The ministers' eyes darted all around, searching for the colleague lucky enough to receive the little one's "attention."
When their gazes swept over a face that had suddenly turned rather pale, they all let out a meaningful Oh- in their hearts.
Up ahead, Right Chancellor Tan was still exchanging remarks with Emperor Mingze about important recent events in the Capital. But anyone listening closely would have noticed that both men were somewhat distracted.
Emperor Mingze's remarks were brief to begin with. Usually, a few words from him were enough to send Chancellor Tan into a lengthy torrent of speech. Even so, he shortened his sentences as much as possible, waiting for the other man to keep talking.
Right Chancellor Tan tried to select reports that might be connected to Prince Xin. Yet midway through his remarks, he would always pause inexplicably for a moment, as though an elderly man had suddenly forgotten what he meant to say next. But...
Every minister present knew that this was the peculiar reaction of someone diverting part of his attention to eavesdrop on the little one's thoughts. Each pause in an odd place meant that she had mentioned another crucial piece of information-
[An oval face, phoenix eyes, a slightly upturned nose, a tiny cherry mouth... wow, so Uncle Chu likes girls like that!]
[Ooh, the wind blew that woman's handkerchief into Chu's courtyard, and that was how they met? That's actually pretty romantic!!]
[Whoa! Just a few days later, he happened upon some street thug blocking her way and harassing her, then stepped forward to play the hero rescuing the beauty?!]
[Let me see, let me see. After that, they had a whole string of chance encounters that quickly brought them closer...]
*[Ah, no wonder Uncle Chu fell so fast. When a young