Li Yu was right beside Jing-wang. After learning that Guifei was coming, he also wanted to take a look at her.
He already saw the Emperor who was pretty much the same as what the book had written. Li Yu also wanted to know what this woman, who dared to mess with the tyrant, looked like.
However, his location at the moment was a bit to the side. His line of sight was blocked and he couldn’t see anything.
Li Yu swam around back and forth nonstop, trying to adjust his angle, but was still unable to achieve the desired result after several tries.
Just as he thought he’d only be able to listen to the voices, Jing-wang who had been staring at him for a while, suddenly moved the bowl holding the fish, facing it at the door of the hall perfectly.
Li Yu: !!!
What a coincidence?
Did Jing-wang realize that he wanted to see Guifei?
Although Jing-wang was occasionally very thoughtful towards his pet fish, he shouldn’t be this considerate right? Maybe he only casually changed the position of the bowl on a whim.
Li Yu very quickly convinced himself to stop thinking about all this nonsense. Since he can see now, then it’s time to look boldly.
Very quickly, a graceful looking woman in palace dress, followed by a big and tall young man, stepped into the view with servants trailing behind in escort.
Guifei, Qiu-Shi, had jade beads adorning her hair. She wore a lavender palace dress that was embroidered with blooming gold hypericums. With skin white as snow, her beauty was stunning.
Qiu-Guifei took care of herself very well. If it were not for the big and tall 2nd Prince following her, and the fact that the 2nd Prince’s brows were somewhat similar to her, it’d be hard to imagine that Qiu-Shi was already over 30 years old.
Li Yu couldn’t help but exclaim. With this kind of appearance, no wonder she’s the most favored concubine of the Emperor in the last few years.
According to the narration in the book, this was the most successful period in Qiu-shi’s life. The Emperor revealed to her in private that he had planned to make her son, the 2nd Prince, Mu TianZhao, the crown prince.
The Emperor was similar to the other rulers in ancient history. He had hoped that the son of his first wife would inherit the throne. Many years ago, he once made Empress Xiao Hui’s oldest son the crown prince. Unfortunately the oldest Prince died when he was seven years old. After the Emperor and Empress grieved for a few years, Empress Xiao Hui then gave birth to the 4th Prince. The Emperor once again had plans to make him the crown prince. Unfortunately, the 4th prince was very unlucky. After catching a cold when he was two years old, he passed away. Experiencing the death of two sons back to back, Empress Xiao Hui’s health became very poor. Nevertheless, regardless of her health, she gave birth to the 5th Prince, who was the current Jing-wang. However, the heavens played a cruel joke with the Emperor and Empress Xiao Hui. This youngest son of the first wife who carried such high expectations ended up being born mute. Therefore, both the emperor and Empress Xiao Hui received huge blows…… Empress Xiao Hui passed away. The Emperor felt like he probably couldn’t place any hope on the son of his first wife anymore, and stopped mentioning crowning anyone. It’s been over twenty years, and now, he suddenly leaked this intention once more. Qiu-Shi was wild with joy.
Although everyone with eyes could see how much the Emperor pampered her in the last few years, he never had any indications of making her the Empress. But no matter. As long as her son, the 2nd prince, can become the crown prince and inherit the throne in the future, it didn’t matter if she became the Empress or not!
Qiu-shi felt like her troubles were almost over and she was moments away from success. Even her stride was full of vigor!
Qiu-shi and the 2nd Prince bowed courteously. The Emperor ordered Guifei to step forward. Since he planned to make the 2nd Prince the crown prince, he was willing to give this little honor to her.
With a delicate smile, Qiu-shi sat down next to the Emperor’s side and glanced at Jing-wang from above with a victorious attitude, thinking with disdain. So what if you’re the son of the previous Empress? So what if you’re taller than my 2nd Prince?
In the end, you’ll still have to lower your head towards the crown prince, the future Emperor.
Qiu-shi and the 2nd prince exchanged a tacit smile. However, Jing-wang didn’t respond at all.
Without even a sideways glance, Jing-wang continued to keep his fingers soaked in the ocean bowl, idly squeezing the little carp’s smooth, slippery back.
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 who was a bit pissed off from being squeezed repeatedly by him: Ahhh, this fish can’t handle such hand strength!
Gbvulcu bea bo atf kjs klat j ktbbrt, Ol Te uijgfv ja Alcu-kjcu klat nlulijcmf.
Alcu-kjcu’r olcufgr ijcvfv bc cbatlcu. Lf aegcfv tlr qlamt-yijmx fsfr ab rajgf ecyilcxlcuis ja atf ilaaif mjgq.
Ol Te: “……”
Ol Te ofia atf reggbecvlcu jlg revvfcis ogffhf.
…… Rba ifaalcu tlw rdeffhf, rb atf asgjca kjr jcugs cbk?
Forget it, a good fish doesn’t bicker with humans, especially when it’s the master.
He knew that Jing-wang was definitely unhappy to see Qiu-shi sitting beside the Emperor. Would any child enjoy it when another woman supplanted their mother’s position?
Considering Jing-wang’s poor mood……
Li Yu very logically yielded and snuggled back over, rubbing against Jing-wang’s fingers appeasingly.
You can squeeze, you can squeeze. Just don’t squeeze so hard, okay?
Seeing this fish so pragmatic, Jing-wang pressed his lips together and continued to use his fingers to squeeze the fish’s back.
Li Yu silently endured. When he felt like he really couldn’t bear Jing-wang’s strength anymore, he’d flash to the side, waving his tail. However, after a moment, he’d swim back again and let Jing-wang vent his anger.
Jing-wang also noticed, the little carp didn’t seem to dislike his touch, but why did it keep dodging out of the way and then coming back?
…… was it because his strength was too much for a fish?
Jing-wang unconsciously moved his fingers more gently.
Instantly, Li Yu felt more comfortable. Now that’s much better. Having his spine being squeezed wasn’t that bad after all. It was a little ticklish……
Li Yu curled the tip of his tail around Jing-wang’s fingers, expressing that he liked it.
Jing-wang: “……”
Jing-wang found that this little carp was actually not especially hard to understand.
One person and one fish immersed in their own little world, completely disregarding the reactions of the people to the side.
The Emperor already saw Jing-wang like this before. He looked rather curiously at Jing-wang interacting with the little carp. He never expected that this cold-hearted, cold-faced son of his would also play with a fish.
Qiu-shi’s smile froze on her face. Jing-wang acted like she didn’t exist. To her, this was a type of wordless humiliation.
“What’s going on with his highness, Jing-wang?” Qiu-shi attempted to make the Emperor notice Jing-wang’s rudeness.
Yet the Emperor only said with a smile: “Guifei, Jing-wang started raising a fish recently, what do you think?”
Qiu-shi: “……”
Qiu-shi naturally didn’t care at all. She came here because she had a motive. How can she allow a dirty, grey fish to interrupt her plans?
With how the Emperor looked right now, he most likely forgot her words before and felt soft hearted towards Jing-wang again.
Qiu-Guifei had a response prepared already. She gave the personal servant beside her an eye gesture. The servant received the message and withdrew. After a while, they returned back into the hall, carrying a snow white ball, walking over quickly.
With a delighted face, Qiu-shi cradled the snow white ball in her arms and stroked it, saying in a soft voice: “Your majesty, now that you’ve seen Jing-wang’s fish, have you forgotten all about my Piao Xue?”
At this moment, the Emperor finally recalled the reason for summoning Jing-wang. He rubbed his nose awkwardly and smiled.
The snow white ball in Qiu-shi’s arms coordinated with its master’s actions and raised its head with a meow.
Li Yu, who was frolicking with Jing-wang at that moment, suddenly heard this meow and was so surprised that even his fish scales were raised.
Why would there be a cat in Ganqing palace?
Li Yu carefully swam to the surface of the water, wanting to scout out the situation. He immediately saw the huge white cat that Guifei was carrying in her arms. Its dark blue gemstone-like eyes turned towards him in a flash.
This shape, that voice, isn’t…isn’t…isn’t this his nemesis, the cat?!
With a shake, Li Yu hastily dove into the water. But it was too late. The big white cat already discovered him and started to meow energetically. Struggling free from Guifei’s arms, it pounced towards him, quick like an arrow.
Li Yu: Ao! Help! The cat wants to eat fish!!
Originally he felt like if he encountered his nemesis, the cat, again, he’d definitely think of a plan to escape sneakily. If worse comes to worse, he could use his tail to slap the cat viciously. But it wasn’t until he finally encountered the cat again that he realized, the fish’s instincts and the painful memory of being bitten by the cat made him tremble and tremble relentlessly.
Inside the bowl, Li Yu had no place to escape to. In a moment of desperation, he scrambled under Jing-wang’s palm and curled up into a ball, hoping the big white cat couldn’t see him.
But he was only lying to himself.
In the blink of an eye, the big white cat jumped up. The cat wasn’t afraid of water. Raising its head, it was about to grab the fish with its mouth. The fish was just about to enter the cat’s mouth again, but just in the nick of time, Jing-wang gathered the little carp that was curled up into a ball into his hand and protected it. The white cat only managed to bite a mouthful of air.
“Miao?” Missing its target, the white cat raised its head in bewilderment and saw a face that it could never forget.
“Miao!!!” Instantly, the cat felt utter despair.
Jing-wang’s face was like the winter frost. With a light flick of his finger, the white cat was thrown away, smashing into the leg of the servant that brought it in.
The servant let out a painful cry. The white cat also felt quite dizzy from the toss. Standing up and shaking its head, it no longer dared to get any smart ideas over the fish. It immediately turned its head and rushed back into Guifei’s arms.
Hidden under Jing-wang’s hand, Li Yu secretly nudged between the opening of Jing-wang’s fingers and looked outside, laughing so hard he rocked back and forth. As expected of his tyrant master. The big white cat ended up empty handed again!
Qiu Guifei saw that Jing-wang actually dared to act like that in front of the Emperor and was secretly delighted. Leaning down and picking up the white cat who was wailing nonstop, she made a show of examining it.
Qiu-shi pretended to scold it regretfully: “Piao Xue, you vile beast. Haven’t you learned your lesson after being punished before? Why are you provoking Jing-wang without reason again? Are you being disrespectful to me?”
Li Yu was originally pretty happy, but hearing these words, he wanted to hop in anger. Outwardly, Guifei seemed to be reprimanding her cat. But in actuality, she was covertly reminding the Emperor that this wasn’t the first time Jing-wang punished her pet. Look how disrespectful he was to her.
After Guifei spoke, of course the 2nd Prince, Mu TianZhao had to support his mother. He chimed in: “5th brother is young and a bit mischievous, but not malicious. Father, mother, please do not blame him.”
Li Yu: “……”
Li Yu rolled his eyes to the sky and blew a huge bubble with a ‘bo’ sound. Then he turned his tail in disdain at the 2nd prince.
The 2nd Prince’s voice sounded gentle and kind, but he was even more vicious than Guifei. If Guifei could be considered speaking duplicitously, then the 2nd Prince was practically acknowledging the crime for Jing-wang. He even deliberately mentioned that Jing-wang was not malicious. Was he trying to make the Emperor think in the opposite direction?
These vile cannon fodders!
Although Li Yu knew that Jing-wang would inherit the throne later and that either Mu TianZhao and Qiu Guifei had a good ending, with these two singing and echoing each other right now, taking advantage of the fact that Jing-wang couldn’t speak and didn’t have Wang Xi-gonggong beside him, Li Yu felt somewhat worried. Jing-wang saved him several times already. He can’t just watch helplessly as Jing-wang got bullied right?
But ultimately, he was only a fish. What can he do with the very prestigious mother and son pair?
Li Yu was so angry he puffed up his mouth, swimming anxiously in circles inside the bowl.
Guifei and her son’s duplicitous words were effective. The Emperor recalled Guifei’s previous complaint and said with a heavy face: “Jing-wang, I heard you threw Guifei’s cat on her birthday, is this true?”
On the day of her birthday, Guifei wept endlessly and told the Emperor that Jing-wang threw her beloved pet, Piao Xue. Now that the Emperor saw with his own eyes how Jing-wang treated Piao Xue, he felt somewhat trusting of Qiu-shi’s words.
But it wasn’t because he liked Piao Xue, the cat. It was only a pet. So what if Jing-wang hit it or killed it? The Emperor’s selfishness was obvious. It was only because the cat was related to Guifei. Guifei was at least Jing-wang’s (step)mother. Behind her also stood the 2nd prince, who was currently the Emperor’s choice for crown prince. The Emperor really didn’t want Jing-wang to be at odds with the future crown prince over this matter. Therefore, he summoned Jing-wang over to ask about it clearly and give Guifei some justice in order to pacify her.
Jing-wang gave Guifei a cold glance but didn’t intend to explain at all. Instead, he continued to fiddle with his little carp with lowered eyes.
For some reason, this little fish’s cheeks kept bulging and puffing up. Whenever Qiu-shi talked, the bulge was especially apparent, almost like it was angry. On the contrary, Jing-wang felt somewhat amused. Could it be that even a fish was capable of understanding Guifei and her son’s little game?
——
The writer has something to say:
A small scene (angry)
Jing-wang: Looks like a pufferfish when angry
Li Yu: Wish I could bite them for you! Wuwuwuu Your highness, are you also angry? QAQ
Jing-wang: No, I’m only bored.
Li Yu: ……
Pufferfish, I want to bite them! Prince, let me squeeze a little more! Hahaha!
Thank You for the chapter ♡ฅ(ᐤˊ꒳ฅˋᐤ)
thanks for the chapter!
Our pufferfish is so cute
the fish to human communication is just kskdkd I love it so much aaah
I love the small theater ❤
Thank you for the chapter 😊
aaaah, and angry li yu is truly so cute!!!
aaaah, an angry li yu is truly so cute!!!