"Which of you two wants to speak first?"
In the banquet hall, Kan Hongxi looked at the two culprits standing in the center with a stern expression, feeling the beginnings of a toothache.
Earlier, he had been questioning Yuan Liangping about the little princess's inner voice when a Shadow Guard suddenly burst in, reporting that the young master and the young Highnesses had been missing for quite some time. The last to see them had been the Shadow Guard stationed near the Abandoned Courtyard in the Southeast Corner.
Knowing the state of that courtyard, Kan Hongxi had immediately led his men over.
Before they even entered, they heard earthshaking howls and wails from inside.
Under questioning, Kan Rongxuan and Xi Youshan exchanged a guilty glance.
Xi Youshan stubbornly insisted, "I was only playing a joke on them. How was I supposed to know they'd be such scaredy-cats?"
Kan Hongxi finally lost his composure. "Playing a joke with a knife in your hand?!"
When they burst in, Xi Youshan had been holding a curved blade with a sinister grin, watching everyone scurry about with a chilling gaze.
He turned to his eldest son, who gave him an even worse headache. "And what excuses do you have?!"
Kan Rongxuan's eyes darted everywhere.
He was too embarrassed to admit that his original purpose in orchestrating this farce had indeed been to show off his manliness before the little princess.
Hearing Jiang Yingcheng's tearful voice from inside, already punctuated by hiccups, Kan Rongxuan felt deeply guilty.
When he saw the little princess crying so pitifully earlier, he had wanted to rush forward to protect her. But before he could act, the Seventh Prince and the boy named Lin Jinshu had already shielded her firmly between them, their little faces icy.
"I know I was