“Your Highness, there are matters at the Ministry of War that I need to attend to. I’ll be leaving now,” Xie Yuanchu said, understanding the situation and quickly making his exit.

Rong Rong had been waiting for Xie Yuanchu to explain Yuanbao’s name, but seeing him leave hastily, she wanted to stop him but couldn’t bring herself to speak.

She could only turn away, glaring at the Crown Prince with frustration, and hurried back to Yuanbao’s side.

Since that night, Rong Rong had not spoken to him again and certainly didn’t want to be alone with him at the moment.

Her swift departure made the Crown Prince’s expression even darker.

Fu Quan’s heart sank, realizing that he was now left alone to deal with the aftermath.

He quickly tried to smooth things over, saying with a forced smile, “Your Highness, look at how well Yuanbao’s kite is flying, high and steady. How about we go and take a look?”

“What does she mean?”

What does it mean… she doesn’t want to talk to you. Fuquan cleared his throat again.

Fuquan knew roughly what had happened that night; he had been stationed in the corridor, and although he couldn’t hear everything clearly, he did hear the sound of the slap.

At that time, he thought, did the Crown Prince hit Rongrong? Unlikely.

Did Rongrong hit the Crown Prince?

That doesn’t seem right.

He listened intently and heard someone open the door, run away quickly, and then slam the door shut.

Later, when the Crown Prince asked him to bring cold water, Fuquan understood everything.

It was a case of forceful advance being refused.

Fuquan turned these thoughts over in his mind but said, “Miss Rongrong is just anxious about Prince Yuanbao and wants to check on him! Shouldn’t His Highness go and take a look? Last year, Prince Yuanbao couldn’t fly a kite, but now he’s doing so well.”

Go and take a look?

He had just left, and this woman had given him a cold shoulder.

Now she was eager to go over.

The Crown Prince really wanted to ask Fuquan who his real master was to come up with such a poor idea.

“Father!” Yuanbao spotted the Crown Prince and shouted excitedly.

If Yuanbao called, he naturally had to go.

Yuanbao’s kite was already flying steadily in the sky.

He didn’t need to run with the kite anymore, just needed to control the string a little.

“Father, hold this swallow kite for me,” Yuanbao said, handing the kite to the Crown Prince.

He then turned to Rongrong and said, “Auntie, let’s fly the butterfly kite too.”

“Alright.” Rongrong, still holding the kite, watched as Yuanbao let out a length of string and ran forward.

As the string tightened, she let go of the kite, and it soared into the sky with the help of the wind.

“Auntie, Father, look, the butterfly kite is flying too!” Yuanbao exclaimed with joy.

Last spring, the Crown Prince and Xie Yuanchu had taken him to fly kites here.

At that time, he ran slowly and couldn’t get the kite to fly.

Later, the Crown Prince gave him the kite that was already in the air, but it quickly fell and got stuck in a tree.

It was Xie Yuanchu who climbed up and retrieved it for him.

Seeing Yuanbao running back with the kite flying high, Rongrong praised him and, as usual, reached to touch his back.

As expected, after all that running, Yuanbao’s back was covered in a thin layer of sweat.

Earlier, when Yuanbao insisted on coming out to fly kites and left in a hurry, Rongrong hadn’t had a chance to put a sweat towel on him.

“Yuanbao, your shirt is all wet. Let’s go back and change before coming out again.”

“No, let’s finish flying the kites first.”

“If your clothes are wet, you might catch a cold and have to drink very bitter medicine,” Rongrong explained gently.

Yuanbao didn’t want to drink bitter medicine.

He looked up at the kite and said, “If we go inside now, what will happen to my kite? I worked so hard to get it up there.”

“Give the string to Uncle Wang, and he’ll keep an eye on it for a while. We’ll change your clothes and come back out.”

“Wang An doesn’t know how to fly kites.” Yuanbao was a bit tired after running around, and he didn’t want Wang An to mess up the kite and then have to run again.

Yuanbao had a sudden idea and said, “Auntie, Uncle Wang will come in with me to change clothes. You stay here and watch the kite for me. Make sure it doesn’t fall!”

With that, Yuanbao handed the kite string to Rong Rong.

Wang An indeed didn’t know how to fly kites.

Rong Rong hesitated for a moment, but Yuanbao and Wang An had already run off.

Once Yuanbao was gone, Fu Quan seemed to have disappeared as well.

The crowd that had been watching the kites had dispersed, leaving only the Crown Prince and Rong Rong standing with one kite each.

The atmosphere was a bit uncomfortable.

Rong Rong didn’t want to be too close to the Crown Prince.

She tugged on the kite string and walked a few steps away, stopping when she was about ten paces from him.

She glanced back to see that he hadn’t followed, and then she felt relieved.

After that night, the Crown Prince had summoned the physician twice a day.

Rong Rong knew he was still suffering from the scratches she had given him.

She felt no guilt.

He had gone too far, and she was forced into taking such measures.

If his arm hadn’t been injured, Rong Rong would have kicked him where it hurt. Compared to that, scratching him was quite merciful.

Rong Rong looked up and focused on the kite in the sky.

Both kites were made by her.

The swallow kite was painted by her, and the butterfly kite had colors chosen by Yuanbao.

Although Yuanbao hadn’t learned to paint yet, Rong Rong thought the butterfly kite looked especially beautiful.

Her son was indeed talented.

Liu Jing… It really was a nice name…

As Rong Rong watched, she suddenly noticed that the swallow kite seemed to be getting closer to her butterfly kite.

She looked over at the Crown Prince, but he was standing still, not moving.

It must be the wind that was pushing the kites closer.

Rong Rong tugged on the kite string, trying to keep the kites apart.

But strangely, no matter how Rong Rong moved the butterfly kite, the swallow kite would immediately follow, moving in sync.

The two kites flew side by side, swaying left and right, circling in the air, looking like they were dancing together.

It couldn’t be a coincidence.

Rong Rong glared at him in anger and then noticed that he wasn’t using a reel to control the kite string.

Instead, he had wrapped the string around three of his fingers. With a slight movement of his fingers, the swallow kite moved precisely under his control.

He was doing it on purpose.

Rongrong wanted to ask him if he was sick, but she had already decided not to talk to him.

Avoiding trouble, she tugged at the kite string and continued to move to the side, not believing that the kite would keep following her.

However, she underestimated the Crown Prince’s skill.

The swallow kite in the sky made a loop and suddenly charged at the butterfly kite, nearly knocking it down.

Rongrong hurriedly reeled in the string.

Fortunately, her quick reflexes allowed her to stabilize the butterfly kite, which had started to waver and descend a few times before regaining balance.

She had heard that true kite-flying experts not only fly kites high and far but can also engage in kite battles in the sky, not just knocking other kites away but even cutting their strings.

Just as Rongrong breathed a sigh of relief, the swallow kite dove down again, hitting the butterfly kite with force and precision.

This time, she couldn’t reel in the string fast enough.

The butterfly kite, struck hard, fell straight to the ground, while the culprit, the swallow kite, swiftly flew off, soaring freely.

“What exactly are you trying to do? Both of these kites belong to Yuanbao.”

Was he having fun? Knocking down his own son’s kite!

The Crown Prince had a calm expression.

Seeing Rongrong’s angry look, he pointed to the swallow kite in the sky. “Yuanbao only asked me to watch this one.”

So, he deliberately crashed Rongrong’s kite?

Rongrong knew he was shameless and that arguing with him was pointless.

She just focused on reeling in the string while heading towards where the butterfly kite had fallen.

This was a kite she had made with Yuanbao.

Someday, when she had to leave the East Palace, she wanted to take it as a memento.

The Crown Prince watched her bend over to reel in the string and couldn’t help but smile.

“Father, you’re so mean.” At that moment, Yuanbao’s childish voice came from the side.

The Crown Prince cleared his throat and pretended not to understand. “Mean? How?”

Yuanbao didn’t like seeing Rongrong being bullied. “I saw it. Your kite crashed into Auntie’s kite and knocked it down.”

The Crown Prince crouched down and lightly scratched Yuanbao’s nose. “Do you want to learn how to knock down other people’s kites?”

Yuanbao’s eyes brightened immediately. “Father, I want to learn.”

“First, hold the spool of string.” The Crown Prince squatted down, let Yuanbao hold the spool in one hand, and demonstrated how to wrap the string around his fingers in a specific way. “If you want the kite to move left, move these two fingers together. If you want it to move right, use these two fingers but change the direction…”

Rongrong, having retrieved the fallen kite, saw the father and son engrossed in their kite-flying practice.

Every time he played with Yuanbao, he was always so happy.

When the Crown Princess arrives, Yuanbao is likely to have a good life, and she could leave the East Palace in peace.