Obsessively Raised by My Doll 79

Chapter 79

Huh?

Can warming the bed be made up for?

Lu Dieqing’s almond eyes widened. Her dark pupils were very much like a small animal that had always lived freely in the forest, such as a horse or a deer, full of a lively spirit.

She didn’t look like the kind of little girl who would hold a grudge, her face written with “guileless.”

Zheng Xuening was suddenly a little glad that Lu Dieqing had been born in the Chaoying imperial palace.

If she had been in the Shan Kingdom, born into the midst of power from the start, schemes and intrigues would have been unavoidable. Could Lu Dieqing have handled it?

In her heart, Zheng Xuening did not want such a romantic-natured girl to be tainted into something else.

Sometimes, she would even deliberately indulge Lu Dieqing in being a little bolder, even if she showed no respect for status in front of her and occasionally stepped on her head.

Seeing this girl occasionally forget herself and chatter on with some nonsense, she would actually feel happy.

It was the kind of happiness of watching a flower she had raised slowly grow thorns, knowing that it could prick a bad person when it was picked, and had the ability to protect itself.

Compared to when they first met, when she would just quietly hide and cry when she was bullied, the current Lu Dieqing seemed to have become a little stronger imperceptibly.

The day she had gone to help the little palace maid from the Library Pavilion, the aura she had when she spoke with the token, if she could practice it a little more, it would be even better.

“What, you’re not willing to make it up?”

A petal fell from the plum blossom tree and landed on the girl’s dark hair.

Zheng Xuening, without a change in expression, drew back a hand, gently removed the petal, and on her jade-like, exquisite face, a smile appeared that only Lu Dieqing could see.

From afar, she was still that immortal-like Crown Princess with a strong sense of distance.

Lu Dieqing peeked at the Crown Princess’s expression and negotiated in a small voice.

“We agreed before that if I warm your bed for one day, I’ll go home for one day to be with Xinxin.”

As she said this, Lu Dieqing felt a sense of guilt.

Zheng Xuening raised an eyebrow, and the hands that had been warming the girl’s cheeks were withdrawn.

She looked down at the girl, her voice faint, with no discernible emotion.

“In that case, just pretend this Princess didn’t say anything.”

Lu Dieqing immediately became annoyed, took the initiative to reach out, and grabbed the Crown Princess’s sleeve.

“Don’t be angry.”

The girl’s voice was soft, very capable of soothing the wrinkles in one’s heart.

“Can I make it up to you with something else?”

Zheng Xuening looked at her at her leisure, a certain interest in the smile on her lips.

“For example?”

Lu Dieqing was stuck.

She had searched her own purse and only had a few taels of silver. The pouch she had promised to give the Crown Princess was not yet embroidered…

Thinking this, her house-tyrant self from last night seemed even more outrageous.

“…I don’t know what else I can do…”

Aiya, it feels like I already owe the Crown Princess so much that I can’t repay it.

Lu Dieqing was extremely annoyed. Her small hand, clutching the Crown Princess’s sleeve, quietly loosened a little.

Zheng Xuening looked at her embarrassed and ashamed appearance, and her gaze grew deeper.

“How about you accompany this Princess out of the palace?”

Lu Dieqing was surprised, but this time she did not hesitate and immediately nodded.

“Of course, I can!”

She was eagerly waiting to do something for the Crown Princess.

Seeing her agree so quickly this time, Zheng Xuening couldn’t help but tease her again.

“You’re not even asking where I’m taking you? What if it’s a den of dragons and tigers, and you can’t come back? You’ll still go?”

The little girl’s red lips opened and closed, spitting out a honeyed reply.

“No need to ask. I’ll go wherever you go. Even if it’s a mountain of swords or a sea of fire, I’ll go.”

The fire that had been extinguished in Zheng Xuening’s heart was reignited by the girl’s unexpected words.

She looked at Lu Dieqing almost helplessly, raised her hand to pinch the girl’s cheek, and warned her, word by word.

“You’re not allowed to speak like this.”

Whoever’s heart was in chaos first would be the first to lose their peace.

It was obvious that Lu Dieqing was slower than her, so even when they slept in the same bed, the other relaxed before she did.

The more pure and innocent a person was, the more open and guilt-free they were.

Zheng Xuening had faced many people, some old and scheming, some with a city in their hearts, and of course, some who were two-faced. Having seen so many of those treacherous people, her decisiveness had also become more profound.

No matter what kind of person she was dealing with, she could be ruthless and swift, clean and neat.

Only when facing Lu Dieqing, because of the other’s simplicity, the methods and complex thoughts she had honed in the dark became a side of her that could not be seen openly.

She had no armor when facing Lu Dieqing. She couldn’t bear the other’s abandonment, and of course, she couldn’t tolerate the other’s sweet words.

Even if this sweet talk was not out of love, not the girl’s original intention to disturb her heart.

But she would take it seriously.

Once she took it seriously, she would become unlike herself, and the consequences would be terrible.

Lu Dieqing was a little puzzled. What had she said wrong? Why had the Crown Princess suddenly pinched her cheek and warned her not to speak like this?

Her expression was innocent. After staying outside in the winter for a long time, a layer of white frost had clung to her long, slender lashes.

She was like a jade doll carved from pink jade.

Zheng Xuening turned her face away, no longer making eye contact with this girl.

Recently, she often felt like a cunning fox, scheming to eat the other.

A fox wants to eat a rabbit, coaxing it to leave its warm burrow and live in a bigger fox den.

Perhaps eating a little rabbit is a fox’s instinct.

But she often had to fight against this instinct.

“The place I’m taking you to is not ordinary. It’s a forbidden land.”

Zheng Xuening changed the subject.

Lu Dieqing’s interest was immediately piqued. “A forbidden land?”

She seemed to have seen this term in the puppetry manuals.

Zheng Xuening nodded slightly. “You should have seen it.”

They had read the same manuals.

When she mentioned this term, she knew that Lu Dieqing had some understanding of it.

Forbidden lands were places established by the ancient puppeteers when they sensed their end was near.

They would wait for death to come in the forbidden lands, or use them as their burial grounds.

So it was said that in these forbidden lands, there were the legacies of the great ancient puppeteers.

But along with this, there was also danger.

A puppeteer’s lifespan was limited, but a doll’s was not.

Their spirit, once born, could exist as long as it was not destroyed.

It was said that if a lucky person could find a forbidden land and obtain a puppeteer’s legacy, they could inherit those ancient dolls and gain great power.

When Lu Dieqing had read these records, she had only treated them as myths and legends and had not taken them too seriously.

After all, before this, she was just a little hostage who had never even stepped outside the imperial palace gates. How could she long for a place further away?

And besides, she had always believed that the reason why puppeteers were powerful was that they were of one heart and mind with their own dolls.

Of course, a doll you created yourself was better.

Lu Dieqing did not envy the power of others’ dolls.

Zheng Xuening had been watching the girl and naturally did not miss her expression.

After she had mentioned going to a forbidden land, Lu Dieqing’s expression had been one of surprise and curiosity, but there was no longing or envy.

“Don’t you want to get a more powerful doll?” she asked in a low voice.

Lu Dieqing shook her little head.

“I already have my Xinxin. She’s very powerful and can deliver letters for me.”

After a pause, she said seriously, “My little doll is so powerful just after she was born. If I use Yushan bamboo to make a body for her, she will definitely be the best doll in the world.”

The girl’s praise was without a second thought, every word from the heart.

Zheng Xuening’s heart skipped a beat.

She thought, to be able to become the little girl’s doll, to be seen as unique and irreplaceable, was a happiness that the heavens had compensated her with.