After returning home, Xie Xun placed the two little qilins according to the directions given by Jiang Xiaoxiao, then went to the kitchen to cook.
Jiang Xiaoxiao sat at the table, waiting for food.
After witnessing Jiang Xiaoxiao's appetite in the morning, Xie Xun cooked two extra bowls of rice.
However, rice was different from the porridge in the morning.
Porridge could be slurped with a gourd vine, but rice couldn't.
Xie Xun had to whittle her a pair of tiny chopsticks.
Since there were no bowls small enough, he plucked a gourd leaf.
He scooped the rice onto the gourd leaf, placed it in front of Jiang Xiaoxiao, and added a bit of each of the three dishes.
Upon seeing the food, Jiang Xiaoxiao perked up, grasped her little chopsticks, and buried her face in the food, her cheeks puffing out.
Watching her, Xie Xun felt a strange sensation rising in his heart.
It was like raising a little pet.
Only this pet could... eat a bit too much.
Xie Xun only ate one bowl of rice himself, while the rest went into Jiang Xiaoxiao's belly.
After finishing, the little creature licked her lips contentedly, looking fully satisfied.
As if eating was the most beautiful and wonderful thing in the world.
Xie Xun had no doubt that she could have finished two more bowls.
"During your transformation period, you shouldn't eat so much. You might get stuffed," Xie Xun said, standing up and clearing the bowls and chopsticks.
After eating, Jiang Xiaoxiao wanted to sleep, but he carried her outside and forced her to walk around, saying it would aid digestion.
Jiang Xiaoxiao was sulking.
Xie Xun raised an eyebrow, "Haven't you heard the saying, 'A tiger shouldn't roar in Pingyang'? If you don't listen, I'll toss you out again!"
Remembering how delicious his cooking was, Jiang Xiaoxiao decided not to make a fuss and obediently walked around the courtyard.
After judging that she had digested enough, she happily trotted back inside on her little legs.
Xie Xun had prepared a little nest for her, with pink bedding, a pink pillow, and even a pink canopy made from cloth.
Jiang Xiaoxiao was used to wearing drab gray robes, so she found this color novel.
Even more novel was that Xie Xun, a man, had pink cloth in his home.
It wasn't until the afternoon, when she saw Xie Xun washing clothes, that she noticed a little pink rabbit embroidered on his nightgown.
Jiang Xiaoxiao figured she had found the source of the pink fabric.
She yawned and lay back down in the pink little nest to sleep.
...
When Xie Xun's nursemaid passed away, he was not yet ten years old, and no one in the village was willing to take him in.
He could only live in this thatched hut and fend for himself.
Gathering and drying wild produce to sell in town became Xie Xun's only source of income.
Once, he found an injured rabbit.
The lonely young boy felt as if he had found some solace.
It took him a long time to nurse the rabbit back to health.
Then one day, when he returned from outside, he saw that the rabbit in the cage had been killed, its body covered in blood.
No matter how much he washed, the blood wouldn't come out, and it eventually turned pink.
Later, he embroidered this pink rabbit onto his nightgown.
When Jiang Xiaoxiao woke up, she found Xie Xun sitting in front of her little nest, looking at her with a peculiar gaze.
Like he was looking at... a pet he was raising.
"You're awake?" Xie Xun said, unusually without a scowl, extending his hand with his fingertips resting on the edge of the nest.
Jiang Xiaoxiao walked onto his palm and looked up.
Seeing the little creature staring blankly for a while, afraid she had frozen up again, Xie Xun was about to pick her up and shake her.
Suddenly, Jiang Xiaoxiao pointed at the top of his head. "I finally know what that is!"
Xie Xun was puzzled. "What?"
"The thing on your head," Jiang Xiaoxiao said. "It's not just negative energy, but a seal."
"A seal?" Xie Xun frowned.
"Yes," Jiang Xiaoxiao said. "If I'm not mistaken, the purple golden dragon qi that was taken from you can regenerate, but someone sealed you with negative energy to prevent it from regenerating."
Xie Xun's gaze was full of scorn. "Not only did they take it, but they also sealed me?"
"To put it simply, it's the principle of taking from one to give to another," Jiang Xiaoxiao explained. "People with purple golden dragon qi generally have a hardy fate, and evil spirits would avoid them, making it difficult to take their qi."
"Even using evil arts would require a heavy price."
"And if your dragon qi regenerates, however much it regenerates, the person who took your qi would lose that much, and eventually be backlashed."
At this point, Jiang Xiaoxiao looked at Xie Xun. "Do you know who took your dragon qi?"
"Who else could it be?" Xie Xun sneered coldly. "It must have been someone who wanted to ascend to the throne."
His nursemaid said the capital was a terrifying place, the palace a den that devoured people without spitting out the bones, and his mother had died there. She told him to stay in Shimo Village and never enter the capital.
But Xie Xun was unwilling to accept this. He had to find a way to enter the capital, avenge his mother, and reclaim everything that was rightfully his!
"The current Crown Prince, Murong Yuan?" Jiang Xiaoxiao had heard this name from her third senior brother.
Reportedly, he was the most astonishingly talented prince in the history of Yan Country, earning fame at the age of five for his strategy to control flooding in the Golden Pavilion.
Since then, he had been praised by all officials and deeply favored by the Emperor, being directly granted the title of Crown Prince at his tenth birthday celebration.
Murong Yuan was five years old around the time Xie Xun's purple golden dragon qi was taken when he was three.
"Can you remove the seal on me?" Xie Xun asked.
Jiang Xiaoxiao nodded. "Removing the seal is simple, but since you've been sealed for many years, it will be difficult for your purple golden dragon qi to regenerate from nothing."
"Unless you can get close to the person who took your dragon qi."
Xie Xun understood. "So I need to find a way to enter the capital?"
"Yes."
That night, Xie Xun couldn't sleep well.
His mind was filled with what Jiang Xiaoxiao had said during the day.
He had to get close to Murong Yuan in order to reclaim his purple golden dragon qi.
Originally, he had planned to change his appearance and enter the capital as a scholar through the imperial examinations.
Now it seemed that wouldn't work.
Even if he excelled and became the top scorer, he would still only enter the Imperial Academy.
The chance of getting close to the Crown Prince would be virtually nonexistent.
For the time being, Xie Xun couldn't think of any identity that would allow him to easily enter the capital and get close to the Crown Prince.
The next morning, just as dawn broke, the courtyard gate was pounded heavily.
Jiang Xiaoxiao woke up from her dream, and saw that Xie Xun had also been woken up.
His morning temper was quite bad, his brow furrowed and his face dark.
Jiang Xiaoxiao asked, "Do you have guests?"
"No."
Xie Xun had never had any friends, nor did he associate with the villagers.
In his memory, aside from his nursemaid, that rabbit, and the little creature he had just picked up, no one had ever entered his home.
And such fierce knocking at the gate was unprecedented.
He didn't want to acknowledge it, but the knocking outside grew increasingly excessive.
Xie Xun's face darkened further, and he put on his outer robe, opened the courtyard gate, and saw Chen Sixi, whom he had just met the day before, standing outside.
Chen Sixi's face was deathly pale, and upon seeing Xie Xun, he was on the verge of tears.
"Xie Xun, Master Xie, please save me!"
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