Only Yu Xiaobao was still crying.

Xie Yutang saw the Emperor slowly approaching, his heart tightened. He anxiously coaxed his niece, urging Xiaobao to stop crying, but to no avail.

“Yu Xiaobao, what are you crying about?”

Yu Xiaobao stopped crying, sniffed, and looked over. When she saw who was speaking, her eyes immediately brightened, and most of her sadness subsided.

“Uncle didn’t take me horse riding…” Yu Xiaobao stammered, recounting the incident.

Xie Yutang didn’t have time to ponder why the Emperor knew his niece’s given name, only feeling nervous.

He expected the Emperor to scold him for bringing a child to the hunting grounds, but the Emperor ignored him, simply riding over and extending a hand towards Yu Xiaobao in his arms.

“Let your uncle go play. If you want to play, I’ll take you, alright?”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

“Okay! Okay!” Yu Xiaobao quickly reached out for a hug, her whole body lifted by a large hand and placed in Shen Tuo’s arms.

The Emperor’s voice was ordinary, revealing no emotion, but to everyone else, it was like a thunderbolt.

Were their eyes and ears failing them? Were they hallucinating?

The Emperor, who usually disliked children being near him, was actually coaxing a child?  And he was going to take the child horse riding?

“What are you all standing there for? Can’t you move? Are you ready to go home?” Shen Tuo said coldly, sweeping his gaze across the stunned noble youths, his imposing manner making it impossible to meet his eyes.

Immediately, the onlookers scattered, no one daring to remain dazed, quickly riding away.

Xie Yutang felt he had caused trouble. He didn’t know the Emperor’s intentions and was uneasy. He wanted to ask and get his niece back, but he was gagged and pulled away by Young Prince Shen Ying and his younger brother Xie Yuke.

Not only did Xie Yutang, the uncle, dare not approach to claim the child, even Yu Ning, the mother, silently retreated a hundred meters away.

Yu Ning pretended not to see, directly turning towards the edge of the woods.

After all, she was her biological daughter, Shen Tuo cared for Xiaobao to some extent, but not necessarily for her.  Compared to her daughter’s life, saving her own was paramount.

Xiaobao, go have fun, Mother’s leaving first.

Yu Ning left, and Lu Chengxiao naturally followed.

The two figures gradually disappeared into the trees, unaware of the deep, gloomy eyes following their backs, growing darker.

“Uncle! Where are we going to play!”

Yu Xiaobao’s excited voice pulled Shen Tuo’s gaze back. He scoffed softly, pinching Yu Xiaobao’s cheek, “Yu Xiaobao, your mother left, she abandoned you.”

“Huh?” Yu Xiaobao looked around, and indeed didn’t see her mother, but she wasn’t sad at all, instead saying confidently, “No way, Mother loves me the most, she definitely wouldn’t abandon me. Mother must be tired, so she went back to rest.”

“You’re quite confident.”

“Of course, Mother loves me the most.”

Shen Tuo curled his lips, “That’s because she only has you now. When your mother remarries and has a new child with another man, she won’t love you the most.”

Yu Xiaobao was stunned, seemingly never having considered this possibility, “Why, if Mother remarries and has another child, won’t she love Xiaobao the most?”

“Because that other man isn’t your real father.”

Children don’t understand such complexities, but it didn’t matter; Shen Tuo was patient, explaining to Yu Xiaobao what might happen after she got a stepfather.

Finally, Yu Xiaobao nodded, seemingly understanding, and said helplessly, spreading her hands, “But Mother can only find me a stepfather, because Xiaobao doesn’t have a real father, Mother said he’s dead.”

Shen Tuo: “…”

Yu Ning took the child out, and returned alone. Huo Shi, not seeing her granddaughter, asked, “Where’s Xiaobao?”

“Uh…” Yu Ning was speechless, taking a while to explain why Xiaobao wasn’t back.

Huo Shi was shocked, not knowing what to say.

She didn’t believe the Emperor had suddenly changed his nature and liked children, only thinking that the Emperor’s actions were a deliberate warning to the Xie family.  She and Xie Zhian spent the afternoon pondering where the Xie family had offended the Emperor.

After much thought, the couple’s gazes fell on Yu Ning at the same time.

It seemed that the incident of their daughter’s drunken transgression wasn’t as easily forgiven as it appeared.

“Ning’er, the Emperor is warning our Xie family! Perhaps because of the last incident, the Emperor thinks our Xie family has ambitions to climb the ranks, so he took Xiaobao away to warn us!” Huo Shi held Yu Ning’s hand, saying meaningfully, “We must do something to let the Emperor know that the last incident was just an accident, and our family has absolutely no ambition to climb the ranks.”

Yu Ning dared not say that the Emperor was Xiaobao’s father.  And what Huo Shi said made sense.  Ultimately, she didn’t know if Shen Tuo took Xiaobao to play simply because of their father-daughter relationship, or to warn her.

“Then, Mother, what should we do? Go explain to the Emperor?”

“No, no.  How about…Mother will help you find a suitable son-in-law at the hunting banquet?  Spread the word about it. Whether it succeeds or not, it will show that we are avoiding suspicion.”

“Good, Mother’s right, let’s do that.”

As night fell, the officials and noble families who had gone hunting returned with their prey.  Bonfires were lit, and an open-air banquet was set up. The autumn hunting banquet finally began.

Before the banquet began, Yu Xiaobao was sent back by the Emperor’s martial general, without alarming many people.

Yu Ning sat with Xiaobao at the Yongning Hou Mansion’s table, chatting casually with her.

“Did you have fun, Xiaobao?” Yu Ning asked.

Yu Xiaobao, having had a fulfilling afternoon, returned excitedly recounting her adventures.