[Auntie, you're so pretty! How could you dig me up? Boohoo!]
Little Wanwan was on the verge of tears.
Heaven knew how long she had spent grabbing handful after handful of dirt.
She called it burying herself, but the hole had already been there. All she had done was scrape some dirt over herself.
She opened her mouth and wailed in protest.
Instead, she got a mouthful of dirt. Her face was filthy, and her eyes brimmed with tears, a heartbreaking sight.
The Empress Dowager dug her out and held her in her arms, just as Liu Wan and Xia Zhao emerged from the palace.
Liu Wan went pale with fright. "This subject, Lady Liu, pays her respects to Your Majesty the Empress Dowager."
The little one immediately stopped crying and stared blankly at the Empress Dowager holding her.
[Ah, it's the Empress Dowager! You're so young and pretty! Wanwan wants cuddles!]
Liu Wan looked at the Empress Dowager in horror.
Despite all the years Xia Wanwan had lived in her previous life, she still could not shake her habit of wanting to cuddle every pretty woman she saw.
Unfortunately, ever since becoming a baby, she had gradually been assimilated, reverting to her natural instincts.
There was only one advantage to being a baby: while her beginner protection period was still in effect, she could cozy up to anyone she pleased.
"Um, well..." Liu Wan's eyelids twitched wildly. How was she supposed to bring this up with the Empress Dowager?
What an outrageous request.
"Cud... dle." Little Wanwan gazed pitifully at the Empress Dowager. Her tiny hands were covered in mud as she reached for the Empress Dowager's face, straining to press her little cheek against hers.
She had spent quite a while buried in the dirt, letting Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy nourish her body.
So, by using the spiritual energy inside her and trying hard to speak, she could produce a few indistinct words.
But Liu Wan was scared out of her wits and rushed forward to stop her.
"Your Majesty, my daughter has soiled your clothes. I beg your forgiveness." She no longer cared why a month-old baby could speak.
The Empress Dowager was said to be capricious and eccentric, hardly an easy person to get along with. Liu Wan had already picked out where she wanted to be buried.
Yet the Empress Dowager gave her a disdainful look. "How dare you! You? You think you can soil me?"
Liu Wan dropped to her knees in fright.
In the Empress Dowager's arms, little Wanwan looked at her pathetically, her big eyes glistening. "Ooh... cuddle..."
The Empress Dowager looked at her.
At last.
She leaned her face closer and said sternly, "Here. Just once. Don't get my face dirty!"
Little Wanwan rejoiced. Cupping the Empress Dowager's face in her muddy hands, she pressed her little cheek against hers.
The Empress Dowager had such a plump, fortunate-looking face that little Wanwan's seemed even smaller beside it.
Two round faces, one old and one young, pressed together in an adorable scene.
Liu Wan's hands shook violently.
The Empress Dowager made a little sound of surprise, handed the filthy little Wanwan back to Liu Wan, and wiped her face with a thoroughly reluctant expression.
"I heard you're the Imperial Son-in-Law's younger sister, here to offer the Princess advice?"
"Yes. It is my honor." Liu Wan lowered her head as she spoke.
"Is this your daughter?" the Empress Dowager asked.
"Yes. Her name is Xie Wanwan."
"Mm." The Empress Dowager gave an aloof nod, then stepped into the Princess's Imperial Bedchamber.
She had heard from the emperor that Lady Liu had brought an incomparably beautiful baby girl into the palace, and that they were in Zhao'er's Imperial Bedchamber.
She had not even had time to eat the beggar's chicken in her own Imperial Bedchamber before lifting her skirts and hurrying over.
Upon arriving, she had spotted a delicate, exquisite little baby buried in the dirt, looking as peaceful as a corpse.
It had frightened her terribly.
The moment the little one opened her eyes, her young matron's heart overflowed. If the baby looked this lovely covered in dirt, what would she look like clean?
Besides, the first time she met this little one, the baby was trying to bury herself. She had never seen a child so beautiful and so utterly bonkers, which piqued her interest.
She desperately wanted to know what grew inside this baby's head.
Liu Wan took little Wanwan to change her clothes. Since there were only palace dresses available, she could only dress her in the clothes Xia Zhao had prepared for a little princess.
Beautiful and exquisite, she looked just like a princess of the palace.
Xia Zhao stared, spellbound. "Wow! When will I ever have such a beautiful baby? What if I have a son? Won't I end up kicking him clear away?"
"Ah, ee, ah... cou..." Little Wanwan stared at her, trying to speak.
[Auntie had a little girl cousin. A little girl cousin!]
"Are you saying I'll have a beautiful baby girl?" Xia Zhao's face lit up with delight.
Liu Wan froze. Could the Princess hear her?
"Grandmother, listen! Wanwan said I'll have a baby girl."
The Empress Dowager felt as though a flock of crows had flown over her head.
"All right, all right, I'm not deaf. If it isn't a little princess, don't bother coming back to the palace. Have eight or ten children with Liu Ye. I refuse to believe there won't be a single girl!"
She stared intently at little Wanwan. If only this baby were a princess, she could raise her in the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility and see just how much stranger she could become.
Babies with a screw loose were her favorites.
Liu Wan breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness the Princess could not hear her.
Still holding little Wanwan, she prepared to help Xia Zhao look over her dowry.
But the Empress Dowager said, "If you're here to help, why bring a little tagalong? Leave the baby here. I'll watch her."
Liu Wan could not refuse, so she went into the room with Xia Zhao.
Once they were gone.
Little Wanwan wanted to get down onto the ground. After being nourished earlier, she felt she could manage a clumsy crawl.
So she wriggled like a maggot, crawling toward the large coral tree.
She reached out and clambered over the threshold, nearly tumbling onto her back. After a couple of babbling sobs, she crawled toward the foot of the tree.
The Empress Dowager followed behind her, watching in amazement.
Little Wanwan crawled back into the hole and scooped up dirt, intending to bury herself again.
Seeing that the Empress Dowager was still watching her, she clumsily shifted aside, pointed at the hole, then pointed at the Empress Dowager.
"You... bury..." She scooped up a handful of dirt and offered it to the Empress Dowager with an eager look.
"Thank you for the invitation, but I don't like being buried." The Empress Dowager shook her head and crouched nearby to watch little Wanwan curiously.
Little Wanwan lay down in the hole, then pointed at the little mound of dirt beside it. "Help... help..."
Oh, talking was so hard.
When would she finally be able to speak fluently?
Understanding what she meant, the Empress Dowager reached out and covered her with dirt. The little one smiled contentedly and closed her eyes in peace.
When she woke and found the Empress Dowager still watching her, she looked curious and babbled again. "Ah... you..."
[Mortal, do you have a wish? I, Wanwan, can grant you one wish.]
"Do you want to be a princess? Would you like to be a princess? Hmm? Speak up! If you do, I'll have His Majesty issue a decree making you a princess."
The Empress Dowager gripped little Wanwan's shoulders with both hands and asked excitedly.
How entertaining it would be to raise such an odd little baby in the palace.
She would wake up laughing in the middle of the night.
Little Wanwan looked utterly bewildered and, out of habit, stuck her thumb into her mouth as she thought.
Mmm~
Bitter.
It tasted entirely of mud.
She spat it out again.
The lasers in the Empress Dowager's eyes were practically about to shoot out.
So bizarre! She loved her even more!
[Wanwan can't grant that wish. Wanwan has a mother, and Wanwan loves her mother so much. Give up on that idea.]
[But Daddy can be replaced. One, two, three, even ten replacements would be fine. Mother deserves it. She deserves the best.]
Liu Wan, who had come out to look for her, heard little Wanwan's inner muttering.
A chill ran down Liu Wan's spine, and she hurried over to dig her out of the dirt.
The tiny body came up with a single lift, dirt falling away to reveal a thoroughly bedraggled baby.
Well, if she had known the Empress Dowager would indulge her nonsense, she would not have bothered changing her clothes.
By now, it was dark. After dining in the palace, she was ready to go home.
As they were leaving, the Empress Dowager even gave Wanwan the Phoenix Hairpin from her own hair.
Wanwan hugged the gold hairpin and smiled happily. She even bit it in front of everyone, then stared blankly at the saliva on it.
Huh? Why weren't there any tooth marks?
Before you continue