Lose My Heart to the Lovely Kitten Princess - Chapter 44

Chapter 44 The 14th prince, Chu Hongyi
“I knew it. I knew that if I wanted to see you, I’d have to charge right into the residence like that little lass, Qianqian,” said Chu Hongyi as he shook his head sadly.

Ever since his fourth older brother returned to the capital, he kept writing saying he wanted to visit, but Chu Yunshen kept finding excuses and said he was too busy to receive guests.

Yet that lass Chu Mengqian managed to barge right into the residence without Prince Jing’s invitation.

But he heard that the next time Chu Mengqian left Prince Jing’s residence, she was in tears and seemed to have gotten a scolding because of a cat.

At the thought, Chu Hongyi hung his head and looked at the cat struggling to escape him, and stroked her back gently.

Cheng Xiaoxiao couldn’t bear Chu Yunshen’s staring and felt as though the atmosphere was growing increasingly intense, so she kept attempting to flee from Chu Hongyi’s arms.

Despite Chu Hongyi’s young age, he was so strong that it was impossible for her to escape while he stroked her.

“Qianqian is your older cousin.”

“Heh. Why should I acknowledge that little lass as my older cousin?” replied Chu Hongyi with a calm smile. Then he turned to say to Chu Yunshen, “Brother Yunshen, can you get the maid to bring this little fellow some food first? I promised to feed her well.”

Chu Yunshen’s eyes turned dusky. He got up and walked over to Chu Hongyi. Then he reached his hand out and said, “Time to return her to me.”

Chu Hongyi dodged him with the cat in his arms and said angrily, “No way! I found the cat, so she’s mine. If you aren’t going to send for any food, I can let her have some osmanthus cake first.”

Chu Hongyi picked up a piece of osmanthus cake from the plate on the table by the side. Then he placed it before the lion cat and said gently, “Be good. You’ll have to eat this first for the time being. After we go back to the palace, I will give you all the delicacies that you want.”

“Meow!”

Although Cheng Xiaoxiao was tempted to eat the tantalizing osmanthus cake, judging from the circumstances, she would be betraying Chu Yunshen if she ate it now.

So she kept pulling her head away and refused to eat it.

Chu Hongyi patiently placed the snack by Cheng Xiaoxiao’s mouth and continued, “Don’t like it? I, as Prince Xuan, will take you back to the palace now. I can’t bear to see you go hungry.”

Then Chu Hongyi stood up and headed out the door with Cheng Xiaoxiao in his arms.

“Hongyi,” called Chu Yunshen coldly with a stern look in his dark eyes.

“Meow!”

Let her go!

She didn’t want to go to the palace!

Cheng Xiaoxiao swiftly craned her neck up and reached her paws towards Chu Yunshen nearby.

Chu Hongyi laughed gently. He pressed the cat down by her back and concealed the smile on his face. Then he looked at the struggling cat in his arms and said, “Little fellow, you’re mine now.”

He pressed Cheng Xiaoxiao’s little paws back into his embrace and said, “Since Brother Yunshen is busy, I’ll take my leave.”

Chu Yunshen swiftly stood before Chu Hongyi and stared at him with his dark eyes and said somewhat unhappily, “Little Hongyi.”

“Ha,” chuckled Chu Hongyi. He stopped acting solemn and beamed brightly like a happy child as he returned the lion cat to Chu Yunshen and said, “Brother Yunshen, you should have called me, ‘Little Hongyi’, ages ago! Did you have to call me ‘Hongyi’? That sounded so cold.”

Cheng Xiaoxiao snuggled into Chu Yunshen’s arms and held on tightly to his robe with her paws. Then she turned to look at the youth called Chu Hongyi.

Since this was Chu Yunshen’s fourteenth little brother, he must be the 14th prince.

But why did he call himself Prince Xuan? Did the Emperor confer the title?

Why was he still residing in the palace if he was decreed, Prince Xuan?

In practice, the Emperor ought to have bestowed a residence and made him move out of the palace after conferring the title.

In history, emperors usually gave such titles to their sons when they reached marriageable age.

Usually, it was done when they were around 15 years old. The imperial clan court would allocate an appropriate title based on their family background, knowledge, and other factors.

But Chu Hongyi looked like he was 11 to 12 years old. Why was he given the title at such a young age?

Also, his garments were exquisitely made, and the snake with four claws on his chest was embroidered in gold thread.

The agate on his gold hair ornament was the size of a quail’s egg.

From the looks of it, the Emperor favored this son.

“Hurry up and go back to the palace. If father finds out you snuck out of the palace again, he’s going to punish you.”

Chu Yunshen sat back behind the table with the cat in his arms. Then he picked up the military book on the table and started to read it.

“Brother Yunshen! I took all the trouble to sneak out of the palace just so I could congratulate you for solving such a huge case,” said Chu Hongyi, who suddenly walked up to the table. He retrieved a long box with intricate flower carving from his sleeve and placed it on Chu Yunshen’s table gently before him.

Then he said to Chu Yunshen huffily, “Brother Yunshen, I recall you don’t have a box for the dagger you keep under your pillow, right? I managed to get my hands on a high-grade nanmu, so I got it carved into a dagger box. Do you like it?”

“Mhm. Just leave it there,” replied Chu Yunshen without raising his head from the book in his hand.

“Why don’t you try it out and see if it fits,” said Chu Hongyi somewhat indignantly. He and his fourth older brother used to be so much closer when they both lived in the palace.

His other older brothers found him too young and didn’t want to play with him. Only Chu Yunshen would talk to him kindly.

So Chu Hongyi tagged along behind Chu Yunshen everywhere he went.

His fourth older brother never once said a stern word to him.

Then when Chu Hongyi was nine years old, the Emperor bestowed him the title of Prince Xuan. From then on, Chu Yunshen stopped being as close to him.

Chu Hongqi kept trying to visit his fourth older brother at his quarters, but the servant kept saying Chu Yunshen was busy and asked him to try another day.

After a few times, Chu Hongqi naturally got mad.

He wanted to give Chu Yunshen the cold shoulder for a few days before reconciling with him, but his mother unexpectedly passed away. Then their father sent him off to the frontier.

He prayed for Chu Yunshen countless times while he was in the palace, worried that any danger might befall him.

Now his fourth older brother had returned to the capital and didn’t have to fight the war anymore.

However, Chu Yunshen became even colder after he came home. Chu Hongyi requested to visit him so many times, but he didn’t grant him an audience a single time.

“Brother Yunshen?”

Since Chu Yunshen didn’t answer him, he immediately picked up the dagger box and opened it before he held it in front of Chu Yunshen and added, “I spent four days making the box.”

Chu Yunshen glanced at the box. Then his eyes landed on the cuts on Chu Hongyi’s fingertips, and he suddenly shouted, “Xiaowu.”

“Master!”

Xiaowu’s voice came from outside.

“Come in,” said Chu Yunshen as he sat straight and stroked the cat in his arms.

“Yes, Master!” replied Xiaowu and entered quickly.

The moment he came in, he saw Prince Xuan in the room.

Why didn’t anyone announce Prince Xuan’s arrival at the residence?

“Your Highness,” said Xiaowu as he paid respects to Prince Xuan. Then he walked over to Chu Yunshen and saw the lion cat in his arms. What was she doing here?

Wasn’t she in the room this morning?

“Master,” Xiaowu bowed to Chu Yunshen.

Chu Yunshen glanced at him and looked at the box in Prince Xuan’s hands and said, “Prince Xuan gave me a gift.”

“Yes, Master!” said Xiaowu, who instantly caught his drift. He reached both hands out to Chu Hongyi reverently and said, “Your Highness, please just hand it to me.”

Chu Hongyi looked at Chu Yunshen for a long time before he handed the dagger box to Xiaowu.

After Xiaowu walked out with the box, Chu Hongyi said to Chu Yunshen, “Brother Yunshen, you have to be careful when you attend the victory banquet.”

Then he left right away.

Cheng Xiaoxiao watched as Chu Hongyi left. He looked at Chu Yunshen with his eyes red like a child who didn’t manage to get his parents to give him candy.

He was clearly still a kid.

Chu Hongyi didn’t throw a temper when Chu Yunshen outrightly rejected him. Instead, his eyes turned red when Chu Yunshen treated him with indifference.

The royalty was usually the most heartless, but the young man clearly still treated Chu Yunshen as his beloved brother.

However, Chu Yunshen was unusually distant towards Chu Hongyi.

She had never witnessed Chu Yunshen reveal any emotion on his face.

Chu Yunshen wasn’t as uncaring about Chu Hongyi as he made it out to be since Chu Hongyi managed to stir some manner of emotion out of him.

After Chu Hongyi left, Chu Yunshen lowered his head and kept reading, but he didn’t turn a single page all afternoon.

Cheng Xiaoxiao curled up in a corner on the bed and watched as Chu Yunshen sat by the bedside and removed the dagger from under the pillow. He used his rough hands to touch every engraving on the dagger.

About 15 minutes later, he picked up the dagger box, which Chu Hongyi just gave him this afternoon, from the table by the bed. He placed the dagger in the box before taking out the dagger again.

“Come over.”

Chu Yunshen spotted the little fellow curled up in the corner staring straight at him. He put the dagger box in a secret compartment in the headboard and placed the dagger back under his pillow. Then he flipped over and lay down in bed and patted the empty spot beside him and said, “Let’s sleep.”

“Meow.”

Cheng Xiaoxiao obediently walked over to Chu Yunshen’s pillow and curled up next to it.

Chu Yunshen clearly cared about Chu Hongyi a lot. Then why did Chu Yunshen treat him so coldly?

She didn’t get it.

Then forget about it.

She had to find some way to catch ghosts tomorrow. Since there were no wandering spirits in Prince Jing’s residence, she had to go out and try. Perhaps she would have better luck at an abandoned residence or temple?

Cheng Xiaoxiao gradually fell into a deep slumber as she pondered.

“Tie that up. Yes yes. Here too.”

Cheng Xiaoxiao was in a daze when she suddenly heard voices chattering nonstop by her ears.

“Meow!”

They were so irritating!

Who was disturbing her sleep at this hour in the morning?

“Oh no. She’s awake!”

Cheng Xiaoxiao opened her eyes to see three maids staring anxiously at her with their faces blushing. Also, she was wrapped in something, making her feel awful!

“Oh no. It came undone.”

Then a maid walked over to Cheng Xiaoxiao.

“Meow!”

Stay away from her!

Cheng Xiaoxiao swiftly got up from bed with her fur exploding angrily. Then she hissed at the maid.

“Ah!” shouted the first maid in shock. Then she asked the two other maids meekly, “What…what now? Xiaowu said that the prince’s cat has a bad temper and scratches when she gets upset. He warned us to dress her while she was asleep. What should we do now that she’s awake?”

“I don’t know either,” replied the second maid as she shook her head.

“Why don’t we ask him?” suggested the third maid.

“Okay,” agreed the first maid by the bed. The three of them glanced at each other before leaving the room.

Cheng Xiaoxiao saw the maids leaving Chu Yunshen’s room hastily. Then she lowered her head to find out what she was wrapped in.

Clothes?

She was dressed in a little red silk garment, but one of the straps on her arm was undone, and a long strap came hanging down by her paws.

Cheng Xiaoxiao raised her paw and grabbed the strap a couple of times. What was Chu Yunshen up to?