"I didnât take the dagger, theyâre talking nonsense," he said, extending his small hands. "If you donât believe me, search me, I donât have a dagger on me."
After speaking, he looked sincerely with his big eyes at the people in the Imperial Study, indicating he wasnât lying.
With a signal from the Emperor, a little eunuch really went up to him and searched him, indeed finding nothing.
"You threw away the dagger! Or you hid it! Grandpa Emperor, grandson isnât lying, he took the dagger."
"Werenât you guys following behind me when I arrived? Did you see me throw or hide a dagger?"
Suddenly, both children fell silent, indeed they hadnât seen Lele throw away the dagger.
"You did take the dagger, all the maids of the imperial cousin saw it." Finally, the Luo Family child couldnât help but speak up.
Upon hearing this, Lele rolled his eyes dismissively, and said calmly, "They are your maids, of course theyâll say whatever you tell them to. Anyway, it was you who hit me, you hit me yesterday, and you hit me again today."
The Emperor looked at the three children causing a commotion before him with a headache, but he mostly understood the situation already, his grandson and the Luo Family youngster must have beaten up Lele yesterday, and as for today, surely Lele had fought back. Why there were no injuries on the face, they must have taken hits to the body.
However, this child daring to take a dagger, and doing it in a way that left no evidence, then getting beaten and still knowing to come complain to him, showed a cunning that was truly exasperating.
Looking at his own grandson and the Luo Family boy, putting the two together, the Luo Family child was already eight years old and yet he couldnât win against a kid barely over four.
Consequently, the Emperor called for the Luo Family and Baili Yan, scolding them severely, and both children were punished with half a month of house arrest.
As for Lele, he wasnât punished and even received some rewards, with the only regret being that he couldnât go home.
Perhaps it was a motherâs intuition, but far away in the Capital City, Lele had just had a fight during the day, and at night Yang Chuxia had a nightmare in which her son was beaten.
The next day, as soon as she got up she urged Ye Ziâan to send a letter to the Capital City, inquiring about the actual situation.
So, when not long after Baili Yan received Ye Ziâanâs letter, he felt so frustrated he wanted to bang his head against a wall. He really wanted to throw the letter in Ye Ziâanâs face and then tell him, "Your son is crafty enough not to bully others, and you think others are bullying him?"
It must be said that Lele and Yangyang were truly brothers, as one brother got into a fight in the Capital City, Yangyang far away in the countryside also had a fight, and even played the hero in saving a damsel.
On this day, Ms. Wang went to look at prospective brides for Yang Qingrui again, and after finishing her visits, she went to the Ye Familyâs place in Yangshu Village.
"Xiaxia, let me tell you, the girl I saw today was really quite good!"
"Oh, which familyâs daughter? Whatâs so good about her?" Yang Chuxia was quite interested in looking for a daughter-in-law for Yang Qingrui.
"The He Familyâs, they are from the county," Ms. Wang replied.
"Youâve gone all the way to the county?"
"Indeed," taking a sip of tea, Ms. Wang started talking, "This family was introduced by the matchmaker, saying itâs the daughter of the new County Magistrateâs brother-in-law, fifteen years old this year. Today we pretended to bump into her accidentally at the cloth store to have a look-over, ah really, not bad at all, her looks, her temperament, speaking so gently, just feeling so comfortable to watch."
"The new County Magistrateâs brother-in-lawâs daughter?" Upon hearing this, Yang Chuxia somehow had a bad feeling. Constable Hongâs words were still fresh in her ears, wasnât one of the new catchpoles arranged by the new County Magistrate his brother-in-law?
"Mom, you should ask Qingrui what he thinks about this."