Chapter 49: Oil Lamp's gift

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"Withdraw your teeth," Grandpa Ash scolded Oil Jar, before speaking to the little mouse behind him. "Oil Lamp, let Xiaoyao take a look at your illness. Don't be afraid, Xiaoyao's one of our people."

"Heheh," said the Ning Xiaoyao who had been treated as one of the group. Grandpa Ash didn't say she was 'one of our mice,' ah.

Oil Lamp walked out from behind Grandpa Ash, his body shivering as he timidly offered his greetings. "Hello, Xiaoyao. My name is Oil Lamp."

Ning Xiaoyao cradled Oil Lamp in her hand as she brushed against the tumor on his tail. It felt hard to the touch, which was no good news.

"Xiaoyao, can this illness be cured?" Oil Jar asked nervously.

"No problem," Ning Xiaoyao sat on the bed. Since she couldn't find a knife, she picked up a pair of scissors instead. "No illness exists that I can't cure."

"If you're treating Oil Lamp's illness, why use a blade?"

A blade?

Oil Lamp was scared to death as he moved his body to try and see Ning Xiaoyao's hand. Ning Xiaoyao said, "Oil Lamp, there's a peanut in front of you."

Oil Lamp quickly turned to face forward. "Peanut? Where?"

Grandpa Ash and Oil Jar looked forward as well. The allure of peanuts were too powerful. Ning Xiaoyao took advantage of Oil Lamp's distraction to snip off his tumor, taking off half of his tail in the process as well.

"Squeak!" The pain caused Oil Lamp to give out a miserable shriek, scaring all the animals inside and outside to death. For some reason, the window blew open the door to the room at this very moment, revealing Mute Nanny and a court lady holding a serving tray. They locked eyes with Ning Xiaoyao. As soon as the court lady saw Ning Xiaoyao, she screamed and threw aside the tray in her hands. Ning Xiaoyao tossed aside the scissors and held onto Oil Lamp's severed tail, partly to stop the bleeding, partly to look bewildered at the pair outside the door. What was wrong with them?

"Your, Your Majesty, have mercy," the little court lady kneeled on the floor to kowtow to her. Mute Nanny looked at if she'd lost her soul as she stood there as dull as a block of wood. Blood had splattered to cover half of His Majesty's face, also staining the scissors that were in her right hand. In her left hand was a dead, blood-drenched mouse. Was His Majesty murdering mice in cold blood?!

"Did I look at you the wrong way?" Ning Xiaoyao asked the little court lady, her face half covered in blood.

The little court lady was crying so much that she couldn't speak. His Majesty's too scary!

Ning Xiaoyao peeked to see what had dropped on the floor. Fortunately, it was just tea. If it was food, she'd have felt much sadder. "If there's nothing else, then you can withdraw. I have enough water to drink here." Ning Xiaoyao didn't know why the court lady was crying, nor did she have time to ask. So she asked her to leave instead.

Mute Nanny quickly helped the court lady away. Ning Xiaoyao used a sleeve to wipe the blood off her face before opening her fingers to check on Oil Lamp's tail. By now, the blood had stopped, and the tumor had been cleanly clipped away, thus making this surgery a success. Ning Xiaoyao grabbed a clean handkerchief and wrapped up Oil Lamp's still healing tail before setting him lightly on the ground. "All right, keep your tail away from water for the next few days. Come back three days later so I can have another look."

The weight that had always dragged him down had disappeared, along with the pain. Oil Lamp was so happy that he could dance for joy. Grandpa Ash jumped onto the bed and stared at Ning Xiaoyao with his beady eyes. Ning Xiaoyao was about to pick up the discarded tumor on the ground for closer examination, but felt nervous from Grandpa Ash's state. She proactively admitted her wrongs and said, "That there, I haven't prepared the peanuts yet."

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