XH 33
"You are third brother's maid?" The Eighth prince suddenly asked.
"Yes, Eighth Prince," Xiao Hua answered. Long Lian had told her that this prince had turned silly, but what kind of 'silly' did she mean?
The Eighth prince could still recognize people and respond according to the situation, so Xiao Hua was rather puzzled about what kind of 'silly' the Eighth Prince was suffering.
"But fifth sister wants you," the Eighth Prince asked, his little white face frowning adorably.
"Want me?" Xiao Hua tried to guess what he meant. "As her maid?"
Xiao Hua did not know why but after hearing her answer, the Eighth prince's eyes flashed with something that makes her grew alert.
The Eighth prince's small white face suddenly have a really pitiful expression, as tears started to flow out of his eyes, his large, round eyes showed confusion. "T-That long wood stick, is bad?"
Although Xiao Hua was rather suspicious of how the Eighth Prince suddenly changes his attitude, she still decided to answer him. "Yes, it's bad for health."
"B-But brother said it's fun!"
Xiao Hua narrowed her eyes at his pitiful act. There were too many signs of him lying! Add with the previous abrupt change of attitude, he was just screaming 'Look at me, I'm acting' to her!
The Eighth prince also earnestly makes eye contact with Xiao Hua, hardly blinked his eye. He was doing his best to manipulate her to believe his act.
Xiao Hua forced her face to relax, showing none of her suspicious. "May this servant be bold to ask which prince gave Your Highness that stick?"
Already being attentive, she did not miss the glee from the Eighth prince's eyes before it was quickly concealed away. Xiao Hua suddenly feels her scalp went cold. This prince was not as silly as everyone thought he was!
And she was currently alone with a dangerous kid!
"Y-You promise you won't tell F-Father Emperor and M-Mother Empress?"
Could it be she had overthought things and he was actually simple-minded, only worried about his parent's anger, or was he purposely leaving a loophole for Xiao Hua to take?
Ugh, she hates mind games the most!
After much thought and consideration, Le XiaoTing agreed to work in her boss' newly built small firm. She was happy because it was not a stressful environment and she can go home right on time. But her scary boss happily destroyed her safety net, and in just three years, he successfully made their company climb upward until it became a large corporate.
Since then, Le XiaoTing heard lots of office gossip that were half truth half false and faced some mind games from her co-worker. They all have friendly faces but behind it was filled with sharp knives. That was the main reason why she did not interact with her co-workers unless needed.
Xiao Hua would not notice the Eighth prince's behavior if her eyesight was not cured. She did not know why, but her eyes seem to spot small details rather easily now.
Could it be that she has superpowers now?
Xiao Hua nodded with a serious yet earnest expression as if the Eighth Prince was going to tell her a special secret. "Xiao Hua will not tell Emperor and Empress."
Seeing that silly and trusting expression of the maid, the Eighth Prince was glad that things were going according to his plan.
The Eighth prince revealed a happy and relieved expression. "It's eldest brother. He gave me the stick and teaches me how to use it! Just like eldest brother say, it's fun! But I must not let anyone know or else he won't give me things to play again."
Now, all this silly maid needs to do is to tell the princess what he just told her!
Xiao Hua suddenly feels the urge to laugh. The Eighth Prince was performing a show just for her and did not ask if she wanted to watch it or not. Now that the show was over, he outright demanded fees from her!
Look at his large eyes. They were staring at her, impolitely demanding her to do what he wanted. If they get larger, it would resemble a goldfish.
Unfortunately for the Eighth Prince, Xiao Hua does not really like kids like him, making trouble for other people. But what was he trying to do? Getting someone into trouble?
Xiao Hua, with a curious mind and a playful heart, decided to play along. Her initial judgment of the Eighth Prince being dangerous was already forgotten.
So Xiao Hua pretended to be stupid and nodded exaggeratedly. "Xiao Hua will not let anyone know, not even a soul! This servant will also take back the pipe from Sister An Wan for Your Highness!"
The Eighth prince looked at Xiao Hua with fake concern. "But... it won't be easy."
"No problem! Xiao Hua will take it when Sister An Wan is not looking-" Xiao Hua abruptly stopped when she noticed An Wan and Eunuch Heng had arrived. But the look on their faces told her they were not pleased!
Could it be... they heard their conversation? Impossible, they were still far away from the hearing range!
Eunuch Heng's figure suddenly disappeared and appeared right beside the Eighth Prince. "Your Highness! This servant worries when Your Highness suddenly went missing! It's all this servant's fault for not being attentive enough!"
The Eighth Prince was not happy to be interrupted just when he was going to successfully steer the idiotic maid to do what he wanted!
He was just about to tell Xiao Hua to get Princess Long Lian to help out with her plan to take back the pipe, giving a shameless excuse that the princess would definitely help him because she likes him the most! With the princess' personality, she would immediately get angry and demand answers from the Crown prince. She would not bother asking him privately and it will be loud, allowing everyone to know about it at the same time!
"Your Highness," Eunuch Heng said with a grave tone. "Sister An Wan had told me about the pipe. Please, do not play with it again or this servant will be sad if Your Highness got sick!"
"Eunuch Heng," An Wan cut in. "We will let Third Prince settle this matter."
Eunuch Heng knows the Third Prince would be involved because An Wan was the Third prince's inner maid, and he might already know about the Eighth prince's smoking pipe by now.
Xiao Hua spotted a black blur at the corner of her eyes before it stopped beside An Wan. That was actually one of the mini blackguards of the Third Prince.
"Aunt Wan, Master is waiting. Da Bei will lead the way."
Aunt...Wan?
But An Wan did not react when she was called as 'aunt', and nodded in response. "Eighth Prince, Eunuch Heng, please follow this servant to meet Third Prince."
The Eighth prince hesitated before nodding, his body language revealed his nervousness. His eyes darted to Eunuch Heng as if wanting to hide behind him.
Eunuch Heng's anger at the Eighth Prince using the smoking pipe was immediately extinguished at the pitiful appearance of his master. The Eighth prince must have been lied to by someone! Eunuch Heng was the one that was most familiar with his master, who was innocent and obedient!
Da Bei led the way, followed by the Eighth Prince and Eunuch Heng, and ended with Xiao Hua and An Wan.
An Wan did not say anything along the way but Xiao Hua was panicking. She did not know why but she had a feeling that An Wan had heard what she said earlier! Xiao Hua wanted to say something yet she does not know what to say.
That she was just playing along with the Eighth prince's scheme so please don't misunderstand?
That was just asking for a beating! Everyone seems to believe the Eighth Prince was 'silly' so how could they believe a silly person could scheme without them knowing?
...Without them...knowing? Really? How could it be? Something like this could not possibly escape from the Third prince's eyes!
Xiao Hua did not know when she had changed her view of the Third prince from that of a gentle and feeble prince to a prince with backbone and unknown strength. She knows that the early reveal of the heroine's ability was done by the Third Prince, which was pointed out during the conversation between the Third Prince and Da Liu from earlier.
They arrived at a smaller courtyard where there were a few candles that had been lit up to brighten the place.
The hot pink figure did not lessen its eye scorching ability even under the dark sky. Noticing their arrival, the Third prince revealed a bright smile but his eyes were dark, giving off a foreboding feeling.
The Eighth Prince and Xiao Hua shivered from the sudden cold that only they could feel for guilty of doing something bad.
So scary!