Capital City.
Green Oak Lane.
Clearheart Manor.
More than half the morning had passed before someone finally yawned and pushed the door open from inside.
"Ah-" Before he could even step over the threshold, he seemed to remember something and turned to the people behind him. "Don't forget to buy two Egg Pancakes from Zhang's later!"
Several people were milling around the courtyard. At his words, one scoffed. "As if we need you to tell us! Old Guan went out first thing this morning to queue!"
The Egg Pancake shop the little one liked had always done a roaring trade. Since word spread that "Emperor Mingze's most beloved Little Princess liked their Egg Pancakes," even a single pancake had become hard to come by. Old Guan had gone out before dawn.
As soon as news spread that Emperor Mingze had returned to the capital with the Little Princess yesterday, Old Guan seemed unable to sit still for even a moment. He was either muttering about preparing pastries for the little one or getting up to buy her favorite candy...
Only after they talked themselves hoarse, insisting that there must have been a grand banquet in the palace yesterday and that the Little Highness could not possibly get away, had they managed to settle the old man down for a little while.
Even so, he had mobilized everyone and made them spend the entire day cleaning the manor from top to bottom.
They had toiled well past midnight before Old Guan finally nodded in satisfaction at the spotless, good-as-new manor, and they could at last retreat to their own rooms and lie down.
The man opening the door looked amazed. "Old Guan never ceases to amaze me. To think my stamina can't match an old man's-holy crap!!"
His voice suddenly shot