Chapter 55.2

Mammy Mu laughed and shook her head. At the same time, she said, "This is nothing. I pity the parents of this world. You don't have any in-laws to help you. If the child stayed outside, you wouldn’t be at ease when serving the master. In the future, do your best to serve the master. Then my efforts wouldn’t be in vain."

If outsiders were to hear this, they would think that the master Mammy Mu was referring to was the little princess. But in Yaoniang's ears, the master she was referring to meant Jin Wang. Because of this, she felt a little embarrassed. She nodded and said that she would serve the little princess well, then she bid goodbye to Mammy Mu.

Xiaobao laid in his mother's arms and his little mind whirled nonstop.

Little princess? As in his father's daughter? But he clearly remembered that his father had no child other than him in his previous life.

What exactly was going on? Were there still things that he didn't know?

At these thoughts, Xiaobao gave a bitter smile. He knew too little about his mother and the life of his father when he was still living in his prince’s residence. Few of the old servants had remained and this topic seemed to be his father's closest guarded secret. No one dared to say anything about it. It seemed that there was something hidden beneath the surface.

Also, why did he become the son of a street vendor in this life? What happened?

After thinking about it for a long time, Xiaobao still couldn’t think of a reason, so he stopped thinking about it anymore.

He knew too little about the outside world, so he wasn’t able to analyze anything at all.

In a daze, Xiaobao suddenly felt something being stuffed into his face. When he fixed his eyes on it, it turned out to be a mass of white.

Xiaobao was utterly stunned. In response, he struggled desperately. His eyes shifted and his little head writhed. He didn't want to see it or eat it.

His mother actually tried to feed him milk!

Yesterday, to hide from this, he intentionally ate more rice gruel. But he didn't expect that his mother still had not given up on this idea.

Yaoniang was sweating profusely. She stroked Xiaobao's back and touched his forehead, and muttered in a low voice, "What's the matter with you child? Why aren’t you eating? Hey, eat quickly. Your mother is about to go to work. If you don't eat, you will be hungry."

Xiaobao turned his head, unwilling to face Yaoniang, but there was some inexplicable grief in his heart.

What was his father doing? Why did his mother become a wet nurse? He, a dignified crown prince, had to condescend to hide behind others. This wasn’t even the main point. How could a man at his age drink breast milk? Even if it was from his mother, he couldn’t do it.

Actually, because it was his mother, he couldn’t do it. 

No one knew that Xiaobao's face was red because he was embarrassed. Even if they noticed his red face, they would think it was from him struggling so hard. Yaoniang also finally gave up on feeding him forcibly, and pulled the clothes up.

"If you don't eat now, you can only have some rice gruel later," said Yaoniang with a worried expression as she looked at Xiaobao. Seeing that it was almost time for her shift, she hurriedly carried Xiaobao over next door. Then she handed him over to Yuchan.

"I don’t know what’s wrong with this child but he doesn't want to drink milk. If he gets hungry, could you make some gruel to feed him?"

Yu Chan nodded, but Yaoniang, who had been frowning, suddenly said, "Nevermind. The weather isn’t as hot as before. I will squeeze some milk out for him. If he is hungry, feed him the milk. How can the gruel be nourishing?" Once she finished her words, she hurried back and returned to her room.

In the middle of her shift, Yaoniang came back and saw that Xiaobao had drunk the milk that she squeezed out.

She breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he was willing to drink it, everything was fine. In fact, this saved Yaoniang a lot of worries. Otherwise, she would be afraid that Xiaobao doesn’t have any food to eat while she works. Going back and forth would also attract too much unwanted attention. After all, she was working as the little princess's nurse.

Xiaobao knew nothing about her complicated thoughts. He was forced to compromise because babies at his age mostly drank milk. Xiaobao was very protective of his current small body. He must not become a sick man in this life.

In the afternoon, people from Siyi Courtyard came. Consort Jin had heard that Yaoniang was back and had brought her son into the mansion. She then sent her people to invite Yaoniang to come over and talk.

Yaoniang took Xiaobao and went.

When she arrived at Siyi Courtyard, Consort Jin was sitting on the bed, pruning a pot of begonia on the bedside table.

Dressed in an autumn-coloured coat she looked slim with elegant and graceful temperament.

It was inconvenient for Yaoniang to perform the usual greetings. She could only hold Xiaobao and bow. Then she stood to the side.

Consort Jin was thoroughly preoccupied. Her small pruning shears shuttled a few times among the lush foliage, and the flower branches continued to fall. A basin of begonia, which originally had no shape, gradually appeared to be well arranged with her movements.

She looked at it carefully before nodding in satisfaction. After she put down the pair of pruning shears, she had Zi Yan and others clean her hands. Then, she looked at Yaoniang and said, "This consort heard that you just came back. You have led a tragic life. Since your child is here, live well in the residence. You mother and son will not be mistreated."

Consort Jin's attitude towards Yaoniang had changed ever since that incident. Even though she was facing Side Consort Hu's threats, Yaoniang hadn't betrayed her. After that incident, Yaoniang only saw Consort Jin twice. The first time was when Consort Jin bestowed her rewards and the second time was today. Consort Jin looked very amiable both these two times.

Yaoniang did not dare to be neglectful. She had interacted with Consort Jin too much in her previous life. She knew that the other party was a person who always had a purpose when doing things.

"Thanking Consort for her grace."

Consort Jin nodded. She looked at the Xiaobao in her arms, smiled and said, "This is your child? What a white and lovely baby." She glanced at Zi Han, who immediately understood. She took out a golden necklace, walked up and handed it to Yaoniang. "This is the consort’s reward for the child."

Mini-theatre:

Xiaobao: (sorrowful face) Dad, what are you doing? Why did I become the son of a street vendor?!

Jin Wang: (facing the wind in three feet of tears) I became a peddler somehow… I am also desperate…