Before entering Nightless City, Baixi snapped off a thick branch and put it in her storage ring. She then used a piece of tattered cloth from the ring to cover her exposed skin, after all, Baixi was a girl.

After preparing, she walked into Nightless City.

Seeing a beggar dressed as a young girl approaching, the city guard quickly reached out his arm to stop her. "Hey, stop! This is the territory of Nightless City, unrelated people..."

Before the guard could finish, Baixi threw out a token given by the Queen to him from her pocket. After looking at it, the guard hastily bowed in respect, "Greetings, Princess, please proceed."

Baixi nodded in satisfaction. "Good, remember that no matter who I encounter in the future, you are not allowed to stop me."

After speaking, she held her hands behind her back, took confident steps, and hummed a tune as she walked towards the palace.

Baixi's ragged clothes attracted the attention of the nearby guards, who couldn't understand why the princess would dress like this.

The guards dared not inquire further, for it was the princess's prerogative to wear whatever she wanted. They had no authority to interfere, only the Queen had the right to do so.

As she walked, people around her lowered their heads and respectfully kneeled, "Greetings, Princess."

"You may rise," Baixi said lightly.

Under the scrutiny of everyone, Baixi leisurely walked towards the palace.

At this moment, Iris, as a mother, watched Baixi's back. She observed every action of her daughter and a faint smile appeared on her face. "I'm curious to see what use you have for that branch you've picked."

When Baixi arrived at the entrance of the palace, she hesitated. She took the branch she had picked earlier from the storage ring and used it as a crutch to support herself as she limped through the gate.

"Hello, Princess," the guard bowed respectfully and opened the palace door for her.

"No need for formalities," Baixi replied weakly.

"What happened to you, Princess?" a guard couldn't help but ask when he saw Baixi's appearance. "What happened to your legs?"

"It's nothing. I injured my leg while out on an adventure," Baixi's delicate face showed a faint smile.

The guard frowned, "But you look..."

"Oh, it's just a minor injury. It will heal after a few days of rest." Baixi waved her hand dismissively, not wanting to discuss her injuries with others. "Do your duty, I'll go into the palace first."

The guard respectfully responded, "Please take your time, Princess. If you need any help, you can come to me. I'll do my best to assist you."

"Alright," Baixi replied absentmindedly before turning and leaving.

Not long after, Iris also arrived inside the palace.

The guard, seeing Iris, quickly kneeled down in respect, "Greetings, Queen."

Iris waved her hand, indicating for the guard to rise.

"The Princess is using a branch as a crutch and limping into the palace. Her leg is also injured," the guard informed Iris of what he had seen.

"No need to worry, she will be fine," Iris squinted her eyes, a faint smile playing at the corners of her lips, as she continued walking forward.

"Could this girl be pretending to be injured to swindle me? Using the injury to gain sympathy and then seize the opportunity to ask for advanced equipment or something?" Iris silently speculated in her heart.

If Baixi knew that there was a special advanced Beast Pill here with Iris, she would definitely try her best to get that Beast Pill from Iris. As the mother of two daughters, Iris would definitely treat them equally. If Baixi has something, Baiying would also have it. When Baiying is older, she will give the Beast Pill to Baiying to take, allowing her to advance once. Although Baixi has already advanced twice, in the future, Iris will definitely find a way for Baiying to advance a second time.

...

Today is New Year's Eve, and Baiying is on vacation, sitting in a chair eating a rainbow lollipop, waiting for her sister and mother to come home and celebrate the holiday together. Just then, Baiying sees a familiar person approaching her slowly from a distance. She stands up in surprise, "Sister!" Baiying calls out, quickly running towards Baixi. "Sister, what happened to you? You look like you're seriously injured."

"It's nothing, just a small injury," Baixi touches Baiying's head, "Where is our mother?"

Baiying blinks her eyes and says, "Mother went out and hasn't come back yet."

"Oh?" Baixi feels a bit disappointed and thinks to herself, "Why isn't mother in the palace? I wanted to use my injury to blackmail her for some benefits, but it seems like it's all for naught now." As she thinks, her expression becomes dim, with a hint of sorrow in her eyes.

Seeing her sister like this, Baiying thinks her sister is missing their mother and tries to comfort her, "Don't worry, mother will be back soon."

"Okay," Baixi responds calmly, sitting down at the table with her sister's support.

"Sister, have a cup of tea to warm yourself up, and I'll bring you some pastries," Baiying says thoughtfully.

"Okay, go ahead," Baixi smiles softly and nods, then watches Baiying leave, thinking about how to use her language skills to extort their mother, ideally acquiring some strange and rare items, such as advanced props or monster armors.

In no time, Baiying comes back with a mouthful of lollipop and two trays of pastries.

"Sister, try this one," Baiying hands a pastry to Baixi, smiling brightly, "It tastes really sweet."

"Oh, thank you then," Baixi takes the pastry with a smile.

"No need to be polite, sister," Baiying says, adding a cup of tea for her sister, "You eat first, I'll wait outside for mother."

"Okay," Baixi nods slightly and starts eating the pastry.

As Baiying runs outside, she bumps into Iris.

"Ouch!" Baiying cries out in pain, rubbing her head, looking at the silver-haired girl in front of her, "Mother?"

"Little Yīng, why are you in such a hurry?" Iris sees Baiying and smiles as she speaks.

"Mother, Little Yīng missed you," Baiying throws herself into Iris' arms, acting spoiled, "Mother, today is New Year's Eve, Little Yīng hopes that you can finish the reunion dinner and then we can all go shopping together."

Iris looked at Baiying's delicate face and pinched her nose affectionately. "Alright, it's up to you. We'll go shopping tonight."

"Hehe." Baiying cheered happily.

Iris continued walking forward while holding Baiying in her arms, and before long, they spotted Baixi sitting on a stone bench in the center of the garden.

Baixi also noticed Iris and stood up with her stick. "Mother~ dear~" she said, feigning affection. Iris raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but marvel at her daughter's increasingly skillful acting.

"Baixi, your leg is injured. Take a rest and sit down for a while," Iris spoke with concern.

Baixi nodded and came closer. She let Baiying down and then crouched down to carefully examine Baixi's legs.

"Which leg is hurt?" Iris asked in a concerned tone.

"The left leg. I got injured during training when a monster attacked, but it's nothing serious. It'll be fine after some rest," Baixi smiled and then said, "Mother~ dear, considering how hard I've trained..."

Before Baixi could finish, Iris reached out and pulled off the fabric from the pant leg of Baixi's left leg, revealing a perfectly unscathed white leg.

Seeing this scene, Baiying widened her eyes in disbelief, thinking to herself, "How could Sister lie and say her leg is injured? Is she trying to extort Mother? How wicked. But come to think of it, Sister is capable of such things."

"Baixi, what is the meaning of this?" Iris narrowed her eyes, seemingly smiling but not really, and said, "You actually dare to deceive your mother. You have quite the audacity."

Baixi felt a bit guilty under Iris' gaze. "I...I would never deceive you, Mother dear," she hesitated for a moment and continued, "I'm truly injured, it's just an internal injury that can't be seen."

"Hmph." Iris snorted. "Are you trying to extort me? Wait for an opportunity to obtain some rare items? Do you think I'm a fool?"

Baixi continued to defend herself cunningly, "Mother~ dear! How could you accuse me? I never intended to extort you, and besides, I don't have the audacity." Baixi even managed to squeeze out a few tears in an attempt to gain sympathy.

Baiying, believing her sister, chimed in, "Mother~ dear~ look, Sister is crying. She definitely doesn't mean to deceive you." Baiying pointed her slender finger at Iris.

"Little Yinyin, stop fooling around," Iris reproached gently, then said, "Today, let me show you just how good your sister is at acting."

"Huh?" Baiying tilted her head in confusion, not understanding what her Mother meant to do.

"Baixi, I gave you a chance, but you didn't cherish it. Before you came back, I saw you break off a thick branch and store it in your ring. Then, while humming a song, you happily hopped into Nightless City. When you entered the palace, you took out the previously broken branch from your ring as a cane, limping your way into the palace," Iris stared at Baixi and said, "Do you think you can hide these tricks from me? I see everything you do."

Upon hearing this, Baixi's heart trembled violently, clearly revealing that her lie had been exposed. Her forehead was continuously covered in cold sweat, and she was too nervous to speak.

"Mother~ Mother, you... you already know?" Baixi asked with a trembling voice.

Iris nodded, "Tell me, what are you going to do?"

"This time, it was the daughter's attempt to extort something. Daughter is willing to accept any punishment." Baixi's legs went weak and she knelt down on the ground, bowing her head in genuine fear and obedience.

Looking at Baixi's current state, Iris was reminded of her own past. She once resorted to despicable means to trick a certain fluffy white ball out of money. As a result, that fluffy white ball punished her by making her kneel in the ancestral hall for a full three days, and didn't give her anything to eat. She was so hungry that her stomach ached, and she almost fainted.

It must be said that Baixi and her past self were like two peas in a pod. However, Iris's way of educating her would not be the same as that person. Punishing her daughter for every mistake would only make her fear Iris like she was seeing a ghost.

"Get up." Iris sighed, finding an excuse, "Today is New Year's Eve, I don't want to make a scene here. This time, consider it settled. If there is a next time, both old and new accounts will be settled together, and you'll have to deal with it yourself."

"Yes, Daughter understands." Baixi hurriedly replied, "Daughter promises that there won't be a next time."

"Go take a shower, we'll make the reunion dinner together." Iris patted Baixi's shoulder, then turned and headed towards the kitchen.

"Hooray!" Baiying immediately clapped her hands in excitement and followed her mother into the kitchen.

Baixi, on the other hand, walked towards the bathroom. It was obvious that the kitchen was off-limits for her.