Little Sizi came to my house and became the family's darling, and Li Shimin got anxious.

Li Shimin thought for a moment and changed his question: "Besides his father, mother, and elder sister, did that little ox see anyone else over there?"

The little princess blinked and shook her head matter-of-factly: "~No way~"

Empress Zhangsun held the little princess in her arms, her face full of affection, and asked, "Who gave you all this delicious food?"

"~It's my daughter~" the little princess protested in her childish voice, gesturing with her little hands.

That is indeed the truth. At less than two years old, how could she understand anything about deceiving the emperor? Naturally, she said what she did.

"You took it yourself? Where did you take it?" Empress Zhangsun was increasingly confused, feeling that something was amiss.

"I don't know how to say it~" The little princess shook her head, looking completely innocent.

Seeing the mother and daughter speaking in cryptic terms, Li Lizhi gently comforted them, "Mother, Father, now that Sizi has returned safely, let's not rush to ask. Sizi is still young and can't explain many things clearly. Perhaps she will understand naturally in a while."

Empress Zhangsun looked at the little girl in her arms who was only focused on eating, and felt helpless.

The child is too young, and you can't get a clear answer from asking.

The little princess didn't care whether the adults believed her or not; she only cared about the delicious treat in her hand. She grabbed another potato chip and held it to Empress Zhangsun's lips, saying, "Mother, sweet potato!"

Empress Zhangsun's heart softened, and she smiled as she opened her mouth to accept the gift, her eyes full of doting affection.

Looking at the scene of family bliss before him, Li Shimin, though still harboring doubts, felt a surge of tenderness.

He looked at the innocent little princess, unable to fathom the mystery behind it all, but ultimately did not break the warmth of the moment.

"Guanyinbi, court affairs are numerous and complicated; I need to return to the Lizheng Palace to handle them." Li Shimin turned to his eldest daughter and said gently, "Lizhi, I entrust the palace to you. Don't let your mother overwork herself."

"Don't worry, Father, I will handle it well," Li Lizhi replied respectfully.

Li Shimin squeezed Empress Zhangsun's hand again and instructed her with concern, "Guanyinbi, if there is any unusual behavior, immediately send someone to inform me. Your health is already weak, so you should let Lizhi practice these trivial matters."

Empress Zhangsun nodded slightly and said softly, "Second Prince, go ahead and do your work. I know my own body well. Second Prince, you have so many responsibilities to attend to, so don't overwork yourself."

After seeing Li Shimin off, Li Lizhi abandoned her gentle demeanor and turned to her personal maid, her gaze sharp: "Qinglan, from now on you must be extremely careful, keeping a close watch on Sizi at all times. If Sizi is ever out of your sight again, and something unexpected happens..."

"Watch your head."

"Yes! This servant will remember, this servant will never dare to do it again!" Qinglan trembled with fear, afraid that she would be severely punished.

They were even more afraid that something might happen to the little princess.

If anything were to happen to the little princess, even if it wasn't her doing, the mere fact that she failed to protect her mistress would be enough to cost her her head.

Li Lizhi held the colorful packaging bag, her brows furrowing slightly: "Even now, no one knows what this is made of."

Although the Tang Dynasty was wealthy, it did not have potatoes.

Empress Zhangsun and Li Lizhi were both discerning people; they could tell that this was fried food, but they couldn't identify the ingredients.

Suddenly, Li Lizhi's eyes narrowed, and she pointed to the back of the packaging bag, saying, "Mother, look, there are words on this."

In fact, during the Tang Dynasty, simplified characters were widely used in official documents, account books, and prescriptions for convenience, but formal imperial edicts still used traditional characters.

Therefore, the mother and daughter were familiar with these simplified characters and could recognize them without much difficulty.

What truly confused them was the meaning of those words combined together.

"Ingredients: potato starch, salt, sodium glutamate..." Li Lizhi murmured, then fell into confusion.

Empress Zhangsun also leaned closer to examine it closely, then shook her head: "I recognize each of these characters individually, but when put together, they leave me completely bewildered. Sodium glutamate? This is certainly not from the Tang Dynasty, nor does it seem to be a recipe from the Western Regions."

The Western Regions countries have their own writing systems, and they would never write Han characters all over the things they sell, especially not such obscure and difficult-to-understand words.

Li Lizhi thoughtfully analyzed, "Mother is absolutely right. Perhaps only by finding out where Sizi went can we solve these mysteries."

While the two were racking their brains over this, the little princess didn't care what the adults were worrying about.

She licked the crumbs off her fingers, still wanting more, then picked up the bag of taro chips and reached out her little hand to hold Li Lizhi's sleeve.

"Big sister, I want Chengyang," the little princess said in a childish voice, tilting her head back.

She was still thinking about how she hadn't had any good food in Chengyang.

Seeing this, Empress Zhangsun smiled gently and said, "Lizhi, in that case, you should take Sizi to Chengyang."

What a mother most wants to see is her children being united, loving, and respectful to each other.

……

Lanxing, Guangfu, a somewhat noisy urban village.

Li Yinxun dragged her leaden legs up the stairs step by step, and let out a long sigh of relief: "Finally home."

Before I could even take off my shoes, my phone vibrated, and a warm male voice came from the other end: "Are you home yet? I ordered takeout for you; the delivery guy will be there in five minutes. Remember to eat, no matter how tired you are, okay?"

This man was Li Yinxun's boyfriend, Guo Qian.

He was thirteen years older than Li Yinxun and always took meticulous care of her in life. He even paid for the rent of this rented house.

Originally, Li Yinxun planned to get married right after graduation, but she hadn't had enough fun yet and didn't want to rush into marriage.

Although Guo Qian really wanted to get married, he didn't want to tie her down, so he let her have her way.

"Okay, okay, stop nagging~"

Li Yinxun's lips unconsciously curled into a smile. She casually kicked off her high heels and sank into the soft sofa as if boneless. "Don't you have work to do right now?"

"Isn't it your job interview today? How can I concentrate on my work?" Guo Qian said seriously. "Don't you have to call and check on my kid?"

"Okay, okay, I know, you're the best, mwah~" Li Yinxun exaggeratedly blew a kiss into her phone.

"Mwah." Guo Qian chuckled on the other end and replied with two "Mwahs." "I'm relieved you got home safely. I'm going back to work now. You have to eat your food properly and don't be lazy."

Just as I hung up the phone, the doorbell rang; the takeout had arrived.

Li Yinxun looked at the steaming hot chicken in a clay pot on the table, along with her favorite soy milk rice mochi, and took a satisfied photo to send to Guo Qian before starting to enjoy the meal.

After a satisfying meal, Li Yinxun stretched lazily, got up, and went back to her bedroom.

As she stepped into the room, she abruptly stopped, her gaze fixed on the snack cart in the corner.

There were clearly three bags of potato chips left there, but now they've all vanished!

Following the scattered packaging bags on the ground, I saw that the contents had already been completely eaten.

"A rat? Or a thief?"

Li Yinxun frowned, a chill running down her spine.

She walked over and picked up the empty bag, then looked at it closely and became even more puzzled.

The edges of the bag were jagged, not from a tear, but from clear teeth marks with traces of saliva.

It was bitten open little by little by someone's mouth.