CHAPTER 1509: 321, DO YOU LIKE LITTLE RABBITS? (SECOND UPDATE)

Seeing her head and body full of jewelry, Xiao Linshuang curiously asked, "Doesn’t wearing so much jewelry on your head and body tire you out?"

Princess Cuiping’s dark eyes glanced upward, spotting her neatly arranged bangs and the forehead ornament’s tassels. She nodded slightly in frustration, "It’s tiring. Just putting these things on every morning takes about half an hour!"

Half an hour?

Xiao Linshuang couldn’t help but grimace in pain, "If it’s so tiring, why do you still wear them? Can’t you just put some down?"

Princess Cuiping slightly furrowed her brows, her long eyelashes fluttering, "My mother said these are all personally awarded by my father and mother, and gifts from other consorts, I can’t not wear them."

"Why not wear just one each day, why must you wear them all?"

Princess Cuiping gently shrugged, her little mouth pouted slightly, "That won’t do, my mother said that would be disrespectful. If I wear the jewelry Consort Shu gave today and not Consort Liu’s, Consort Liu will be unhappy when she sees it. If tomorrow I wear what Consort Liu gave but not Consort Shu’s, then Consort Shu might become unhappy. So, to avoid making elder sister unhappy, it’s better to wear them all."

Pfft!

Xiao Linshuang was both amused and annoyed; she had never heard such reasoning before! But living always caring about others’ opinions, must be exhausting, right?

"Hey, let me teach you a trick! When you go back, put all these jewelry in a really good box, and then just wear your own jewelry or the ones your mother gave you when you go out. Then no one will be unhappy if you don’t wear them all, right?"

Princess Cuiping tilted her head slightly and asked, "But if the consorts ask me why I’m not wearing them, what should I say?"

Xiao Linshuang giggled, "Silly, just say that the gifts are too precious, and you’re afraid of damaging or losing them, so you’ve hidden them all away, isn’t that fine?"

Princess Cuiping’s eyes brightened, filled with excitement and admiration, "Little sister, you are so smart! What a great idea! I’ll tell my mother when I get back, so she won’t have to worry about which jewelry to wear every day!"

Xiao Linshuang smiled proudly, her lips lifted high, looking almost like Old Lao Fan with a white beard.

"Princess? Princess?"

A series of urgent calls came from a distance, getting closer. Princess Cuiping immediately straightened her back, looked towards the sound’s direction, turned her head to Xiao Linshuang and said, "Little sister, my nannies are here looking for me, I have to hurry back. If you have a chance to enter the palace, I’ll come find you, okay?"

Xiao Linshuang also looked over and indeed saw an old nanny with two palace maids anxiously searching this way; the two little palace maids looked upset, probably scolded by the old nanny for losing the princess.

"Okay, you hurry back. I’m about to leave the palace anyway. Next time you come out, I’ll take you to play with my little brother, he’s very clever, you’ll definitely enjoy playing with him."

As they were talking, Princess Cuiping had already stood up from the steps, lowered her head to straighten her royal skirt, said "okay" to Xiao Linshuang, and quickly ran off with the little rabbit Xiao Linshuang gave her.

Soon after, the cries of the little palace maids and the urgent inquiries of the old nanny could be heard from that direction.

Watching Princess Cuiping’s small figure covered in jewelry and thinking about the unpalatable meals inside the palace, Xiao Linshuang shook her head sympathetically, sighing like a little adult, "Indeed, the life of women in the palace is really harsh!"

"Mom, I’m back!"

Although Xiao Linshuang had spent a month studying in the palace and had even learned etiquette from Sister Chang for a long time, she still returned home with her usual carefree demeanor.

In the hall, Lady Liu was chatting with several madams. These were people Lady Liu had gotten to know after being granted a title, some of whom genuinely liked Lady Liu, while others were obviously there for the Lin family’s current prestigious status.

Hearing such a casual and rough shout, several of the madams immediately frowned discreetly. Lady Liu, no longer a pushover as before, realized these were not people to befriend upon seeing their expressions.

"Shuanger is back? Come here, let mom have a look."

Lady Liu waved her hand beckoning Xiao Linshuang, affectionately tucking her hair on the forehead and inquiring about a few things in the palace.

The other madams all pricked up their ears, eager to catch any useful information.

Xiao Linshuang, ever perceptive, immediately understood what they cared about.

She shook her head right away and said, "Mom, nothing particularly special happened. His Majesty praised me for being clever, praised my older sister as well, um, he also said that if I’m free, I can visit the palace anytime to play."

She deliberately omitted her encounter with Princess Cuiping as a little secret between them.

Sure enough, hearing Xiao Linshuang mention His Majesty allowing her to visit the palace anytime she wanted, the faces of the madams all displayed envious expressions, their smiles becoming even warmer.

"Your Majesty truly dotes on the little miss!"

"Not only His Majesty, Consort Shu and Consort Tian also dote on her a lot. I heard that this past month, while the little miss was reading in the palace, both Consorts personally delivered her lunch!"

"I also heard that the two Consorts often compete to deliver lunch!"

Several Madams began chatting back and forth, and their eyes drifted to take a peek at Xiao Linshuang’s expression.

One Madam rolled her eyes and, wiping the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief, smiled and said, "The little miss is eight years old this year, right? My little son is about the same age as her. I’ll bring him over to play with her sometime."

Other Madams’ eyes also flashed with a dismissive expression, yet they regretted being slow in their reaction.

Lady Liu naturally noticed, and one Madam was evidently trying to recommend her little son to their family’s Xiao Linshuang. But, Xiao Linshuang wouldn’t even turn eight until the New Year’s. Wasn’t it too early to discuss such matters?

Before Lady Liu could speak, Xiao Linshuang nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, I’ve been worrying about not having someone my age to play with!"

As the smile on that Madam’s face just bloomed, she heard Xiao Linshuang continue, "Madam, does your little son like little rabbits? Does he like frogs? My master is currently teaching me anatomy, and I often have to dissect little rabbits to see their tiny hearts! But they always misbehave. With your son here to help me hold them down, I won’t have to worry about the knife slipping."

The Madam previously speaking stiffened abruptly, her smile looking worse than crying, and she couldn’t utter another word for a long time.

The other Madams watching the commotion couldn’t help but display schadenfreude smiles, yet after such a stir, nobody dared to bring up letting their sons play with Xiao Linshuang anymore.

But clearly, Xiao Linshuang hadn’t planned on letting this topic go, as she didn’t want to repeat today’s discussion ever again.

She looked at the Madam and asked again, "Madam, does your son like little rabbits? Would he dare hold the rabbit’s head and legs for me? Don’t worry, I am very precise with my cuts and won’t hurt him."

That Madam gave a dry laugh and shook her head, "My son has always loved reading, and doesn’t like playing with those little creatures. Little miss might want to find someone else to play with!"

Little creatures?

Xiao Linshuang raised an eyebrow and shrugged, "Well then, I guess in the entire Capital City, only the Sixth Prince dares to play with me! Mom, I’m going back to read, call me for dinner later!"

Watching Xiao Linshuang hopping away, the few Madams’ eyes widened. They had long heard that the Lin family’s little miss and the Sixth Prince were good friends. Seeing it today, it indeed was true.

Their eyelids slightly drooped, their minds clicking away with thoughts. The eldest daughter has entered the General Mansion, and their youngest is now the goddaughter of Princess An Le and General Xia, indeed matching the Sixth Prince.

The Lin family is indeed a high threshold to reach.

Xiao Linshuang returned home and only then did she find out that Lin Yuan was also there. She heard from Du Ruo that she had been cooped up drawing something on the desk all day.

Xiao Linshuang’s eyes rolled mischievously, her nose wrinkled, and she immediately ran towards Lin Yuan’s courtyard without even announcing her arrival.

Peeking through the door, she indeed saw Lin Yuan, engrossed in drawing something on the desk, and next to her, a small stool held a box with many drawn papers inside.

Xiao Linshuang pursed her lips, held her small hands like a little fox, tiptoed in on her little tiptoes.

"Yaya, what are you doing?"

Just as her tiny body hid under the desk, she heard Lin Yuan’s voice from above.

Xiao Linshuang’s face fell, and she simply sat down on the ground, looking up pitifully at Lin Yuan, who hadn’t even turned to look, and said with a pout, "Big sister, weren’t you drawing? How did you see me?"

Lin Yuan chuckled and rolled her eyes, "With your chubby little body, I’d have to be blind not to see you! You know, if you ate less, I maybe wouldn’t see you, but if you keep eating like this, tsk tsk!"

Though she didn’t finish her sentence, Xiao Linshuang understood that if she continued eating like this, she would definitely become as big as Xu Muqing, with her fat audibly quivering whether she was in the yard or not.

Cough cough.

She coughed awkwardly twice, got up from the ground, and leaned over to look at what Lin Yuan was drawing.

"Oh?"