Gluttonous Crown Princess

Gluttonous Crown Princess Chapter 21.1

After lunch, it was still raining outside. It looked like it wouldn’t stop for a while, so Pei Yan accompanied the sixth princess to play backgammon.

After three games, the sixth princess grew sleepy, so Tao Ti asked the princess’s nursemaid to take her to the side hall for a nap.

As the spring rain continued, Tao Ti leaned lazily in front of the window, staring at the fine, dense rain.

Pei Yan walked over at some point and said softly, "Enjoying the rain?"

"...Mhm." Tao Te turned back. Seeing him sit down, she also sat up straight and poured him a cup of tea.

The air was a little cold, and a white hazy mist came from the fragrant jasmine tea. In the mist, Pei Yan's handsome and peerless face seemed increasingly more like that of an immortal’s.

"Thank you." He took the cup firmly with his cold fingers, and the warmth of the cup seemed to enter his bloodstream through his skin, surging into his heart.

He took a sip of tea slowly, then he said softly, "I didn't expect Xiao Liu1 to hit it off with you like this.”

"Feifei is very cute, I quite like her." Tao Ti shrugged helplessly, "I just didn't expect her to cry from eating a dessert. It really gave me a fright at first…”

Pei Yan raised his eyes slowly. His gaze was gentle and calm as he said a few words of comfort, then added, "Xiao Liu’s mother passed away three years ago."

The hand that Tao Ti was holding her teacup with froze abruptly, and the tea in it nearly spilled out.

She looked at Pei Yan incredulously. Seeing that he wasn’t joking at all, her expression also gradually grew serious. After a long while, she said, “How could this happen…”

No wonder the atmosphere suddenly became so strange when she said to let the sixth princess go back to look for her mother——
Ahhhhh, she really wanted to hammer herself to death! Weren’t her words as good as knives stabbing into the sixth princess's heart then?

Thinking of the little lady’s pitiful teary appearance, Tao Ti was stricken with guilt.

Pei Yan swept a light gaze at her and could guess what she was thinking; Linglong had already told him what had happened in the beginning.

“Those who do not know are not guilty." He sat with his back straight; rubbing the side of the cup with his long jade-like fingers, he said softly, "It hasn’t been long since you came to the Eastern Palace, and you’ve only met Xiao Liu twice in total, so it's normal to not know about her circumstances.”

Tao Te lowered her eyes, and after a long time of silence, she raised her head again and asked solemnly, "Is it convenient for you to tell me about her circumstances?"

Her bright dark eyes did not contain any curiosity; rather, they were full of concern.

The light in those eyes was crystal-clear, like a mountain spring passing through Pei Yan's heart.

He turned to face the window and looked carelessly at the rain outside. After a long while, his thin lips parted, recounting the sixth princess’s background.

"Concubine Su was selected to enter the palace nine years ago. She was not particularly favoured, and Imperial Father only summoned her a few times when she first entered the palace. Later, she became pregnant and gave birth to Xiao Liu. As Xiao Liu is Imperial Father’s youngest child, he would go to Concubine Su’s abode occasionally… Then, later, on a spring day such as this, Concubine Su suddenly contracted a serious illness and passed away..."

He had a very nice voice, and in the pitter patter of the rain, there was a faint trace of melancholy and sadness, which made one’s heart quieten down.

"At that time, Xiao Liu had just turned five years old. On the day of Concubine Su's funeral, Xiao Liu disappeared, and the entire harem was looking for her. I happened to be looking for an ancient book in the book depository and found her crying in the corner behind a bookshelf..."

He made an estimation of her size with his hands, "Back then, she was sitting on her floor, hugging her knees. She was a small little bundle, like a little kitten. In the end, I coaxed her to sleep, carried her on my back and took her back…”

As if immersed in the memories of the past, there was a trace of cold calmness in Pei Yan's voice, "What's the use of crying?"

No one can accompany anyone to the end. Saving up the strength used for crying and working hard to live is the right thing to do.

When Tao Te heard this light exhalation, she suddenly remembered that Pei Yan had also lost his mother at the age of five.

She snuck a look at the man in front of her. His face was turned sideways; the bridge of his nose was straight, and his jawline was well-defined. From this angle, his eyelashes seemed even longer. They were not curved, and drooped slightly, looking like carefully woven little fans, shielding the dark emotions floating in his deep black eyes.

The corners of his lips were naturally upturned. She didn’t know if it was inborn, or that his muscles had naturally taken on this state from the habit of smiling over the past twenty years.

He was really good-looking when he smiled, like a white feather falling gently in the snow, gentle, but also with a bit of poignant sorrow.

The sixth princess had told her on their way here that amongst all her siblings, she liked Brother Crown Prince the most. Brother Crown Prince cared about her very much, and she could sense that his concern was sincere and not an act.

Was Pei Yan so kind to the sixth princess because he could see a shadow of himself from this little girl who lost her mother in childhood?

At the thought of little Pei Yan falling into the icy lake after the loss of his mother, only to be accompanied by one bout of illness after another ever since, and bowl after bowl of bitter and unpleasant-smelling medicinal concoctions… Tao Ti’s gaze towards Pei Yan became increasingly sympathetic.

The room grew quiet; only the sound of the rain could be heard.