Chapter 31: Chapter 27: Cover Your Ears, and There Will Be No Sadness

If Shen Jingxian still hasn’t realized the seriousness of the problem, then it’s truly serious.

Before, she only warned herself not to hurt the heroine, but forgot that the heroine might also come to harm her.

Moreover, she had to accept this harm.

Otherwise, it would seem like Song Yan kindly gave her a gift, but she trampled on others’ goodwill.

In that case, no matter how cute she is in the future, who would dare to give her gifts? No one wants their heartfelt efforts trampled on by others.

But she is truly afraid of human-like dolls.

Shen Jingxian calmly closed the box, pushed the doll back to Song Yan with both hands, and softly said, “Thank you, Sister Song Yan, for making such a beautiful and exquisite doll, but I can’t accept it.”

Shen Jingxian’s hands clasped together nervously, putting on a somewhat shy appearance, then mustering the courage to say, “I… I’m afraid of dolls that look like humans.”

Shen Jingxian’s voice got smaller and smaller, and her eyes seemed too embarrassed to land on anyone present because of this unspeakable reason.

The surrounding children were charmed by this side of Shen Jingxian, thinking that it was only natural for such a cute girl to fear dolls! Feeling scared and thus not accepting the gift was very normal!

So why were they angry before about Sister Yan’s gift being returned!

Even if Sister Yan spent a long time making the doll, and even if they saw Sister Yan pricking her fingers many times while making it, there was nothing that could be done, because after all, the Princess was afraid of dolls.

“Sister Yan, Your Highness is afraid, why don’t you just put it away for now…”

“Yes, yes, Sister Yan, it’s okay, Your Highness may be afraid, but I’m not! Give it to me!”

“Why should she give it to you! I also think Sister Yan’s doll looks good! Sister Yan, give it to me; I’ll trade it for gold with you.” After all, it’s a princess doll, absolutely unavailable on the market, so getting it means gaining.

“Typical countryside commoners, only knowing money, money, and money. Sister Yan, I’ll trade you a poem for the doll!”

“Hah? Pretentious!”

All were kids, so they started arguing unexpectedly, while only Song Yan focused on Shen Jingxian and asked, “Your Highness, can Song Yan know why you are afraid of dolls?”

Shen Jingxian sighed, indeed, without a clear explanation, the heroine wouldn’t easily let her off.

She knew it! If ostracism was her fate, then this doll was the flashpoint!

Shen Jingxian took a deep breath, seriously looked at Song Yan, and said solemnly, “Do you really want to know?”

Song Yan nodded, and Shen Jingxian began to tell her story, and gradually, the surrounding kids quieted down.

“It was a story my Empress mother told me.

A long, long time ago, a man acquired an extraordinarily beautiful doll. The doll had jet-black hair, skin like jade, crimson lips, and bright eyes. Though just a doll, it was more beautiful than any woman, so the man gradually fell in love with this doll, expressing his love to her every day.

Because of the man’s love, the doll acquired a soul. With its newfound consciousness, it realized that the man must willingly give her his flesh and blood for her to break free from the doll’s body.

Therefore, the doll deceived the man into killing himself, and she smeared the man’s flesh and blood on herself, blending into the crowd.

Sometimes she would grant dolls consciousness, especially those that looked pretty…”

After Shen Jingxian finished speaking, Yinghua Hall was dead silent.

Shen Jingxian accidentally caught Mr. Zhao’s gaze and found his expression odd.

Was he afraid? Was Mr. Zhao also scared of these spooky tales? A kindred spirit!!

Song Yan was dumbfounded after hearing Shen Jingxian’s story. The princess was only a few years old, so why did the Empress tell her such stories?

Could this be the reason the princess would become like that in the future?

Song Yan thought she might have figured it out.

After all, judging by recent observations, Shen Jingxian didn’t quite seem like she remembered her from her past life, though whether it was an act was still unclear.

How could an Empress who would tell a child such stories possibly raise a delicate little flower?

What Song Yan didn’t know was that this story was indeed told by the Empress, but not to Shen Jingxian—rather, it was for the Emperor.

At that time, Shen Jingxian had just been born, and the overjoyed Emperor insisted on making cloth dolls for her, making them poorly and oblivious to it, scaring Jingxian to tears every time he gave her one.

Shen Jingxian didn’t like dolls, to begin with, especially the bizarre ones made by the Emperor. She almost thought the Emperor wanted to curse her.

Later, to stop the Emperor, the Empress told him this story to warn him that dolls were eerie things that shouldn’t be given to children, who were more likely to see unclean things.

Since then, there were no more dolls in the Imperial Palace, to Shen Jingxian’s delight.

Who would have thought she’d encounter one with the heroine today?

Shen Jingxian looked at Song Yan with embarrassment, then took off the small yellow flower from her head. Yes, today the Empress adorned her with a little yellow flower because there were no more small red flowers.

“Sister Song Yan, here’s this flower for you. Don’t be upset; it’s my useless fear of dolls that kept me from accepting your gift, not that your gift was bad.”

Song Yan furrowed her brow; this familiar genteel talk somehow seemed less irritating today than before.

Song Yan reached out, reclaimed the box, and accepted the small yellow flower from Shen Jingxian.

Shen Jingxian, who was merely being polite and didn’t expect Song Yan to actually take the flower: …

Originally thinking the matter was settled, who would have thought that after hearing a story of living dolls, some people wanted to own a living princess doll even more, offering a higher price to buy it from Song Yan.

Song Yan didn’t sell it, even scolding those who wanted the doll.

How bold, no wonder she’s the bold female lead of a refreshing novel.

Shen Jingxian was very relieved Song Yan didn’t give the doll to anyone else because that doll really looked like her, very cute.

No one knew that Mr. Zhao, having listened to the entire story, went home and threw out all his daughter’s dolls, consequently receiving a thorough scolding from his wife.

Mr. Zhao regretted it deeply; he shouldn’t have listened to the Princess’s story.

Covering one’s ears means no sadness.

When lunchtime arrived, Shen Jingxian returned to the palace with Shi Wang to eat with Wen Ranchen.

Now Shi Wang was her little tail, following wherever she went. In the Imperial College, Shi Wang wouldn’t affect her studies, but once outside, Shi Wang would chatter incessantly.

Shi Wang, “Princess, are you going back to the palace for lunch every day?”

Shen Jingxian, “Yes, otherwise Brother Ranchen would be lonely by himself.”

Shi Wang scratched his head, “How does eating alone make one lonely? Such a big person still needing company.”

Shen Jingxian gave Shi Wang a reproachful look, “Because he can’t see, you know, being blind makes one very afraid.”

Shi Wang rubbed his nose and said nothing more.

During the meal, Shen Jingxian let Shi Wang sit and eat with them, hurriedly finishing so they could go back.

Wen Ranchen noticed Shi Wang’s presence, seemingly wanting to say something, but facing Shen Jingxian’s inquiry, he merely smiled and said nothing.

Shen Jingxian felt that Wen Ranchen lacked energy and insisted on not going to school in the afternoon, only to be forcibly carried away by Shi Wang.

Shen Jingxian sulked over this matter with Shi Wang and didn’t say a word to him along the way.

When she reached the edge of Mirror Lake in the Imperial College, she saw Song Yan there contemplating life and sharply turned to take another route.

She had taken time to review the plot carefully, noting down everything involving her, big or small, and revisiting it daily.

Some with a timeline, some without.

After all, the novel’s author didn’t write a day-to-day account detailing every occurrence on specific dates.

Shen Jingxian could only rely on others’ behaviors and special circumstances to determine the plot.

For instance, now! Song Yan standing by the lake was a special circumstance!

The conflict between Shen Jingxian and Song Yan was slowly escalating, with Song Yan being pushed into the lake by Shen Jingxian as a climactic moment, which leads to Song Yan connecting with the Eldest Prince.

He would later become a member of Song Yan’s harem and turn against his beloved sister.

Though, as of now, Shen Jingxian hadn’t felt like she was the sister so adored by the Eldest Prince, it was written that way in the past.

Just as Shen Jingxian changed direction, a splash was heard not far from her, followed by a scream, “Ah!!! Help!!!”

Shen Jingxian, feeling wronged as the sound was attributed to her pushing Song Yan into the lake: ?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep