Chapter 87: Because I Was Hungry

Tianxin looked at Su Qing as she slowly opened the lacquered meal box and shook her head. “I do not know him.”

Su Qing: “...”

As expected, Her Ladyship had forgotten again.

The only reason she had known it was the young gentleman who sent it was probably because she had caught the scent and recognized the box.

Jia Huaili suddenly realized that Tianxin was actually quite easy to get along with.

“How did the people from the Royal Prince’s Residence bring you food?” His curiosity could not be contained.

Not only he, but everyone else was curious too.

So even though he had lowered his voice, the others still stretched their ears to listen.

The Royal Prince’s Residence?

Tianxin remembered that Ah Yan had seemed to say that if she wanted to eat, she could go to the Royal Prince’s Residence and find him.

So the person just now had been one of Ah Yan’s men.

She thought for a moment, then said in her soft, childish voice, “Because I was hungry.”

What a frank and unassailable reason.

There was not a single point to refute.

Those who had been waiting to hear the answer suddenly felt as if they had suffered a fit of heartache.

Duan Yu had, after all, met Tianxin once before, so he did not react quite so strongly to the little girl’s answer. Instead, he could not help laughing.

Jia Huaili: “...”

The court officials had not realized that His Highness the Crown Prince was actually so fond of smiling; he had already laughed many times today.

It seemed this Third Miss of the Ji family truly was a treasure.

Yet they all sighed inwardly as well: children are children, after all. This Third Miss of the Ji family was truly innocent and unworldly.

She did not even speak properly; plainly, it was just the speech of a child.

Tianxin always told the truth, and was too lazy to say a single extra word. If she were an adult, she might have been seen as insolent and arrogant.

But she was, after all, a little girl, a seven-year-old child in a small body. Her expression was often faint and cool, and that aloofness formed a strange, endearing contrast with her soft, round face.

And she always spoke a beat too slowly. Whatever she said, it seemed unable to stir anger in anyone.

The Ji family was different. Having witnessed Tianxin’s ferocious and brutal acts, they knew all too well the truth beneath that soft and harmless appearance.

After all, this was someone who could kill with such effortless composure, not even blinking.

She could speak to you in that gentle, unhurried voice, and just as casually, while speaking, lift her hand and give a little wave... and then, you would be dead.

Yes, exactly like that.

Jia Huaili seemed to remember something. He glanced at Tianxin, then shifted slightly farther aside.

As for Ji Yuzheng, who had once seemed to bask in everyone’s attention, she now felt as if she had been suddenly buried beneath dust and flung hard to the ground. Her face burned even more fiercely than before.

How could this little bastard know someone from the Royal Prince’s Residence?

And how had she stolen all the glory in a setting like this?

Ji Yuanruo was seated beside Ji Yuzheng. He glanced at her, not understanding why his younger sister, who had once been somewhat willful but still obedient and likable, seemed to have changed. She had become gloomy, more irritable, and far sharper in temperament.

He drew a deep breath and looked toward Tianxin, who could now only be seen from behind. There was also a touch of gloom in his eyes.

In truth... it was not only his sister who had changed. He had changed too, hadn’t he?

“An honored guest has arrived!”

With a long call from outside the main hall, everyone’s attention in the hall was drawn away from Tianxin’s table and turned toward the entrance.

Everyone except the pair of master and servant.

Su Qing took out the pastries from the meal box and smiled broadly. “My lady, look—these pastries are little animals too.”

Seeing the animal-shaped pastries, Tianxin’s brows and eyes curved in a rare smile. In her soft little voice, she said just two words: “Pretty.”