In the blink of an eye, it was time for the Dragon Boat Festival.
Tian Qi loved the festival because, after the celebration, the eunuchs would be rewarded for their work, and the Qian Qing Palace's rewards were especially rich. In addition to the set rewards, Tian Qi also received a reward from Ji Heng for her meritorious achievement of becoming the most "popular person" in the Imperial Palace. Therefore he used five (5) parts to forge a littlezongzi worth 5 taels of gold, its size as small as a red date. The leaf and middle rope vivid and lifelike, looking very delicate. Ji Heng also thought that this kind of workmanship was not suitable enough, not presentable. However, solid gold and in sufficient quantity, was the best reward for those who loved money.
zongzi = glutinous rice and choice of filling wrapped in leaves and boiled
Thus Ji Heng easily gave Tian Qi two of the gold items and was satisfied seeing him as he clasped his hands around both gold zongzi, then swallowed his saliva.
At today's Dragon Boat Festival, Tian Qi conspired with RuYi to participate in other events apart from the custom celebrations. In some places, the common people called the Dragon Boat Festival "Daughter's Day". On this day, married women return to their parents' homes. In their homes, they are always considered little girls, so they can also dress as ones once again.
RuYi almost instinctively rejected wearing a dress, but he was just a child, ma. She coaxed him with the promise of sweets and he immediately turned around and accepted the dress, trying to show he is no less than her. After wearing the dress for a while, he completely forgot he was dressed in female clothes. It was time the two of them went out, ate and played.
ma - modal particle indicating something is obvious; pause for emphasis
RuYi was a prince. Although there was no order that said "The prince could not wear female clothes", but doing this kind of thing was quite risky. Only, Tian Qi was not afraid. RuYi, although young, was a reliable teammate. As long as he was the one who admitted to taking the initiative to wearing it, then it can be looked at as a child playing around, ma. What's more, he was extremely pretty dressed up as a young lady, once the Empress Dowager saw it she would surely like it. And if the Empress Dowager liked it, who dared say half a word against it?
After Tian Qi finished dressing RuYi properly, she took him out to Ci Ning Palace. As expected, as soon as the Empress Dowager met such pleasant "young girl", her heart was gone and she immediately held RuYi in her bosom, grinning from ear to ear.
In addition to their agreed on words, RuYi also added "I often hear Empress grandmother saying how much she wants a granddaughter. Tian Qi was saying that today is daughter's day so I wanted to dress up as your granddaughter. Grandmother, do you like it?"
These words, spoken like a small DaRen, made everyone in the room unable to restrain their smiles.
"Like, of course I like it!" the Empress Dowager lightly stroked RuYi's head, and smiled "My small RuYi, ya. Truly clever."
ya- particle equivalent to "a", expressing surprise or doubt
As they came out of Ci Ning Palace, Tian Qi led the way for RuYi then turned around and gave him a thumbs up, "Your Highness, you are the best." This time it wasn't merely flattering, as she was absolutely convinced.
As RuYi heard Tian Qi's praise, he was very happy, his footsteps becoming somewhat excited and, bouncing, he started pulling him towards Qian Qing Palace. They just passed the moon gate when they bumped into Ji Heng.
Ji Heng did not recognize RuYi at first glance. Right before his eyes there was a baby girl dressed up prettily, her hair combed simply, with two tufts of hair that stood up. Those two hairs looked very similar to cat ears, bound with red silk. Dangling from the ends of the silk were pearls and yellow tassels, and they softly swayed with every footstep. The little girl was wearing a cherry red dress, embroidered with countless types of butterflies and flowers; a bright golden lock was hanging around her neck, a small strand of pearls on her left wrist, a strand of golden bells on the right wrist, their ringing sound crisp and sweet.
Even as he was still far away, he could see the little girl's face was fair, and had a pair of big watery and lively eyes. Ji Heng was wondering who's child was this? Truly adorable, he must make sure to give her a hug.
Although he did not recognise RuYi, Ji Heng did recognise Tian Qi, hence was able to associate him with a certain little guy who always used to show up around Tian Qi...
As he drew near them, sure enough - it was his own child.
He didn't even need to think about who came up with this idea. Ji Heng quickly glared at Tian Qi.
This time, Tian Qi did not shrink back her neck.
Sure enough, RuYi was loyal to his friends and, seeing his Emperor father glaring at Tian Qi, he immediately admitted he was the one who wanted to wear a dress.
Ji Heng was not as easy to fool as the Empress Dowager, he only chose not to expose them this time, because RuYi disguised as a little girl was really adorable. His heart was also a bit soft. He stooped down and picked RuYi up in his arms, his face fit snugly to his and RuYi's tiny face rubbing against his as they slowly started walking.
RuYi happily shook his hand, the jingling sound from the small golden bells on his wrist intensifying. Seeing that his Emperor father did not appear to want to let go of him, he extended his hand towards Tian Qi "Tian Qi, hug."
Ji Heng's face darkened as he felt his son didn't give him any face. Incidentally both him and Tian Qi looked at each other and he glared at him.
He still couldn't understand. Of all the eunuchs and palace maids playing with his child, why did RuYi like and never got tired of Tian Qi, always being by his side?
Later on he summed up a regular pattern: all those with the surname Ji were all moved by Tian Qi's skills.
Truly a foe.
Tian Qi received Ji Heng's discontent, hence she didn't dare to pick RuYi up, and just said "Your Highness, I cannot hug you..."
RuYi reluctantly withdrew his hand.
Ji Heng took a quick look at Tian Qi's thin and weak physique. "In the future, you can't be so noisy." As he said this, he put RuYi down so he could go and play.
After Ji Heng left, Tian Qi took RuYi to Dai SanShan to play. In fact, RuYi did not follow Tian Qi around and play blindly. Tian Qi had the advantages of both eunuchs and palace maids, there was no need to mention how she was a quick-witted person to play with. Even more, she was thoughtful and meticulous. The way she treated children was with a woman's gentle and soft personality. To put it plainly, it was maternal love. RuYi's wet nurse also had maternal feelings towards him, however she was painstakingly cautious. She didn't dare let go of his hand so he could happily run around. Tian Qi had the courage to let him play whilst she was also gentle.
RuYi wasn't even four (4) years old yet, so he naturally had no way to express these reasons in his own words. He only knew he liked to play with Tian Qi.
Put simply, as far as RuYi was concerned, Tian Qi was his best companion.
At this moment, the two small companions drew Dai SanShan out of the water and the two of them rode on the tortoise's shell around the pond for a few laps. RuYi saw someone passing through holding some zongzi, he got up for a moment and walked to them. The person let him take as many zongzi as he wanted, thinking he was going to share them with Tian Qi. Tian Qi knew that RuYi had already eaten dumplings at the Ci Ning Palace, and was afraid RuYi would get indigestion from eating too much. She didn't let him eat much and coaxed RuYi into peeling the leaves off some of them and feeding them to Dai SanShan.
Dai SanShan has been fed dumplings with all types of stuffing, none of them were foreign to her, and now became a picky eater: it wouldn't eat the ones stuffed with vegetables.
And the tortoise was getting better, as it could sniff out the stuffing without having to take one single bite of the glutinous rice. If the stuffing is plain, it would lower its head and lay motionless like an old monk.
After feeding it for a while, there were a lot of dumplings left behind that have been stripped of their leaves but haven't been touched. Tian Qi thought it would be a pity to throw them away and, since she couldn't eat them all on her own, she asked the people around her. But wouldn't they be unwilling to eat food that had been sniffed out by the tortoise? Everyone expressed their desire to be touched the deity - tortoise's magic breath, therefore those dumplings were not wasted; they all entered the bellies of these palace maids and eunuchs.
RuYi saw that Dai SanShan was not eating, felt bored again, and pointed to the weeping willows on the shore "Tian Qi, use these to weave a Dai SanShan for me, ba."
Using willow branches to weave a tortoise seemed somewhat difficult, mainly because Tian Qi never tried it before. But today, the little RuYi was willing to wear a dress, so it was important she rewarded him for his efforts. Hence, she got up and pulled some willow branches to start weaving.
The two of them sat side by side on Dai SanShan's back. The people around them didn't dare to get too close usually, because even though the tortoise was full, it never relaxed its guard, stretching its neck and opening its huge eyes, it appeared extremely terrifying. The incident where the deity - tortoise bit people has been experienced by some of these people, whilst others only heard of it. In short, the more the story was spread the more it was exaggerated. Besides, Tian Qi and RuYi were there now, and nobody dared approached it.
Oh, that's right, there was another courageous person, and that was the Emperor. However, whenever Ji Heng approached Dai SanShan, the effect was always the tortoise quickly retracted into its shell.
Ji Heng couldn't understand it either, in the end, was the turtle afraid of him or did it dislike him?
Today was the same as all the other days. It was the Dragon Boat Festival and he unexpectedly didn't want to work either. He was bored and, hearing his son and Tian Qi were playing by the pond, he found a chance to leave his work and went over. Far into the distance he could see the shapes of two people, one small and one a bit bigger, sitting on the tortoise's back. They seemed to be having fun together.
Before anyone had the time to react to his appearance, Dai SanShan was the first to see him and, as always, it retracted its head and limbs into its shell.
Getting closer, the people in the surroundings wanted to pay their respects, but they were stopped by Ji Heng. He wanted to hear what Tian Qi and RuYi were talking about. He was concerned about his son's growth and education, otherwise he was not in the habit of doing this type of thing.
Just as he perked his ears to listen, he could hear RuYi's soft voice asking "Tian Qi, why did you want to eat dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival, ya?"
Fifteen (15) words! This poked Ji Heng's old weakness again. After he was done counting, he started to feel admiration, hate and envy, all at the same time.
"To commemorate Qu Yuan." Tian Qi and RuYi were both facing the pond, so neither of them discovered Ji Heng. On one hand, she was weaving a tortoise, on the other she was answering RuYi.
"Who is Qu Yuan?" RuYi asked.
"Qu Yuan is a poet from an awfully long time ago. He was wronged by his master and drifted apart from him. After that he became depressed and committed suicide by throwing himself in a river."
Ji Heng nodded his head slightly. Not bad, at least he's got a little basic knowledge so, contrary to expectations, he didn't scold him. However, his satisfaction didn't last too long.
RuYi tried to get to the heart of the matter "Why was he wronged?"
Four (4) words. Ji Heng finished counting and continued to listen to them to see how Tian Qi will explain it.
Tian Qi felt that, to answer this question, she would have to waste time explaining complicated matters. Moreover, even if she does explain, RuYi might not be able to understand. So she simply made up a story. "His surname was Qu, hence he was damned to be wronged."
Qu - surname = to feel wronged; bent
"..." Ji Heng really wanted to ruthlessly knock on Tian Qi's head: what was this preposterous argument? Don't lead my son astray.
RuYi was a child, believing anything entirely. He also took this time's nonsense as truth, was surprised by it and tried to reason "My surname is Ji, wouldn't it mean I'm in a hurry to die? You are certainly better. In the future, you can eat candy and die a sweet death."
ji = urgent, pressing, rapid, hurried, worried, to make (someone) anxious.
"..." Ji Heng was unable to deal with the number of words this time, as he was shocked by his son's unusual ability to raise one and infer three. It was just that, what in a hurry to die? And sweet death? Too much nonsense!
Ji Heng was just about to interrupt them when he suddenly heard RuYi's sad voice "What's to be done if I'm in a hurry to die, ya?"
With your temper, you'd definitely be in a hurry to kill others first, Ji Heng thought to himself.
Tian Qi comforted RuYi, "It doesn't matter, there is a common saying, 'it is a matter for your own effort' (=with effort, one can achieve anything). So long as Your Highness don't get angry; don't worry; cultivate your moral character, your mentality and spirituality; and make sure you become a modest gentleman; it's unlikely you will ever be anxious to die."
RuYi nodded earnestly.
Recalling the original teachings from The Analects of Confucius, his answer to cultivate his moral character hit he nail on the head. Looking at his son right in front of him, Ji Heng was overcome with a myriad of emotions. He found that Tian Qi had always handled some questions by giving a preposterous argument that will inevitably be breaking away from the matter at hand. And yet, his answers always made people ponder further into them. In the end, the little pervert is only speaking without thinking, the answer being nothing more than a joke.
Forget it. At least RuYi received some positive incentives, Ji Heng consoled himself.
RuYi still had a dumpling in his hand, so he took off the leaves and finally was satisfied he peeled them all off, then he lifted his little hands and presented it rather like a treasure in front of Tian Qi "Tian Qi, eat."
Tian Qi was earnestly weaving a tortoise. Without looking at it, she took one big bite, keeping her hands busy whilst chewing. The dumpling was stuffed with sweet bean paste, Mixed with soft, sticky, fragrant and sweet glutinous rice, it tasted very good.
RuYi didn't want to eat it himself. He stretched forward his body towards Tian Qi's face and quickly gave him a kiss.
Ji Heng finally couldn't continue watching. His own biological son, even him, as his dad, never managed to get him to kiss him. How can he allow him to kiss this eunuch as he pleases now? So he stepped forward, wanting to pick RuYi up and deliberately squeezing in between RuYi and Tian Qi.
The tortoise's shell was arched. If Ji Heng wanted to pick RuYi up, he had to stoop and lean forward, thus his body was lowered and his face was merely an inch taller than RuYi's. The tortoise's shell was huge, but they were sitting close so he did not have a lot of space, only his head and neck managed to get between the two little people.
Tian Qi was aware RuYi kissed her, but didn't notice Ji Heng squeezing over in between the two of them. Her and RuYi often played and kissed. Now she was engrossed in weaving the toy. Being kissed by RuYi, without thinking too much, she also leaned to the side and kissed him, without looking away from the object in her hands.
This resulted in her stamp ending up on Ji Heng's face.
In the blink of an eye, it was time for the Dragon Boat Festival.
Tian Qi loved the festival because, after the celebration, the eunuchs would be rewarded for their work, and the Qian Qing Palace's rewards were especially rich. In addition to the set rewards, Tian Qi also received a reward from Ji Heng for her meritorious achievement of becoming the most "popular person" in the Imperial Palace. Therefore he used five (5) parts to forge a littlezongzi worth 5 taels of gold, its size as small as a red date. The leaf and middle rope vivid and lifelike, looking very delicate. Ji Heng also thought that this kind of workmanship was not suitable enough, not presentable. However, solid gold and in sufficient quantity, was the best reward for those who loved money.
zongzi = glutinous rice and choice of filling wrapped in leaves and boiled
Thus Ji Heng easily gave Tian Qi two of the gold items and was satisfied seeing him as he clasped his hands around both gold zongzi, then swallowed his saliva.
At today's Dragon Boat Festival, Tian Qi conspired with RuYi to participate in other events apart from the custom celebrations. In some places, the common people called the Dragon Boat Festival "Daughter's Day". On this day, married women return to their parents' homes. In their homes, they are always considered little girls, so they can also dress as ones once again.
RuYi almost instinctively rejected wearing a dress, but he was just a child, ma. She coaxed him with the promise of sweets and he immediately turned around and accepted the dress, trying to show he is no less than her. After wearing the dress for a while, he completely forgot he was dressed in female clothes. It was time the two of them went out, ate and played.
ma - modal particle indicating something is obvious; pause for emphasis
RuYi was a prince. Although there was no order that said "The prince could not wear female clothes", but doing this kind of thing was quite risky. Only, Tian Qi was not afraid. RuYi, although young, was a reliable teammate. As long as he was the one who admitted to taking the initiative to wearing it, then it can be looked at as a child playing around, ma. What's more, he was extremely pretty dressed up as a young lady, once the Empress Dowager saw it she would surely like it. And if the Empress Dowager liked it, who dared say half a word against it?
After Tian Qi finished dressing RuYi properly, she took him out to Ci Ning Palace. As expected, as soon as the Empress Dowager met such pleasant "young girl", her heart was gone and she immediately held RuYi in her bosom, grinning from ear to ear.
In addition to their agreed on words, RuYi also added "I often hear Empress grandmother saying how much she wants a granddaughter. Tian Qi was saying that today is daughter's day so I wanted to dress up as your granddaughter. Grandmother, do you like it?"
These words, spoken like a small DaRen, made everyone in the room unable to restrain their smiles.
"Like, of course I like it!" the Empress Dowager lightly stroked RuYi's head, and smiled "My small RuYi, ya. Truly clever."
ya- particle equivalent to "a", expressing surprise or doubt
As they came out of Ci Ning Palace, Tian Qi led the way for RuYi then turned around and gave him a thumbs up, "Your Highness, you are the best." This time it wasn't merely flattering, as she was absolutely convinced.
As RuYi heard Tian Qi's praise, he was very happy, his footsteps becoming somewhat excited and, bouncing, he started pulling him towards Qian Qing Palace. They just passed the moon gate when they bumped into Ji Heng.
Ji Heng did not recognize RuYi at first glance. Right before his eyes there was a baby girl dressed up prettily, her hair combed simply, with two tufts of hair that stood up. Those two hairs looked very similar to cat ears, bound with red silk. Dangling from the ends of the silk were pearls and yellow tassels, and they softly swayed with every footstep. The little girl was wearing a cherry red dress, embroidered with countless types of butterflies and flowers; a bright golden lock was hanging around her neck, a small strand of pearls on her left wrist, a strand of golden bells on the right wrist, their ringing sound crisp and sweet.
Even as he was still far away, he could see the little girl's face was fair, and had a pair of big watery and lively eyes. Ji Heng was wondering who's child was this? Truly adorable, he must make sure to give her a hug.
Although he did not recognise RuYi, Ji Heng did recognise Tian Qi, hence was able to associate him with a certain little guy who always used to show up around Tian Qi...
As he drew near them, sure enough - it was his own child.
He didn't even need to think about who came up with this idea. Ji Heng quickly glared at Tian Qi.
This time, Tian Qi did not shrink back her neck.
Sure enough, RuYi was loyal to his friends and, seeing his Emperor father glaring at Tian Qi, he immediately admitted he was the one who wanted to wear a dress.
Ji Heng was not as easy to fool as the Empress Dowager, he only chose not to expose them this time, because RuYi disguised as a little girl was really adorable. His heart was also a bit soft. He stooped down and picked RuYi up in his arms, his face fit snugly to his and RuYi's tiny face rubbing against his as they slowly started walking.
RuYi happily shook his hand, the jingling sound from the small golden bells on his wrist intensifying. Seeing that his Emperor father did not appear to want to let go of him, he extended his hand towards Tian Qi "Tian Qi, hug."
Ji Heng's face darkened as he felt his son didn't give him any face. Incidentally both him and Tian Qi looked at each other and he glared at him.
He still couldn't understand. Of all the eunuchs and palace maids playing with his child, why did RuYi like and never got tired of Tian Qi, always being by his side?
Later on he summed up a regular pattern: all those with the surname Ji were all moved by Tian Qi's skills.
Truly a foe.
Tian Qi received Ji Heng's discontent, hence she didn't dare to pick RuYi up, and just said "Your Highness, I cannot hug you..."
RuYi reluctantly withdrew his hand.
Ji Heng took a quick look at Tian Qi's thin and weak physique. "In the future, you can't be so noisy." As he said this, he put RuYi down so he could go and play.
After Ji Heng left, Tian Qi took RuYi to Dai SanShan to play. In fact, RuYi did not follow Tian Qi around and play blindly. Tian Qi had the advantages of both eunuchs and palace maids, there was no need to mention how she was a quick-witted person to play with. Even more, she was thoughtful and meticulous. The way she treated children was with a woman's gentle and soft personality. To put it plainly, it was maternal love. RuYi's wet nurse also had maternal feelings towards him, however she was painstakingly cautious. She didn't dare let go of his hand so he could happily run around. Tian Qi had the courage to let him play whilst she was also gentle.
RuYi wasn't even four (4) years old yet, so he naturally had no way to express these reasons in his own words. He only knew he liked to play with Tian Qi.
Put simply, as far as RuYi was concerned, Tian Qi was his best companion.
At this moment, the two small companions drew Dai SanShan out of the water and the two of them rode on the tortoise's shell around the pond for a few laps. RuYi saw someone passing through holding some zongzi, he got up for a moment and walked to them. The person let him take as many zongzi as he wanted, thinking he was going to share them with Tian Qi. Tian Qi knew that RuYi had already eaten dumplings at the Ci Ning Palace, and was afraid RuYi would get indigestion from eating too much. She didn't let him eat much and coaxed RuYi into peeling the leaves off some of them and feeding them to Dai SanShan.
Dai SanShan has been fed dumplings with all types of stuffing, none of them were foreign to her, and now became a picky eater: it wouldn't eat the ones stuffed with vegetables.
And the tortoise was getting better, as it could sniff out the stuffing without having to take one single bite of the glutinous rice. If the stuffing is plain, it would lower its head and lay motionless like an old monk.
After feeding it for a while, there were a lot of dumplings left behind that have been stripped of their leaves but haven't been touched. Tian Qi thought it would be a pity to throw them away and, since she couldn't eat them all on her own, she asked the people around her. But wouldn't they be unwilling to eat food that had been sniffed out by the tortoise? Everyone expressed their desire to be touched the deity - tortoise's magic breath, therefore those dumplings were not wasted; they all entered the bellies of these palace maids and eunuchs.
RuYi saw that Dai SanShan was not eating, felt bored again, and pointed to the weeping willows on the shore "Tian Qi, use these to weave a Dai SanShan for me, ba."
Using willow branches to weave a tortoise seemed somewhat difficult, mainly because Tian Qi never tried it before. But today, the little RuYi was willing to wear a dress, so it was important she rewarded him for his efforts. Hence, she got up and pulled some willow branches to start weaving.
The two of them sat side by side on Dai SanShan's back. The people around them didn't dare to get too close usually, because even though the tortoise was full, it never relaxed its guard, stretching its neck and opening its huge eyes, it appeared extremely terrifying. The incident where the deity - tortoise bit people has been experienced by some of these people, whilst others only heard of it. In short, the more the story was spread the more it was exaggerated. Besides, Tian Qi and RuYi were there now, and nobody dared approached it.
Oh, that's right, there was another courageous person, and that was the Emperor. However, whenever Ji Heng approached Dai SanShan, the effect was always the tortoise quickly retracted into its shell.
Ji Heng couldn't understand it either, in the end, was the turtle afraid of him or did it dislike him?
Today was the same as all the other days. It was the Dragon Boat Festival and he unexpectedly didn't want to work either. He was bored and, hearing his son and Tian Qi were playing by the pond, he found a chance to leave his work and went over. Far into the distance he could see the shapes of two people, one small and one a bit bigger, sitting on the tortoise's back. They seemed to be having fun together.
Before anyone had the time to react to his appearance, Dai SanShan was the first to see him and, as always, it retracted its head and limbs into its shell.
Getting closer, the people in the surroundings wanted to pay their respects, but they were stopped by Ji Heng. He wanted to hear what Tian Qi and RuYi were talking about. He was concerned about his son's growth and education, otherwise he was not in the habit of doing this type of thing.
Just as he perked his ears to listen, he could hear RuYi's soft voice asking "Tian Qi, why did you want to eat dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival, ya?"
Fifteen (15) words! This poked Ji Heng's old weakness again. After he was done counting, he started to feel admiration, hate and envy, all at the same time.
"To commemorate Qu Yuan." Tian Qi and RuYi were both facing the pond, so neither of them discovered Ji Heng. On one hand, she was weaving a tortoise, on the other she was answering RuYi.
"Who is Qu Yuan?" RuYi asked.
"Qu Yuan is a poet from an awfully long time ago. He was wronged by his master and drifted apart from him. After that he became depressed and committed suicide by throwing himself in a river."
Ji Heng nodded his head slightly. Not bad, at least he's got a little basic knowledge so, contrary to expectations, he didn't scold him. However, his satisfaction didn't last too long.
RuYi tried to get to the heart of the matter "Why was he wronged?"
Four (4) words. Ji Heng finished counting and continued to listen to them to see how Tian Qi will explain it.
Tian Qi felt that, to answer this question, she would have to waste time explaining complicated matters. Moreover, even if she does explain, RuYi might not be able to understand. So she simply made up a story. "His surname was Qu, hence he was damned to be wronged."
Qu - surname = to feel wronged; bent
"..." Ji Heng really wanted to ruthlessly knock on Tian Qi's head: what was this preposterous argument? Don't lead my son astray.
RuYi was a child, believing anything entirely. He also took this time's nonsense as truth, was surprised by it and tried to reason "My surname is Ji, wouldn't it mean I'm in a hurry to die? You are certainly better. In the future, you can eat candy and die a sweet death."
ji = urgent, pressing, rapid, hurried, worried, to make (someone) anxious.
"..." Ji Heng was unable to deal with the number of words this time, as he was shocked by his son's unusual ability to raise one and infer three. It was just that, what in a hurry to die? And sweet death? Too much nonsense!
Ji Heng was just about to interrupt them when he suddenly heard RuYi's sad voice "What's to be done if I'm in a hurry to die, ya?"
With your temper, you'd definitely be in a hurry to kill others first, Ji Heng thought to himself.
Tian Qi comforted RuYi, "It doesn't matter, there is a common saying, 'it is a matter for your own effort' (=with effort, one can achieve anything). So long as Your Highness don't get angry; don't worry; cultivate your moral character, your mentality and spirituality; and make sure you become a modest gentleman; it's unlikely you will ever be anxious to die."
RuYi nodded earnestly.
Recalling the original teachings from The Analects of Confucius, his answer to cultivate his moral character hit he nail on the head. Looking at his son right in front of him, Ji Heng was overcome with a myriad of emotions. He found that Tian Qi had always handled some questions by giving a preposterous argument that will inevitably be breaking away from the matter at hand. And yet, his answers always made people ponder further into them. In the end, the little pervert is only speaking without thinking, the answer being nothing more than a joke.
Forget it. At least RuYi received some positive incentives, Ji Heng consoled himself.
RuYi still had a dumpling in his hand, so he took off the leaves and finally was satisfied he peeled them all off, then he lifted his little hands and presented it rather like a treasure in front of Tian Qi "Tian Qi, eat."
Tian Qi was earnestly weaving a tortoise. Without looking at it, she took one big bite, keeping her hands busy whilst chewing. The dumpling was stuffed with sweet bean paste, Mixed with soft, sticky, fragrant and sweet glutinous rice, it tasted very good.
RuYi didn't want to eat it himself. He stretched forward his body towards Tian Qi's face and quickly gave him a kiss.
Ji Heng finally couldn't continue watching. His own biological son, even him, as his dad, never managed to get him to kiss him. How can he allow him to kiss this eunuch as he pleases now? So he stepped forward, wanting to pick RuYi up and deliberately squeezing in between RuYi and Tian Qi.
The tortoise's shell was arched. If Ji Heng wanted to pick RuYi up, he had to stoop and lean forward, thus his body was lowered and his face was merely an inch taller than RuYi's. The tortoise's shell was huge, but they were sitting close so he did not have a lot of space, only his head and neck managed to get between the two little people.
Tian Qi was aware RuYi kissed her, but didn't notice Ji Heng squeezing over in between the two of them. Her and RuYi often played and kissed. Now she was engrossed in weaving the toy. Being kissed by RuYi, without thinking too much, she also leaned to the side and kissed him, without looking away from the object in her hands.
This resulted in her stamp ending up on Ji Heng's face.
