Chapter 641

Chapter Two

“Young Commandery Princess!” The maidservant couldn’t find Niannian anywhere and began to panic.

The young commandery princess had been right behind her just moments ago.

How had she suddenly vanished?

Meanwhile, Niannian was wandering through the streets, searching for Pingping and An’an.

It was the first time she had gone out on her own, and she was completely lost.

Unlike Xu Qingshi, who was familiar with every corner of the capital, little Niannian knew nothing about the city.

As she walked along, she unknowingly wandered into the middle of the road.

She failed to notice the carriage speeding straight toward her.

“Get out of the way! Hurry, get out of the way!”

Someone spotted Niannian standing in the middle of the road and shouted anxiously.

“Whose child is that? Someone, hurry and pull her away!” another person called toward Niannian.

Unfortunately, no one rushed forward to save the child.

“Second Brother… Third Brother…” Niannian called as she walked.

She didn’t realize that the people were shouting at her.

The Third Prince, Zhu Hanyu, was just on his way back to the imperial palace when he saw a child standing in the middle of the road. A carriage was about to run her over.

Without a second thought, the Third Prince rushed forward, scooped the child into his arms, and dodged the carriage as it raced past.

“Whose child are you? Why are you standing in the middle of the road all by yourself?” The Third Prince frowned as he looked at the exquisitely pretty little girl in his arms.

He couldn’t help thinking, How could her family let such a beautiful child wander around in the middle of the road?

“Big Brother, you’re really handsome.” Niannian gazed at the young man holding her and thought he was incredibly good-looking—more handsome even than her eldest brother.

The Third Prince was stunned for a moment.

Then he burst out laughing.

“You little thing, you certainly have good taste. You’re quite pretty yourself.” He bounced Niannian lightly in his arms and thought, She’s surprisingly hefty for such a little thing.

“Thank you, Big Brother,” Niannian said sweetly with a smile.

Looking at her innocent, harmless smile, the Third Prince’s heart melted on the spot.

“Why are you all alone out here? Where are your parents?” The Third Prince wondered how anyone could fail to keep a soft and adorable child like her close at hand.

“No parents.” Thinking of how long it had been since her father and mother had returned home, Niannian pouted.

She missed her mother.

“How can that be?” The Third Prince was baffled. Judging by the fabric of Niannian’s clothes, her family was clearly well-off.

She was obviously not a young lady from an ordinary household.

“Go and see if anyone nearby has reported a missing child,” the Third Prince instructed the little eunuch beside him while holding Niannian in his arms.

He wondered whether, if the little girl turned out to be without a family, he could take her back to the imperial palace.

Five years ago, Xu Qingshi had asked him to bring home an ugly little girl.

Did that rascal Xu Qingshi really think he was some sort of shelter for ugly children?

That girl had been so ugly—there was no way he wanted her.

If he was going to bring a child home, he would bring back a soft, adorable little darling like this one.

Xu Qingshi had an extremely ugly little sister, while he had such an adorable little girl. Xu Qingshi would surely be green with envy.

At that thought, the Third Prince’s gaze softened even more as he looked at Niannian.

“Your Highness, we didn’t find anyone nearby looking for a child,” the little eunuch reported after making a circuit of the area.

“Little one, would you like to come home with me?” the Third Prince asked Niannian.

“Does your home have a mother?” Niannian didn’t understand what it meant to go home with him, but she remembered that she had come out to find her mother.

The Third Prince thought for a moment. His mother was also a mother, after all, so he nodded readily.

“Of course it does.”

“Niannian wants her mother. Niannian will go home with Big Brother.” Niannian beamed happily.

The Third Prince felt that the name Niannian sounded vaguely familiar, but for the moment, he couldn’t remember where he had heard it before.

“Then come home with Big Brother.” Completely satisfied, the Third Prince carried Niannian toward the imperial palace.

Pingping and An’an spent the entire day running wild outside.

When the two of them secretly crawled back through the dog hole, they found Xu Qingshi standing there with an expression of fury.

“So you two finally decided to come back?” Xu Qingshi glared at them, enraged to see that only the two boys had returned.

Pingping and An’an exchanged a glance before lowering their heads guiltily.

They hadn’t expected their eldest brother to discover them the very first time they had gone out to play.

“Where’s Niannian?” Xu Qingshi asked, frowning at the two brothers.

“Big Brother, isn’t our sister in the residence?” Pingping asked in confusion.

“Yes. When we left, weren’t you carrying her, Big Brother?” An’an also scratched his head in bewilderment as he looked at Xu Qingshi.

“Big Brother, did you lose our sister?” Pingping asked nervously.

“Big Brother, where did you drop her? Let’s hurry and go pick her up!” An’an said anxiously.

Listening to the two boys chattering over one another, Xu Qingshi felt a headache coming on.

“Someone, seal up this dog hole. Take the two young masters away to wash up.” Xu Qingshi took a deep breath. He had known he wouldn’t be able to get anything useful out of these two troublemakers.

But where had Niannian gone?

Xu Qingshi was certain that Niannian hadn’t left the residence. She must still be somewhere inside.

Perhaps she had hidden in one of the rooms and fallen asleep.

At that thought, Xu Qingshi rubbed his forehead. If only he had taken Niannian with him when he went to see Jiang Yu and Xie Yanzhi.

“My lord, we’ve searched everywhere in the residence that could be searched, but we haven’t found the young commandery princess. Should we report this to the authorities?” Steward Liu Ming asked nervously from the side.

“Niannian didn’t leave the residence.” After saying this, Xu Qingshi wondered whether someone might have secretly entered the residence and carried Niannian away.

“Send someone to report it to the authorities. I’ll go to the palace and ask the Emperor for help.” With that, Xu Qingshi turned and hurried away.

With his father and mother away, the only person he could turn to was his imperial uncle, the Emperor.

Xu Qingshi didn’t dare imagine whether his parents would blame him for failing to look after his sister properly when they returned and discovered that she was missing.

“Send someone to the Li family as well, and ask Uncle Li to help search for her.” Xu Qingshi had just reached the entrance when he turned back and added this instruction to Liu Ming.

Meanwhile, at Kunning Palace—

“Where did this child come from?” The Empress stared at the Third Prince in shock.

She wondered, The Third Prince is still too young to have a child. Could some noble family’s young lady have deliberately brought him a child to deceive my son?

“Mother, this is a child I found on the road. Isn’t she adorable?” the Third Prince said to the Empress with a grin.

“Niannian greets the Empress,” Niannian said obediently.

For some reason, the Empress looked rather familiar to Niannian.

Yet she couldn’t remember where she had seen her before.

“Your name is Niannian?” The Empress looked at the child before her and, for some inexplicable reason, felt a surge of affection for her as well.

She simply had no idea whose child this was or how the Third Prince had ended up bringing her back to the palace.

“Yes, Empress. My name is Niannian.” Niannian smiled, her eyes curving into crescents.

“You’re very pretty, Empress.” As she spoke, Niannian reached up and tugged at the phoenix hairpin in the Empress’s hair.