It wasn’t just Xie Pan’Er who was stunned; even Ji Youzhi and the young Emperor, who were secretly observing, were dumbfounded.
Xiaobai had actually injured that Xie girl!
Ji Youzhi inexplicably recalled how his family members were so anxious about the little girl, and how, whenever she spoke, his Third Sister-in-law would react as if facing a formidable enemy!
And before this, they had clearly been standing aside, watching the little girl enter the Restaurant, and then from upstairs, they had watched the little girl arguing with that Xie girl in the Hall.
When the Xie girl first started berating the little girl, he had desperately wanted to sew that Xie girl’s mouth shut. Anger had also flickered across His Majesty’s face. Yet, the few sisters-in-law who doted on Suisui the most had merely frowned slightly. It wasn’t until Suisui retorted to the Xie girl a few times that Third Sister-in-law had impatiently whisked the little girl away.
Now, he pondered, what exactly had the little girl said when she was arguing with the Xie girl? The gist of it seemed to be something like, "Are your eyes no good? You have a bad heart, you’re the ugly one..." and so on.
Ji Youzhi continued to reflect; incidents like this were far from isolated. He remembered when they were in Xun’an County, during his interrogation of Li San. Li San had said similar words, words that seemed to still echo in his ears: "Why dig out her eyeballs? Heh! That stupid woman isn’t just malicious; she’s utterly clueless. The Eldest Princess was right, she is blind! She couldn’t even recognize the Eldest Princess and dared to make a dignified Princess kneel to her? What use were her eyes anyway?"
So, Zhao Chunxiang’s eyes were gouged out because Li San, having been kicked by the Emperor, didn’t dare to direct his anger towards the Eldest Princess. Instead, he recalled the Eldest Princess’s words and vented his fury on Zhao Chunxiang. And the root of it all was an offhand remark from the Eldest Princess, asking Zhao Chunxiang if she was blind. So, in the end, Zhao Chunxiang truly did go blind...
Then there were Sixth Brother’s eyes. It seemed the little girl had said something similar at the Altar in Nanjiang. Afterward, Sixth Brother’s eyes inexplicably started having problems, issues that even Second Brother, a Divine Physician, couldn’t diagnose. Later, he heard Third Sister-in-law was going to take him to see someone. But then they encountered the little girl digging for earthworms to feed Xiaobai. They chatted for a bit—or more accurately, Third Sister-in-law teased and played with Xiaosuisui for a while—and then nothing more came of it. After that, Second Brother developed some sort of anti-fatigue eye drops for Sixth Brother, and Sixth Brother gradually recovered.
Ji Youzhi let out a heavy breath, then stepped out from his hiding place and walked towards the little girl who was eating Wonton Soup.
The little girl sensed people suddenly sit down on either side of her. She looked up; on one side was her Seventh Uncle, and on the other, the Emperor, her adoptive father.
"Seventh Uncle, do you want some Wonton Soup? It’s delicious!"
The little girl tilted her head up, her face beaming with the satisfaction of eating something tasty and fresh.
Ji Youzhi reached out, patted her little head, and used a handkerchief to wipe her mouth.
"Uncle doesn’t want any. You eat, sweetie!"
Xiaosuisui blinked. She suddenly felt as if her Seventh Uncle was possessed by her Eldest Maternal Aunt. It was just... her Seventh Uncle calling her "sweetie" was enough to give her goosebumps.
"What’s wrong, Seventh Uncle? You’re acting so weird today!"
Hearing the little girl’s question, Ji Youzhi opened his mouth, about to speak, when a white furball leaped onto their table.
Ji Youzhi’s eyelids twitched, and he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.
"Xiaobai, you’re back!"
The little girl excitedly scooped up Xiaobai.
"Xiaobai, where did you go?
Eh, why is there blood on your claws?
Were you bullied by someone?
Who was it? Tell me, I’ll help you teach him a lesson!"
Ji Youzhi and the young Emperor shared a look. The one who had truly been bullied was definitely not her Xiaobai!