Obsessively Raised by My Doll 9

Chapter 9

Today, Lu Dieqing went to the Library Pavilion again.

A’Sang had just finished her shift. When she spotted the Little Princess of Shan standing in a corner, her face lit up with joy, and she trotted over.

“What are you doing here?”

She hadn’t seen the Little Princess at the library for the past two days. Although A’Sang had already heard this would be the case, she still felt it was a pity to be deprived of the feast for the eyes that was having a great beauty around.

Lu Dieqing made her request. “I’d like to go in one more time, to see if there are any manuals I missed.”

Her little doll now had facial features and had undergone the spiritual awakening ritual, but it didn’t seem to have formed a mental connection with her. Having just saved up two taels of silver from Auntie Fang for her embroidery, Lu Dieqing wanted to spend the money wisely on better materials to make a doll. But first, she had to figure out if she had missed any steps in the creation process.

Hearing that Lu Dieqing needed her help, A’Sang thumped her chest and promised, “That’s no trouble at all. Come back tomorrow during my shift.”

“It’s just…” she hesitated for a moment before speaking frankly to Lu Dieqing. “These past few days, the Crown Princess sent someone to the library to retrieve the borrowing register. You know, others have to sign in to enter the library. When you went in before, I had you slip by when no one was looking, so your name isn’t on it.”

“If you want to come again, you’ll still have to avoid being seen. The Crown Princess has a strange and harsh temperament. We should be careful not to get caught up in any trouble.”

Although A’Sang was just a lowly palace maid working at the library, she had a wealth of survival experience as a minor figure and a natural sensitivity to many things.

Seeing her give this warning, yet still willing to take a risk to help her, Lu Dieqing pursed her lips.

“A’Sang, thank you.”

She took out something wrapped in oil paper from behind her back.

“This is for you.”

When Lu Dieqing smiled, her dimples became prominent. Before A’Sang had even taken the oil-paper packet, she was already feeling dizzy from her smile.

“What’s this…” She opened it and found the packet was still warm. Inside were several scallion and egg pancakes.

They smelled so good.

“This is for me?” A’Sang was overjoyed.

Lu Dieqing was a little embarrassed. “You’ve helped me time and time again. These are pancakes my mother made… please don’t mind them.”

In this vast Chaoying Kingdom, A’Sang was the kindest person of her own age she had ever met.

“Aiya, I don’t mind! How could I mind!” A’Sang couldn’t bear to see Lu Dieqing look disappointed and quickly began to eat the pancakes in big bites.

“Your mother has such good cooking skills.”

A’Sang ate so quickly she nearly bit her tongue, her taste buds thoroughly satisfied.

Lu Dieqing didn’t reply, only smiled without a word.

Her mother hadn’t known how to do anything at first. These were skills she had honed over the past ten-plus years. It just went to show that with a process of accumulation, anything could undergo a qualitative change.

Her little doll would surely gain a spirit in her hands!

After bidding A’Sang farewell and arranging to enter the library again tomorrow, Lu Dieqing walked back with a renewed sense of confidence.

Finally, treading on the crunching snow, she entered her room and immediately went to find her little doll.

Before leaving, she had placed the doll on her pillow.

However, when she looked there, the wooden doll whose features she had just carved yesterday had vanished.

Where’s my little doll? Where is my little doll?

The smile that had just appeared on Lu Dieqing’s face vanished abruptly, her beautiful little face turning pale in an instant.

The wooden doll, lying in a corner, watched with wide eyes as the girl who had just pushed open the door strode past it. She froze by the bed, her voice already tinged with a sob.

“Little doll?”

It was that familiar voice, weepy but pleasant.

Zheng Xuening didn’t know whether to be relieved or to sigh.

She didn’t know what the little palace maid had been doing all day, but now, not only could she see, she could even control the wooden doll’s body to move slowly. She had just managed to make it jump off the bed when the little palace maid returned.

Zheng Xuening had no intention of letting the girl know about the doll’s strange state. So, even after hearing the sob in the girl’s voice when she couldn’t find her, she lay quietly in the corner, silently pretending to be a wooden man.

Lu Dieqing panicked for only a moment before instinctively starting to search for the doll.

After looking all over the room, she finally found the little doll lying quietly in a poorly lit corner.

She let out a soft sigh of relief. “There you are.”

The girl’s voice was gentle, filled with relief.

As that voice brushed past her ear and she was carefully lifted up in the girl’s two hands, Zheng Xuening’s heart skipped a beat. She felt inexplicably awkward.

As the Crown Princess, she had been in a high position since she was a child. In the eyes of others, she was naturally the strong one, not a weakling who needed to be carefully and gently coaxed. But this little palace maid’s attitude towards her was as if she were some rare and precious treasure.

When she landed in the girl’s palm and looked up at her face, the entire wooden doll froze.

Zheng Xuening was silent for a moment, her mind a complete blank.

Before today, she had wondered what this little palace maid looked like. Today, she had summoned so many maids and had them speak one by one, precisely to find her.

She just never expected that the girl would be… so beautiful.

The first thing that met her eyes were the girl’s lips, red without any rouge. The pearl of her upper lip was round, the color of a fresh cherry, inexplicably reminding one of tender, delicious fruit.

Every feature on her oval face was exquisite. A strand of hair fell beside her temple, and for some reason, Zheng Xuening wanted to brush it away, to not let it cover that face.

The best feature on Lu Dieqing’s face, however, was her eyes.

Bright, sparkling doe eyes, with pupils so dark they reminded one of the most beautiful gemstones. Her two rows of lashes were like little fans.

When she looked at you, it was hard not to be stunned.

Zheng Xuening was no stranger to beauties. The consorts in her father’s rear palace, including her own mother, were all exceptionally beautiful. Those with plain looks wouldn’t have even made it into the rear palace. But Lu Dieqing’s beauty was different from that of those court ladies.

She was too clean, like a beautiful little deer that had run out of a forest. She had an indescribable spiritual aura about her, one that hadn’t been confined by the shackles of this world.

This would provoke two kinds of reactions. One was to be awestruck, to feel a sense of fondness, and to unconsciously want to be a little better to such a pure girl, to protect her.

The other was the desire to destroy.

Like an overly clear mirror that only reflects the stains and filth of a person’s heart, it makes one want to smash it.

“Little doll, how did you end up on the floor?”

Lu Dieqing spoke softly, her finger gently poking the wooden doll’s cheek.

Zheng Xuening snapped back to her senses, her soul trembling once more.

This time, when the little palace maid touched the wooden doll’s body, her sense of touch had become stronger.

She gritted her teeth, not allowing herself to react in a way the girl would notice.

She didn’t respond, but Lu Dieqing was already used to it.

The young girl stroked her face, coaxing her gently. “Little doll, I’m always calling you that, but you don’t have a name. How about I give you one?”

“How about I call you Xinxin?”

Lu Dieqing spoke softly, her voice full of patience, like a gentle, flowing stream.

If a wooden doll had a heart (心), would it come to life? 

(心 – xīn – heart)

Listening to her soft, tender voice and looking at her impossibly beautiful smile, Zheng Xuening felt a strange sense of agitation in her heart.

Xinxin?

What Xinxin?

She suspected this little palace maid was using a beauty trap on her, a wooden doll.