Li Yu’s cold didn’t take very long to get better. On these days that he’s been recuperating, he’s been spending two hours with Jing-wang in his human form everyday, drinking medication, eating dessert, and quietly observing.
Although he didn’t even know what he was hoping for, after putting down his initial anger and receiving this kind of care, he was still pretty happy. Recalling that Jing-wang’s kindness and care towards him wasn’t just a one or two days thing, rather it started when he officially became Li-gongzi… don’t tell him, Jing-wang started liking him ever since then?
If this answer was correct, then points can be added. However, looking at the beautiful side view of Jing-wang’s handsome and gentle face, Li-gongzi, who wanted to know the answer, found it impossible to ask.
Maybe, perhaps, if he kept on calmly and quietly observing for a little while longer, he’d find his answer? Li-gongzi comforted himself.
Later on, Imperial Physician Xu helped check his pulse several times and adjusted the prescription. In the end, he announced that Li Yu had completely recovered. Li Yu smiled happily and thanked Imperial Physician Xu. Then a sense of frustration and disappointment flashed across his heart briefly. His illness was better now. That meant there’s no reason for Jing-wang to accompany him anymore. He was once more the worker inside Jing Estate who was responsible for raising fish.
Li Yu deliberately ignored the discomfort in his heart and said with a bright smile: “Thank you for taking care of me all these days, your highness.”
Jing-wang also smiled and nodded his head slightly.
Although his illness was better, Li Yu still didn’t know the aftermath of Chu YanYu, who attempted to drug Jing-wang. He didn’t dare to ask Jing-wang directly for information, so instead, he changed direction and inquired Wang-gonggong.
Wang Xi answered without leaking any excess info: “Chu-gongzi made a big blunder. Now he’s currently reflecting behind closed doors. Li-gongzi, why do you know him?” Wang-gonggong asked back with a smile.
Li Yu found it hard to explain and answered vaguely: “When I was outside before, I heard of Chu-gongzi’s name.”
This couldn’t count as a lie. In the original book, the little pampered wife was a very talented and beautiful person. Even when he was still by the 6th Prince’s side, he was very well known.
Wang-gonggong coughed non-essentially: “Maybe this old servant has heard of him as well. However, the past is the past. After entering the Jing Estate, he should learn to behave and stop thinking about filthy things all day. From what I see, Chu-gongzi was the one who invited this trouble upon himself. Li-gongzi, please don’t feel softhearted and plead leniency for him, ok?”
Wang Xi was truly smart. He even thought of the possibility that Li Yu might plead for leniency. Li Yu was stunned: “Why would I?”
He didn’t arrive in this world completely lacking in propriety. Chu YanYu was bold enough to drug Jing-wang and got caught. The fact that he was still alive meant that Jing-wang was being benevolent. Wang-gonggong only said he was reflecting behind closed doors. Of course Li Yu wouldn’t go to Jing-wang to plead leniency for him because of that.
However, there were some things that Li Yu really wasn’t clear on. Nor did he fully understand the true meaning of “reflecting behind closed doors” that Wang Xi mentioned.
Now that Jing-wang and Chu YanYu have gotten to this point, according to Li Yu’s understanding of Jing-wang, these two were moving even further and further from falling in love with each other.
Looks like Li Yu was already sitting firm on the “being liked” position. In the future, he no longer needed to think about playing the matchmaker.
When Li Yu thought about this, he unconsciously felt somewhat relieved.
Li Yu had no interest in paying attention to how Chu YanYu’s future will be. Back then, Jing-wang already rejected accepting Chu YanYu at the banquet. Chu YanYu could have had a life completely different from that of the original novel. Yet Chu YanYu still insisted on entering the Jing estate– Wang-gonggong deliberately explained this one for his master. Finally, Li Yu learned about how Chu YanYu had entered the estate. So it was because the 3rd Prince shamelessly threw him and left him behind. Li Yu didn’t know if he should laugh or cry.
Currently, Chu-gongzi has no status at all inside the Jing Estate. He didn’t even count as a servant. Everyone in the estate knew that this person was to be guarded against. Even calling him gongzi was a subject of slight contempt. Not like Li-gongzi, who was his highness’s precious darling. The servants all respectfully doted on him, terrified of any negligence.
Although Li Yu appeared and screwed up Jing-wang’s feelings, entering the estate and using drugs wasn’t something that Li Yu forced Chu YanYu to do under knifepoint. Chu YanYu decided to take this step and make that kind of choice; it really had nothing to do with fish.
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.
Li Yu put aside Chu YanYu and stopped mentioning him. Somewhat unhappy that Xiao Yu was always inquiring about other people, Jing-wang made eye gestures at Wang Xi relentlessly.
Scagerafv klat jc lwqbgajca ajrx, Qjcu Wl lwwfvljafis mtjcufv atf abqlm jcv rjlv: “Tbeg tlutcfrr, Ol-ubcuhl. Ktfgf’r j cfk wjgxfaqijmf lc atf lwqfglji mlas atja pera bqfcfv atf ijra ofk vjsr. Ft.. atlr biv rfgnjca jrxfv jgbecv. Ktf Swqfgbg kjcafv ab mfifygjaf atf eclbc yfakffc beg cjalbc jcv AlcAef. Ktfgfobgf, joafg vlrmerrlcu klat atf Blcu bo AlcAef, atfs vfmlvfv ab bqfc atlr eq. Ktfgf jgf j iba bo wfgmtjcar ogbw AlcAef qgfrfca atfgf, rfiilcu ilaaif aglcxfar atja jgf cfnfg rffc tfgf……”
As soon as Li Yu heard “marketplace”, and “trinkets,” his ears visibly perked up.
Wang Xi suppressed his smile to finish his words: “His highness originally planned to go take a look. If Li-gongzi has any interest, why not ask his highness.”
Wang Xi blinked towards Li Yu and then gestured towards Jing-wang’s direction with his mouth.
After transmigrating, Li Yu has never gone shopping in human form before. He hastily said: “Your highness, I want to go. Is that okay?”
Jing-wang was just waiting for him. With a smile, he nodded his head.
Finally, Li Yu can go out and walk around. If he stayed stuffed inside the Jing Estate for any longer, he might start growing mushrooms! After feeling delighted for a while, Li Yu suddenly discovered that for him and Jing-wang to go wandering around the marketplace, in modern terms… wasn’t this a date?
… so, it’s a date.
Blushing faintly, Li Yu sneakily glanced at Jing-wang. The big scoundrel was using one of his schemes again. To actually use Wang Xi to help him put a good word in, Li Yu almost didn’t realize.
Since it’s a date, then wasn’t Jing-wang pursuing him right now?
Li Yu grumbled internally. Before this scoundrel only used force. Yet now he’s even learned to woo Li Yu. What kind of lightning fast improvement was this!
However, Li Yu was reluctant to give up the chance to go wandering around the marketplace. Biting his lips and thinking internally, actually he didn’t have someone anyways, so maybe, tentatively…… he’ll give the big scoundrel a chance at pursuing him. He probably won’t suffer any losses here.
Li Yu nodded his head, which can be considered an official approval.
Wang-gonggong almost congratulated Jing-wang. Of course, for the masters to go out, it’s not immediate. First he needed to check when the marketplace opened and when Jing-wang had free time. Also, Xiao Yu needed to have “appropriate” clothing for going outside. Jing-wang privately ordered several different kinds of clothes again for Wang Xi to fetch. Wang-gonggong was so busy lately, he had no time to rest.
In order to completely resolve Xiao Yu’s worries, the fish loving, gentleman Jing-wang thoughtfully mentioned that he wanted to bring fish along during their trip. The task of taking care of fish would be completely given to Li-gongzi.
This was exactly what Li Yu wanted. Jing-wang wanted him to look after the fish. When the time comes, which was the real fish and which was the fake fish, it’d be all within his control.
Very quickly it reached the day of their trip. Li Yu and Jing-wang had decided on a rendezvous time beforehand. As soon as Li Yu transformed, they immediately ran into each other.
Today, Li Yu wore a long robe that was rose red with silver lotus embroidery, which Jing-wang had newly given him. A pearl belt was casually tied around his waist. Wang Xi said that after recovering from an illness, one should wear happier colors. Li Yu didn’t really understand ancient people’s customs, but it sounded like a pretty good idea. Therefore, Li Yu wore what he was told to wear. He still wasn’t very good at tying ancient style belts at the moment, but Jing-wang matched all of his clothes with very thin belts. He didn’t need to get headaches over how to tie them.
A bright red color can make a person’s skin seem more white. Li Yu felt like he was immersed in red. Even his face color looked much better. Through the bronze mirror, he can see that his cheeks looked like they had a light layer of blush. He usually never wears this kind of bright color. Jing-wang ended up staring directly at him for quite awhile before finally managing to shift his gaze away.
Li Yu smiled, feeling rather pleased with himself. He also knew the logic of “humans relied on their clothing, Buddha relied on his golden truth,” but Jing-wang’s old clothes were really too fitting for him, just as if they were made specifically for him. After transmigrating into a fish, Li Yu didn’t have many opportunities to stay in human shape. He was already thankful enough to have one set of clothing to wear. He never thought much about it. However, this time, he really did give it a second thought. Why would Jing-wang always have a pile of old clothes that always fit him?
Also all of these brightly colored clothing, they were always in a color that Jing-wang normally didn’t wear himself.
“Don’t tell me, there aren’t actually old clothes. Did your highness make them specifically?” In an instant, Li Yu seemed to have woken to reality. Jing-wang didn’t expect he’d be exposed and had an awkward expression. Although he didn’t admit it, his embarrassed expression already answered everything.
If it were before, Li Yu might have felt somewhat annoyed again. However, now that he was looking at things from another perspective, he can tell the thoughtfulness and deep care Jing-wang felt for him.
Li Yu felt like his heart was scratched softly by a tiny cat claw.
“Many thanks, your highness. The clothes are very beautiful. I… I will continue to wear them……”
Li Yu quickly told himself, Jing-wang’s just making clothes for him. However, Jing-wang’s embarrassment seemed contagious. As he crossed gazes with Jing-wang for a while, Li Yu actually felt himself also becoming flustered.
Li Yu lowered his head, fiddling with the gold chain of the crystal bottle in his hands nonstop. Because Jing-wang entrusted Li Yu with his pet fish, Li Yu was in charge of putting fish into the bottle. Li Yu placed the fish pillow inside ahead of time and often used his sleeves to cover it up. When his time limit was up, what’s inside the bottle would become him. Real and fake, it’d be hard to distinguish.
Li Yu remembered how Jing-wang would specially wrap the gold chain around his palm several times to prevent the bottle from accidentally falling out of his hands. In order to pretend, Li Yu also learned from Jing-wang and started doing it this way. He just finished wrapping the gold chain around his palm once when Jing-wang took the gold chain and crystal bottle both out of his hands.
Li Yu was confused, heart rising to his throat. He was afraid that with one careful look of the fish inside the bottle, Jing-wang would discover an issue. However, Jing-wang only unwrapped the gold chain that was wrapped around Li Yu’s palm for mere seconds, and then re-wrapped it around his own hand very seriously.
Li Yu: ???
Jing-wang can’t speak. A lot of his intentions and thoughts require guessing.
Li Yu thought absentmindedly for a good while. Jing-wang didn’t actually criticize him, so he shouldn’t be expressing that Li Yu didn’t know how to care for fish. Instead, he must have felt that the gold chain would make Li Yu uncomfortable.
However, Jing-wang’s own hand was injured before too, and it was injured in order to protect Li Yu……
Recalling how Jing-wang bled and got wounded in order to protect him, Li Yu almost felt drowned by his overwhelming emotions. He planned to remain calm and quiet for a period of time, but Jing-wang seemed to be using an invisible rope to drag him along little by little.
“Your highness, gongzi, it’s time to leave.” Wang-gonggong came over for further instructions.
Because the market place was pretty far from Jing Estate, Wang-gonggong arranged a horse carriage. Li Yu, who needed to treasure every moment of his time had no suspicions at all. When they got on the carriage, a servant voluntarily got down and used their body as a stepstool. Li Yu declined politely. It wasn’t like he was a real nobleman. Climbing into a carriage, in his opinion, wasn’t too difficult.
The Jing estate’s carriage was a bit small. It was perfect when Li Yu got in and sat down. Quickly afterwards, Jing-wang came in from the other side and now the two were a bit squeezed. Li Yu had no choice but to sit face to face with Jing-wang, legs pressing against the other’s legs. The carriage started its journey. Whenever it made a turn, or changed speed, Li Yu inevitably ended up touching Jing-wang or bumping into the other’s body. It wasn’t too hard and also didn’t hurt.
Li Yu felt extremely embarrassed, like he was eating Jing-wang’s tofu. Every time he bumped into the other, he’d apologize. Hearing him apologize nonstop, Jing-wang’s eyes were filled with star-like amusement.
Li Yu: QQQ big scoundrel. Why would his smile make me feel like he was eating my tofu instead!!
The carriage very quickly arrived at the marketplace. Jing-wang pulled Li Yu down the carriage. When Li Yu got in, he climbed in himself. When it became time to get off, Li Yu looked at the carriage, which was clearly a few distance from the ground, and felt his legs shake a bit. He can only shamefully allow Jing-wang to pull him along.
Unexpectedly, Jing-wang decided to climb up the ladder here. Seeing Li Yu yield, not only did he pull on Li Yu’s hand, he also encircled an arm around Li Yu’s waist in the process. Completely defeated by this hateful height difference, Li Yu was half carried, half cradled out of the carriage.
Hearing that some nobleman was arriving, a lot of civilians gathered in the marketplace in waiting. Just raising one’s head was enough to see a crowd full of people. Li Yu just landed on the ground and struggled out of Jing-wang’s arms when he heard people whisper from the crowd.
“Who is this nobleman?”
“The carriage looks like it’s from the Jing Estate. Have you ever heard of his highness, Jing-wang?”
“No duh! Of course I’ve heard of his highness, Jing-wang. I’m asking who’s that young gongzi next to Jing-wang’s side.”
Hearing people even talking about him, Li Yu immediately listened more closely.
That person continued to ask: “Who is that gongzi?”
“Who knows. Maybe it’s his highness’s younger brother?”
“Do you hug your younger brother like that? From what I see, to receive such doting from his highness, this must either be his wangfei or concubine.”
“No way. Can wangfei even visit the marketplace?”
“If he’s not wangfei, then he must be a pampered concubine.”
Li Yu: “……”
Jing-wang also heard this inappropriate conversation. His face color darkened. Li Yu thought internally: the crowd doesn’t know the truth and gossiped randomly, it’s inevitable that Jing-wang would become angry. If he was willing to step forth and make an official announcement, that would clear up everything.
Li Yu was just thinking like this. Meanwhile, Jing-wang already swept a sharp glance at Wang Xi, who seemed mentally connected to him. With a jolt, Wang Xi immediately ran over, pulled those inappropriate civilians to the side, and started conversing with them.
Wang-gonggong finished settling the task that his highness gave him and returned with a smile. The civilians also came back with a smile and excitedly yelled at the top of their lungs: “Welcome wangye, wangfei. We’re honored by your presence.”
Li Yu, who really thought innocently that Jing-wang would be clarifying the situation: !!!
A single slip of the tongue may cause everlasting sorrow. How did he become wangfei just like this? What will happen to his future reputation?
Forget it. What kind of reputation can a fish have? Li Yu consoled himself countless times nonstop.
Translator notes:
ahh~ Li Yu, just accept your fate…
Thank You for the chapter (๑°꒵°๑)･*♡
Thank you for posting the chapters here ☺️ I already finished this before and I suddenly saw this here and felt I need to re-read this hehe 💕🌸
👍
thanks for the chapter!
This is my first reading, and I’m loving it! Thanks for posting it here! ❤️
This is what you call foreshadowing, little fish. 😂
Thank you for the chapter!
😘 Now wangfei
I feel like mc is quite a scum he refuse to give proper answers but still enjoy the care and love
Right right. It makes me feel bad for Jing Wang.
congratulations on the wedding hahahaha
From fish to wife LMAO
Almost spat out my tea at the wangye, wangfei part😂
lol so jing-wang was angry that they referred to li yu as ‘concubine’ — not because of the gossip.