Li Yu felt a bit unsteady on his legs and feet. Perhaps it was because he’s been a fish for too long and got used to swimming. When he first started walking, he felt like he was floating like a feather as he staggered around. However, this kind of feeling didn’t persist for too long before he adapted.
Because there were no suitable shoes, he was barefooted. Good thing the temperature was warm, so he didn’t feel too cold. The grounds of the Jing Estate were cleaned pretty well. He was also paying special attention to the bottom of his feet. After leaving the fake mountain, he walked for a long time and still didn’t encounter any accidents.
It’s only his outfit, the inner robe and barefoot, that looked really somewhat appalling. But it was also because of this that when several servants bumped into the unfamiliar looking Li Yu, they didn’t dare to come over to inquire.
Today was Jing-wang’s planned banquet. There were numerous guests inside the Jing Estate who were all aristocrats and nobles. There were imperial guards standing outside of the estate. Only people with invitation letters could enter. Therefore, there shouldn’t be any unidentified characters inside the Prince’s Estate. For someone to be dressed like this, they were most likely a young lord from some aristocratic family throwing a tantrum.
However, letting this young lord walk around like this wasn’t suitable either. There were already servants from the Jing Estate dashing over to find Wang-gonggong to take care of this while the rest of the people continued to follow Li Yu from afar.
An softhearted older female servant saw Li Yu walking with bare feet and really couldn’t bear watching any longer. She walked over and asked in a soft voice: “Which family’s young lord are you? Why would you be dressed like this?”
Li Yu has heard plenty of words from Wang Xi so he had no problem conversing with ancient people. He said vaguely: “Aunty, I…… I’m a guest here who accidentally got lost.”
While planning, he felt everything was well prepared. But in reality, not only did he not have clothes, he didn’t have shoes. After finally resolving this issue on the spot, he thought that the kitchen would be very easy to find. But actually the Jing Estate was really too big. It was already not easy wandering out of the fake mountains, but he didn’t really dare to ask for directions. He was just feeling anxious.
The aunty saw his clean, pretty, and likeable face and his exceptionally lively, pitch black eyes that were like black pills inside mercury, and felt some fondness in her heart.
The aunty said: “Since you are lost, how about I lead you to find Wang-gonggong?”
How could Li Yu meet with Wang Xi? He hastily said: “No need. Wang-gonggong must definitely be in Ninghui Hall right now. If I just casually walk around, I should be able to find my way back…… Aunty, do you know where the kitchens are?”
With a reddened face, Li Yu rubbed his stomach. The aunty understood and said with a smile: “Are you hungry? If you trust me, then please come with me.”
This aunty was dressed like a servant of the Jing estate. She even wore an apron around her waist. Li Yu subconsciously trusted people in the Jing Estate so he followed the aunty to the kitchens.
Li Yu and the aunty chatted a lot along the way. So actually this aunty was a chef at the Jing Estate. Li Yu really felt like he was exceptionally lucky. With a chef from the kitchens guiding him, was there any need to fear not finding a place to eat?
This Aunty’s surname was Xu. After bringing Li Yu to the back kitchens, Li Yu saw the food that he yearned day and night for; his gaze even turned fixed.
Aunty Xu brought over a plate with a smile and asked what Li Yu wanted to eat. Li Yu looked at the food with saliva dripping down his chin. Without hesitation, he gave a long list of dish names.
Aunty Xu picked out some according to his likes and filled a total of two plates: “These dishes have already been served to the masters so they won’t be used again. These are the extra portions. No one touched them. Little lord, eat as much as you like.”
Then Aunty Xu grabbed a wooden bowl, filled it with the delicious smelling white rice, and put it on the same tray to give to Li Yu.
After Li Yu changed into a human, this was actually the first time someone treated him so amiably. The hot steam from the food brought tears to his eyes. He thanked Aunty Xu, accepted the bowl, and started eating with big bites.
Human food was exceptionally flavorful, blossoming on the tip of his tongue. It made him feel like the time he spent as a fish was just a dream, however–
He lowered his head and looked at his bare naked feet. This was only a temporary shapeshifting medicine. It shouldn’t be long before he had to change back into a fish.
Seeing Li Yu devour the food ravenously like he was starved for several days, Aunty Xu tried to persuade him to slow down, terrified he’d choke. Li Yu smiled, but didn’t try to explain.
“Little lord, how come you’re all alone?” Aunty Xu asked hesitatingly. Seeing the youth before her about the same age as her youngest son, she couldn’t help but feel concerned.
Li Yu recalled something that made him sad. Yet he couldn’t recklessly mention Jing Wang’s name, so randomly insinuated: “My mas…master, is arranging marriage with a second……wife. He has no time to bother with me, so I came out to take a walk.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Hearing these words, Aunty Xu was stunned. First it was master, then it was wife. So this youth was actually some nobleman’s male concubine?
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However, wearing an inner robe the entire time really wasn’t good. Aunty Xu looked at Li Yu’s figure and grabbed one of her youngest son’s clean clothes, as well as a pair of shoes. The clothes were a verdant green. It was the same color as the water grass that Li Yu liked. Li Yu was just worried about not being able to find suitable clothes to wear and also not having shoes. Upon seeing this, he was exuberated. As he put on the clothes, he thought briefly, and still wore the inner garments and underpants that he had swiped from Jing-wang’s place on the inside.
Aunty Xu was afraid to make Li Yu awkward, so she didn’t continue asking.
Li Yu finally was able to eat a human meal. He ate until his stomach was slightly bulging before reluctantly putting down his chopsticks. After eating, he strolled around with Aunty Xu in the kitchens to digest food. This was a habit that he established after being raised by Jing Wang. He still maintained it after changing into a human.
The back kitchens of ancient times seemed rather exciting. Li Yu looked at the chopping block and kitchen knives with novelty. However, he was very well behaved and knew that some chefs have their taboos. Therefore, he only used his eyes to look and didn’t randomly touch anything.
Li Yu discovered a fish basket. Recalling the a thousand carp soup that Guifei-niangniang was having when he just transmigrated, he became curious: “Aunty, are you also going to cook thousand carp soup?”
Aunty Xu laughed: “That’s used for birthdays in the Imperial Palace. The Jing Estate doesn’t have that habit. His highness did often drink plenty of fish soup before. However, for some reason, he hasn’t drank any lately.”
In the latter part of the sentence, aunty Xu was somewhat talking to herself. Li Yu’s hearing was sharp so he was able to catch it. He thought internally, was it perhaps because of him?
Jing-wang really pampered this fish after all.
Recalling all of the good treatments Jing-wang had given him, Li Yu couldn’t resist feeling a bit sorrowful.
Aunty Xu asked him with a smile: “The little lord mentioned fish soup, was it because you wanted to drink fish soup?”
Li Yu hastily shook his head. He was a fish, why would he drink fish soup? Stop that immediately. Then, he started speaking in a roundabout fashion to ask Aunty Xu where the opera stage was set up.
According to his plans, after eating, he was going to watch some opera and then start heading back. Because of the clothes issue and getting lost, he wasted plenty of time. Who knew how much longer the shapeshifting medication was going to last.
Aunty Xu told him. The opera stage was set up in the YaYin courtyard near Ninghui Hall.
Li Yu planned to start rushing towards YaYin courtyard. Before he left, he saw several bamboo boxes placed on the kitchen counter.
Li Yu thought these bamboo boxes looked somewhat familiar. Aunty Xu generously opened the boxes for him to see: “This is the fish food that his highness ordered. There’s even several kinds. Though, they’re really not anything rare.”
Li Yu’s nose felt sour for some reason. He pointed at the box that contained red colored fish food and said: “Can I take some?”
Aunty Xu said: “Of course you can. The kitchens prepared plenty so no need to worry about the amount. However, these are all for fish to eat. Little lord, you still want these?”
Li Yu nodded his head wildly: “……ye, yes.”
Aunty Xu thought he was also raising fish so she grabbed an empty box for him and filled it half way.
Learning from ancient people’s habits, Li Yu stuffed the box into his sleeve, gave thanks to Aunty Xu, and headed off towards YaYin courtyard.
Passing the Ninghui Hall, Li Yu thought guardedly that he definitely had to endure not heading over to take a peek. What did the meeting between the protagonist gong and shou have anything to do with this fish; this fish didn’t need to do anything.
He firmly refrained from looking towards the direction of Ninghui Hall. When he reached YaYin courtyard, he could already hear the sound of music from far away. The imperial guards outside of YaYin courtyard, however, stopped him and wanted to see his waist amulet.
Li Yu thought: crap, how come no one checked this when he was in the kitchens. Why did they need to check this just to listen to an opera?
And plus, he didn’t even have any waist amulets, ah!
Li Yu didn’t know, because he put on the old plain clothes belonging to Aunty Xu’s son and then put on plain shoes, he looked like a regular servant. According to the Jing Estate rules, regular servants couldn’t casually enter YaYin courtyard. That’s why the imperial guard stopped him.
Li Yu didn’t dare to argue with the imperial guard. It’s not like he had to listen to the opera anyways. There wasn’t much time left for him. Since this place didn’t accept him, there were other places that did accept him. Li Yu astutely decided to change locations. As soon as he turned around, however, he saw a familiar person –Wang-gonggong, head on.
……wasn’t this Wang Xi!
Li Yu didn’t have a chance to even greet him when Wang Xi waved his hand and ordered all of the imperial guards to come over and surround Li Yu.
“Grab that person quickly!” Wang Xi was still panting, obviously from running around for a long time. He was originally searching with Jing-wang in the flower garden and didn’t really pay attention to the news passed over from elsewhere. Then he heard the house servants say that there was a young lord who was wearing an inner robe and underpants, walking around randomly inside the estate. No matter how he thought about it, Wang Xi felt this person was extremely likely to be the thief that stole Jing-wang’s clothes.
Following the same line of thought, the clothes and fish both disappeared at the same time. Then shouldn’t the person who stole the clothes also be the same one who stole the fish? He immediately reported to Jing-wang and rushed over to take a look.
Li Yu saw Wang Xi blocking him, and felt shocked. However, he immediately recalled that he was a human right now. The arrangement he had set up in Jing-wang’s room shouldn’t have been discovered so easily, therefore, he definitely couldn’t act timidly first and make Wang Xi suspect anything.
Li Yu asked with a smile: “Wang-gonggong, what’s the matter?”
Wang Xi huffed coldly: “You heinous thief! You stole his highness’s fish and still dare to ask what’s the matter?!”
Li Yu: !!!
Wang-gonggong always treated him pleasantly. To be suddenly scolded was so strange QQQ.
Wait. Li Yu abruptly realized. Don’t tell him, the fish pillow and the window that he purposely opened, were both seen through?
There wasn’t much time left. If he got captured by Wang Xi and performed a grand transformation show into a live fish in front of all of these imperial guards……
Li Yu wanted to calm down, but this wasn’t something that could be resolved by calming down. He must first find a place to hide. He couldn’t change back to a fish in front of all of these people!
Stuck by a sudden inspiration, Li Yu pulled out something from his sleeve and yelled loudly: “It’s over here–”
He used all of his strength to throw away the thing inside his sleeve. While Wang Xi and the imperial guards were all stunned, he took the opportunity to run off immediately!
Originally, Wang Xi wasn’t completely certain that the youth before him was the thief or not. He was just testing him first. Unexpectedly, this person actually ran……didn’t this prove that he really was the thief!
But this person moved too quickly and he didn’t see clearly what was thrown. Grinding his molar teeth, Wang Xi was really terrified that this person threw the Master Fish out, and quickly ordered the imperial guards to search and get to the bottom of this. He himself ordered the rest of the people to start giving chase.
Li Yu ran fast like the wind, hastily finding a room to hide into.
Jing-wang was still searching all over in the flower garden. After receiving the message that Wang Xi urgently sent, he also rushed over to meet up with Wang Xi. Together, they trapped Li Yu inside the room.
The thing that was thrown out beforehand was confirmed to be a bamboo box that stored fish food. This immediately confirmed even more that this person stole the fish. Wang Xi was extremely angry. Just wait until they caught this person, he was really going to torment them! This person not only disrupted the banquet inside the Jing Estate, he also stole his highness’s clothes and his cute and lively Master Fish. He deserved to be hacked into a thousand pieces by a knife!
“Come out quickly and hand over his highness’s fish. Or else you will face the consequences of your actions!” Wang-gonggong smacked on the door, yelling sternly.
Jing-wang’s face was heavy like water, holding his sword and standing outside the room. Li Yu poked a hole through the paper window and looked outside. As soon as he saw Jing-wang, his fish instincts took over. He subconsciously wanted to go outside and wag his fish tail.
However, he immediately remembered that he was still a human. Jing-wang didn’t recognize him. If they met directly, he might be chopped to death with one hit. Wang Xi wanted him to hand over the fish. On one hand, Li Yu felt somewhat touched. On the other hand, he was stuck dumb and terrified.
Fish was right here before their eyes. What exactly was he supposed to hand over!
He originally planned to leave the room after everyone who was searching for him left. Seeing this situation with Jing-wang and Wang Xi both guarding him like a tiger watching its prey, he probably wouldn’t be able to go out for a while.
Face full of tears, Li Yu: …… he only ate a meal. How did it become like this?
Suddenly, there was a notification from the system!
“Host, there isn’t much time left for maintaining your human form……”
The shitty system normally pretended to be dead. Yet now it was giving him a countdown!
This was the starting process of changing back!
Finally obtaining one chance to shapeshift, yet it was already used up after just eating a meal. And this wasn’t even the important part. The important part was that he was being barricaded in this room by Jing-wang. If he turned into a fish inside this room, how was he supposed to explain how a fish appeared while this big live person ‘suddenly disappeared’?
Li Yu thought of a plan. Carefully taking note of the countdown, he yelled to the people outside: “There’s no way I’m going out. If you’re so capable– then come in and catch me. If you catch me, I’ll hand over the fish!”
Li Yu was making a gamble here in order to win time for himself, as well as prepare for the aftermath. Normally, when someone voluntarily yelled at the people guarding outside to charge in, the people outside would definitely feel that it was a trap and in return, wouldn’t recklessly enter!
He thought Jing-wang would definitely hesitate for a moment, yet–
Just as he finished saying these words, the next second, Jing-wang came crashing through the door.
Li Yu was startled and let out an ‘ah’ in surprise.
Mu TianChi immediately saw a youth in verdant clothes that he had never seen before. The youth turned his head back to glance at him quickly before hastily running towards the only opened window in this room.
Mu TianChi got tricked before. Because of the wide opened window, he mistakenly thought that the thief escaped through that window and didn’t end up catching the person. It was probably a fog that the thief purposely set up in order to make him search in the wrong direction.
This time, after he trapped the person in the room, he placed guards in ambush outside every window to make sure they were all well guarded before ordering Wang Xi to start yelling outside the door.
Mu TianChi gave chase with large strides. The youth already hopped onto the windowsill and turned back to give him a mischievous smile.
Mu TianChi was stunned briefly. Not knowing if it was a misperception, but this youth seemed……
This was a delicate and pretty, clean-looking boy with eyes bright like colored glass. The appearance of his smiling face actually seemed inconceivably familiar.
With this pause, Mu TianChi’s hand movements were also delayed for a moment. He wanted to grab this suspicious youth, but was only fast enough to grab a corner of his sleeves.
With a flash, the youth jumped off of the windowsill and headed outside.
Mu TianChi wasn’t in a rush. He quietly waited for the imperial guard lying in ambush outside the window to catch the youth. Yet after waiting for a while, he didn’t notice any activity at all.
Mu TianChi circled outside the room himself to take a look. The imperial guard hidden in the shadows there reported that they didn’t see anyone at all. With furrowed brows, Mu TianChi looked and only saw a pile of clothes scattered on the floor outside the window. Meanwhile, his fish was currently in a teacup on the ground, flopping around happily.
Splash! Presto change-o! Fish…lmao 🤣❤️🐟
🤣🤣🤣
Thank You for the chapter (´,,•ω•,,)♡
safe!
thanks for the chapter!
no wonder some readers called him brainless stupid and idiot
Mission success!
this chapter is one my favorites ❤❤❤
Li Yu taking calculated risks and being really bad at math 😌🤏❤
😂😂😂liyu’s 2 braincells already have to deal with shitty system! how could they deal with maths!!!
the aunty is really precious, can you adopt me miss? QAQ
the little smile!! our fish is so pretty!!
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHTTTT
hehehehe! second first meeting and he thinks he’s cute
ahhh, they finally ‘met’ as humans. but if that is the only pill to turn back to a human… is this going to be their own human interaction until fish turns back completely?
they finally met!!