Jing Wang memorized the carp demon’s name, thinking the surname Li and first name Yu was pretty fitting. Calling him Xiao Yu regularly before wasn’t even wrong.
However, the demons in the stories were at least a few hundred if not thousands of years old. A demon that’s only 18; This kind of age was old enough for a human, but to a demon, it was still too young.
However, it’s not impossible that the age that the carp demon told him was fake…… but this didn’t hinder Jing-wang’s assumptions. He had long felt that this carp demon didn’t have a very high cultivation. After all, this demon can only maintain human shape for two hours.
As for why he came here, the carp demon seemed to want to keep it a secret. Jing-wang wasn’t in a hurry to investigate because he didn’t want to scare Xiao Yu away.
Jing-wang continued to write: why save me.
Li Yu: ???
From the start, Li Yu never considered helping Jing-wang clean his eyes as anything important. To him, it was only doing what he could.
Thinking back and forth, he thought Jing-wang was asking about the matter with ChengEn Palace Estate. Li Yu stated as briefly as possible: “I coincidentally learned about the 2nd Prince’s scheme and thought I’d inform Ye-shizi to raise his vigilance. But I only wrote the letter. Everything else that followed depended completely on the strategy you and Ye-shizi concocted. So it really doesn’t count as me saving you.”
Jing-wang was briefly stunned by this side-tracked answer. After he recovered, he didn’t actually correct anything. Xiao Yu didn’t even take the credit for such a big contribution such as saving Ye QingHuan, helping him clean his eyes probably was even more insignificant to the fish.
In his heart, Jing-wang felt more and more satisfied towards this fish.
Jing-wang then wrote: Where do you live right now?
Li Yu thought, wasn’t he still living at Jing Estate right now, interacting with Jing-wang from sunrise to sunset?
But saying this would definitely make Jing-wang suspicious. Therefore, Li Yu created a lie and said: “I…… have no permanent residence and drift around all over……”
Jing-wang: “…….”
Jing-wang really wanted to expose this fish, but at this moment, outside of the waiting room were still the Emperor, the concubines, and such people. He couldn’t pick this kind of crucial moment to reveal the truth.
Not only could he not expose the truth, he needed to do everything he could to protect the secret. It’s best to immediately settle the human form of this lying little fish into the Jing Estate as well and brand Xiao Yu with his mark. To directly appear inside the Imperial Palace like this was too conspicuous, and also too dangerous.
Since you have no place to stay, come to the Jing Estate. Jing-wang wrote nonstop.
Li Yu: “……”
Li Yu couldn’t believe it. Was Jing-wang……willing to provide him, someone of unknown origins, a place to stay?
“Are… are you offering me shelter?” Li Yu wanted to confirm again: “But why? We’ve only…… met a few times?”
Jing-wang wrote with a serious expression: You saved me, saved ChengEn Palace Estate. I trust you.
Li Yu: “……”
So the identity issue that troubled him for such a long time was… this easily resolved?
“But if I enter the Jing Estate…… I’m, I’m very busy. I’m afraid I might not have time to help you do anything……”
Li Yu had a difficult expression on his face. If he could stick his identity under the Jing Estate’s name, that would naturally be great. In the future, he’d be able to walk around the Prince’s Estate. But if this happened, he actually needed to help Jing-wang do things instead of just freeloading inside the Estate. According to his condition of only being able to turn into a human for two hours per day, the most he could do was sweep a courtyard. The Jing Estate shouldn’t be lacking in this aspect right?
No one was more aware of this fish’s daily activities than Jing-wang. Eating and drinking everyday. Occasionally accompanying him while he read or drew. Most of the time the fish spent blowing bubbles, swimming around. Other than that, it covered itself with the grass leaf blanket and slept soundly.
Lately, the carp demon didn’t even bother absorbing essence. Who knew if it was being lazy or fake busy. Jing-wang has quite the complaints.
No matter what, making the fish sweep a courtyard was not possible. Jing-wang wrote: No need to worry about too much. You only need to do one thing well to stay in the Prince’s Estate.
“……what is it?” Li Yu asked in anticipation.
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.
Alcu-kjcu: P tjnf j olrt. Qtfc P’w cba qgfrfca, tfiq wf gjlrf ws olrt.
Ol Te: !!!
Alcu-kjcu rffwfv jiwbra jogjlv Ol Te vlvc’a ecvfgrajcv jcv fnfc fzafcvfv j olcufg ab qblca abkjgvr atf vlgfmalbc bo atf mgsraji ybaaif. Qtfc atf akb qfbqif rja vbkc pera cbk, Ol Te vfilyfgjafis erfv tlr ybvs ab yibmx atf nlfk bo atf mgsraji ybaaif rb Alcu-kjcu kbeivc’a vlrmbnfg atja atf olrt lcrlvf atf mgsraji ybaaif tjv vlrjqqfjgfv.
As a result, Jing-wang really did seem like he didn’t discover anything. Otherwise, he wouldn’t specifically point at it for Li Yu to see.
So Jing-wang wants him to raise fish?
Li Yu hastily nodded in agreement. He definitely needed to accept this good offer. He didn’t understand anything else, but he was still pretty adept at raising himself.
Li Yu said in delight: “Ok. I can do this! I can help your highness raise fish!”
The two people were just conversing when a knock abruptly sounded from outside of the waiting room. Jing-wang gave Li Yu a sideways glance. Li Yu swiftly covered his mouth.
Wang Xi said from outside: “Your highness, the Emperor is asking about you.”
Jing-wang used the excuse of changing clothes to come to the waiting room at the side hall, but it’s not like he could stay for 2 hours. Jing-wang gave Li Yu another look and then wrote: You may watch fish for me right now. The waiting room will be guarded. Rest assured.
Jing-wang gently patted Li Yu on the shoulder.
“Your highness…..”
A warm current surged in Li Yu’s heart in that split second. He sniffled, feeling touched. Jing-wang just solved all of the issues worrying Li Yu the most for him. Not only that, he even told Li Yu to rest assured.
Because there were Jing-wang’s words, Li Yu believed them wholeheartedly.
No wonder he’d be so happy to learn that Jing-wang was willing to provide him shelter. Because staying by the tyrant master’s side made him feel the safest.
Jing-wang walked out of the waiting room by himself and ordered Wang Xi to guard it in his stead, not permitting anyone to enter.
Although Wang Xi didn’t understand, he still followed the instructions.
The Emperor ordered the imperial physician to examine the injury on Qiu-shi’s arm again, but the physician didn’t find anything new. The Emperor himself was also feeling, perhaps he was overthinking this and wrongfully accused Qiu-shi. His expression towards Qiu-shi became somewhat better.
With all of the concubines present, it was impossible for Qiu-shi to remain lying in bed this entire time. Not long afterwards, she accompanied the Emperor and came out to greet the other concubines.
Seeing how, despite her illness, Qiu-shi had exquisite makeup and was wearing a flimsy, little short robe, Concubine Qian silently cursed this foxy seductress in her heart. However, Concubine Qian ultimately couldn’t insult her right in front of the Emperor’s face. Since the Emperor didn’t punish Qiu-shi again, concubine Qian followed the Emperor closely. Momentarily holding back her suspicions towards Qiu-shi, she affectionately called Qiu-shi sister.
When Qiu-shi was still Guifei, Qiu-shi really looked down on concubine Qian who couldn’t compete against her good looks. Yet now she actually pandered to concubine Qian’s cheerful conversation, acting as if the two people had a really good relationship or something.
Jing-wang was originally in a black colored robe. Now, he changed into a sapphire blue robe with silver linings and came out. For once, the Emperor did not see the crystal bottle he carried around constantly and teased him: “After getting wet a few times, now you know finally learn to put it down?”
Wang Xi was in charge of guarding the waiting room so he didn’t accompany Jing-wang. Jing-wang thought that explaining himself and also letting the Emperor understand his thoughts was somewhat troublesome. So he simply remained silent and let the Emperor misunderstand.
Qiu-shi and Concubine Qian chatted idly. Jing-wang glanced at Qiu-shi from afar. Although he secretly sent people to give the info to the 3rd Prince. It looks like the 3rd Prince didn’t really make much progress.
With scheming thoughts, concubine Qian attempted to touch Qiu-shi’s arm several times. However, Qiu-shi was very vigilant and always had loyal servants protecting her side. They promptly nudged away concubine Qian. Unable to get close, concubine Qian felt somewhat anxious regarding the task her son gave her. At the same time, she couldn’t raise Qiu-shi’s suspicions.
The 3rd Prince was also in a difficult situation. Although he received the info, he was still skeptical. His people went to find that servant, Huan Hua, inside the imperial gardens. But he really couldn’t rashly suggest examining Qiu-shi’s injury again unless more aspects of this situation came to light. By all appearances, Qiu-shi was his step mother after all.
The 6th Prince thought the same as him and continued to hint that he should wait for news. Therefore, the 3rd Prince could only make roundabout inquiries about Qiu-shi’s injury. After a while, even the Emperor became somewhat annoyed and stared coldly at the 3rd Prince. The 3rd Prince was afraid of being too deliberate and making the Emperor displeased. After a while, he naturally quieted down.
Qiu-shi assumed that her scheme had prevailed by now and knelt down to beg: “Your majesty, Zhao-er(2) has really learned from his mistake. Now that I’ve been injured, he is very concerned about my well-being. Since he left the Imperial palace, I haven’t seen him at all. Can I plead leniency from you to allow Zhao-er(2) into the palace to accompany me? I will be forever grateful.”
For Mu TianZhao(2) to scheme against ChengEn Palace Estate, Qiu-shi also knew he caused huge trouble. She didn’t dare to ask the Emperor for a direct pardon, but instead begged him to lift Marquis An’s solitary confinement first. As long as he could enter the imperial palace, they could gently resolve the rest later. Although the 2nd Prince has been given the title of Marquis by the Emperor in haste, according to Qiu-shi’s understanding of the Emperor, as long as the Emperor’s heart softened once, in the future, she can slowly make him happy little by little. Who knows, maybe she could even make the Emperor change his mind and give Marquis An the title of Wang……
Even the mute 5th prince can get the title of Wang, how could Qiu-shi accept this. Her Zhao-er(2) was the oldest of all the princes!
Qiu-shi was actually pretty good at guessing the Emperor’s mood. However, since the Emperor already saw Marquis An’s request, for Qiu-shi to come begging for the same thing, the Emperor’s heart turned cold once more. Qiu-shi was indeed injured by the fire, but was this some kind of meritorious achievement? Why were they coming one after the other to request for his favor?
The Emperor said coolly: “Recuperate from your injury first. Don’t bring up anything else.”
The Emperor didn’t actually yield. Qiu-shi was stunned. Even though her stomach was filled with words, she didn’t dare to request again.
The Emperor didn’t want to discuss Marquis An anymore and purposely changed the topic: “Oh right, Jing-wang’s fish. You’ve seen it before, right?”
……fish?
When she heard this word, all of Qiu-shi’s humiliating memories gushed forth like a flood. She could forget everyone but she would never forget this shadow in her heart. The terrifying memory of getting hit in the face by a fish almost made her bite her lip and break skin. She stated in panic: “Why would your majesty suddenly mention fish?”
The Emperor said: “This fish is no ordinary fish. Now it grew gold scales. I feel like this is a rather good sign. You should have a look as well.”
For Zhongcui Palace to set on fire, it was really unlucky. The Emperor viewed Jing-wang’s fish as an auspicious sign and remembered that Qiu-shi seemed to dislike this fish. Naturally, he hoped Qiu-shi would stop being obstinate and use this opportunity to reconcile with Jing-wang. There was no need to drag in Marquis An? Also, it might wash away the unlucky aura on Qiu-shi.
Qiu-shi: Huh??
Qiu-shi couldn’t follow the Emperor’s train of thought. The Emperor already turned towards Jing-wang with a smile and ordered Jing-wang to bring the little carp over.
Jing-wang’s heart squeezed. Two hours haven’t passed, who knows if Xiao Yu changed back yet.
There was no way Jing-wang could bring Xiao Yu out of the waiting room right now. Therefore, he thought of a plan to stall for time. Because Wang Xi wasn’t by his side, Jing-wang asked Luo RuiSheng for a brush and ink. He lifted the brush and wrote slowly. All of this wasted some more time.
The Emperor saw Jing-wang’s bold, magnificent calligraphy and felt pretty happy. What Jing-wang meant was approximately: just now when he was changing clothes inside the waiting room at the side hall, he fed the fish at the same time. The fish ate too much and was taking a short nap right now.
The Emperor: “……”
The Emperor felt a deep awkwardness briefly. He knew Jing-wang loved this fish. Also the fish now grew gold scales. The Emperor thought this kind of auspicious sign meant the fish was not the same as regular fish, that it required a special kind of tolerance.
The Emperor said with a smile: “Since it’s like this, then as punishment, Jing-wang must play a few games with me while we wait tentatively.”
Jing-wang nodded and agreed. Luo RuiSheng immediately ran off to get the Go board.
When the Emperor played Go with other people, he pretty much never lost. While facing Jing-wang, however, he lost twice in a row. Nevertheless, in each of these rounds, Jing-wang only won by a hair. The Emperor smiled and cursed internally: What a stinky brat!
Nevertheless, despite losing, the Emperor was still unperturbed.
During the matches, the 3rd Prince came over to look at the game, wanting to join the scene. Unfortunately, the 3rd Prince’s Go skills were the worst amongst all of the princes. He couldn’t even understand what he was looking at. Speaking occasionally only made the Emperor feel like he was an eyesore; the emperor ordered the 3rd Prince to move to the side.
The 3rd Prince then looked at Jing-wang, eyes full of admiration, envy, and resentment. Before he did want to win over Jing-wang, but now, he felt somewhat cautious as well.
The 6th Prince reached out and pulled at him with a smile: “3rd elder brother, observers shouldn’t talk. Plus, I also don’t really understand Go. You should come wait with me to the side.”
Because the 6th Prince came to help the 3rd Prince out of an awkward situation in a timely fashion, the Emperor unexpectedly gave this transparent son of his an extra glance.
Jing-wang calculated the time. When it was about time, he finally got up and headed to the waiting room to find the fish.
Wang Xi has been dutifully guarding in front of the waiting room. Jing-wang said to not allow anyone inside, so he didn’t allow anyone inside. Even the servants who wanted to enter the waiting room to place tea were blocked.
The conversation with the Emperor outside was filled with trepidation, as if walking on thin ice; inside the waiting room, however, Li Yu was extremely relaxed without any worries or care.
When Jing-wang left, he left behind the jade box that was used to feed fish. There was fish food and all kinds of desserts and snacks inside, everything that the fish liked.
Li Yu ended up holding the jade box, eating as he waited for the time to pass. With Jing-wang outside, he felt extremely calm. The time seemed to pass quickly again. When the System started the countdown, he covered up the jade box well and obediently went to wait next to the fishbowl……
Li Yu just jumped back into the crystal bottle when Jing-wang returned.
Ao! Master! Fish obediently fed himself! Li Yu wagged his tail enthusiastically.
The little carp was originally somewhat worried that with the ‘disappearance’ of his human form, Jing-wang would go searching again. However, Jing-wang didn’t. He walked over directly and carried away the fish and crystal bottle.
“Your highness, the person inside the waiting room just now……” Wang Xi wanted to ask about the whereabouts of the male concubine who always abruptly appeared out of nowhere and then abruptly disappeared into thin air.
Jing-wang gave him a sideways glance: Already left.
Wang Xi: ???
Wang-gonggong didn’t get it at all. The little carp who was being carried by Jing-wang’s side, however, felt his heart relax again.
Looks like Jing-wang was already used to his abrupt disappearances.
Li Yu was brought in front of the Emperor by Jing-wang. The little carp was also very surprised to see Qiu-shi. Why was Guifei-niangniang still here? Did no one expose her yet?
Or was this scene not the same as the one he was aware of?
The Emperor ordered Jing-wang to bring the fish close. At the same time, he also ordered Qiu-shi to walk closer. Qiu-shi was stiff all over, staring in trepidation at the fish inside the crystal bottle, eyeballs almost falling out.
Although there were gold scales growing on the fish’s stomach and tail, she was certain that this was the fish that smacked her on the face before. Even if this abominable fish turned into dust, she could still recognize it!
Because the Emperor wanted her to see this fish, even if Qiu-shi was utterly unwilling, she couldn’t go against the Emperor’s wishes. Especially since she could feel the regard the Emperor had for this fish from his words and actions.
Qiu-shi forced herself to walk close, lips trembling as she smiled with difficulty. She wanted to say a few words of praise, but since she privately cursed this fish a thousand times, suddenly requiring her to sing a eulogy, Qiu-shi couldn’t do it!
Li Yu trembled in fear because of Qiu-shi’s stiff smile. Then, fish smelled the fragrance of cypress.
Huh? So Guifei-niangniang was using the original scheme. Then why hasn’t the 6th Prince and 3rd Prince done anything?
Li Yu secretly glanced at the 3rd Prince. This idiot had an extremely bitter expression like he practically wished to jump over here in front of the fish. Li Yu immediately understood. Was the 3rd Prince useless and unable to find a good opportunity to shake everything out?
This didn’t look good. Li Yu thought. Looks like he and Guifei-niangniang were really brought together by fate. Now it’s his turn to shake things up!
Always flipping onto his belly was no fun, Li Yu smiled mischievously. Looks like he’ll try something different this time.
Qiu-shi looked at the fish, without blinking at all. Suddenly, she had a strange premonition. Was this fish about to cause trouble again–
The fish waved its tail at her unceasingly. The black colored tail that carried a thread of gold was attractive and pretty. As she looked at it, Qiu-shi became somewhat entranced. Suddenly, this fish shook all over. With a bloop, it blew out a long series of bubbles, paused, and then shook again, blowing out a second long series of bubbles.
Qiu-shi: “……”
When the fish blew the first series of bubbles, the Emperor and Jing-wang were nearby. They both noticed it.
The Emperor said in surprise: “TianChi, what’s wrong with the fish?”
Jing-wang knew this carp demon came up with some devious plan again. How could he not help the fish with the follow up? He purposely feigned a heavy face and looked at the ever-present Wang Xi.
Wang-gonggong immediately spoke what Jing-wang wanted to say: “Your majesty, this fish has a habit. Every time it smelled something pungent, it’d become uncomfortable. It’s sneezing right now.”
Li Yu: “…….”
Fine, Wang-gonggong. Fine. This time fish won’t get angry at you for calling it sneezing!
Thank You for the chapter （*’∀’人）♥
Imagine being less competent than a goldfish (which is how I envision Li Yu)
As a fish, he’s being of great help to Mu Tianchi cleaning the surrounding of annoying people, you can’t buy such a fish even for thousand gold!
I wish I had a black and gold carp Li Yu but I don’t 😥😥
thanks for the chapter!
Wang Xi’s interpretations…sneezing fish! Lmao! Thanks for the update ❤️🤣🐟
I’m The Vicious Cannon Fodder In The Book … and The wife is first..
he just want his sons to hav a good relationship to eo ,but all his sons have ambition they compete to eo expect for ML😁 poor Emperor!😐but if i were him i will only married one wife/lover😂 so i can live in peace with my family 😁..
i like when the emperor in
I’m The Vicious Cannon Fodder In The Book… agreed to his son (ML) that he won’t take any concubines he only loves his wifue and his son.. the emperor said u r right it’s good to have a good family… ( he thought what good if u have so many concubines and sons but they all wants power they didn’t love you! and ur sons wants to kill eo + ur concubines 😑…
i feel sorry to them 😂😂 they didn’t survive in the end they regret it
this “I’m the vicious cannon fodder in the book”, is it on cg??? I totally like imperial bl trope, will definitely read it
Hahaha… this fish is so good at pretending😂😂.
Thanks for the chapter ☺️.
I’m honestly amazed at Wang-Xi’s ability to interpret these glances.. especially without context
+1
Wang Xi supremacy!!
This MC is a bit too naive.
I can’t believe that a fish is more productive than me. 🙂