379: Babysitting Gigs

Babysitting Gigs

Doctor Lou scanned the shield around the building with his glaring eyes, looking for a weakness he could penetrate, but there seemed to be none for him, "Tch, that troublesome brat is way too thorough..." He mumbled under his breath, pulling his beard in annoyance. The curiosity was killing him.0

Doctor Lou let out an irritated breath and turned his glare on the other person at the table. Bai Huan noticed this and smiled at him, pushing the wine jug towards him, "Are you finally ready to try it?"

Doctor Lou looked down at the cup and went, "Hmph! After allowing others to bully me, bribing me with a cup of wine, isn't this a bit too cheap?" He said with an accusing glint in his eyes. He then leaned forward and slyly said, "Get rid of the shield, and I'll forget this ever happened~"

"Can't." Bai Huan bluntly responded. Doctor Lou's face twitched, "Can't or won't?"

"Won't." Bai Huan amicably said as he picked up his cup and resumed drinking, looking quite content with the situation.

Doctor Lou glared daggers, but seeing the other person was unrepentant, he switched tactics, and wailed, "After all my hard work raising you, to think you would do this to me now..."

"I do not recall it being hard work for you - Ah, but I'm certain I learned a few things from you too." Bai Huan added with a smile when Doctor Lou sent him a look.

Doctor Lou dropped the crying act and tried to bargain, "Just make a little hole, and I'll just peek from outside, hm? It's not fair for her to keep precious knowledge like this to herself, especially when she's experimenting on my own child!"

"Some would argue that this is your well-deserved karma - some, not me." Bai Huan clarified with another look from Doctor Lou, "Relax, I'm certain Lifen has her reasons. She's not the vindictive type." He added with a smile.

"What's the point of flattering her when she's not here to listen?" Doctor Lou grumbled as he grabbed the wine jug, took a big gulp, hugged it, and resumed glaring at the Tung Mei's door.

This guy here and the other troublesome brat in Tung Mei's room were two of Doctor Lou's younger disciples. After Doctor Lou left Lei Xing and the Emperor's palace, he headed for his crystal cave at Qi temple. It was a place of great spiritual power, he had built crystal by crystal all by himself, and it also doubled as a treasure trove which made him like it all the more.

It was the perfect place to conduct research - Doctor Lou shook his head, a great place to fix this stupidity that his daughter had brought upon herself. He had no idea when she learned to do charity work, he definitely did not teach her any of that.

Anyway, halfway to Qi temple, Doctor Lou realized there was one problem he had forgotten about: his nosy sister was at Qi temple too. While the crystal cave was his personal space, she, unfortunately, had no respect for his boundaries. She even allowed her students to trot in at will randomly. Usually, he did not mind it, but at the moment, things were a bit sensitive.

If his sister found Xiao Ying like this, she would scold him and start poking her nose in his other matter, doubly annoying. So after rethinking his options, he decided that it was not a good idea.

After some thought, he had decided to go to Fenhua palace instead. Fenhua palace was Bai Huan and Feng Lifen's principal home, although they were rarely ever home or anywhere for that matter. Since their equally troublesome child had left the nest, the palace now completely sat empty for the most part.

The pair had also taken extra measures to ensure bothersome people could not come flocking around them. The palace was situated on a mountain surrounded by a shield, which they then created a massive sandstorm around that would have one going in circles until you eventually get kicked out. So only the handful of people who the couple gave passes could actually locate the palace.

Although his sister did have a pass, she had given up on these two a long time ago when she realized they weren't interested in listening to her "good reason". Unfortunately, she never seemed to get that message when it came to Doctor Lou.

Anyway, Doctor Lou had gone there to work in peace, but he was making no progress. He had only managed to keep coursing energy through Xiao Ying so that Tung Mei did not suck her dry.

Just when he was about to pull out his hair in frustration, the homeowners came home. This was when he discovered that Feng Lifen was the one who gave Xiao Ying this foolish idea in the first place. However, she explained that she and Bai Huan had innocently shared a few stories to entertain their little guest over drinks. How were they supposed to know that she would go try it out herself?

Before Doctor Lou could explode at them, the couple reassured him that it was not a big deal, that the problem would resolve itself, and quickly tried to make a hasty escape.

Unfortunately for them, Doctor Lou chased after them, and despite their many reassurances and explanations, he refused to listen. Instead, he hunted, bullied, and hounded them until they finally gave in and agreed to take care of the problem they caused.

Naturally, they were stronger than him but they had never dared to use their powers against him. If it were someone else, they would have either beaten them to a pulp or caged them up somewhere and forgot about them - then again no one else would have dared to hound them like this.

Still, getting them here was only half the battle, getting that stubborn Lifen to actually fix the situation was another. Lifen, like his sister, really enjoyed watching him squirm for some unknown reason. Sure in the past, he may have done a few questionable things but that was a long time ago, he's changed, they've changed - except they refuse to the past rest in the past. Doctor Lou glared at Tung Mei's door again and pulled on his long beard.

{...She better fix this. Otherwise, I am going to go find Xing Xing and by the time I am done with her, she'll think drowning was the easy part!... Might throw in that Xiao Kai too, he definitely needs a lesson. How dare he try to use my baby to start up his matchmaking enterprise?! ( ಠ ⌣ ಠ )...}

***

Lei Xing's nose twitched once, twice then she let out an almighty sneeze, accidentally releasing her arrow, "No, wai-" She exclaimed as she watched her arrow weakly flop to the ground halfway to the board, "That can't count..." Lei Xing asked turning to Princess Nalan, "...right?"

"A loss is a loss." Princess Nalan unforgivingly stated and raised her arms to take her shot. 

"Tch." Lei Xing quietly went as she passed her bow to an eunuch and went to sit down, she picked up the tea Xiao Ruo poured for her and graciously awaited her loss. 

To be honest, she never really planned to win in the first place. Actually, it was more like she was very aware of her abilities and that of her competition to know that she could not win. It was just that she set a personal target of twenty bullseyes for herself and that stupid sneeze flopped her at seventeen. 

As for her bet with Princess Nalan, she did not really care for it. There was nothing she wanted from the Princess but plenty the Princess wanted from her, but she was generally alright with granting her requests...within reason.

Lei Xing had started spending more time with Princess Nalan after the bored and stressed out Princess stabbed an eunuch - Well, she did not stab per se, she threw a knife at him, the eunuch panicked and dodged when he should have been keeping still because targets don't move, therefore it was all his fault - This was Princess Nalan's explanation of that incident. 

It was only after this incident that it came to Lei Xing's attention that Princess Nalan had apparently been using her servants as target practice and reluctant sparring partners for weeks. The Emperor was aware, of course. He defended himself saying that he thought it was all just harmless fun, that she was just letting out some steam. So he did not tell Lei Xing so it would not bother her, after all, she was already so busy. 

It made Lei Xing wonder what else he was keeping from her, but then again, she was not in a position to scold anyone about keeping secrets.

"I won." Princess Nalan declared, turning to Lei Xing with a triumphant smile. Lei Xing glanced her way and flashed a half-smile, "Of course."

Princess Nalan ignored Lei Xing's sarcastic tone, she hopped over and sat next to Lei Xing, "As agreed, you have to agree to my request." 

"Within reason." Lei Xing offhandedly responded. Today's game was spurred by Princess Nalan wanting them to bet on a "wish". Ordinarily, Lei Xing was quite open to granting her requests but she thought Princess Nalan would appreciate a game more, so she had come up with this to appease the disgruntled Princess Nalan at the time and this game of theirs stuck. 

Among the things Princess Nalan had won off her were weekly visits to Prince Yi, a food basket for said visits when she noticed he was losing weight, at one point she had even won two weeks' worth of daily visits and of course, actual in-cell visits where she could sit with him. 

There was also Molin, who Princess Nalan wanted to live with her in the palace - this one Lei Xing naturally needed clearance from the Emperor. In the end, Molin was approved to enter the palace every day to accompany his Princess if he wished, but he was not allowed to live in the palace. He had to leave by sunset, his movements were also closely monitored while in the palace. 

Anyway, with Lei Xing keeping her on a tight leash, Princess Nalan seemed contained.

"Don't worry, it's nothing hard." Princess Nalan reassuringly said with an oddly strained smile.

Lei Xing raised a skeptical eyebrow, "Okay... What is it?"

Princess Nalan knit her brows, seemingly undecided. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and blurted, "I need you to come to the prison with me!"

Lei Xing's eyes went wide and then she frowned, "I don't think so." 

{...Odd request O_O)...}

"Why not?" Princess Nalan agitatedly said, jumping to her feet and bearing down on Lei Xing. 

Lei Xing narrowed her eyes at her and used a finger to push Princess Nalan out of her personal space and ordered, "Sit." 

"You promised, it's not like it's a difficult thing for you." Princess Nalan said as she plopped to her seat, glaring accusing eyes at Lei Xing. 

{...You really have no idea, do you? (≖_≖ )...}

Lei Xing narrowed her eyes at her and then glanced at Xiao Ruo, who got the message and ushered the other servants off the platform, leaving only she and the Bi twins on the scene standing a bit away, out of earshot.  As per the Emperor's order, Lei Xing could never be left alone with Princess Nalan. 

Once the coast was somewhat clear, Lei Xing turned back to Princess Nalan, "Now, why the hel- why do you need me for that?" Lei Xing amended. She expected that Princess Nalan might ask for more time with Prince Yi or maybe try to be allowed out of the palace again - she had asked a few times but it was always a no. For her to ask that Lei Xing accompany her to go see Prince Yi was weird and unexpected. 

Princess Nalan sighed and disgruntled said, "He doesn't seem happy..."

Lei Xing blinked a few times, still not computing, "Well, prison is generally not a happy place -"

"I know that. I mean he is not himself." Princess Nalan bit out, glaring at her teacup as if it were the Emperor that imprisoned Prince Yi.

"I hear prison does tha - nevermind," Lei Xing stopped herself, there was no point in dwelling on pointless details, "So what does this have to do with me exactly?" Regardless of the situation, Lei Xing had no plans to agree, but her curiosity was certainly piqued so she had to know where and how Princess Nalan got this idea in her head.

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