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"Xiaoru, why are you trembling? Are you feverish again and feeling cold?" Her mother placed a hand against her forehead, and only then did she realize that the hand holding her spoon was trembling slightly. "You don't have a fever. All right, all right, enough about that. Hurry up and drink your porridge. How he handles his little wife has nothing to do with us."

"Mother, it's inappropriate to discuss the Inner Palace like that. Don't say such things again."

Zhu Xiaojiu gave an unconcerned snort, earning a glare from Zhu Bafu. "Xiaojiu, you too! You mustn't be disrespectful to His Majesty again."

Zhu Xiaojiu did not answer. Sitting in the chair beside her, he picked up his bowl and Chopsticks and was about to eat. The moment Zhu Bafu saw him acting as usual, she snatched the Chopsticks from his hand, raised her brows, and said sternly, "His Majesty hasn't arrived yet. You cannot pick up your Chopsticks ahead of time and break the rules!"

That scolding angered Zhu Xiaojiu. He put down his bowl, raised his head, and retorted, "Sister, did his little wife beat you stupid? You weren't like this before. You may have been timid, but at least you had some backbone in front of His Majesty. How did you suddenly become so terrified of him that you're scared out of your wits? You and Father are his meritorious subjects, yet you woke up one day and turned into a loyal dog lying at his side, kissing up to him at every opportunity and fawning over his every stinking foot?"

"You—" Could he not see what had happened to the Prime Minister's Residence and the Pan Family, or did he not understand that things were different now?

She had not yet managed to say those words