Xiaoman crouched by the flowerbed, holding a bottle filled with a brown liquid.
"What are you doing?"
Yadan, having finished cleaning the kitchen, saw a shadow crouching by the flowerbed in the moonlight. As she got closer, she realized it was Xiaoman. She wiped her hands and squatted beside her, her gaze following Xiaoman's. All she saw was the dry, cracked earth where the flower stems were planted, the fissures resembling peeling wallpaper. Yadan stared for a long time, unable to figure out what Xiaoman was looking at.
Xiaoman raised a finger to her lips, making a shushing gesture.
Yadan pursed her lips and dared not speak. She hugged her knees, her head resting on her bent arm, tilting her head to watch Xiaoman.
Xiaoman's face wasn't round and full of flesh like hers. Her facial lines were clear and sharp, appearing even more defined and beautiful in the shadow. The slightly upturned corners of her eyes held a hint of heroism, and Yadan found herself staring, mesmerized.
"What are you two doing?"
The voice from behind startled Yadan. She turned, glared fiercely at Gouzi, and raised a fist.
Gouzi frowned, grunted, and strode over to them, standing with his hands behind his back. The human shadow he cast before them annoyed Xiaoman. She stuck out her leg and swept it sideways, kicking Gouzi directly onto the ground. Gouzi yelped, falling heavily. The kicked-up dust rose into the air and settled all over Gouzi's face.
Gouzi accidentally inhaled some of it, covering his nose and starting to cough.
Xiaoman's movements were fluid and graceful, which filled Yadan with admiration, making her want to cling to Xiaoman's leg and become her disciple.
Gouzi scrambled to his feet, his brows furrowed in fury.
"You..."
"Shut up!"
Xiaoman turned and snapped at him fiercely.
Her fierce look startled Gouzi. He mumbled, "Why so fierce!" No longer bristling, he squatted down next to Xiaoman.
Xiaoman focused intently on the flowerbed. Gouzi whispered to Yadan, "What is she looking at?"
Yadan made a shushing gesture.
Gouzi: "..."
Gouzi wondered who had given Yadan the courage for her increasingly bad temper. However, recalling the force with which Yadan slammed dough onto the cutting board when making noodles, he decided not to bother with these girls.
Xiaoman's ears twitched, as if catching some sound.
She suddenly opened the lid of the bottle in her hand and poured the brown liquid onto the dry, cracked ground. Yadan and Gouzi caught a sweet scent.
"This is..."
Gouzi was about to ask when he was met with two sharp glances.
Gouzi's voice died in his throat. He was both angry and vexed, yet helpless!
As expected, this little girl thrown by Nan Shiying was as annoying as Nan Shiying herself!
He gritted his teeth, feeling indignant, when he suddenly saw clusters of reflective things in the distance making rustling sounds and crawling rapidly towards the fragrance.
It was only when the things drew closer that Gouzi could make out what they were in the faint moonlight.
"Holy... crap..."
They were scorpions and spiders, one after another. The reflections he'd seen earlier were moonlight glinting off the scorpions' tails. Gouzi immediately jumped up in fright, and Yadan let out a cry and sat down on the ground.
Seeing the creatures hovering over the ground where Xiaoman had spilled the liquid, Gouzi angrily shouted at her, "What are you doing? Why did you lure these things here?!"
Xiaoman turned and looked Gouzi up and down, the undisguised contempt in her eyes making him even more enraged.
Just as he was about to curse again, Xiaoman slowly opened her mouth, "You should be asking me why there are so many scorpions and spiders in our backyard!"
Gouzi opened his mouth.
Right, why were there these things in the yard?
The thought popped into his head instinctively, and he deflated like a pricked balloon. Yet, feeling that admitting defeat would cost him face, he argued stubbornly, "Didn't you lure them here?"
Xiaoman: "..."
She really wanted to return to the manor immediately and tell her mistress, "Mistress, shall we give up on him!" Protecting him was no better than protecting a pig!
Xiaoman sighed and ignored Gouzi, that fool whose intelligence was inferior to a pig's. She stared intently at the dense scorpions and spiders in the flowerbed. Yadan, shrinking behind Xiaoman, peeked out. She was initially terrified, her fingertips clutching Xiaoman's clothes so tightly that they wrinkled. But slowly, she saw that the scorpions and spiders on the ground had stopped moving.
It seemed they were all dead!
Xiaoman grabbed a twig and poked at them. After confirming that all the scorpions and spiders were dead, she turned to Yadan and said, "Go, get a basin!"
Yadan hurried to the kitchen, got a basin, and handed it to Xiaoman.
Xiaoman directly reached in and picked up the scorpions and spiders one by one, placing them into the basin. Without a word, she shoved the basin into Gouzi's arms. "Take this to the front hall. It can be used as medicine."
Gouzi looked at the pile of corpses in the basin, a shiver running down his spine and his back feeling cold. He wanted nothing more than to throw the basin on the ground immediately. But seeing Xiaoman's gaze upon him, he gritted his teeth, clenched his fists around the basin, and, steeling himself, turned and walked towards the front hall.
Xiaoman patted the corner of her clothes and was about to turn back to her room when she heard rustling sounds behind her again. She turned and saw a fluffy white figure in her peripheral vision.
The figure seemed drunk, staggering towards the spot where she had spilled the liquid. As it approached, Xiaoman's eyes slowly widened.
This is...
"This is... a snow fox?"
Nan Shiying looked at the creature lying in Xiaoman's arms, half-drunk and half-awake, uncertain of its breed. However, judging by its snow-white fur and large ears, it looked like a snow fox that lived in the snowy mountains.
Snow foxes and Snow Glaze were from the same region. If this was a snow fox, then this creature definitely didn't come to the capital on its own. It had an owner!
"Do you like it?" Nan Shiying asked Xiaoman.
Xiaoman pursed her lips and handed the snow fox to Nan Shiying. Nan Shiying didn't have strong feelings for these small animals, but this snow fox couldn't stay. It belonged to someone.
"When it wakes up, let it go find its owner."
Nan Shiying said, placing the fox back into Xiaoman's arms. Xiaoman lowered her eyes, her gaze darkening slightly. Nan Shiying said nothing more, merely telling Xiaoman to play on her own.
After Xiaoman left, she instructed Xuan Yi, "Go tell Master to have the tribute bearers bring a snow fox."
"Yes!"
Xuan Yi responded and headed to the study.
"A snow fox?"
"This King understands!"
Ji Jinmo asked no further questions, merely nodding.