Chapter 644

Chapter Five

“Wasn’t it you who handed it to me?” Pingping complained, his bottom wedged firmly in the small dog hole.

“I gave it to you, but that doesn’t mean you had to eat it! Why are you such a glutton?” An'an tugged and tugged, but couldn’t get him out.

The thought that Big Brother was about to discover that they had sneaked out made An'an extremely anxious.

“Come on, hurry up and pull me in!” Pingping urged.

“You think I don’t want to? I have to be strong enough to pull you first!” An'an replied helplessly.

He couldn’t help blaming Pingping for eating himself so fat.

“Second Brother, you really should lose some weight.” An'an complained as he strained to pull him.

“I’ll lose weight, I’ll lose weight. I’ll start as soon as we get back,” Pingping said impatiently.

“Ow, ow, that hurts!”

The moment An'an exerted a little more strength, Pingping cried out loudly again.

“What are you two doing?”

A voice suddenly rang out.

The two of them froze instantly.

How had Big Brother gotten here?

An'an hurriedly let go of Pingping’s hand, turned around, and plastered a flattering smile across his face. “Big Brother, what a coincidence! What brings you here?”

Xu Qingshi took a deep breath and crouched down to look at his two troublesome younger brothers.

He had completely forgotten that when he was little, he had crawled through this dog hole countless times himself.

“Relax. Don’t move,” Xu Qingshi said in a low voice, forcing down his anger.

He crouched down, placing one hand on Pingping’s shoulder and bracing the other against the wall. With a gentle pull backward, he freed Pingping from the hole.

“Wow, Big Brother, you’re amazing!” Pingping cheered, clapping his hands after emerging completely unharmed.

“The two of you are here, but where’s Niannian?” Xu Qingshi asked, his brows furrowing when he saw that there were only two of them. Where was his little sister?

Pingping and An'an exchanged glances, their eyes darting away uneasily. They hadn’t taken Niannian with them when they left.

Looking at their elder brother’s fierce expression, the two of them felt extremely guilty.

“Speak!” Xu Qingshi demanded when he saw them avoiding his gaze. A bad feeling began to rise in his heart.

Could these two rascals have somehow lost his Niannian?

“Big Brother, isn’t Niannian in the residence?” An'an asked in a small voice when he saw how angry Xu Qingshi was.

“Yeah, Big Brother. Didn’t you take Niannian with you?” Pingping scratched his head. He remembered that Xu Qingshi had carried Niannian away when they left.

“Niannian wasn’t with you?” Xu Qingshi’s expression changed dramatically, and his voice rose several notches.

She hadn’t been with the two of them, either. Then where had Niannian gone?

“No!”

The two answered in unison. Niannian truly hadn’t left with them.

They had no idea where their little sister was, either.

Xu Qingshi felt a burst of anger shoot straight to the top of his head.

“Does Niannian know that you came out through this hole?” Xu Qingshi questioned them.

Pingping and An'an exchanged another glance. Neither of them was certain whether Niannian even knew they had left through the hole.

“Big Brother, we don’t know,” Pingping answered in a small voice.

At that moment, Steward Liu Ming hurried over.

“Heir, someone from the imperial palace has arrived.”

When he saw the two young masters covered in dirt and looking rather disheveled, and noticed that the young commandery princess was nowhere to be seen, he felt puzzled as well. Where had the young commandery princess gone?

Had the heir still not found her?

“Who is it?” Xu Qingshi asked irritably. He had no mind to deal with visitors from the imperial palace at a time like this.

His father and mother were both away, and his grandmother was getting on in years. As a result, the servants in the residence could only come to him whenever something needed to be handled.

“Eunuch Li, the emperor’s personal eunuch,” Liu Ming quickly replied.

Xu Qingshi frowned. He had no idea why Eunuch Li had come, but he still turned around and headed toward the main hall.

“Steward Liu, keep a close eye on these two. Don’t let them run off again,” Xu Qingshi instructed, glancing back at his younger brothers helplessly.

After all, Niannian was missing. He absolutely could not let these two disappear as well.

“Rest assured, Heir. This old servant will keep a close watch on both young masters,” Liu Ming hurriedly promised.

Xu Qingshi nodded, then turned and walked toward the main hall.

“Greetings, Eunuch Li.” Xu Qingshi respectfully cupped his hands in salute.

“Oh, greetings, Prince An’s Heir.” Eunuch Li smiled and returned the salute.

“Eunuch Li, please, have a seat.” Xu Qingshi quickly gestured for him to sit.

“There’s no need for such formalities, Heir. I have come on His Majesty’s orders to inform you that the young commandery princess is currently in the imperial palace. His Majesty and the Empress are very fond of her and have specifically asked her to stay in the palace for a few days,” Eunuch Li said with a smile.

“Niannian is in the imperial palace?” Xu Qingshi asked in surprise.

He couldn’t understand how Niannian had ended up in the palace for no apparent reason.

Could that little thief, the Third Prince, have come to the residence and snatched Niannian away?

But that couldn’t be right. The Third Prince had never even seen Niannian before.

He had even thought that Niannian was the ugly baby who had just been born.

To guard against the Third Prince trying to take Niannian away, Xu Qingshi had never told him that Niannian had grown into such a beautiful child.

“It was quite a coincidence,” Eunuch Li explained with a smile. “The Third Prince happened to leave the palace today and encountered Commandery Princess Nian Nian. By a twist of fate, he brought the child back to the imperial palace. His Majesty was the one who recognized the young commandery princess first.”

Xu Qingshi was speechless. How could there have been such a coincidence?

Now that Niannian was already in the imperial palace, there was nothing he could do to stop it.

But that Third Prince…

Xu ​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​‍Qingshi let out a long sigh. He would have to remind Niannian to be more wary of that fellow.

When Xu Qingshi saw Niannian in Kunning Palace, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Big Brother, what brings you here?” Niannian asked happily when she saw Xu Qingshi.

“You little rascal, how did you end up in the imperial palace?” Xu Qingshi crouched down in front of her.

He was secretly relieved that Niannian was safe and sound. Otherwise, when his father and mother returned, he truly wouldn’t have known how to explain himself to them.

“Big Brother, Niannian missed Mother.” Niannian pouted, looking somewhat at a loss.

She knew that Big Brother would surely be angry because she had snuck out on her own.

“Next time you miss Mother, tell Big Brother, all right? You mustn’t run off by yourself again.” Xu Qingshi gently stroked his little sister’s head.

How could he not miss their mother as well?

But he knew that she had something very important to do.

“Qingshi, you’ve hidden her well! How could you not have told me you had such an adorable little sister?” the Third Prince said from the side, folding his arms across his chest with a dissatisfied expression.

“Niannian, this person isn’t a good one. Stay away from him in the future. You mustn’t be alone with him, understand?” Xu Qingshi shot the Third Prince a cold look, then leaned close to Niannian’s ear and warned her in a low voice.

“Big Brother, he’s a good person. He saved Niannian.” Niannian shook her head. She didn’t understand why Big Brother said this older brother was a bad person.

He was clearly a good person.