Little Pink Starfish

The Melancholy Yet Radiant Youth

Chef Huang accidentally cut his hand, blood dripping all over the chopping board.

Xiao Wei tried several times to speak, but held back each time. In the end, he came to a realization—sitting here chatting with the princess was just plain stupid. Clearly, it was the Prince Consort who should be enduring this mental torment, so why was he running headfirst into trouble by willingly taking the punishment? The princess had just said a few words, and any warm feelings he had were already completely gone. He really was just asking for abuse!

Yu Xiaoxiao, full of enthusiasm, told Xiao Wei, “If there’s a girl you’ve got your eye on in the future, tell me. I’ll help you chase her down!”

Xiao Wei looked up at the sky. If the princess got involved in his love life, then he was definitely destined to be single for life.

“Why do you always like looking up at the sky?” Yu Xiaoxiao tilted her head and looked too. The weather was nice today, the sunlight warm and pleasant, and the sky dotted with big patches of fish-scale clouds. “Is this what they call the 45-degree angle melancholy-yet-radiant gaze at the sky? Listen, Xiao Wei, you’re still young. Why are you acting like some angsty youth? You—”

“Princess, Princess,” Xiao Wei quickly stopped stargazing and suggested, “Shall we go check on that bandit leader?” To hell with the whole melancholy-radiant-staring-at-the-sky thing! Xiao Wei looked at his princess in despair—please, just let him off the hook!

“You mean Xiongxiong?” Yu Xiaoxiao asked.

“Yes, Princess. I asked around. His surname is Xiong, and his given name is just one character: Xiong.”

Yu Xiaoxiao said, “So he’s still Xiongxiong then, right?”

Xiao Wei squatted down and wrote a character on the ground. “It’s the ‘Xiong’ from ‘hero’ (英雄).”

Yu Xiaoxiao silently memorized the character, then muttered, “Still sounds like Xiongxiong when you say it.”

At that point, Xiao Wei gave up trying to help this tragically named man. Xiongxiong it is—Her Highness is right. Who cares about proper pronunciation? Xióng Xióng, Xiongxiong—it all sounds the same.

“Master Chef,” Yu Xiaoxiao turned and asked, “Is the bear paw ready yet?”

Chef Huang shook his head. He wasn’t some immortal who could blow on it and make it instantly done. “Princess,” he said, blowing on his bleeding hand, “that’s going to take a few hours at least.”

A few hours? One hour was two modern hours—this was going to take forever. Yu Xiaoxiao suddenly missed her powered-up mutant friends—just one fire burst and even the thickest meat would be cooked in seconds.

Xiao Wei offered, “Why don’t we go check out Xiao Zhuang’s little bear cubs?”

“They’re too small,” Yu Xiaoxiao said.

“They’ll grow up eventually.”

“That’s true,” Yu Xiaoxiao nodded. “Great backup food supply.”

Backup food supply? Xiao Wei twitched. If Xiao Zhuang heard that, the fool would definitely be heartbroken.

“I’ll go visit Grandma,” Yu Xiaoxiao stood up. It had been a while since she last saw the old lady.

Xiao Wei quickly blocked her way. The old lady was someone not to be messed with. If the princess went looking for her, that’d be like cutting off her last escape route. “Princess, the Old Madam might be resting. How about we go see Xiongxiong and the others? They’re injured too—I’m not sure if a doctor’s even been called for them.”

Yu Xiaoxiao asked, “Do you guys have tetanus and rabies vaccines?” If you get wounded by wild animals, you’d better get a shot within 24 hours!

“Teta-what? Princess, you want to release dogs to bite Xiongxiong again?” Xiao Wei asked in confusion.

This time, Yu Xiaoxiao’s mouth twitched. Yep, this world had its annoying flaws—healthcare sucked. Fine. If nothing else, penicillin would have to do.

“Let’s go check on Xiongxiong and the second doggies,” Yu Xiaoxiao said.

Xiao Wei led her to the stables. With so many people from Xiongxiong’s gang, they couldn’t just leave them crowding the garden paths, so they’d been relocated to the stables.

When Yu Xiaoxiao and Xiao Wei arrived and asked around, they learned that the boss had been taken to the old man’s study.

Yu Xiaoxiao looked at the injured “second doggies” and said to the guards, “Why hasn’t a doctor been called?”

The guards quickly responded, “We’ll go fetch one now!”

“Go,” Yu Xiaoxiao ordered. “Tell the doctor they were bitten by a bear and to bring all the proper medicine.”

“Yes, Princess!” The guard took off running.

One of the second doggies looked at Yu Xiaoxiao with teary eyes. “Princess, you’re such a good person.”

Yu Xiaoxiao rolled up her sleeves and squatted in front of a guy with a broken leg. After a quick glance at the injury, she replied, “I’ve always been a good person.”

Without even acknowledging the murderous glint in Xiao Wei’s eyes, the second doggie shuffled over beside Yu Xiaoxiao, squatting down as well. “Princess, what are you going to do?”

The injured man was visibly tense, muscles stiff with fear—bad for setting bones. So, Her Highness the Princess glanced up at the sky and said, “Hey, look! There’s a cow flying up there!”

Many looked up, but the man under Yu Xiaoxiao’s gaze didn’t. He was too preoccupied with whether she was going to tear his leg off.

Second doggie also looked up and said, “Princess, there’s no cow in the sky.”

Yu Xiaoxiao pursed her lips in disappointment. The guy hadn’t fallen for it. Suddenly, she pointed at Xiao Wei. “Actually, he’s a girl!”

This caused more of a reaction than flying cows. Everyone turned to stare at Xiao Wei in shock.

Xiao Wei was dumbfounded, completely frozen in place.

Compared to Xiao Zhuang’s tanned, healthy skin, Xiao Wei was pale, slim, and lean with a delicate face. Seeing this, the group of ex-pirates all gaped. Was this cold, aloof guy actually a girl in disguise?

Yu Xiaoxiao saw the broken-leg guy staring at Xiao Wei in a daze. She suddenly grabbed his leg and—crack!—snapped the bone back into place.

The man screamed in pain, but the pain quickly faded. Hearing the princess say his bone was set, he sat there completely stunned.

“Xiao Wei, get some wooden boards,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, holding the leg. “I’ll splint it.”

Xiao Wei had seen her splint Gu Xinglang before and knew what she needed. “One moment, Princess—I’ll go get them.”

As he awkwardly ran off, Second doggie, still brimming with curiosity, asked Yu Xiaoxiao, “Princess, is Xiao Wei really a girl?”

“He’s not,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied.

Second doggie looked at her blank face and felt his heart shatter again. The princess had tricked him once more!

Xiao Wei came back carrying plenty of wooden boards and helped Yu Xiaoxiao splint and treat the group of former pirates. When Yu Xiaoxiao opened her mouth to distract another patient with more nonsense, Xiao Wei didn’t even wait—he stepped forward and directly knocked out a few of them with a pressure point technique.

If this went on any longer, not just him—even the Prince Consort might end up being a woman at this rate.

Meanwhile, in the study, the old man had just finished listening to the bandit leader’s account. He slammed his hand on the desk and roared, “Zhao Qiuming has gone too far!”