"Why do you want to learn martial arts from big brother?" asked Helian Rong.
The little boy ran into a woman's arms and replied, "I, Yi'er, want to protect mother. To do that, I must have martial arts skills like big brother!"
After hearing his words, everyone was shocked. It was hard to imagine that such words would come from a seven - year - old boy. The woman was immediately touched to tears and hugged her son tightly.
Dongfang Yi reached out and scraped the tip of his nose and said, "Then grow up quickly, Yi'er. When you grow up, you can learn martial arts with big brother!"
Yi'er stood up manfully and said, "I ate two bowls of rice today! When I can eat three bowls of rice in the future, I'll come to learn martial arts from big brother!"
The three of them were all amused by this little treasure. For a moment, the palace was filled with laughter and joy.
When Helian Rong arrived, he saw such a scene. Seeing Dongfang Yi safe and sound, he finally felt relieved and smiled with pursed lips. Then he said, "Hello, aunt."
Princess Shangyang nodded at him and then said with a smile, "Is the banquet over? Why does Your Majesty have the time to come here?"
This was exactly what Dongfang Yi was wondering. Normally, the banquet shouldn't be over at this time, and Helian Qi shouldn't have left like this.
But Helian Qi did leave the banquet. When Donghua rushed over to tell him that the queen and the Prince of Nanping had gone to visit Princess Shangyang together, he couldn't sit still anymore. He was always worried about that woman, so he couldn't calm down and preside over the banquet. So he simply withdrew.
Let those ministers write memorials tomorrow. After so many years and days, couldn't he be a bit out of line just this once?!
"There's nothing important at the banquet, so I came to have a look," he said.
Hearing this, Dongfang Yi felt happy. Now that they were all gathered together like this, it really felt like the Chinese New Year. Although the state banquet just now was luxurious and everything was good, it lacked one thing: human touch.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help suggesting, "Let's make dumplings for the New Year's Eve dinner!"
As soon as her suggestion was put forward, Princess Shangyang echoed, "Good idea! When we used to live in the forest, we made dumplings every New Year's Eve!"
So she immediately sent someone to fetch the tools and ingredients. Several people gathered around the chopping board and started making dumplings.
The two Helian brothers had never done this kind of work before, so it was quite difficult for them to learn. They learned both how to roll out the dough and how to make dumplings.
When rolling out the dough, Helian Qi just couldn't learn it. Helian Rong picked up the small dough wrapper he had rolled out, held it up and said, "Your Majesty, look, I've succeeded! What you rolled out is just a small dough ball! Hahaha!"
Immediately, everyone burst into laughter.
But later when making dumplings, because Helian Rong was used to holding weapons, he just couldn't hold the small dumplings properly. The stuffing kept leaking out. However, Helian Qi was the opposite. In a short while, he had made several dumplings. He even couldn't help teasing his younger brother, "Brother, you're no good. Look at mine."
Dongfang Yi rarely saw him being so childish. The more she looked, the more interesting he seemed. She couldn't help smiling face to face with Princess Shangyang.
After all the dumplings were put into the pot, everyone's faces were covered with flour. But no one minded looking messy. Instead, they felt that this was more like the Chinese New Year.
Even Donghua and Ruyi outside the palace couldn't help feeling happy.
"Here, this is your New Year's gift!" Ruyi took out a jade pendant from his bosom and handed it to the woman in front of him.
Donghua was stunned for a moment and then took it. She examined the jade pendant carefully and found it more and more familiar.
"This isn't..."
Wasn't this the jade pendant she had taken a fancy to when she was strolling in the fair with the queen? She hadn't had the chance to buy it at that time. Unexpectedly, Ruyi had remembered it and bought it for her.
"I'm giving it to you. It's useless for me anyway," Ruyi added.
He turned his head so that others couldn't see his expression. In fact, his face was already bright red. After all, this was the first time he had given a gift to a girl. He was so nervous that he didn't even dare to look her in the eye, for fear that she might see something.
After a while, he felt someone patting him on the back. When he turned around, he saw a handkerchief. There were some patterns on it that were hard to recognize, and there were also some red spots.
"I embroidered this. Some time ago, Her Majesty was learning embroidery, and I learned for a while too. But I don't seem to be very good at it. I could only make it like this, and there are still some bloodstains on it," Donghua said stutteringly, with her ears turning red.
When she was learning embroidery, she had thought that one day when she finished it, she must show it off to Ruyi. She still didn't know why she had thought so at that time.
But later, since she didn't do a good job, she didn't dare to take it out. But since he had given her a gift tonight, she couldn't just accept it for free. She naturally had to give a return gift. The only thing she had on her was this handkerchief, so she took it out.
Seeing that the man in front of her seemed a bit hesitant, she felt a bit embarrassed. She was about to take the handkerchief back when Ruyi snatched it back suddenly and said, "What? Are you reluctant to give it to me?!"
"My embroidery on this handkerchief is really too bad. I'm even ashamed to take it out," Donghua said hesitantly, with her head down.
Ruyi pursed his lips and smiled. He pinned the handkerchief to his waist and said, "I think it's great. For a rough girl like you, being able to embroider like this is already very good. You deserve praise, praise!"
"Who are you calling a rough girl?!" Donghua shouted and slapped the man in front of her. She thought to herself that she wasn't rough at all. She just knew how to punch and use a sword, which was different from ordinary girls who were good at needlework.
But Ruyi just laughed heartlessly and said, "Look at other girls. They're proficient in all kinds of arts. Look at you. You're always fighting. Oh, you're just a rough girl!"
Hearing this, Donghua was stunned. She didn't expect that he actually liked that kind of ordinary girl. Immediately, she bit her lips hard and frowned tightly. Then she took out the jade pendant from her bosom and said, "Take back your jade pendant. I don't want it anymore!"
"Oh? Really? But I won't return your handkerchief," Ruyi said with a smile.
"You!"
He suddenly stood in front of Donghua. The distance between them was only a few inches. Then he sighed softly and said, "Why are you so impatient and don't even want me to finish my words? I said you're different from ordinary girls, but I don't like those either. The one I like is you!"