“Qiyue, how could you? Prince Nan is an alchemist very much valued by His Majesty. Didn’t he save your life? He is not only Tianci’s benefactor but also yours! As the saying goes, one must repay a favour many times over. You shouldn’t neglect Prince Nan even if you won’t repay him!” The Old Madame was anxious. She doted on this granddaughter of hers, yet also felt angry with her at the same time.

Hua Qiyue gave a helpless sigh and helped the Old Madame over to take her seat. “Grandma, you needn’t worry. Maybe father and Prince Nan have something to discuss?”

The Old Madame frowned slightly. Tianci ran over and pulled at her with a crisp laugh. “Great-grandma, Tianci will ask daddy here for supper!”

The Old Madame heard him and started to beam with delight. Before Hua Qiyue could respond, Tianci had scampered away.

Hua Qiyue watched his disappearing figure and kept shaking her head. This young fellow was getting more and more cunning. And he liked Yun Shimo more and more.

The Old Madame smiled. “Looks like Tianci is very sensible. No wonder you dote on him.”

Hua Qiyue replied quietly, “Grandma, he had suffered so much in the Zhou family. So he is obviously more sensible now here. A boy, beaten every day and carrying all kinds of injury on his body. Even the lowly servants trampled on him. Even a younger child would know gratitude when he meets someone kind.”

The Old Madame heard her and sighed a little. “You’re right. I didn’t expect Zhou Zhicheng to be this sort of a man. He not only killed the Princess, he won’t even let his own son off. The man is worse than a beast!”

“No need to feel upset over such a man, grandma. Supper will soon be ready. Stay with us and take your supper here.” Hua Qiyue smiled. Tianci had gone away to invite Yun Shimo. Obviously, she could not let just the three of them take supper together.

The Old Madame stood up instead. “Don’t bother. My yard has already prepared my share. Qiyue, you and Tianci must entertain Prince Nan cordially!”

The Old Madame did not want to get between them here. No matter how much Hua Qiyue begged her to stay, she would not. Hua Qiyue had no choice but to let her go.

15 minutes later, Tianci brought Yun Shimo with him. Hua Liting was not with them. Surely, the entire family wanted the three of them to eat together and nurture a relationship?

Hua Qiyue felt very helpless. She invited Yun Shimo to sit down and after all the necessary etiquette, discovered that Lv Xin and Youshui had scrambled off after serving the dishes.

Two extremely sly girls!

Hua Qiyue cursed them helplessly and pulled Tianci to sit at the dinner table.

Yun Shimo sat down and a flash of light streaked out from his robe sleeve. A little white hare had leaped onto the dinner table. It started to clamor upon seeing the dishes on it. “Good heavens, the dishes in Hua’s Mansion are so much better than at Prince Nan’s! Yun Shimo, you stinking lad, how dare you abuse me!”

Here was suddenly a little hare. Tianci had a great fright but seeing the adorable hare, liked it very much.

“Mother, where is this little hare from? And it can talk! Is it an evil beast? Mother… I’ve seen many evil beasts in the Magic Beasts Forest!” The young fellow started to get excited. He stretched out his hand to grab the Sun Moon Deity.

The Sun Moon Deity suddenly leaped to one side. “Young fellow, don’t use your hand and touch me!”

Hearing the hare’s menacing cries, Tianci felt even more amused. “Hey, the little hare’s angry! Haha, how fun!”

The Sun Moon Deity was fuming mad. He had lived for over 10,000 years and had never been called a “fun” plaything before!

In the past, he had enjoyed a fearsome reputation. Everyone became petrified upon hearing his name. Yet now, a young boy had dared to deride him…

“Sun Moon Deity, Tianci is just a six-year-old boy. Why are you so concerned over his remarks?” Seeing the hare’s red eyes, Yun Shimo said quite indifferently. “Furthermore, a being that has lived for 10,000 years shouldn’t be so narrow-minded, or you would have lived in vain!”

“You…” The Sun Moon Deity was so enraged that he wanted to vomit blood, but he had no words to rebut Yun Shimo at the moment.

So, this time, the kind-looking but inwardly despicable Yun Shimo had clinched a complete victory.

The little hare had lost but it was not taking it lying down. It whizzed and jumped onto the table again. It clawed a roast chicken over with its paw and chewed off a big mouthful of the meat!

Tianci and his parents were completely flabbergasted by the hare gorging on the food.

Hua Qiyue shook her head helplessly. “Sir, aren’t you a hare? Hares eat grass, I think?”

“Yes, hares should eat grass! Only those that have cultivated a human form can eat meat!” Little Tianci blinked his eyes and agreed.

Yun Shimo seemed to be accustomed to the little creature’s habits and picked up his chopsticks calmly.

Hua Qiyue twitched the corner of her mouth. She had not yet spoken, yet the little creature had picked up a pair of chopsticks and spoken like he was the host.

“Eat grass yourself! You and your whole family!”

Yun Shimo immediately brought his palm down to cover the little hare unkindly. The little creature whizzed and leaped over to the windowsill. It was holding up the roast chicken and yelling carelessly. “Mmmm, mmmm, it’s a long time since I’ve tasted such great food! The food at Prince Nan’s is horrible.”

The countenance of Yun Shimo wasn’t looking too good.

Hua Qiyue was very baffled. The little hare ought to be much stronger than Yun Shimo. But why was the Sun Moon Deity so afraid of him?

And yet the little creature was maligning Yun Shimo. It hadn’t even been to Prince Nan’s mansion. How would it know that his food tasted bad?

“Little hare, want this steamed chicken? This is an expert delicacy of our chefs!”

“Yes, yes!” The little hare did not wait for Tianci to finish. It whizzed back and jumped over to grab the fragrant, piping hot steamed chicken. Then, it leaped back to the windowsill.

Only 10 of the 12 dishes were left.

Hua Qiyue could not bear to look. She said hurriedly, “Tianci, take your supper quickly. Aren’t you hungry?”

Tianci recovered somewhat from his start. He quickly ate a mouthful of the meatballs that Hua Qiyue had picked up for him. “Mother, the Magic Beasts Forest isn’t scary at all.”

Hua Qiyue and Yun Shimo both started. Actually, they remembered the Eleventh Prince’s words. Tianci’s mention had made them want to know more about what happened.

So Tianci recounted what had happened in the forest, bit by bit.

Hua Qiyue heard him and was greatly astonished. She did not expect those ferocious, evil beasts to both fear and respect Tianci. The Eleventh Prince did not force Tianci to give him the Evolution Pearl, as he had already received many Magic Cores from him.

Yun Shimo stretched out his long, shapely and luscious fingers, serving Tianci a bowl of red ginseng soup. Then, he carefully rubbed the rice grains off the corner of the boy’s mouth.

Hua Qiyue paused for a while. His action was so gentle, as if… as if Tianci was really his own son.

Hua Qiyue’s heart sank. The words of Princess Huizhen resurfaced in her mind. Zhou Zhicheng wasn’t Tianci’s real father!

She kept trying to forget this fact, but it had been proven that she could not forget it, nor could she ignore. She had to plan properly and trace out this man secretly!

After all, she was Rong Qiyue in her past life, not Hua Qiyue. Even if she managed to find that man, she would not suffer any loss of reputation in this life.

“Mother? Mother? What’s wrong?” Tianci shook Hua Qiyue a few times and she recovered from her start. Yun Shimo’s gentle gaze carried with it a faint concern.

“Nothing, nothing…” Hua Qiyue quickly shook her head. “Tianci, did that Heaven Dog really give you the Evolution Pearl?”

“Yes! It made all the other evil beasts retreat, came back and gave me the Evolution Pearl!” Tianci nodded. He had encountered a life-and-death ordeal. Of course, he would remember.

“In Tianci’s body is a very strange aura. I didn’t let you know because I didn’t want you to worry. I had wanted to dispel that energy aura. For a Qi Artist, if a cloud of anima energy remains coagulated, it will prove to be harmful, not good.” Yun Shimo spoke quietly. “But I didn’t succeed. Tianci would feel very terrible. So I gave up the idea. Now, it seems that the energy aura really did protect Tianci.”

Hua Qiyue paused for a brief moment. She stretched out her hand gently and caressed Tianci’s small head. “Son, don’t go running out of the mansion next time. So many people are jealous of your mother. Even more want to lay their hands on our divine herbs. They would use you to exchange for them! I am not afraid to give up those herbs. I’m just afraid you might get hurt.”

Tianci immediately started to pat his underdeveloped chest. “Don’t worry, mum, Tianci can fight them! Even if they wish me harm, this light aura can protect me!”

Hua Qiyue wrinkled her brows. “Don’t put your hopes on this strange aura. People must still depend on themselves.”

Tianci blinked and looked at Yun Shimo. Quite unexpectedly, Yun Shimo began to nod. “Your mother’s right. That energy aura is too bizarre. Even dad doesn’t know what it is. So… Tianci, don’t go running off in the future.”

Tianci had to nod.

The little hare was chewing both chicken and duck at the same time. When it heard their conversation, it gazed at Tianci with a complex expression in its eyes. In the end, it said nothing.

The atmosphere began to become more relaxed and harmonious. Rather unexpectedly, Hua Qiyue and Yun Shimo had no further arguments.

After supper, she saw Yun Shimo out of the mansion. On the way, she saw two men returning in support of each other. They were the Qi Artists Caining and Caiqing.

Caining and Caiqing had left for the Magic Beasts Forest to find Tianci. They did not manage to locate him after an entire day, but met with many powerful evil beasts instead. They were both badly wounded.

One ought to know that there were many powerful evil beasts in the Magic Beasts Forest. Most Qi Artists did not dare to set foot there.

Hua Qiyue paused for a while. Yun Shimo had gotten up the carriage. When he saw Hua Qiyue’s rather tender gaze, he began to knit his brows a little. He let down the curtains angrily and ignored her, not looking.

Yet soon, he could not help but ask the driver to stop. Then, he lifted up the curtains again.

He saw Hua Qiyue move forward. Both Caining and Caiqing’s robes were drenched in blood. There was a long gash on Caiqing’s arm. Blood was streaming down.

“What happened?” Hua Qiyue frowned.

“Madam, we were in the Magic Beasts Forest looking for the young master…”

“He has been brought back by the Eleventh Prince. Both of you don’t need to worry about him. Treat your wounds at the courtyard. Later, I will get Lv Xin to bring you some medicine to staunch your wounds.”

Although Hua Qiyue’s tone was extremely cold, she had experienced some pleasant surprises. This pair of twin Qi Artists, often unhappy with her, was still very dutiful.

“Yes. Thank you, madam.” Caiqing answered coldly. He waved his robe sleeve forcefully and strode in.

Caining shook his head helplessly. He could quite guess Caiqing’s thoughts. After all, how could he be happy when he saw Hua Qiyue and Prince Nan leaving the mansion together?

Hua Qiyue returned to the mansion and took out the wound medicine Yun Shimo had given her. Then, she handed it and a Long Red over to Lv Xin. “Bring them over to Caining and Caiqing’s yard.”

At this moment, they suddenly heard a hideous shriek, causing Hua Qiyue to dash out at once!

—————

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