The shadow guards' affairs didn't disrupt Prince Nolan and Serena's journey. Aside from Number Two leaving midway, everything else continued as usual. As for who Spring's beloved is—
The shadow guards still couldn't get an answer out of him. Number Two's lips were tighter than a clam's, and the others were too embarrassed to tease Spring and the rest. In the end, the whole thing just fizzled out...
Of course, Serena caught wind of the rumor and privately told Prince Nolan about Spring's crush: "I heard from Sweet Dumpling that Spring has fallen for one of the shadow guards—must be Number Two. But because of their status, neither Spring nor the guard dares to confess."
Prince Nolan didn't care much about this, but the mention of Sweet Dumpling caught his attention.
"Sweet Dumpling? She's just a child—how could she understand these things?" Prince Nolan ground his teeth, wondering who had corrupted his daughter. How could she know about love at such a young age?
"Don't be so tense," Serena teased. "You think Sweet Dumpling's a genius? She's too young to really understand; she just overheard Spring and the others talking about it."
"Those girls are getting bolder—how dare they talk about such things in front of Sweet Dumpling?" Prince Nolan's annoyance instantly shifted to Spring and her group. He started considering whether he should just marry them all off.
Girls can't be kept forever—Spring and the others are already twenty-seven or twenty-eight. Keeping them in the palace isn't really an option anymore.
"They definitely wouldn't say it in front of Sweet Dumpling. But you know how she is... Sweet Dumpling's clever and always running around. Who knows where she picked it up?" After so many years, Serena knew how cautious Spring and the others were. They'd never dare talk about this in front of their little mistress.
"Have someone look into it. I don't want Sweet Dumpling picking up bad habits." Prince Nolan was still unhappy, so Serena had to coax him, reassuring that their daughter wasn't so easily led astray.
Meanwhile, at Mystic Healer Valley, Sweet Dumpling—dragged back by the Valley Master's disciple and punished by Dr. Marcus Guile—was clinging to Dr. Redwater's hand, begging him to plead for her.
"Grandpa Red, I'm begging you... Please talk to Grandpa Guile for me, I really didn't mean it! Boohoo... these bugs are so scary, they're all biting Sweet Dumpling." She truly felt she must've had a grudge with bugs in her previous life—why else would there be so many tormenting her now?
So scary, really so scary!
Grandpa Guile was way harsher than Little Dumpling. Her brother might give her harmless little bugs to pick up, but Grandpa Guile—
He actually gave her a whole tray of corpse worms to raise...
Corpse worms feed on corpse oil, which only comes from ancient coffins that have been sealed for over a hundred years. She didn't need to worry about getting the oil, but these things were just terrifying.
Corpse worms were tiny and packed together, enough to make her skin crawl. She'd been scared to tears more than once.
"Grandpa Red, I think I'm getting the trypophobia my mom talked about—please, I'm begging you, go plead for me." Sweet Dumpling clung to Dr. Redwater, acting pitiful nonstop...
"Grandpa Red, I know I was wrong, I really do! Please talk to Grandpa Guile for me—I swear I'll never do it again. I'll even find Grandpa Guile a special poison herb, okay? Please ask him to forgive me." Dad, Mom... where are you? Sweet Dumpling misses you so much.
Grandpa Guile was so mean, and Princess Zelda and Serenity were even worse—they wouldn't help her at all. Sweet Dumpling was just too pitiful.
Dr. Redwater was troubled too—Sweet Dumpling cried to him every day, but he didn't dare plead with Dr. Marcus Guile either.
"Sweet Dumpling, you know how your Grandpa Guile is. If you'd just admitted your mistake and accepted the punishment, at worst he'd have made you copy the Compendium of Materia Medica four or five hundred times. But you panicked and ran off, so he stewed in anger for months. How could he be happy when you disappeared for so long?"
If Sweet Dumpling hadn't been so pitiful, Dr. Redwater would've punished her himself: "You little rascal, do you realize that when you ran off, Grandpa Guile couldn't find the culprit and we all suffered for it?"
Especially him—Dr. Marcus Guile branded him Sweet Dumpling's accomplice. For a while, even drinking water meant getting poisoned. He nearly went crazy from all the torment.
"Sweet Dumpling, you've got it easy. You don't know how miserable Princess Zelda and Serenity were for helping you escape. They'd be sleeping soundly, only to find a giant python or a rotting corpse beside them. Serenity nearly got used as a planter for poison herbs!"
Of course, that last part was just to scare Sweet Dumpling—she was so clingy that Dr. Redwater had to frighten her a bit, or else he'd end up begging for her and get himself in trouble again...
Once was enough—Dr. Redwater had no intention of being foolish and crossing Dr. Marcus Guile again.
"Grandpa Red, if you won't help me, who else will?" Plop... plop... Sweet Dumpling's tears fell: "I was just scared, and Uncle Gongzi wrote me a letter, telling me to find my brother, so I left. I really didn't mean it!"
She really only wanted to run away a tiny bit, so please don't make the punishment worse.
"Be good, Sweet Dumpling..." Dr. Redwater patted her head. "No matter what you were thinking, you made a mistake and ran away—that's the truth. Don't explain to me, go explain to Grandpa Guile, okay?" After all, it wasn't him who was punishing her.
"But... but Grandpa Guile won't talk to me anymore." Sweet Dumpling had no other ideas, so she clung to Dr. Redwater, begging him to intercede.
Other than Dr. Redwater, she couldn't think of anyone else who could calm Grandpa Guile down.
"Grandpa Red, please, help Sweet Dumpling! Ask Grandpa Guile to change the punishment—don't make me feed corpse worms anymore, I'm really scared." To look extra pitiful, she hugged herself and shivered.
Sweet Dumpling looked so miserable that Dr. Redwater was at a loss. He crouched beside her, not knowing whether to stay or go. In the end, he couldn't resist those wet, pleading eyes and nodded hard: "Alright, Grandpa Red will try."
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After so long, surely Dr. Marcus Guile's anger had faded?
Dr. Redwater wondered, not quite sure himself.
"Yay!" Sweet Dumpling jumped for joy. "Grandpa Red, you're the best! I love you to bits! You're the greatest, and I swear I won't tell Grandpa Guile about you smiling at that pretty lady at the foot of the mountain, or giving her flowers."
"Pfft..." Dr. Redwater nearly choked, jumping up from the ground. "Sweet Dumpling, what are you saying? You naughty child, you say whatever comes to mind!"
Sweet Dumpling widened her eyes, looking innocently at Dr. Redwater: "Grandpa Red, did I say something wrong? I really saw you give that pretty lady some beautiful flowers, and you told me not to tell Grandpa Guile. I remember it all, so don't worry, I won't tell him."