Su Xi-er turned around to see a smiling Situ Lin dressed in casual clothes. As for Hong Li, she had never met Situ Lin before, and thought that he was an unfamiliar boy who had barged into the residence. Thus, it was inevitable that she walked up and waved her hand to chase Situ Lin away.
“Little fellow, this is the Prince Hao Residence. You should quickly leave, otherwise your buttocks are going to get slapped if you get discovered.”
Situ Lin blinked a few times. This woman doesn’t know me, and even wants to chase me away. Not bad, looks like things are going to be fun.
Situ Lin winked at Su Xi-er, signalling for her to not say anything as he asked Hong Li, “Who will slap my buttocks?”
“Are you daft? Of course it will be the imperial guards in the Prince Hao Residence. They will tie you up, lay you down on a long bench, and beat you. I bet that you’ll be crying until your face is stained with mucus and tears when that happens.” Hong Li had already placed her hand on Situ Lin’s shoulder, preparing to push him outside.
Having learnt martial arts since he was young, Situ Lin had great balance, and was unaffected by Hong Li’s weak push.
“What’s with you, kid? Must you be beaten before you are happy?” Hong Li didn’t suspect the boy’s identity at all.
However, an imperial guard came by and saw Hong Li trying to push Situ Lin. He immediately lambasted, “Audacious servant, how dare you act impudently towards His Majesty!”
Hong Li was instantly dumbstruck, so shocked that the hand she had on Situ Lin’s shoulder was seemingly frozen in place. She stared blankly at the guard, only jolting back to her senses when he began to chide her again.
She immediately knelt on the ground. “This servant hasn’t seen Your Majesty before. Please forgive this servant for offending you, Your Majesty.”
Situ Lin knitted his brows at the imperial guard exposing his identity. “Withdraw, this Emperor will stay here for a while.”
The imperial guard was concerned about leaving the Emperor there, but he had no choice but to obey the Emperor’s command. Hence, he could only bow and leave.
In the room, Hong Li was still kneeling on the ground until a soft hand touched her arm. “Get up. Ignorance doesn’t make you guilty, so this Emperor won’t blame you.”
Hong Li finally felt the tension leaving her body. After standing up, she immediately went to stand behind Su Xi-er and whispered, “You definitely know His Majesty, yet you didn’t remind me just now. I was frightened out of my wits.”
Su Xi-er smiled at her to comfort her.
Situ Lin walked forward and looked at Su Xi-er with a smile. “Beauty, this Emperor was really anxious. Not only was I really nervous, Imperial Uncle’s dark expression also seriously frightened me that night.”
Hong Li was baffled. That night? Did something happen to Su Xi-er that night?
Su Xi-er asked, “Your Majesty, did Prince Hao blame and beat you?”
Situ Lin sighed, wrinkles appearing on his small face. “How could it be possible for him not to beat me. My buttocks suffered quite a few hits, and it was extremely painful. After that, I was grounded in the Dragon Heaven palace and forced to copy lines from books on governance.”
It has only been a few days since that incident, yet Situ Lin was allowed out of the palace so soon? Su Xi-er was a little perplexed. It’s very likely that he secretly slipped out.
“This Emperor was worried about you after you disappeared. After all, if it weren’t for this Emperor dragging you out of the palace, nothing would have happened. It’s fortunate that you’re back though; otherwise, Imperial Uncle would have skinned this Emperor alive. Beauty, this Emperor will have to stay further away from you. If anything else happens, this Emperor doesn’t know how I would be able to save my buttocks.”
Despite addressing himself as ‘this Emperor’, Situ Lin’s child-like speech clearly lacked any of the imposing air of royalty that one would expect of an Emperor. Even Lianchen was like this back then.
Su Xi-er smiled. “Your Majesty, considering that you’re able to leave the palace to come here so quickly, you must not have been punished too severely. You’re even energetic enough to jump around right now.”