Jing-wang handed Li Yu a secret report. Li Yu roughly glanced through it. It wrote about the plans and traps set up in Maple’s Landing during these last few days with Jing-wang’s big wedding.
The bandits wanted to squeeze through a kink in Jing-wang’s defenses during his big wedding. Jing-wang, however, expected this one step ahead of time already.
The strength of Maple’s Landing was its secret underground tunnels. Jing-wang had remained in Maple’s Landing for almost close to a year. He has trained his guards to become experts at underground battles. Because Jing-wang gave vacations to everyone in Maple’s Landing due to his big wedding, it would seem like the defenses became more relaxed. In reality, the defensive formation was only relaxed outwardly, but tight internally. Many of the peasants had used the vacation to go visit friends and families outside of town. If the bandits really planned to attack at this time, they’d be sealing themselves in like a turtle in a jar.
Jing-wang knew that he wouldn’t be staying in the West Frontier for much longer. Therefore, he also wanted to eliminate this group of bandits as quickly as possible and completely get rid of this danger in the West Frontier.
Li Yu saw the page full of plans on the secret report and already felt much more relieved. As long as Jing-wang was prepared, he didn’t need to worry needlessly at all. Thinking about it, he thought, this was actually expected. Since Jing-wang was able to come accompany him to pass this ‘tribulation’, the other man must have made all sorts of preparations. Defense was so important, why would Jing-wang neglect that?
Jing-wang soothed Li Yu, handing him a small note, telling him not to worry; there will be a conclusion in no more than four hours.
Li Yu nodded his head. He was about to reach the last day of his task. He hoped that the bandits would fall to the traps asap; nothing unexpected better happen.
Since a fight was about to start outside, no matter how much Li Yu wanted to continue sleeping, he couldn’t. Jing-wang held him. He laid his head on Jing-wang’s shoulder. The two people listened to the sound of activity outside together.
After some unknown amount of time passed, the sound of crying infants traveled in from the outside in waves, almost as if several kids were crying at the same time. Li Yu’s hands shook heavily, heart twisting in a knot.
He felt like the sound of this crying sounded somewhat like Bao#1. He and Jing-wang went to hide inside this secret residence to do his task, but the kids were left behind at the estate and not near them. Just now, he was only thinking about the town’s defenses and forgot about his kids momentarily. If a fight really started, would they…… be in danger?
Although Wang-gonggong and Ye QingHuan were standing guard at the Jing Estate, would Wang-gonggong and Ye QingHuan be as vigilant towards the bandits as Jing-wang?
In the chaos of battle, what if some bandits managed to break through the defenses and charge into the Jing Estate?
Li Yu didn’t dare to continue down this train of thought.
Jing-wang only needed one glance to know that Li Yu was overly anxious. He held down Li Yu’s hands tightly.
This is a distraction to lure one’s enemy outside. Don’t be fooled. Jing-wang’s expression was certain.
Wang Xi had followed Jing-wang for many years. Ye QingHuan was Jing-wang’s blood related cousin. These two people were trustworthy and dependable. In the worst case scenario, if the bandits really managed to break into the Jing Estate, there were a large number of absolutely loyal guards inside the Jing Estate who would sacrifice their lives to protect the four kids. Not to mention, Ye QingHuan also knew martial arts himself. With the careful and meticulous Wang Xi, they were more than enough to protect the four children.
Jing-wang did his best to make Li Yu understand that the children won’t be in any danger. However, the sound of infants wailing continued nonstop outside. It even became louder and louder. Li Yu’s heart was twisted into a ball. He was already a father. Bao#1, Bao#2, Bao#3 and Bao#4 were all meat from the palm and back of his hands. Normally, even when they cried, he’d feel terribly distressed. Even if what’s outside wasn’t his own children, he still couldn’t listen to any infants suffer like this; it’d remind him of the Baos.
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.
“Tbeg tlutcfrr……” Ol Te rdeffhfv Alcu-kjcu’r tjcv jcv qifjvfv lc j delfa nblmf.
Alcu-kjcu ecvfgrabbv ktja tf wfjca. Wljb Te kjr mbcmfgcfv jybea atf xlvr rb la kjr tjgv ab gfwjlc mjiw. Kb tfiq Wljb Te mjiw vbkc, atf wbra vlgfma qijc kjr ab rfcv qfbqif bearlvf ab oluegf bea ktja’r ublcu bc jcv tjnf atfw gfqbga yjmx.
Actually, Jing-wang already sent someone out to make inquiries. However, the other still hasn’t returned after all this time. Jing-wang also didn’t know why. If he were to check himself, however, this issue would be resolved swiftly.
This originally was no problem. Jing-wang was very confident in his own abilities. If he really ran into bandits, there was no need to fear. However, he was worried that Xiao Yu’s tribulation would be affected adversely.
There was still one more day. He has heard that normally the hardest test would be on the last day.
“Your highness, I promise I will remain here and wait for you to come back. I definitely won’t go anywhere randomly, so can you take a look for me?” Li Yu promised promptly.
If it weren’t for the inconvenience of his half human half fish state, he might have already left by now.
Jing-wang couldn’t convince him and also didn’t want him to be disappointed. He thought: As long as this fish stays in the private residence, he will be safe.
On the other hand, he was also afraid that Xiao Yu would remain scared and anxious, and unable to focus his energy and thoughts, which would also adversely affect his heavenly tribulations.
I will go and come back immediately.
Jing-wang replied, touching the protection talisman that Li Yu was wearing on him. Then he gave Li Yu an order sigil just in case of emergency before striding out of the room quickly. Guards immediately greeted him on the outside. Jing-wang indicated to them to protect the wangfei, but also that they weren’t allowed to enter without permission and disturb.
Li Yu watched him leave. After Jing-wang headed outside, for a while, it was quiet and peaceful again. Li Yu thought Jing-wang would return very quickly. However, after waiting for a while, not only did Jing-wang not return, the sound of crying infants started up again.
What’s going on here? Did something happen that even Jing-wang couldn’t deal with?
Li Yu felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. The less he knew about the situation outside, the more worried he was. He was also very worried about Jing-wang. If he insisted on following Jing-wang outside just now, that would have been much better.
However, he was still in the mermaid form. Even if he didn’t mind this appearance, he can’t walk outside.
Just as he thought this, Li Yu discovered that his fishtail had disappeared. Instead, what was in place of it was his human legs.
It turned out that without realizing, it had already become the third day. He had uncontrollably turned from a human fish back into a fish human again.
Changing into a fish human this time wasn’t completely without benefits. Although the appearance of a fish human was much worse than a mermaid, at least he had legs and could walk around everywhere. However, the fish human form needed to breathe in water and couldn’t leave water for too long. Plus, going outside with the fish human form would scare others to death. This was everything Li Yu needed to consider.
Jing-wang was slow to return; Li Yu had no choice but to change his plans. He decided to head out to check out what’s going on himself. He originally promised to Jing-wang that he wouldn’t leave the private residence, but from the situation outside, Jing-wang’s safety was much more important to him. He wanted to find Jing-wang as quickly as possible as well.
Li Yu’s gaze landed on the towel that he once used, which he had thrown off to the side. This towel was very big, enough to cover up his current upper body and fish fins. Plus…… if he needed water, he still had his interdimensional space. He can just bring some!
Li Yu searched around and found a fish tank. He placed that into his interdimensional space. Then he placed water inside the fish tank and more water in the rest of the spaces in his interdimensional pocket.
If he needed water, he could take that out for emergency use. He just needed to put his head into the water for a soak and it’d be enough.
Li Yu got everything prepared and was about to head outside with his head covered. The guards outside blocked him in unison. Li Yu immediately took out Jing-wang’s order sigil.
This was what Jing-wang had left for Li Yu to use. Because the order sigil was present, Li Yu ordered the guards to make way; the guards had no choice but to follow the order. Back then, Jing-wang only thought about having them protect the wangfei. He never imagined that wangfei would request to leave himself.
The guards listened to the command because of the order sigil, but they still followed Li Yu closely. Li Yu didn’t rebuke them either.
By adamantly choosing to leave, Li Yu also broke his own promise. With the guards beside him to watch over him, nothing wrong should happen.
There were quite a few people who came with Li Yu on this trip of his. After leaving the front door, they followed the sound of crying in search of the source. It didn’t take them long to bump into a few bandits wearing turbans for disguises. They were carrying something in their arms, expressions panicked, trying to slip away.
Li Yu’s eyes were sharp. He recognized that what the bandits were holding were swaddling clothes used to bundle infants. The edge of the swaddled bundle was gold. Li Yu’s heart skipped a beat. He ordered the guards to give chase.
There weren’t many bandits. The guards were highly skilled in martial arts. They very quickly captured the bandits.
Li Yu practically couldn’t breathe anymore, but he still snatched the swaddled bundle away from the bandit’s hands and took a look first.
This child…… really wasn’t Bao#1!
Li Yu felt extremely relieved. He gave the child to a guard to take care of, then ran quickly to an inconspicuous corner. He took out the fish tank full of water from his interdimensional space and took a moment to recover.
Just as he put away the fish tank and was about to turn around, a smoke bomb landed next to his foot and exploded, causing a lot of white smoke to burst outward.
Not good. It was a trap!
When Li Yu realized this, he had already fallen unconscious.
When he woke up once more, he was floating in the water. The towel was still wrapped around his head. Because he was afraid that the towel might fall off and expose his fish face, then scare people, before Li Yu left Jing-wang’s private residence, he specifically used a rather sturdy leather rope and wrapped it several times around himself, practically tying it to his body. Then he found some strips of cloth and wrapped up his fish fins. The towel and strips of cloth were still present.
Li Yu vaguely remembered getting knocked out because of the white smoke. Losing consciousness and awareness in his fish human form was extremely dangerous. How did he wake up in the water?
Did… Jing-wang return to save him?
Hearing a voice from the side, Li Yu very quickly determined that this wasn’t Jing-wang. Plus it was several people. From their outfits, they should be a group of bandits.
This group of bandits was arguing nonstop. Li Yu eavesdropped for a while before he understood what had happened. Apparently, after the bandits charged into Maple’s Landing, they immediately suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of Jing-wang’s hidden soldiers. Originally they planned to retreat back to their hideout. However, the bandit leader listened to the advice of one of his strategists to grab a few important hostages to wear down Jing-wang’s momentum.
This strategist just recently arrived in the West Frontier. He joined this group of bandits not very long ago. With some unknown method, he actually managed to get the bandit leader to listen and obey his advice. That’s why at such a crucial moment, the bandit leader didn’t rush to escape, but instead followed the words of the strategist and returned to take people hostage.
The strategist found a few infants who just reached a month old and wrapped all of them up in gold colored swaddling clothes. Then he told the bandits to make the infants cry and run around with them without stopping, using the sound of the wailing to draw people outside.
The bandits didn’t really get it. If they had the little infants already, why not use them as hostages directly instead of capturing more people?
The strategist refused to explain and only told them to follow his instructions. The first time, Jing-wang came out. The bandits got beaten up by Jing-wang and scattered without many left. In the end, the bandit leader used himself to draw Jing-wang away. However, the strategist still demanded the rest of the bandits to continue trying to lure out people.
The remaining bandits felt somewhat faint themselves. After great difficulty, another person finally came out. Once again, they were beaten up and scattered in disarray.
The bandits carried the unconscious Li Yu and escaped to an abandoned shrine. There was a shallow river near the abandoned shrine. The leather rope wrapped around Li Yu was very tight and secure, not easily broken. The bandits couldn’t undo the towel at that moment so they couldn’t see Li Yu’s appearance. They also couldn’t figure out Li Yu’s identity. The only thing they could do was throw him into the river, wanting to use the water to make Li Yu wake up quicker so they could interrogate him.
Li Yu finally understood now. He thought to himself, Jing-wang was correct. This was a distraction to lure one’s enemy outside and he fell right into the trap here. The strategist of the bandits came with ill intentions. First it was the infants, then the gold swaddling clothes. So specific. It was likely he came targeting Li Yu and the fish babies. He and Jing-wang needed to be careful.
Right now the two of them were separated. Although this sounded somewhat disadvantageous, the guards responsible for protecting him should have discovered that he had been brought away. The bandits’ appearances were very eye-catching. Jing-wang would definitely be able to find his way here very quickly.
Li Yu had made a mistake again.
He didn’t believe in Jing-wang, and even went off on his own. However, the sound of the crying infants was so close by. If everything happened again, he probably would make the same choice again.
If it was before, he definitely would have never imagined himself so reckless. However, it really couldn’t be helped. He was very worried about the kids and couldn’t just sit by without doing anything. This was his natural instinct as a father.
Ah yes, what a marvelous idea! Let’s try and drown the man who’s half fish—
Drown the fish! Drown the fish! Hahahaha!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
What a marvelous idea! 😭😭😭
thanks for the chapter!
Thank You for the chapter ( ˘ ³˘)♥
So many questions. Short, short fins instead of hands that can not reach face, right? Yet he can cover himself and tie ropes? Tie so many so tight they could not undo them? He has fish head, so can not talk, but can give orders and even show sigil?
Also does the mouth of the fish face up or forward 🤣
I save my braincells by imagining li yus original fish head pointed upwards not a fucked up fish head!
I can understand his logic but I still am angry. I mean he was tight in trying to protect the kids but he shouldn’t have gone on his own at such a crucial time 😒
+1
understandable reaction… i just knew it wouldn’t be easy T T
He has short fins but can tie ropes all over his body.
Has fish mouth that can’t speak but is easily giving orders to the guards.
And what’s with this “he’ll still make the same choice” knowing that it was a wrong choice and didn’t even have a sentimental significance to it. It was plain stupid.
What human? What transformation? He’s clearly reverting back to being a stupid fish day by day 💀
This is by far the most stereotypical Mary Sue MC I’ve seen in a danmei. Stupid, weak, oblivious, illogical and always getting in trouble, just waiting to det rescued by ML everytime 😮💨😮💨😮💨
i’m really liking the novel so far, but the moment li yu decided to leave the pond/not trusting jing-wang, i decided to just skip the rest of the chapter. the stupidity would only raise my blood pressure, lol