"You look older than your aunt. How can you be mother and son? You're more like siblings," the Puppet Girl muttered.
"..."
Vermilion Bird Emperor was frustrated, while the Empress Dowager had a big smile on her face, seemingly quite pleased. As for the others, they were naturally dumbfounded.
"Wait, you're Auntie's son, so does that mean you want to go on a blind date with me...? I don't like older men, so forget about it!!" The Puppet Girl pretended to be very scared.
"Huh?!" At this moment, everyone in the room was stunned, including the Empress Dowager.
"What are you talking about, little girl?" Vermilion Bird Emperor frowned, completely bewildered.
"Hahaha... hahaha..." The Empress Dowager laughed a little out of control at this moment. Normally, she would not be like this. At least in front of outsiders like Lady Lei Di, she would definitely have the demeanor of an empress.
However, she now sees Lady Lei Di as her little granddaughter-in-law, not an outsider, and Ye Lang's words just now were indeed a bit amusing.
Imagine, the mighty Vermilion Bird Emperor being spoken to like that by a little girl—anyone would find it hard not to laugh. If this got out, it would become the funniest joke of the year on the mainland.
"Mother!!" Vermilion Bird Emperor reminded the Empress Dowager, who had lost her composure. He also didn't want to be ridiculed. This was not a matter of imperial dignity; even a mother and son would feel embarrassed.
The Empress Dowager stopped smiling, straightened her posture, and said softly, "Young lady, you are really interesting! This is my son, but he's not the one who wants to arrange a blind date with you. His children are all much older than you; as I said, they are his grandsons!"
"Are you serious? You really have such a big grandson?" the Puppet Girl asked, tilting her head.
"Really, so you should call me Grandma!" the Empress Dowager said with a smile. She did want the Puppet Girl to call her Grandma, after all, she was a granddaughter-in-law.
However, this statement was heard differently by others. How could the Empress Dowager be called "Grandma" so casually? This statement was quite serious.
Ye Lang didn't seem to care about that, but looked at the Empress Dowager with a puzzled expression and said, "Oh, Grandma, do you have elven blood?"
In Ye Lang's understanding, elves are generally long-lived and never grow old. While people with elven blood also have similar lifespans, some of them can maintain their youth and age more slowly than normal people.
However, having elven blood also has a downside: it makes it relatively difficult to conceive. This is a characteristic of the elven race, and elven women may only be able to conceive once every hundred years.
"Grandma..."
The Empress Dowager felt somewhat helpless at this title. She smiled and said, "Perhaps. I don't know why, but I'm the only one among my brothers and sisters who is like this, while my children are no different from normal people."
"It could be a case of atavism, a special case! Or it could be due to a genetic mutation!" the Puppet Girl replied.
"Atavism? Genetic mutation? What are these? Never mind, whatever they are, you can talk about it now, I'm leaving first." The Empress Dowager said nonchalantly. Anyway, she'd gotten by all these years, why should she care?
"Hey, grandma, you're letting us talk, but do you still want this uncle to go on a blind date with me? I have no interest, not even if he's an uncle, especially one who's been married and has many children!" the Puppet Girl said immediately, seemingly having misunderstood.
He leaves, leaving the two of them to chat—this is a common tactic used by matchmakers!
"Puff..."
The Empress Dowager nearly collapsed, as did the others, while Vermilion Bird Emperor's face began to darken!
"Young lady, have you forgotten why you came here today?" The Empress Dowager wiped her sweat and asked.
"I remember, I was summoned by the emperor here. Why hasn't he arrived yet? How rude of him to keep me waiting for so long," the Puppet Girl replied directly, specifically naming the emperor for being impolite and making him wait.
"..."
Everyone fell silent again. This Lady Lei Di was really too strong. The Emperor had asked her to wait here, and she still said that the Emperor was impolite.
So many people want to wait but don't have the chance, and she actually said this? It's absolutely outrageous!
"You don't know yet, do you? My son is the emperor here!" The Empress Dowager smiled and said to the Puppet Girl.
"... He's the Emperor? Then why does he call you Mother?" the Puppet Girl asked blankly.
"Idiot!!" the Empress Dowager and Cold-Blooded Fifth said at the same time, but only Ye Lang could hear Cold-Blooded Fifth's voice.
"She (I) am the Empress Dowager here, so naturally I am the Emperor's mother!!" Cold-Blooded Fifth and the Empress Dowager said the same thing almost at the same time.
In some kingdoms and empires on this continent, the royal family doesn't use prefixes like "emperor" or "king" when addressing each other; at most, they use honorifics like "father" or "mother."
"Ah... so that's how it is... so you are the Emperor of the Vermilion Bird Empire, my apologies!" Ye Lang said, controlling the Puppet Girl, and bowed.
"Grandma, no, the Empress Dowager greets you!"
"No need for formalities! Ignorance is no excuse, but since we haven't had a chance to introduce ourselves, we can't blame you!" the Empress Dowager said with a smile, and then left.
She wouldn't concern herself with the Vermilion Bird Emperor's affairs. She had only come here for the Little Princess to ask Ye Lang for the necklace, but now that she no longer had that intention, she would naturally leave!
"Well, Miss Lady Marqué, let's get straight to the point! Did you buy something at the auction house yesterday?" Vermilion Bird Emperor asked seriously.
"You're asking this again... Let me tell you, I've already given that thing away. Tell your daughter to give up on that idea." The Puppet Girl said.
"Who asked? What does it have to do with my daughter?" Vermilion Bird Emperor was stunned, once again completely bewildered, not understanding what Ye Lang was talking about.
"Didn't the Empress Dowager just ask? It's about the necklace that the Little Princess and I fought over. I've already given it away. I really don't understand why you had to bring me here for this?" the Puppet Girl said, seemingly a little annoyed.
Ye Lang was indeed a little annoyed. The auction house lost, so what? They still refused to admit defeat and sent people over. This kind of behavior was really despicable!
Because of this, Ye Lang never gave the Little Princess a kind look when they met for a while afterward, which made the Little Princess feel extremely wronged.
"Who was talking about the necklace? So that little girl was upset because of a necklace. You little girl are quite something, taking my eighth son's necklace and then my little girl's!" Vermilion Bird Emperor finally understood. It turned out that the Empress Dowager had come to her to complain about this matter. The Little Princess must have gone to her to cry.
However, given her temperament, she should have been furious with Lady Lei Di and used coercion and bribery to force Lady Lei Di to hand over the necklace. But she wasn't. Instead of getting angry, she was still kind and friendly to Lady Lei Di.
What exactly happened?