Jiang Yingcheng was taking her usual afternoon nap.
Through the haze of sleep, she heard several words drifting closer and closer inside her head, growing steadily clearer.
Jiang Yingcheng unconsciously repeated them-
"Cloud, Cloud-Slice Cake-"
"Hibiscus Pastry-"
"Flower-Permeated Glutinous Cake?!"
At the last name, she abruptly jolted awake. "Ah!"
"Huh?"
What little pastries? She had been sleeping perfectly well, so why had she suddenly started thinking about pastries?!
The culprit, System Bro, was clearly nothing more than a mass of data, yet somehow felt exhausted.
[...]
System Bro had been anxiously chattering in the little girl's ear for ages, but she had shown no reaction to anything else. Only when the names of pastries came up had she finally awakened.
There was no time to dwell on that now. Even System Bro's electronic voice seemed tinged with anxiety.
[Something huge has happened! Hurry up and wake up properly!]
Jiang Yingcheng rubbed her eyes and stared blankly around her before finally realizing that something was wrong with the Imperial Study today.
Her Crown Prince brother had not come to check on her in the rear hall the instant she made a sound, and Eunuch Changshun, who was usually bustling about nearby, was nowhere to be seen either.
Jiang Yingcheng's eyes lit up. [I can escape today!]
System Bro was frantic.
[If you don't escape now, you won't live to see tomorrow's sun!]
[Huh?] Jiang Yingcheng looked bewildered. [What are you talking about, System Bro?]
System Bro kept it brief.
[Fang Yiwan has struck the Grievance Drum. She wants to accuse Fang Siwan of switching her child.]
[What?!]
One incense stick's worth of time earlier.
After finally coaxing the little girl to sleep, Jiang Tinghuai had returned to the front hall to handle