Little Pink Starfish

Who’s Stronger—Sister or Brother-in-Law?

The First Prince, Yu Ziqing, heard Yu Xiaoxiao’s mumbling and added, “Sis, the Gu family’s spear technique is peerless in the world!”

Yu Xiaoxiao looked down at her eldest younger brother. The kid had been training daily with a bunch of soldiers lately and had grown sturdier—a round, tiger-headed little fellow. He really didn’t resemble the refined looks typical of the Yu family. According to Xianzong’s observations, the boy was starting to look more and more like someone from the Hua family. Yu Xiaoxiao reached out and ruffled his hair. “You want to learn the spear now? Then have your brother-in-law teach you.”

The First Prince was touched. His sister might beat him to death sometimes, but she really did care for him. At this moment though, he also pitied his brother-in-law. Everyone knew the Gu family spear was a tightly guarded martial art—passed to sons, never daughters, and absolutely not shared with outsiders. Did his sister not know this? Or was she planning to use brute force to make her brother-in-law give in?

The Fourth Prince then asked innocently, “Sis, who’s stronger—you or brother-in-law?”

Yu Xiaoxiao glanced at the little Fourth. “We don’t discuss that topic.”

The Fourth Prince had been learning to write directly under Gu Xinglang’s hand lately, stroke by stroke, and had a strong bond with his brother-in-law. He said, “Brother-in-law is stronger, right?”

Yu Xiaoxiao’s hand twitched behind her back. Physical strength isn’t a matter of race, okay?

“Sis is stronger!” The Fifth Prince suddenly piped up. After all the eating and spoiling, he had become Yu Xiaoxiao’s loyal supporter.

“Brother-in-law is stronger!”

“Sis is stronger!”

The two little ones went back and forth like this a dozen times, until neither could outshout the other—and then they got into a wrestling match.

Yu Xiaoxiao, as always, didn’t intervene when children fought. Two little brats couldn’t even draw blood—what was there to worry about?

The First Prince glanced at his brothers wrestling in the snow and sighed. As their big brother, he found their stupidity kind of sad.

Gu Xinglang had stopped practicing by now. With all this chaos, even the most focused man couldn’t continue.

Seeing her Xiao Gu put away his spear, Yu Xiaoxiao immediately clapped her hands in applause.

The First Prince joined in too, shouting, “Brother-in-law, amazing spearwork!”

Gu Xinglang placed his silver spear back on the rack and came forward, grabbing each of the two fighting kids by the collar and lifting them up. “Your Highnesses, no fighting.”

Yu Xiaoxiao finally chimed in, “Exactly. If you keep it up, your brother-in-law will spank you! Xiao Gu, feel free to discipline them.”

Little Zhuang and Xiao Wei didn’t dare look directly at their princess. None of them could imagine what it felt like to be forced into early parenthood like the prince consort.

The Fourth Prince threw his arms around Gu Xinglang’s neck and declared, “Brother-in-law is the best!”

The Fifth Prince, being younger, was gasping for air and couldn’t shout that his sister was stronger anymore.

Yu Xiaoxiao walked over and took the Fifth Prince from Gu Xinglang’s arms, then smacked the Fourth Prince lightly on the butt. “What? You trying to get your brother-in-law to beat me up?”

The Fourth Prince shivered and fell silent. He liked his brother-in-law, but not enough to want to see his sister get beaten.

“Your sister is stronger,” Gu Xinglang said softly while bouncing the Fourth Prince in his arms.

“Really?” The boy twisted his little butt and looked at his younger brother dangling in Yu Xiaoxiao’s arms.

Gu Xinglang lowered his voice, sounding incredibly gentle. “Of course. Your sister is the strongest.”

The Fourth Prince gave his younger brother a smug look.

Yu Xiaoxiao also puffed out her chest, full of pride, and laughed. “Xiao Gu, even if I am the best in the world, we still have to stay low-key. As long as our family knows, that’s enough.”

Everyone around them: …

If this is low-key, what the heck does high-key look like?

Wang Mama stood on the porch, watching the prince consort with great approval.

Tianxingzi squatted on the side, munching sunflower seeds. Glancing at Wang Mama, then at Gu Xinglang in the courtyard, he asked, “You noticed the genius of the Gu family spear too?”

Wang Mama turned and gave the old Taoist a look—as if she were looking at trash.

The old Taoist instantly withered.

Although she considered the old madam of the Gu family her mortal enemy, Wang Mama had to admit: she respected Gu Xinglang as a man who could accept that his wife was stronger than him. Not everyone had a big enough heart for that.

“Are you tired?” Yu Xiaoxiao reached up to wipe sweat from Gu Xinglang’s face.

Although the spear practice had been interrupted, he’d still broken quite a sweat. He shook his head at her and asked, “Not tired. Has the princess eaten?” His first instinct was still to check whether his wife had eaten.

“I brought dumplings back!” Yu Xiaoxiao said happily. “Xiao Gu, let’s go back and eat. My dad even gave me half a pig.”
(Note: No, Princess—you took that pig. The emperor never gave it to you. ==)

Half an incense stick later, the thirty baskets of soup dumplings were steaming hot in the little kitchen. Under Wang Mama’s direction, two baskets were sent to Madam Sun, two to Madam Lin, and—despite her inner grudges—two were also sent to the Old Madam.

Xiao Feng asked, “Should we send some to Madam Xu?”

Wang Mama shook her head. Madam Xu practiced Buddhism and had been vegetarian for years. Sending her meat dumplings wouldn’t win her favor—it would just make the princess look thoughtless.

A group of people sat in the warmly heated main hall, eating dumplings. Wang Mama had also ordered a large pot of millet porridge to be cooked. The steaming pot on the big table gave off a cozy, homely warmth.

Yu Xiaoxiao had it easy. After eating two bowls of sweet millet porridge, she said to Gu Xinglang, who was busy feeding two little princes dumplings, “Xiao Gu, we’ve got a long trip to make.”

Gu Xinglang asked, “His Majesty agreed to let us go to Zhuri?”

“Not Zhuri just yet,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied. “We have to go to Zhuque first, then Zhuri.”

Gu Xinglang’s hand froze mid-scoop. He looked at Yu Xiaoxiao. “Zhuque?”

“Yeah.” Yu Xiaoxiao popped a dumpling into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “I just found out I have an aunt over there—living as someone’s concubine.”

PFFT!

More than one person sprayed porridge.

“Princess Fuhui?” the First Prince asked.

“That’s her,” Yu Xiaoxiao said.

“What’s a concubine?” the Fourth Prince asked.

Wang Mama slammed her porridge bowl onto the table and stared at Yu Xiaoxiao.

One look at Wang Mama’s face, and Yu Xiaoxiao knew she was in trouble. The woman was about to go nuclear. “I was wrong,” she said before Wang Mama could explode. “Go on, keep eating. These dumplings are from the Imperial Kitchen—they’re really tasty, right?”

“Princess Fuhui is Imperial Consort Yu of Zhuque,” Wang Mama said sternly.

Yu Xiaoxiao sighed. She had already admitted her mistake—why was this woman still grilling her?