Little Pink Starfish

A Plot Twist Too Big

Gu Xinglang’s military brothers were in high spirits, enjoying their drinks. Everyone felt a little regret that Gu Xiaosan couldn’t join them tonight—it felt like something was missing without him clinking glasses with them.

Suddenly, a personal servant came running in from outside and whispered in Gu Xinglang’s ear, “Third Young Master, Nanny Wang says she needs to see you urgently.”

Gu Xinglang leaned over to Li Yuanle, seated on his left, and whispered, “Something’s come up. I’ll be right back. Help me entertain the brothers.”

Li Yuanle nodded in acknowledgment.

Two servants carried Gu Xinglang out of the side hall.

Nanny Wang stood in the corridor, still maintaining her composed palace nanny demeanor.

Gu Xinglang knew Nanny Wang would only come to him in such haste if it had something to do with Yu Xiaoxiao. He waved his attendants away and quietly asked, “Nanny, what’s happened? Is something wrong with the Princess?”

Nanny Wang sighed as she looked at Gu Xinglang. If the Prince Consort were completely controlling the Princess, she’d be worried. But now that he had no control over her at all—she was still worried.

“She went out again?” Gu Xinglang blurted out.

Nanny Wang said, “The Princess wants to take Xiao Zhuang and Xiao Wei to the Zhao residence to eavesdrop.”

Gu Xinglang thought he was hallucinating. “What did you say?”

Nanny Wang quickly explained everything—how the Princess said that Er Qiu wasn’t Zhao Xiang’s daughter, and how she planned to go to the Zhao residence with Xiao Zhuang and Xiao Wei to expose Zhao Qiuming’s deceit.

Hearing this, Gu Xinglang remembered. Back at Huguo Temple, his wife had pointed at Miss Zhao San and asked Zhao Qiuming if that was really his daughter.

Nanny Wang asked, “Prince Consort, who is Er Qiu?”

Gu Xinglang shook his head and asked in return, “Did the Princess see Zhao Qiuming’s daughters in the palace?”

Nanny Wang immediately replied, “Those two are just concubine-born daughters. They’d have no right to enter the palace. Prince Consort, what should we do now?”

“Alright,” Gu Xinglang said, “Nanny, keep the Princess in place for me. I’ll return to her shortly.” Even if Zhao Qiuming was lying to the emperor, his wife didn’t need to be sneaking off to the Zhao estate to eavesdrop. Just tell Emperor Xianzhong and let him investigate—Gu Xinglang was sure that when it came to beautiful women, his father-in-law would dig until he uncovered the truth.

With Gu Xinglang’s response, Nanny Wang gave him a bow and returned to the residence.

“Someone,” Gu Xinglang called a servant, “tell the steward to send some walnuts to the Princess.” Nanny Wang had no chance of stopping his wife, so maybe food would. Gu Sanshao thought the mountain walnuts tasted pretty good, though they were hard to crack. Hopefully, that would keep her distracted.

Yu Xiaoxiao saw the small walnuts delivered by the steward just as she was about to set off with Xiao Zhuang and Xiao Wei. She stopped and asked, “These are walnuts, right?”

Xiao Zhuang nodded, still not understanding why his princess seemed so happy about them.

Because Gu Xinglang was injured, the young generals didn’t go wild partying all night like they usually did. After a few drinks, they agreed to meet tomorrow at the city gate and then said their goodbyes.

By the time Gu Xinglang returned to his room, Yu Xiaoxiao was focused on cracking walnuts, her head down, completely absorbed.

Xiao Zhuang and Xiao Wei stood when they saw Gu Xinglang enter.

Gu Xinglang whispered, “Go rest.”

Xiao Zhuang wanted to say they were still supposed to go to the Zhao residence with the Princess, but before he could open his mouth, Xiao Wei pulled him away.

Yu Xiaoxiao glanced at the person now sitting beside her and shoved half a walnut kernel into his mouth, complaining, “It’s tasty but so hard to crack.”

It was true her strength was enormous—but every time she crushed the shell, the nut inside also became powder. When it came to cracking walnuts, her skills were no match for the local talents Xiao Zhuang and Xiao Wei.

Gu Xinglang took a walnut and began cracking it for her while saying, “That woman really isn’t Zhao Qiuming’s daughter?”

“Definitely not,” Yu Xiaoxiao said. “She’s called Er Qiu.”

“You’ve met her before?” Gu Xinglang asked.

Does seeing someone’s portrait count as meeting them? Yu Xiaoxiao hesitated, then said, “I remember her.”

Gu Xinglang placed the shelled walnut into her hand. “That pair of sisters was supposed to be gifted to His Majesty by Zhao Qiuming.”

What the hell?!

Yu Xiaoxiao nearly spat out her mouthful of walnut meat. The plot twist was so dramatic she didn’t even know how to react anymore. Er Qiu was going to become her dad’s woman?! What about Wen Fenglin’s true love then?

Gu Xinglang added, “It’s just that they looked so pitiful today that His Majesty wasn’t interested in taking a closer look.”

Yu Xiaoxiao struggled to speak with her mouth full, “Aren’t they a bit too young for my dad? He’s got a whole harem already—why would he need those two?”

That wasn’t the point. Gu Xinglang shook his head slightly and said, “Princess, this is treason.”

Yu Xiaoxiao crushed another walnut—shell and all—and muttered, “Let him lie, whatever. With my dad’s level of intelligence, he’s basically living to be scammed anyway.”

Gu Xinglang truly didn’t want to hear her cursing the Emperor, but since his wife had already said it, it wasn’t like he could report her to Xianzhong. Instead, he simply wiped a bit of walnut shell from the corner of her lips and said, “Don’t go to the Zhao residence tonight. Let the Emperor handle the investigation.”

Yu Xiaoxiao replied, “He probably won’t figure it out.”

“Lie down with me for a bit,” Gu Xinglang said gently, taking her hand. “We’re going to Ruyun Mountain tomorrow. Let’s sleep early—you still want to go hunt wild rabbits, right?”

The thought of Ruyun Mountain full of fat rabbits made her instantly feel better. Compared to Zhao Qiuming, fat rabbits were much more appealing. Yu Xiaoxiao decided to postpone her eavesdropping plan for a day. Catching rabbits took energy—she needed to rest up.

---

Deep in a valley of Ruyun Mountain, Cuiyu said to the burly man in front of her, “Did you hear everything I said clearly?”

The man nodded, his gaze finally drifting from her chest downward.

Cuiyu turned and left immediately. She didn’t want to stay in this godforsaken place another minute.

As soon as she walked out of the hut, a few scruffy men burst in and asked the seated brute, “Boss, you let that chick go again?”

The big boss cursed, “If I touched her, none of you would get to eat! Do you think she’s someone we can mess with? Can you all stop obsessing over women? Get the hell out!”

The second-in-command walked in from outside and asked, “What did that master want this time?”

The boss replied, “That master doesn’t want the guy anymore. We’re to kill him.”

From outside, someone howled, “Kill him? What if that guy is really Gu Xingyan? If he dies, what happens to my sister?!”

“Shut it!” the boss roared. “I don’t even have a sister, and now you suddenly do?!”

The second-in-command asked, “So what do we do, boss? Kill him or not?”