When Jing-wang pulled out the crystal bottle, Wang Xi, who was standing not far behind him, immediately stepped forward like an arrow and placed a small coral engraved fishbowl on the table in front of him. The fresh water was already prepared. Jing-wang drew up his sleeve and placed the fish into the water himself, then watched the fish swim around freely for a while.
Jing-wang gave a look at Wang Xi, planning to feed the fish.
Wang Xi knowingly pulled out a bamboo box filled with fish food and handed it to Jing-wang. Then, he turned and gave some eye gestures towards the other servants. The servants brought up the desserts that they’ve carried all the way from the Jing Estate and placed them one by one in front of the fishbowl.
Jing-wang picked out two grains of fish food and threw them into the fish bowl. Then he pulled out a peach blossom cookie, squeezed half of it into pieces, and shared it with Xiao Yu while he nonchalantly ate the remaining half.
The crowd who was bored and had nothing better to do than attentively watch Jing-wang feeding a fish: ???
The crowd expressed that they were all going blind. So Jing-wang was this kind of person?
After Jing-wang placed Li Yu into the fish bowl, Li Yu immediately rubbed cutely against the other’s fingers. Then the fish food and peach blossom cookies came down. The little carp, who’s been favoring the new and bored with the old recently, first only picked the peach blossom cookies and ate them gluttonously. Eating until his stomach was half full, Li Yu then went to eat the fish food.
Jing-wang saw Xiao Yu eating happily and picked out a lunar cookie, breaking it into pieces to feed the fish.
Lately, Li Yu was very willing to try new foods. He smacked his lips and gave it a taste. The new cookie had a peppermint flavor which rushed straight to his head. A person might like this but a fish couldn’t handle it. After Li Yu took a bite, he abandoned it and returned to happily eating the peach blossom cookies. This was how Jing-wang knew, his fish didn’t like lunar cookies.
“There’s no need to prepare lunar cookies in the future.” Wang-gonggong, who can be practically called the parasite that lived in Jing-wang’s stomach, immediately ordered some servants to record this. The servants all nodded their heads in unison.
The people in Jing-wang’s vicinity were dazzled by this scene. Only Ye QingHuan was not surprised at all.
Under the music of traditional instruments, the 2nd Prince Mu TianZhao got up. According to etiquette, the 2nd Prince, who was the oldest Prince, needed to represent all of the Princes and propose a toast to the King of JinJue at the national banquet.
Poised and dignified, Mu TianZhao (2) conversed properly with the King of JinJue. The King of JinJue praised Mu TianZhao (2) unceasingly and drank three cups in succession.
The Emperor was fairly pleased by Mu TianZhao(2)’s performance. The King of JinJue praised the 2nd Prince. The Emperor’s face also gained radiance. Competent and appropriate to the occasion, this was a big strong point of the 2nd Prince.
Mu TianZhao(2) could feel the Emperor’s good mood. With a smile, he looked at the dainty figure beside the King of JinJue.
Lately he’s been suffering defeat repeatedly, not really looked favorably by the Emperor. Recently, an informer he placed in Ganqing Palace sent him a message. The reason the King of JinJue came this time to meet with the Emperor was to marry this little Princess into the nation politically.
In order to recover his relationship with Jing-wang, Mu TianZhao(2) used up plenty of mental and physical effort. Unfortunately Jing-wang completely ignored him. Mu TianZhao(2) also wanted to win over the ChengEn Palace Estate. But Jing-wang and the ChengEn Palace Estate clearly were tied together on the same rope. Since he failed over on Jing-wang’s side, the ChengEn Palace Estate also treated him coldly and indifferently.
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.
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Right on time, the political marriage appeared at the door.
Mu TianZhao(2) schemed well in his heart. Although JinJue was a small border nation, they had money and troops. If he allied with the princess of JinJue, JinJue definitely wouldn’t leave him to support the other Princes. With this, even if the Emperor disliked him, his position wouldn’t be so easily swayed.
As for the Princess of JinJue herself, to be able to become his concubine was an enormous honor for her. He could promise to grant her the title of Guifei after he ascended the throne. The Princess of JinJue definitely won’t oppose this.
Originally Mu TianZhao(2) thought that in order to obtain the aid of JinJue, even if the little Princess was extremely ugly, he’d take her. However, after taking a quick glance at the banquet, he found this princess had the countenance of a flower and face like the moon, and was rather good looking. Compared to the women of this nation, she had a different kind of style to her. Mu TianZhao(2) already felt extremely willing inside.
“Princess.” Mu TianZhao(2) ordered someone to bring up a plate of dessert and said gently: “This is our nation’s famous butterfly pastry. Please have a taste.”
As the name implied, the pastry was made into a butterfly shape. Not to mention, it’s formed into pairs, which was a blessing for married couples to live long and happy lives together.
Mu TianZhao(2) wanted to first create a display to let the other people know that the Princess of JinJue already belonged to him, so as to dissuade others who had intentions towards the Princess.
The Emperor also saw this from where he sat up top. The 2nd Prince most likely found interest in this foreign princess.
The Emperor originally planned to have the heir of ChengEn Palace Estate marry the JinJue princess. However, seeing Ye QingHuan’s solemn expression while accepting the imperial edict, the Emperor thought that the other didn’t seem to be interested in the princess. Therefore, the Emperor wanted to sound out Ye QingHuan’s intentions first. At the very least, he still needed to discuss with ChengEn Estate Palace as well. That’s why he didn’t immediately bestow the marriage edict. Who would have imagined that the 2nd Prince would suddenly jump out.
The Emperor felt somewhat dissatisfied internally. But thinking again, the 2nd Prince probably didn’t know his intentions, so he couldn’t blame the other rashly. He already rejected the notion of marrying the JinJue princess to any of his sons before. However, if the 2nd Prince really wanted to run head first into this wall, and the JinJue Princess was willing to yield and become the 2nd Prince’s concubine, the Emperor wouldn’t say no.
If the 2nd Prince wanted this marriage, then he needed to bring out a suitable and successful plan of action.
The Emperor wanted to see how Mu TianZhao(2) would deal with this matter, so he purposely did not interfere at this time.
The King of JinJue ordered servants to bring the butterfly pastry in front of the princess. The little princess only smiled, but didn’t reach out to take the dessert.
Mu TianZhao(2) assumed that this princess didn’t know the meaning of the butterfly pastry and wanted to take the opportunity to show off a bit. Suddenly, however, he discovered that the JinJue Princess wasn’t even looking at him. Her charming face kept peering far off into the distance.
Mu TianZhao(2): “……”
Mu TianZhao(2) felt somewhat awkward and didn’t rush to speak again. His gaze, however, uncontrollably followed the princess’s line of sight. Then, he saw Jing-wang feeding the fish with a tableful of desserts placed in front of him. The fish was even resting on the edge of the fishbowl, waving its tail.
So the princess was looking at the fish, and it was the fish that would always cause trouble whenever the 2nd Prince encountered it. Every time the fish waved its tail, the princess would reflexively smile.
Mu TianZhao(2) resented secretly. Afraid of losing his manners, after learning that Jing-wang brought the fish, he did his best to pretend the fish didn’t exist. However, this fish who was completely incompatible with him, once again intruded his view.
The princess of JinJue smiled so happily, her entire face was crimson. Occasionally she’d whisper quietly with the King of JinJue. The 2nd Prince only heard a soft ‘fish’ word, unable to hear anything else. But that was enough. He was very certain that this damn fish had already stolen his spotlight.
The JinJue Princess also had bad tastes. How could a fish raised by a mute be comparable to him, the future crown prince?
Mu TianZhao(2)’s eyes flitted to the Emperor. The Emperor also noticed that Jing-wang was feeding fish because of the activity from over here. However, not only did the Emperor not blame Jing-wang for his behavior, but instead, he held a smile as if he was very happy to see Jing-wang busying about for a fish. In Mu TianZhao(2)’s heart, the densely packed vine known as jealousy grew madly.
He was the properly behaving 2nd Prince, the future crown prince. Yet ultimately, he couldn’t match up with a fish. With a heavy face, Mu TianZhao(2) returned to his seat, feeling suffocated inside. After sitting with a blank face for a while, no one came to speak with him. Therefore, the 2nd Prince gave some instructions to the servant responsible for bringing him food.
The servant received the order and went out. Not long after, they returned carrying a bowl in their hands. The bowl was filled with soup.
The servant knelt down trembling with trepidation, and said: “Your highness, the kitchen didn’t prepare carp fish soup today. They need time to boil it so it won’t be ready for a while. This servant was afraid your highness couldn’t wait, so I grabbed a bowl of white tofu soup. Please have some of it……”
Although the servant spoke softly, it didn’t stop people from staring at the 2nd Prince. Mu TianMing(3), who sat not very far from the 2nd Prince deliberately said in a loud voice: “2nd elder brother, is the food at the national banquet not to your taste? How come you suddenly want to drink carp fish soup?”
Mu TianMing(3) purposely shouted out the word “carp.” After many people looked at the 2nd Prince in amazement, they all converged their gazes on Jing-wang.
Because at the scene, only Jing-wang had a carp next to him.
Li Yu lifted his head from the fish bowl and shook it regretfully: Aiya, how embarrassing. The 2nd Prince probably wanted to make him into soup! But he was fine and dandy here by his master munching on stuff.
Mu TianZhao(2): “…….”
Mu TianZhao(2) felt Jing-wang’s ice-cold gaze shooting over here and strangely felt panicked. But clearly, he didn’t even do anything.
Mu TianZhao(2) clenched his teeth and scolded: “3nd brother, you’re thinking too much. I only suddenly wanted to drink some soup.”
The 2nd Prince felt his heart twist terribly inside. Was people even going to comment on him for wanting to drink fish soup now?
Jing-wang gave Mu TianZhao(2) a cold look. Wang Xi stood to the side without saying a word. However, he already internally cursed out the 2nd Prince on Jing-wang’s behalf.
The Emperor furrowed his brows. Drinking fish soup wasn’t really anything normally. However, since Jing-wang was the only person who brought a fish over, the 2nd Prince’s intentional targeting couldn’t be more apparent. Perhaps even the 2nd Prince didn’t think that his negative decision would be exposed by the 3rd Prince.
The Emperor loved the house and everything involved with it, so he had a very good impression of the little carp. Even he felt the 2nd Prince was somewhat rash and overtaken by his emotions.
The JinJue Princess was just watching the fish that Jing-wang raised. Looking at it several times from afar, she liked it a lot. After knowing that the 2nd Prince wanted to drink fish soup, the little princess immediately jumped up and said angrily: “2nd prince, the fish is so cute yet you want to drink fish soup right in front of its face. Who would have thought you were this kind of person!”
The JinJue princess somewhat disdained the butterfly pastry that the 2nd Prince gave her just now. Despite her young age, she already saw through the 2nd Prince’s schemes towards her and towards JinJue. She was also aware that if she married the 2nd Prince, she could only become a concubine. The JinJue princess wasn’t dumb. JinJue’s strength can help the 2nd Prince obtain the throne, but in exchange, she’d only receive a useless concubine position. It wasn’t worth it. Plus, whether the 2nd Prince can ascend the throne, and when he can ascend the throne were all uncertain. JinJue didn’t want to get dragged into the fight between the Princes so easily.
Therefore, the JinJue Princess completely ignored the 2nd Prince. After learning that the 2nd Prince secretly wanted to drink fish soup, other people didn’t want to say it out loud, but the fearless little princess just had to jump out and step on the 2nd Prince painfully a few times. This was also to express towards the Emperor that she didn’t want to marry the 2nd Prince. Don’t even think about it!
“Princess, you misunderstand. It’s not like that……”
Mu TianZhao(2) was temporarily speechless. Another fire of fury burned in his heart, but he didn’t even know how to explain himself.
Was he supposed to say? It’s not that he wanted to drink fish soup in front of this fish, but rather, he wanted to slaughter this fish and make it into fish soup?
The Emperor could see very clearly that the JinJue Princess had no interest in the 2nd Prince. It’s best to stop the 2nd Prince from using some other inappropriate plans. To say it nicely, the princess was hard to please. To say it unpleasantly, it’s a failed seduction attempt.
–how proud the Emperor felt for the 2nd Prince before was how embarrassed he felt because of him right now.
Looks like Ye QingHuan was more suitable after all.
From afar, the Emperor looked at the completely silent Ye-shizi who was sitting beside Jing-wang. He quietly gave Ye-shizi a mature and steady label and planned to keep ChengEn Gong and Ye-shizi behind after the banquet to speak with them privately.
Later on the 2nd Prince received the news. The Emperor planned to marry the JinJue Princess to the heir of ChengEn Palace Estate and was currently meeting with ChengEn Gong.
So these people were actually in cohorts…… while he was completely humiliated at the national banquet and received nothing in return.
The JinJue Princess rejected him. ChengEn Place Estate didn’t want to support him. Even Jing-wang, as well as Jing-wang’s fish were all laughing at him in mockery!
The 2nd Prince felt like he already endured for too long. He really couldn’t take it anymore and needed to do something.
PFFT— COCKBLOCKED BY A FISH!
thanks for the chapter!
Thank You for the chapter ( ∩ˇωˇ∩)♡
Fish slapped … face slapped by a fish, hahahahaha! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🐟
ah yes, a traditional example of male arrogance- “this princess (who is seemingly cherished well by her father) will be thankful to become my concubine (who will have no power and only be expected to serve him and give him babies)” 🙄
the classic “you should be thankful I chose you” garbage man
Hahaha not even matched for a fish😂😂.
Tnx for the chapter!!!☺️
watching the 2nd prince struggles because of a fish is so hilarious lmfao
I’d also like to ask the translator whether that’s the way they translated the phrase or that’s how the author wrote it. Of course, the only thing that would change would be who needs to be mindful of the way they phrase their sentences. If it’s the author, I think it would help if the translator made a note of it to let us readers know.
It might not seem like a big thing for everyone else, but I assure you that it’s actually a massive difference between having a condition and being defined by said condition. Nobody would want to be pointed at and be called by their condition. ‘oh, look, that’s that covid person.’ it’s not as if that person is a walking virus. They just have/had the virus. (sorry, I had to use this example in hopes that would be easier to understand since, even though the governments everywhere are denying it, people are still getting infected and dying or suffering from side effects that could lead to permanent disabilities bc of it).
As for your argument of the word being misconstrued by society, I’d have to point out that language itself is something constructed by society. And society can be a fearsome thing. There are plenty of disabilities that have been used to belittle someone, thus making it seem as just having a disability makes you less human. If you’re not convinced, feel free to head onto twitter or any other social media where disabled people are allowed to express their opinions and you’ll find many discussions around this concept.
In this current example, being ‘a mute’ is something society has used to describe someone who can’t or refuses to speak, is considered dull and slow to respond, isn’t popular, whilst being mute (having mutism) means that person has an illness that made it impossible for them to speak.
Have you ever seen how the majority of people reacts when they notice/are told someone has mutism? Have you seen them how they try to speak slowly, as if they worry the other isn’t able to understand what they’re talking about, even go as far as using pictures to show the objects they’re referring to? That’s what happens when society made it so people don’t understand that mutism is the inability of speaking as opposed to the derogatory use of the word.
I don’t have mutism. I have other disabilities tho and am part of different communities where we talk about such things as the use of the name of a disability as derogatory / insult.
If you yourself are disabled and don’t mind someone using your disability to insult someone else, then that is your own personal right. But you can’t say that others don’t mind it. You can just say that you yourself don’t.
Lastly, people not wanting their disabilities used as insults doesn’t mean they think there’s something bad/wrong with having said disability. It only means that disability is a disability. It’s not a means for someone to belittle others, nor does it make disabled people less than abled bodied ones. It merely emphasises that disabled people don’t like being seen looked at in a negative light because of their disabilities.
Those who care for Jing Wan are aware of his disability but they’re cool with it, Wang Xi even understands all his micro expressions. But we’ll always have people like the second prince etc. It will feel quite unrealistic if everyone didn’t look down on JIng Wan. I’m not saying it’s right to, look down on disabled people or anyone, just saying that’s how society truly works.
Then enlighten us. Give us how the author or the translator have to phrase it according to your standard. Give us an example for that in this comment since you strongly disagree and fight over it
Translating is hard work. If you had acknowledged their work, I wouldn’t have typed out so much. But readers are not entitled to such requests. We should appreciate their work. If it makes you uncomfortable, you should stop reading. Characters calling Jing-Wang a mute in this novel isn’t perpetuating it, but only showing the mindset of that era. In many, many books, there are terms that are offensive that are used to describe people. And most importantly, it’s fiction. It’s better to sit back and enjoy instead of taking it very seriously.
well he is a mute and Jing does not mind since he’ll be killing them anyways
Literalmente, ninguém se importa
treating a disability like it is a taboo that should never be mentioned in front of the said disability even in general non-offensive settings is actually the precursor to the isolation disabled people suffer about being “different” or “defective”. because it’s people like you who don’t want to talk about it and normalize it, instead treating it as a taboo.
mentioning a disability to define a person is, unfortunately, what most people in the society have made the norm. and you need to keep in mind that this novel is set in ancient time, when these practices were even more prevalent than modern times. depicting it like shows the author’s consistency and the effort of doing actual study about the customs of those time periods.
Neither the author, nor the translators have any obligation to accommodate one person and change their entire work for them. I’m sorry but that’s too much entitlement coming from readers. If you don’t like the work, you can stop reading.
Someone has a problem with a fish… looks like the 2nd prince is not mature enough… even a fish can block him. 😂😂😂 I keep imagining Li Yu as a little carp – Finding Nemo edition, or the Legend of Exorcism edition.
Thank you for the chapters! 💖💖
So he wants the fish’s help? 😂😂😂
i like the princess! hopefully she lives long and has a happy marriage!
the dog owner is also nice, so if they’re able to stay out of the plot, these two should get along well and live happily together (:
Xiao Yu just has to exist and he’s already ruining 2nd prince’s whole career. 😂
But really, jinjue princess is only 16 years old and she already know how to look out for her country best interest. Meanwhile 2nd prince is willing to create unnecessary war with neighbour country just to increase his chance to get the throne. Look at jinjue princess, 2nd prince, she’s younger than you but she’s already far better a royalty than you. Aren’t you ashamed?😭