Jiang Yuanran rested at home for two days before finally recovering.

“Brother, I’m here!” Jiang Yuanxi flipped over the threshold and entered.

In her left hand was a chicken, and in her right hand was a duck.

Both were still flapping desperately.

Their cries were growing weaker and weaker.

Jiang Yuanran was puzzled. “Yuanxi, what are you doing?”

Jiang Yuanxi placed the two animals in front of her third brother. “Eat! You’ll recover faster—it’s nutritious!”

[Mother just told Chun Zhi to prepare chicken and duck for Third Brother to replenish his strength. Hehe, I’m faster than Chun Zhi!]

Jiang Yuanran: I really appreciate that…

He swallowed hard.

Pointing at the creatures in her hands, he weakly said, “Uh, it’s not good to eat them alive…”

Jiang Yuanxi clenched her hands. With a sharp “crack,” the sounds of breaking bones echoed.

The previously flapping chicken and duck instantly fell silent.

“Here, they’re dead now.” Jiang Yuanxi smiled.

“Yuanxi, uh… the chicken and duck need to be cooked before eating.”

Sometimes, he found his little sister to be extremely intelligent—like when she analyzed the current political situation and spoke with such confidence.

But other times, she was adorably clueless.

How could such extremes coexist in one person?

Jiang Yuanran forgot—Jiang Yuanxi was indeed very smart, but she was only a year and a half old.

“Then how do you cook them?” Jiang Yuanxi asked, her bright eyes full of curiosity.

“For example, by roasting them over a fire.”

“Ah! I got it. Leave it to me!”

Jiang Yuanxi looked confident.

Watching his little sister walk away, Jiang Yuanran had a bad feeling.

An hour later, thick smoke billowed from the kitchen.

“Help!”

“Fire!”

“Quick! Put it out!”

Jiang Yuancheng and Jiang Yuanran, who were supposed to be resting, jumped out of bed and rushed outside.

They saw flames soaring into the sky.

“Yuanxi!”

Jiang Yuanran suddenly realized something and didn’t even stop to put on his shoes.

The servants quickly grabbed buckets and basins, fetching water from the well to extinguish the fire.

At the edge of the roaring flames, a tiny figure sat on a small stool, completely unfazed by the heat.

She held two sticks in her hands, roasting a chicken.

“Yuanxi!”

When Jiang Yuanran arrived, this was the scene he saw.

His little sister sat near the fire, being licked by the flames, yet she didn’t seem to feel the heat at all.

When she saw him, she turned and flashed him an incredibly cute smile.

“Third Brother, roast chicken and roast duck!” She raised the still-feathered chicken and duck in her hands as if showing off her masterpiece.

Jiang Yuanran’s legs went weak, and he collapsed to his knees in terror.

Beside him, an even faster figure rushed in, scooped up Jiang Yuanxi, and carried her away from the fire.

The little girl’s face was covered in soot, but her eyes remained bright.

She was still holding onto the chicken and duck.

“Yuanxi!” Jiang Yuanran wailed, pounding the ground with his fists. “Are you trying to scare your third brother to death?!”

Jiang Yuanxi looked at her third brother in confusion, then at her eldest brother, who was holding her with trembling hands.

“What’s wrong?” Her innocent eyes blinked.

[Why is Third Brother crying like someone died?]

Jiang Yuanran felt a pang in his heart.

His little sister knew what “mourning” was, but she didn’t know that chickens needed to be cooked before eating!

She didn’t know that when there was a fire, she was supposed to run away!

Unbelievable!

Jiang Yuansheng checked her over carefully.

Seeing that she was unharmed, he finally relaxed.

That was close. Too close.

They almost lost their little sister.

His voice was stern. “Yuanxi, do you know how dangerous that was?”

Jiang Yuanxi’s little mouth, previously curled into a smile, slowly flattened.

It was the first time she had seen her eldest brother like this.

She was a little scared.

She lowered her head. “I was just… roasting chicken… and duck… for Third Brother… to help him get better.”

She had no idea what she had done wrong.

Jiang Yuansheng turned around while still holding her, then pointed at the burning kitchen.

“Do you see that?”

Jiang Yuanxi’s eyes widened.

[When did the kitchen catch fire? Could it be… because of me?]

She suddenly remembered—she had struggled to start a fire, so she had poured several buckets of lamp oil onto the wood.

Then, the fire had blazed up.

It had been too big, so she had simply moved a small stool outside to sit and wait.

Oh no.

She was definitely getting spanked for this.

The chicken wasn’t even roasted yet, and she had burned down the entire kitchen.

There was no escaping this punishment.

Jiang Yuanxi was about to get a beating.

Jiang Yuanran was, too.

Jiang Yuancheng watched from the side, amused.

He realized that ever since their little sister had arrived, he was getting punished a lot less.

“Ah! Help!” Jiang Yuanxi cried, lying over a stool.

“I was wrong!”

“I really was wrong! Wuwuwu…”

Jiang Yuanxi kept pleading for mercy. Madam Chen, their mother, held her down with one hand and spanked her with the other.

The blows weren’t too harsh, but they still hurt.

“What did you do wrong?” Madam Chen’s heart ached, but she couldn’t let this slide.

This time, she burned the kitchen—what if next time she set the entire palace on fire?

“I was wrong, I was wrong!” Jiang Yuanxi tried hard to recall. “Chickens need to be plucked… and cooked before eating.”

Seeing her mother’s hand about to fall again, she quickly added, “I shouldn’t have set the kitchen on fire!”

Her long eyelashes were wet with tears, her eyes red.

Madam Chen, who was a doting mother, could hardly bear it.

“What if you had burned yourself? How could I live without you?”

[That wouldn’t happen. Fire on my body doesn’t hurt at all.]

Besides, there was a strange feeling—Jiang Yuanxi couldn’t quite describe it.

Madam Chen was stunned for a moment but quickly shook off the thought and continued spanking her.

“I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t hear anything.”

On the other side, Jiang Fengyuan was using a cane to whip Jiang Yuanran, making him jump around in pain.

This was a real beating. Each strike made Jiang Yuanran yelp.

“Stand still, you brat!” Jiang Fengyuan roared. “Telling your sister to roast a chicken for you? You’ve got some nerve!”

“Ah! Father, I didn’t!” Jiang Yuanran was in tears.

How was he supposed to know that in just a short nap, his little sister would become powerful enough to set the kitchen on fire?

Jiang Fengyuan rolled up his sleeves, revealing his muscular arms. “Still lying? You’re asking for it!”

Jiang Yuancheng watched with a smile.

He nudged his eldest brother, who was reading nearby. “Big Brother, don’t you think our lives have become… more eventful since Yuanxi was born?” His eyes sparkled.

Jiang Yuansheng chuckled.

He hadn’t read a single word from his book. He put it down, looked over, and smiled. “All these wonderful moments… are thanks to Yuanxi.”

If not for Yuanxi, he would have died long ago.

There would be no happy moments like this.

And he had noticed—his little sister seemed unafraid of fire. He already knew she was extraordinary, so he wasn’t too surprised.

After watching for a while, he turned back to his study.

According to Wang Momo and Li Ping, the whole situation was becoming clear.

But Jiang Yuansheng had a feeling—there was still someone pulling the strings from the shadows.

And the masked men were still at large, making things even more mysterious.

Three days later, it was the day of the exam results.

The Ministry of Rites would post the names of those who passed on the imperial bulletin.

The family arrived early, but the bulletin was already surrounded by a massive crowd.