Just as Mu Xueshi was thinking this, the black cloth over his eyes was pulled away. His vision remained blurry for a while before finally clearing, and he found a small child kneeling on the bed, staring at him with enormous eyes.
“Wow!”
“Wow!”
They exclaimed at the same time. Mu Xueshi cried out because the child was unbelievably adorable. He had no idea what the boy had been fed while growing up, but his fair, tender skin looked soft enough to squeeze water from, and his features were as delicate as a porcelain doll’s. A tiny topknot leaned crookedly beside one ear, making him look especially lively. If Mu Xueshi had been able to move, he would already have pinched those round little cheeks. He hated people who judged others by appearance, but even he could not resist something so pleasing to the eye.
The child had cried out because he saw Mu Xueshi’s eyes. He had already scratched patches of black paste from Mu Xueshi’s face, making the rest of it look ridiculous, but the large eyes themselves were completely exposed. The child was obviously fascinated and began touching around them with his little hands.
“Stop touching me. It tickles! I can’t move, you little ancestor…”
“Zhu… zhu…” the child mumbled, then crawled on top of Mu Xueshi.
Mu Xueshi thought about the sounds he had failed to understand and finally realized that the child was trying to repeat “ancestor,” only his pronunciation was so unclear that it came out as “zhu… zhu…” And that earlier “yi… dao…” must have been his attempt to say “blindfold.”
Elio’s Notes: The child is still learning to speak, so several words come out distorted. “Zhu… zhu…” is his attempt to repeat 祖宗 (zǔzong, “ancestor”) after Mu Xueshi calls him 小祖宗 (xiǎo zǔzong), literally “little ancestor,” an affectionate, exasperated way to address a troublesome child. Earlier, his unclear pronunciation also turns 眼罩 (yǎnzhào, “blindfold”) into something that sounds like 已到 (yǐ dào, “has arrived”), which is why Mu Xueshi initially cannot understand him.
The child shuffled toward Mu Xueshi’s chest, then simply lay down on top of him, pressed his cheek there, wrapped his arms around him, and went still.
“Hey!” Mu Xueshi called.
The child lifted his head, looked at him once, then placed his cheek against Mu Xueshi’s chest again.
Mu Xueshi did not know whether to laugh or cry. What kind of people lived here? Why did every one of them behave so strangely? Judging from the child’s clothing, he had to be someone on the level of a young prince. His clothes were made from the finest fabric, and a hairpin set with five glittering pearls decorated his topknot. One look at it told Mu Xueshi it was valuable. He sighed inwardly. If he could move, he would definitely try to coax the hairpin away from the child. Once he escaped, he could sell it to pay for the journey.
The child suddenly shifted against his chest. Mu Xueshi seized the chance to ask, “Hey, what are you doing here?”
“Smells nice…” The child pressed his cheek to Mu Xueshi’s chest and sniffed.
Mu Xueshi finally understood why the boy kept clinging to him. He simply liked the fragrance on him. Mu Xueshi laughed. The child was amusing and seemed easy enough to talk to, so he asked, “Who are you?”
The child immediately raised his head and blinked at him, looking puzzled.
Mu Xueshi understood at once. The boy had not understood the question. After thinking for a moment, Mu Xueshi tried to phrase it in a more old-fashioned way. “Who might you be?”
“How dare you!”
The child suddenly shouted and glared at Mu Xueshi as if genuinely furious. The imposing little expression made him look like a miniature emperor, and Mu Xueshi froze.
So he really was a prince. Otherwise, how could he have entered this room? The thought made Mu Xueshi nervous. A prince was still the optimistic possibility. If the boy happened to be the Crown Prince, then Mu Xueshi was really in trouble.