Obsessively Raised by My Doll 38

Chapter 38

Seeing her react so strongly, Lu He was a little puzzled.

“Why are you so concerned about the Crown Princess’s affairs? This has nothing to do with us. You don’t need to panic.”

She and Bai Ming rarely went out. In this palace, apart from occasionally chatting with their neighbors who were also hostages, they rarely interacted with outsiders. As a result, the news of Lu Dieqing and the Crown Princess leaving the palace a few days ago had not yet reached their ears.

Lu Dieqing’s mind was in turmoil, very dazed.

“Mother, why was the Crown Princess thrown into the sky prison? Do you know the reason?”

How could the heir of a nation be imprisoned for no reason?

It’s not logical.

Lu He, after all, had once been a princess of the Shan Kingdom and had even had a chance to reach the position of heir. She knew some royal secrets.

“How would I know?”

Although she could guess some clues in her heart, she said to her daughter with a serious face, “No matter what happens, it’s not something you or I can interfere with. Qingqing, don’t go prying into these things. If there’s a major change in the Chaoying Kingdom, all we can do is lie low and endure this period.”

The Emperor of the Chaoying Kingdom was old. He naturally had to choose the next successor. The Crown Princess had a bad reputation and was plagued by a strange illness. Of course, she couldn’t come out on top in the struggle for the position of heir. Being thrown into the sky prison was an inevitable result. This was not a coincidence. It was most likely related to the struggle for the throne, having violated a taboo of the Chaoying Emperor, which led to such an end.

Lu Dieqing pressed her lips together and didn’t speak. She carefully put away the half-embroidered handkerchief, one hand pressing the finger that had just been pricked, her heart full of worry.

She naturally understood her mother’s reasoning, but her heart was still uneasy.

The Crown Princess had helped her many times. Now that she was in trouble, how could she truly turn a blind eye and deaf ear?

But looking at the sky outside, it was already very late. Her mother was watching her closely, so Lu Dieqing couldn’t sneak out at this time. She could only hold back.

She made up her mind to inquire about the Crown Princess’s affairs tomorrow.

When Lu Dieqing finished her meal and returned to her room, Lu He followed her in.

“You’ve been a little off these past few days. Are you hiding something from me?”

Lu He took the initiative to ask.

In the past, her daughter was like a blank sheet of paper, spread out before her, everything written on it clear at a glance. But these past few days, her daughter seemed to be harboring some vague worries, no longer so easy to see through.

“Mother, look at this.”

Lu Dieqing’s heart was uneasy. She took out the waist token and showed it to her mother.

“This is…” The moment Lu He saw this waist token, her heart jumped, and she connected it to the Crown Princess.

When she took the token in her hand, turned it over, and saw the character “Ning” on it, she knew that her suspicions from a few days ago were true.

But she had never expected that the one who had given her daughter the waist token was the Crown Princess, who was rumored to be the most unapproachable.

“…I won’t ask you how you got this waist token. Qingqing, what do you want to do?”

Lu He knew that her daughter had an extraordinary persistence and stubbornness about certain things.

Lu Dieqing pressed her lips together. Though her little face looked tender, it had a determined expression.

“First, I want to find out what’s going on. To see if I can help.”

Lu He supported her forehead, a little helpless.

“We ourselves are clay bodhisattvas crossing a river—we can’t even save ourselves. How can we care for others? Besides… you don’t know how serious this is. For the Crown Princess to be thrown into the sky prison, it must have been an order from the person on the throne. How can you or I change the Son of Heaven’s decision?”

When she spoke of these things, Lu He was a little agitated. She had been through it before and understood best how dangerous it was to be involved in this kind of struggle for the throne. It was all too common for heads to roll.

“This waist token, hide it well. Don’t let anyone see it. These are eventful times. Any slight movement could lead to a great disaster.”

“I know you have a kind heart, but even if you want to help her, you have to think about your own situation. What can you do to help? Risk your own life? Or have our family of three reunite neatly in the underworld?”

Lu He was afraid that her daughter would lose her head and do something irreversible, so her words were inevitably a little harsh.

Lu Dieqing pressed her lips together, her little face drooping, a look of loss and sadness on her face.

She just felt that the Crown Princess had helped her more than once. Now that the other was in trouble, how could she pretend that nothing had happened and turn a blind eye?

But her mother’s words were reasonable. Her ability was indeed weak and insignificant.

What could she do for the Crown Princess?

Lu Dieqing was extremely dejected, sitting there almost curled into a ball. Her heart was in turmoil, very uncomfortable.

She wanted to help the Crown Princess and was worried about her, but of course, she didn’t want to get her family involved.

Lu He saw this, and her heart ached. She regretted that she had spoken so harshly just now.

“Qingqing, in life, it’s impossible for everything to go as you wish. you’ll understand in the future.”

She patted her daughter’s shoulder and left the room.

Lu Dieqing didn’t move for a long time.

Only when the moon had climbed over the tree branches did Lu Dieqing slowly sit up from the bed.

She subconsciously looked at her little doll.

It’s dark. My little doll should be awake now, right?

Lu Dieqing held the little doll, wanting to talk to it.

*

At this time, in the sky prison, the jailers in the Tian-character section tiptoed past the innermost cell, not daring to make too much noise.

“Is everything arranged properly?”

Head Jailer Zhang specially asked.

Having worked in the prison for a long time, he had seen all kinds of prisoners. In the past, at most, some imperial relatives and nobles were imprisoned. But now, the Tian-character cell was actually holding the current heir. It was an eye-opener.

The head jailer didn’t dare to neglect the Crown Princess.

How could small figures like them be involved in the disputes of the great?

Today, it seemed that the Crown Princess had been personally thrown into prison by His Majesty, and her good days were over. But a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. She was, after all, the Son of Heaven’s blood. How could she be trampled under the feet of small figures like them?

The head jailer was very clear in his heart, so he had specially instructed the few jailers under him.

“Clean that cell properly. The four treasures of the study and all other necessary items, send them all in. Do not be neglectful.”

Even in prison, the treatment between prisoners was very different.

The jailers were adept at sizing people up and had their own ways of survival as small figures. They understood that the fall and rise of nobles often depended on the whim of those in power.

They wouldn’t really do things to the extreme unless it was a desperate situation.

Especially for someone like the Crown Princess.

The jailers worked overtime, and soon, they had results.

The cell now didn’t look like a torture chamber at all, but rather like a fine room in an inn.

There was a bed, clean bedding, a brazier, the four treasures of the study, and even a soft blanket on the floor, making the prison cell for the noble as comfortable as possible.

Head Jailer Zhang cautiously walked over and asked respectfully through the cell door, “Is there anything else Your Highness needs? Please just let me know.”

The wound on Zheng Xuening’s forehead had already been bandaged by a female physician whom Head Jailer Zhang had secretly sent in after she arrived at the prison.

She sat upright in a chair, a map spread out on the table, looking at it casually, her fingers tapping the table.

“No need. You may leave.”

She had a natural noble air. Even though she had been thrown into the sky prison, she was not in a hurry.

That aura of seeing everything around her as nothing made Head Jailer Zhang sigh even more. The Crown Princess is indeed the Crown Princess. This calm and composed attitude, no matter when or where, is not something people like them could have imagined.

Head Jailer Zhang led the other jailers away from that cell.

An oil lamp was lit on the table.

Zheng Xuening looked at the map spread out on the table, her expression serene.

But just for a moment, a wave of dizziness came over her. She sighed lightly, returned to the bed, and lay down in resignation.

It was time to be a doll at night again.

*

Lu Dieqing held her little doll and spoke for a while before she got a response.

“Xinxin?”

Only at night could she talk to Xinxin like this.

Lu Dieqing sometimes felt that they were like secret lovers meeting in the middle of the night.

The moment Zheng Xuening entered the wooden doll’s body, she turned over and propped up her head to look at Lu Dieqing.

“What’s wrong? You missed me after a day?”

Lu Dieqing froze and answered honestly, “Not today…”

Usually, she did, but today, other things had happened, so she was thinking about other things.

Zheng Xuening didn’t get the girl’s soft coaxing, and her heart actually felt a little sour.

“If you weren’t thinking of me, then who were you thinking of?”

It couldn’t be the little palace maid from the Library Pavilion, could it?