The world is broken, the cubs mend it

The palace had a cool and ancient atmosphere under the cover of thick snow. The red walls and green tiles were covered with snow flakes, and the palace roads were quiet.

Yuanyuan sat on the new chair that her father had made for her, picking up food with chopsticks. The vegetables that had been beaten by the snow in winter had a sweet taste.

“Eat more meat.”

Pei Zhiyan picked up a piece of meat and put it in her bowl. Normally, the child disliked eating green leafy vegetables, but today she ate more.

"it is good…"

Yuanyuan picked up the beef given by her father, coated it with a thick layer of sesame paste and stuffed it into her mouth.

After eating and drinking, they returned to the house to warm themselves by the fire. Pei Zhiyan sat cross-legged on the couch, reviewing memorials, with smoke rising from the incense burner on the desk.

The little guy took off his shoes and climbed up, resting his head on his back, and soon fell asleep leaning against him.

Yuanyuan's weight increased day by day, and it became heavier after leaning on her waist for a long time. Even Pei Zhiyan, who had practiced martial arts since childhood, felt sore in his waist.

After reviewing the last memorial, Pei Zhiyan put down his brush, rested one hand on the desk, and fell asleep with his eyes closed.

The snow was falling quietly outside the window. Xiao Fuzi and Caizhi had also received orders that when it was too cold, they could go to the side hall to warm themselves up and drink a cup of hot tea before coming out to work.

Yuanyuan didn't sleep well in this prone position.

He woke up after a while and rubbed his head against the old man's back twice before sitting up straight.

Pei Zhiyan had long been accustomed to the child's touch and still kept his eyes closed without waking up.

"what--"

Yuanyuan yawned, stretched, and stood up, only to find that her old father had fallen asleep, so she sat alone on the other side of the couch.

He lifted the teapot with great effort and poured himself a cup of warm floral tea. He held the small teacup and gulped down two gulps. Then he began to look around quietly.

She picked up the memorial on the table and opened it. She couldn't understand the words on it at all. After flipping through it twice, she found it boring.

Looking at the remaining ink in the inkstone, Yuanyuan grabbed the brush from the pen holder and a bold idea came to his head.

Looking at the sleeping old man, she picked up the brush and dipped it in the inkstone. She supported her body on the table with one hand and held the brush with the other hand to paint a black dot on his nose.

Pei Zhiyan's fair and straight nose was painted black by the child, and six cat whiskers were drawn on his handsome face.

"..."

Yuanyuan looked at the old man's face carefully, admiring her own superb painting skills, and wondered what pattern to draw in the remaining blank space.

Pei Zhiyan was very alert, perhaps because he had lived and eaten with the child for a long time, his body instinctively lowered its defenses against her.

Noticing traces of moisture on his face in his sleep, he opened his eyes and raised his hand to wipe his face.

Yuanyuan was looking at his face intently, and was startled by his eyes suddenly opening. Her hands that were supporting her on the table slipped, and her body fell uncontrollably towards the ground.

Almost at the same time, Pei Zhiyan's hand, which was about to touch the cheek, turned around and immediately lifted up the child who was about to fall to the ground.

"What are you doing?"

Looking at the brush in the child's hand still dripping with ink, he suddenly seemed to understand something.

"Did not do anything?"

Yuanyuan looked at him guiltily and twisted her body to get off his legs.

"Why do you want to run away if you didn't do anything?"

A child's face cannot hide what is going on. Pei Zhiyan noticed something was wrong with her at a glance. He raised his hand and wiped his face, and sure enough, his palm was black.

"hey-hey…"

Yuanyuan's lips were tightly curled together, revealing an awkward smile.

"To make you laugh..."

Pei Zhiyan raised his hand and rubbed a little of the ink on the palm of his hand on the child's nose. This little thing is getting more and more capable.

"..."

Yuanyuan's smile froze at the corners of her mouth. She raised her hand to touch her nose, looking like she wanted to cry but couldn't. She had to bear the consequences of what she had provoked.

"You're the one who did it on purpose!"

Pei Zhiyan stood up, took a handkerchief, dipped it in water and wrung it dry, wiped off the ink stain on the tip of the child's nose, and scooped up a handful of water to wipe his own face clean.

"I just want to draw you better."

Yuanyuan looked at him with sincere eyes, and she felt that she had put a lot of effort into her painting.

"..."

Pei Zhiyan was a little speechless when he looked at her. Although he didn't look in the mirror, he could guess that she didn't look that good.

The snow gradually became lighter, with only a few snowflakes floating down.

Caizhi and Xiaofuzi were sweeping the snow in the yard. The little guy was also sweeping with a small broom. Although he couldn't sweep it clean, the important thing was to participate.

After working for a while, I felt hot and a layer of sweat appeared on my back.

Xiao Fuzi used the accumulated fallen snow to make a snow lion. The appearance was not very lifelike and looked a little funny and not majestic enough.

"Can you make me a duck?"

Yuanyuan thought his pinching was not very good at first, but after trying to move her hands, she found that his hands were really skillful.

"Okay!" Xiao Fuzi agreed readily.

The little duck was easy to make, and soon a vivid little duck appeared in her palm, with the patterns of its feathers specially outlined.

Yuanyuan happily held the little duck in to show her father. After sitting by the fireplace for a while, the little duck began to sweat and gradually melted into a pool of water.

"Daddy, why don't you go out and play in the snow?"

"What's so fun about snow?"

Pei Zhiyan doesn't like winter very much. It's inconvenient to travel in such cold weather.

“The snow is beautiful…”

Yuanyuan tilted her head and thought about it, probably it would make the scenery more beautiful.

"As long as you like..."

Pei Zhiyan lowered his eyes to hide the grief in his eyes. It was in such a winter that he lost all the important people.

Fortunately, God was not too cruel to him and gave him a relative who could fuel his desire to live.

After the snow fell, the New Year was approaching and the palace began to prepare for the New Year's Eve banquet.

It was clearly a good day worth celebrating, but the palace became increasingly quiet. Everyone was busy but seemed lifeless, like zombies.

On the day of the New Year's Eve banquet, court officials brought their families into the palace. The emperor sat on a high platform, drunk, holding a cup in his hand and grinning foolishly.

The people below looked pale, raised their wine glasses and opened their mouths, but they could not utter a single festive word.

However, the younger princes and princesses were having a lot of fun. With her father's permission, Yuanyuan also came forward to play with them.

But when the children saw her, they all hid away and were unwilling to talk to her.

"..."

Yuanyuan pouted and lowered her head dejectedly and walked back to her father, not understanding why they all disliked her.

Seeing the child's lost look, Pei Zhiyan raised his hand and rubbed her head. They were afraid that they would be rejected along with the child.

After the banquet, court officials left the palace one after another, but the emperor was still lying on the long gilded table, talking nonsense.

"Help the emperor go back and rest."

Pei Zhiyan ordered his men to carry the emperor back to his bedroom, and his eyes were cold.