Chapter 3: The Demon Lord Princess's Daily Life of Slacking Off Chapter 3: Three Years Later (1)

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Protagonist:

Yan Qianqian

Three years later, Yan Qianqian was three years old, a big red butterfly bow pinned to her little head, poking at an ant nest in the back garden.

This butterfly bow belonged to San Jie; San Jie had loved wearing butterfly bows when she was little and had bought all kinds. But Yan Shuang'er was eight now, a big kid, and wearing a butterfly bow would seem too childish, so she gave all the unworn butterfly bows to Qianqian. Qianqian didn't like wearing things on her head, but Eldest Sister always liked dressing her up—look, today Eldest Sister had put a pink outer robe on Qianqian, with a matching little skirt, and a big red butterfly bow on her head.

At this moment, six-year-old Yan Wang appeared from somewhere, "Little sister, what are you doing?" "I'm poking an ant nest." "What's so good about poking an ant nest?" Only a pink and tender little milk doll was seen squatting on the ground, legs spread apart, holding a small stick in her hand, intently poking at the ant nest. "The weather is so nice today, don't stay at home, come out and play." Then... Yan Wang looked sympathetically at the little ants, and left, after all Yan Wang still had to learn martial arts from Yue Yi; he was going to become a great general like Father Wang in the future!

(An Wang and the Emperor were brothers born from the same womb; back when Xian Huangdi was still alive, the Emperor managed various affairs in the Imperial Palace, while An Wang was responsible for charging into battle on the battlefield, which made Dachang Kingdom the number one great power)

Qianqian saw at a glance that Si Gege was going to learn martial arts, and immediately followed him; she also wanted to learn martial arts, and also wanted to beat up whoever displeased her, so she followed Yan Wang to find Yue Yi to learn martial arts. Yan Wang learned very seriously, shouting "hei ha hei ha" with every punch; Qianqian started by punching along with Si Gege, but after punching for a while she found herself too exhausted to continue, so she began to slack off boredly. Seeing Qianqian was distracted, Yue Yi deliberately teased her: "Qianqian, if you don't learn properly, what will you do when you encounter danger in the future?"

Qianqian said with an indifferent face: "I have my gege to protect me!"

Yue Yi laughed heartily, thinking this little girl was truly innocent and adorable. He decided to change his approach to guide Qianqian's learning, so he picked up a tree branch, waved it a few times in the air, and asked: "Qianqian, do you want to learn this kind of powerful move?"

Qianqian's eyes lit up, and she nodded quickly: "Yes! I want to learn! Yue Yi gege, teach me quickly!"

Yue Yi smiled and said: "Alright, then we'll start practicing from the most basic kung fu. First, you must keep your body balanced..."

Yan Qianqian stood steadily in a horse stance beside him; Yan Wang finished a set of punches, sweating all over. Yue Yi said: "Just punching won't get you onto the battlefield; your physical condition is already excellent. Today, pick a weapon you like, and I'll teach you the corresponding kung fu." Yan Wang looked for a long time and saw all kinds of weapons—knives, forks, swords, spears—laid out above. Excitedly he said: "I want to learn them all!" Yue Yi hurriedly said: "Little Fourth Master, you can't bite off more than you can chew. Pick your favorite weapon first, I'll teach you; once you've practiced enough, if you like other weapons, I'll teach you those too. These practice methods are all about the same." Yan Wang walked back and forth three or four circles, finally picking up a sword, saying: "Father uses a sword when fighting on the battlefield; I want to learn the sword too!" Hearing this, Yue Yi was extremely gratified and said with a smile: "Little Fourth Master is truly a good child! Let's start with ordinary swords for practice; once you've mastered them, we'll have the Prince give you a fine sword." Hearing this, Yan Wang was overjoyed and immediately picked up the sword to wave it around.

As for little Qianqian, seeing Yan Wang start selecting weapons, she got so excited she couldn't keep her horse stance, and came running over hopping and skipping, saying: "Yue Yi gege, I want a weapon too!" Yue Yi smiled and said: "The weapons here are all too sharp, and too heavy; you can't lift them." Little Qianqian pouted and said: "Then can I pick a weapon, and have Father make me a child-sized version of it?" Hearing this, Yue Yi thought it was fine, and said: "You can, but Fifth Miss should pick one that isn't too sharp, otherwise you might hurt yourself." Qianqian happily agreed with a "good," turned around with her little hands behind her back, and finally picked a whip. Yue Yi took down the whip and handed it to little Qianqian. Only a pink little dough ball was seen, holding a whip three times her length, straining hard just to barely lift it.

Yue Yi couldn't help laughing while watching from the side. He said to little Qianqian: "Let's practice horse stance first; I and the Prince will make a small whip for Fifth Miss. Once it's done, we'll learn to crack the whip. How about that?" Little Qianqian happily agreed, "Good!" Then she went off to practice horse stance with great enthusiasm.

Over at Xinxiang Yuan, eleven-year-old Yan Xiner had already grown into a young lady, graceful in figure, with alluring curves. Right now she was in the study, holding a brush and doodling on the table. Looking closer, hey, she was actually painting a pink and tender peony flower, because the Princess Consort's birthday was coming up soon. The Princess Consort loved peony flowers above all. Back when the Prince and Princess Consort exchanged tokens of affection, he had given her a peony flower.

Back then the Prince was still the Seventh Young Master, and the Princess Consort was the youngest daughter of Xiangshang Wang Shouyi, named Wang Siyu. The Seventh Young Master Yan Hao Xuan (now An Wang) was famous from a young age: he joined the military camp at eleven, could go into battle and kill enemies at fifteen, and at seventeen could already lead troops to attack Xishang Kingdom. At seventeen, An Wang won a great victory in the battle against Xishang Kingdom's Jinzhou, routing Xishang Kingdom's 100,000 elite troops in utter defeat. After this battle, An Wang became the dream lover of all young women in Dachang Kingdom. On the day An Wang returned triumphantly to Dachang Kingdom with his troops, the common people lined the streets to welcome him. The nearby teahouse was packed to capacity; many unmarried young ladies, on the pretext of tasting tea, looked down from the windows of the second floor of the teahouse at this Seventh Young Master who led 50,000 elite troops and routed Xishang Kingdom's 100,000 elite troops in utter defeat. As for Wang Siyu, she happened to be at the teahouse drinking tea and complaining with her good friend Xie Qiang, daughter of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. Sixteen-year-old Wang Siyu's family had already started urging her to go on blind dates! Her mother didn't care whether the husband her youngest daughter found held a high position, but Wang Siyu was already sixteen; in Dachang Kingdom, girls her age already had two children. Others gossiped behind their backs, saying their family had high standards and looked down on ordinary families, which was why she was still unmarried at sixteen. So they kept urging her to go on blind dates, and Wang Siyu, worried, drank another cup of tea. Perhaps she drank too hastily; she hurriedly took out a handkerchief to wipe her mouth. Xie Qiang saw the peony flower on her handkerchief was very pretty and wanted to snatch it. But before she could grab it, suddenly a gust of wind blew, and the handkerchief flew out the window! A handkerchief was a woman's private possession; Wang Siyu was frantic, looking around anxiously by the window. What a coincidence—the handkerchief happened to land on the face of the Seventh Young Master, who had just returned to the capital and was riding a tall, fine horse. The Seventh Young Master took the handkerchief off his face with one hand, looked up toward the teahouse on the second floor, and happened to see Wang Siyu's anxious little face. Wang Siyu was so frightened she squatted down with a "whoosh." The Seventh Young Master looked down at the handkerchief in his hand, afraid others would see it and cause misunderstanding, so he hurriedly put it away. And so, the two people's love story began! (I won't go into detail here; when they exchanged tokens of affection, the Prince saw the peony flower on the handkerchief, knew the Princess Consort liked peony flowers, so the first flower he gave her when exchanging tokens was a peony flower.) Yan Xiner picked up the painting she had drawn and gently blew on it. The peony flower in the painting was vividly lifelike; even the yatou Linglong beside her couldn't help exclaiming: "The flower Eldest Miss painted is so lifelike! The Princess Consort will definitely like it!" Yan Xiner also laughed happily. After the painting dried, she would instruct a servant to find a frame to mount this painting, wrap it up nicely, and give it to her mother on her birthday.