Just as Mu Xueshi was thinking this, the black cloth covering his eyes was removed. His vision remained blurry for quite a while before gradually clearing, and he found a small child kneeling on his bed, staring at him with wide eyes.
“Wow!”
“Wow!”
They exclaimed at the same time. Mu Xueshi cried out because he was stunned by the child before him. He had no idea what the little 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 small topknot sat crookedly beside one ear, making him look exceptionally lively and adorable. Had Mu Xueshi been able to move, he would already have reached over and pinched those little cheeks as hard as he could. Although Mu Xueshi hated people who judged others by their appearance, even he could not resist drawing close to something so pleasing to the eye.
The child had exclaimed because he saw Mu Xueshi’s eyes. He had already scratched patches of the black paste from Mu Xueshi’s face, making him look extremely comical. Yet Mu Xueshi’s large, flawless eyes were now fully exposed before him. The child was clearly captivated and began running his little hands around them.
“Stop touching me. It tickles! I can’t move, you little ancestor…”
“An… an…” the child mumbled before crawling on top of Mu Xueshi.
Mu Xueshi thought over the sounds he had failed to understand earlier and finally realized that the child had been trying to repeat “ancestor,” but his pronunciation was unclear, so only “an… an…” had come out. That earlier “eye… cloth…” must have meant the blindfold! Mu Xueshi thought to himself.
Elio’s Notes: The child’s speech is unclear because he is still learning to talk. His “Yi… dao…” is a mangled attempt at 眼罩 (yǎnzhào), meaning “blindfold,” but Mu Xueshi initially mishears it as 已到 (yǐ dào), meaning “has arrived”—hence his confusion about what had “arrived.”Likewise, “Zhu… zhu…” or “An… an…” is the child trying to repeat 祖宗 (zǔzong), after Mu Xueshi calls him 小祖宗, literally “little ancestor,” an affectionate exasperated term similar to “you little terror.” “Eye cloth” is only a literal explanation of 眼罩; “blindfold” is the natural English translation.
Suddenly, the child sitting on him shuffled toward his chest, then lay down on top of him. Pressing his face against Mu Xueshi’s chest, he wrapped his arms around him and remained completely still.
“Hey!” Mu Xueshi called.
The child lifted his little head and glanced at him, then pressed his face against Mu Xueshi’s chest again.
Mu Xueshi did not know whether to laugh or cry. What sort of people lived in this place? Why did every one of them behave so strangely? Judging from the child’s clothes, he had to be someone on the level of a young prince. His garments were made from the finest fabric, and a hairpin decorated his little topknot, set with five glittering pearls that looked extremely valuable. Mu Xueshi sighed inwardly. Had he been able to move, he would certainly have coaxed the hairpin away from the child. Once he escaped, he could sell it to pay for his journey.
Suddenly, the child shifted against Mu Xueshi’s chest. Seizing the opportunity, Mu Xueshi hurriedly asked, “Hey, what are you doing here?”
“Smells nice…” The child pressed his face against Mu Xueshi’s chest and sniffed with his little nose.
Mu Xueshi finally understood why the child kept clinging to him. It turned out he thought Mu Xueshi smelled fragrant. Mu Xueshi could not help laughing, both because the child was amusing and because he seemed relatively easy to approach. He therefore asked, “Who are you?”
The moment the child heard this, he immediately lifted his head. He blinked with a curious expression.
Mu Xueshi instantly understood that the child had not comprehended his question. After thinking for a moment, he tried again in a more archaic manner. “What person might you be?”
“How dare you!”
The child suddenly shouted. He then widened his eyes and glared at Mu Xueshi as though genuinely enraged. With that imposing manner, he looked exactly like a miniature emperor, leaving Mu Xueshi momentarily stunned.
It seemed he truly was a prince. Otherwise, he would never have been allowed into this room. At the thought, Mu Xueshi could not help growing nervous. A prince was still the optimistic possibility. If this child happened to be the Crown Prince, then Mu Xueshi was in serious trouble.
Futile Devices Scans 
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