobedient little bunny, and turned her head as she remembered something else. Her eyes were shining as she pulled Qi Yang’s sleeve and said, “Your Highness, you said that the fireworks would be set off at night. It’s already night now.”
Yes, Qi Yang did promise to set off some fireworks. When the returned to the mansion in the afternoon, they bought some on purpose, afraid that the mansion did not have some ready.
But while Qi Yang looked grand when she made the promise, right now she heard the cold wind howling outside, while she was being warmed by the brazier in front of her. She really did not want to go out in the cold air at all. So she gently pushed the child’s back and urged Lu Sheng, “Go find your Uncle.”
Lu Qipei caught the dumpling that ran over and looked helplessly at Qi Yang, as if she was somewhat dissatisfied with her behavior of dumping the work.
Qi Yang also looked at her, blinked her eyes with a smile on her face, and waved at her, “Go ahead, go ahead.”
Seeing this, Lu Qipei rolled her eyes and first leaned towards Lu Sheng’s ear to tell her, “Can Ah Sheng wait here for a while?”
The little dumpling had always been obedient. Upon hearing this, she obediently withdrew from Lu Qipei’s arms and stood by the side. Lu Qipei immediately got up without alerting Qi Yang and rushed to her side in a single stride, then picked Her Royal Highness The Princess up against her will. Qi Yang exclaimed in surprise, then patted Lu Qipei’s shoulder while laughing, “Hey, what are you carrying me up for!?”
Lu Qipei stepped away and said naturally, “If we want to play, of course we want to play together. How can we leave you alone to babysit the empty room?” After she finished speaking, she lowered her head and asked Lu Sheng, who subconsciously followed up, “Ah Sheng, isn’t that right?”
Children loved to join in on excitements, and she was also excited right now, so Lu Sheng clapped her hands and said, “That’s right!”
The maid next to her also smiled when she saw this, and at the same time, she dutifully found some fur cloaks quickly to keep the three of them warm. Even so, when the tightly closed door was opened, the gust of cold wind still blew on their face and made them shiver.
Qi Yang instinctively shrank into Lu Qipei’s arms, and Lu Qipei took the opportunity to unfold her cloak, wrapping Qi Yang’s whole body in her arms.
Lu Sheng silently tightened her small fur coat around herself, and found that the feeling of being an extra was becoming increasingly obvious…
