Jiang Yingcheng's screams made Jiang Xingran's ears ache. As he tilted his head aside to escape them, he happened to look back and meet the newcomer's eyes.
The woman wore a long, water-blue cloud-brocade jacket. Her face was free of makeup, lending her delicate features a pure, otherworldly beauty.
He covered Jiang Yingcheng's still-screaming mouth with his hand. "Look behind you. It's the pretty auntie you like."
The screaming stopped.
Jiang Yingcheng turned around with her eyes squeezed shut, bobbing her little head every which way as she forced herself to say, "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, I see her! Very pretty!"
In truth, she hadn't opened her eyes even a sliver.
[Not looking! Absolutely not looking!!]
...Her inner voice was certainly honest.
Xi Youshan burst into a giggle, walked straight up to Jiang Yingcheng, and crouched before her. "How pretty?"
Jiang Yingcheng: "!!!"
For an instant, Jiang Xingran thought he could see every hair on her body stand on end.
"Aaaaaah!!! A ghost! There's a ghost, Seventh Prince!!!!"
The bravery Jiang Yingcheng had maintained all the way here shattered in an instant. The sound she let out in her terror was so shrill that she might have been a reincarnated screaming rubber chicken.
She desperately shrank behind Jiang Xingran. "Waaaah, Chengcheng doesn't taste good! C-could you eat the Eighth Prince instead? Waaaah..."
"..." Jiang Qiuyu, who had been screaming along with her, stopped and turned to look at her expressionlessly.
Thoroughly amused by the little ones, Xi Youshan stood up, reached past the frost-faced Jiang Xingran, and lightly touched Jiang Yingcheng's temple. "What do you mean, a ghost? See? Isn't there warmth?"
Jiang Yingcheng trembled even harder. "S-so cold!"
Xi Youshan: "..."
She straightened and slowly stretched. "All right, all right, I'll stop teasing you. This courtyard is where I live. What