Chapter 57.1

Ah Xia moved into Yuchan's room that same day.

Fearing that Ah Xia didn’t wish to leave the small kitchen, Yaoniang asked her privately, but Ah Xia was very willing to take care of Xiaobao. Ever since Xiaobao came to the small courtyard, Ah Xia liked him. She would come over to visit him every day. Looking after Xiaobao would be a very suitable job for her.

Ah Xia was very diligent. Once she started her new job, she relieved a big burden for Yuchan and Yaoniang. Ah Xia was still a child at heart and could play with Xiaobao. A game that involved throwing a cloth ball could be played by the two of them for an entire afternoon.

The cloth ball was made by Yaoniang. The ball was sewn with brightly coloured cloth and rags were stuffed inside to fill it. Now, Xiaobao can sit up without too much effort. Playing this kind of throwing game can exercise his ability to turn around as well as his hand-eye coordination.

Seeing Xiaobao having such a good time, Yaoniang felt that making this ball was very worth it.

In fact, this kind of small plaything was also sold outside. Most of them were made of wood or rattan. It wasn’t easy to leave the residence, so Yaoniang could only make it herself.

Her first ball turned out very successful so Yaoniang made two of them. One was for Xiaobao and the other was for the little princess.

Xiaobao picked up the cloth ball and lifted his arm. He gave a light yell to remind the other party and then threw it out. To be honest, he felt bored to death inside. He also didn’t want to play this kind of naive game, but he couldn’t control his current body well. He could only learn to exercise slowly like ordinary babies.

Xiaobao deliberately threw it off target. Ah Xia grinned and picked it up. After making a face at him, she threw it back.

Yaoniang was sitting on the bed under the window, sewing clothes for Xiaobao.

These few days she had been particularly idle. Side Consort Hu would come to the small courtyard every day. Who knows what the hell she was up to this time. Side Consort Hu would personally accompany the little princess to play. She would also feed the princess, shower and dress her, and even breastfeed her. The wet nurses’ job was robbed. On top of that, she still remembered how Yaoniang didn't give her face before, so she would act all nice and kind while criticizing Yaoniang’s work.

After two days of being messed around like this, Yuyan secretly told Yaoniang to leave whenever Side Consort Hu came.

So Yaoniang left whenever she arrived. She was completely at ease.

"This Side Consort Hu is really annoying. That matter had nothing to do with Sister Su, but she always vents her anger on you," said Ah Xia while playing with Xiaobao.

The reason why she said this was because Yaoniang had come back to hide from Side Consort Hu. To avoid offending Mammy Mu, Side Consort Hu’s way of finding fault was to criticize Yaoniang for not serving the little princess well enough. Not doing enough here, not doing well there, not as good as her and so on.

But according to Yaoniang’s thoughts, this was Side Consort Hu’s way to demonstrate her power. As the little princess’s biological mother, whatever she says was right. Yaoniang also understood why Side Consort Hu was acting like this. It was probably because the consort was pushing her down so much that she couldn't hold her head up. She wanted to use the little princess to increase her own standing.

Her actions also showed her motherly heart, which was for Jin Wang to see.

In fact, the last point was the most important. It has been a long time and Yaoniang hasn't heard anyone talking about Jin Wang staying in Liuchun Pavilion. When talking about Side Consort Hu, they only used derogatory words. Of course, their words were mostly meant for Yaoniang to hear, but it does show the current attitude of the people working in the manor.

After all, the consort was now in great power.

As for the matter between Consort Jin and Side Consort Hu, Yaoniang has always been reluctant to get involved. She would avoid them whenever she could. So when Yuyan asked Yaoniang to leave whenever Side Consort Hu showed up, Yaoniang was only too happy to agree.

But Yaoniang would definitely not tell Ah Xia this. She could only smile and say, “The side consort is the little princess’s mother. It’s normal for her to think that others aren’t doing their jobs well enough.”

Her words resulted in different reactions from Ah Xia and Xiaobao. Ah Xia hated iron for not turning to steel, so she didn't say anything. But Xiaobao fell over after throwing the ball. No matter how Ah Xia teased him, he wouldn't get up.

Xiaobao thought this Side Concubine Hu was really something. He had no idea where Father Emperor had gotten a woman like her from.

In the past few days, to gather more information, Xiaobao would cause a ruckus every day to go out to play. It happened that Ah Xia was familiar with the people in the small kitchen. Whenever there was nothing to do, she would bring Xiaobao with her to the backroom to play. Like this, Xiaobao learned a lot of bits and pieces of information. The one who he heard about the most was this Side Consort Hu.

Xiaobao felt that for such a person to survive, she must have been blessed by immortals. As for this immortal who didn’t consider others, it must be his good father.

When he thought of this, Xiaobao was reminded by the fact that his father already had a princess, but he was only the son of a street vendor. He was irritated by this thought.

"What's the matter?"

Xiaobao was annoyed when he was picked up all of a sudden. When he looked up, he saw his mother's white and gentle face.

"Are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?"

Yaoniang touched her son's forehead then the back of his head. Xiaobao was very comfortable being held by his mother. All his annoyance immediately disappeared.

So what if Father Emperor has a daughter? Even if he was the son of a dead peddler, he still has his mother! But Xiaobao continued to feel that something was wrong. He was definitely not the son of a street vendor because he looked 80% like Father Emperor when he grew up. There must be something wrong!

Could it be that his father once lived among the common people for unknown reasons? Working as a street vendor for a period of time, then had a moving relationship with his mother? But his father didn't doubt his birth. He could only give him such a disgusted look if he believed that he was the son of another man.

What was going on?

Xiaobao really hated the fact that he was too young now to investigate what happened between his mother and his real father.

That night.

Hearing some movement, Xiaobao opened his eyes.

There was the faint sound of footsteps and a light came on from outside the screen.

It was dark so the light was very obvious.

The door was gently opened, and Yuchan walked out quietly.