Chapter 19
In the past, the second prince would not have cared about a fish. But this fish in front of him, he had no choice but to treat it with caution. He had suffered from this fish before, and he was almost certain that this seemingly dead fish was most likely playing tricks again.
After Lady Chou was grounded by the Emperor, she had complained to him at the top of her lungs that this fish was King Jing’s scheme. The second prince had also suspected this. However, if he wanted to save his image in the Emperor’s mind and ensure that his position as the Crown Prince was secure, he couldn’t avoid King Jing. He couldn’t do anything disrespectful to King Jing on the surface.
King Jing’s status was special. It could be said that he was a test the Emperor left for the next Crown Prince. The second prince had to make the Emperor think that he was benevolent and would treat all his brothers well, especially King Jing, who was of noble birth. Therefore, even if Lady Chou and himself were to be wronged, he would accept it.
Lady Chou’s example told him that no matter what happened to this fish, he couldn’t act rashly.
He had to deal with all changes by sticking to the status quo. He thought that since he came here with Wang Xi, as long as he pretended not to know, King Jing wouldn’t be able to pin the blame on him.
He did so, but he still couldn’t stop himself from secretly looking at this evil fish. After a long time, the fish still didn’t move.
The second prince’s eyelids twitched. This time, the fish was probably really dead.
It was better to leave as soon as possible.
The second prince said to Wang Xi, “I have something to do in my residence, so I’ll leave first. If the night-luminescent pearl is found, just send someone to deliver it.”
Wang Xi smiled and shook his head, “Look at what you’re saying. If you ask His Highness personally, of course, you have to see it yourself …”
Wang Xi had been with King Jing for many years and had met Mu Tianzhao many times. This was the first time that Mu Tianzhao felt that this old man was so difficult to deal with. The more he wanted to leave, the more he couldn’t. The eunuch in charge of taking care of the fish came to inspect. He suddenly felt that something was wrong. He pointed at the fish in the tank and said anxiously, “Eunuch Wang, why hasn’t His Highness’ fish moved for so long?”
The second prince, “…”
Mu Tianzhao cursed in his heart.
Wang Xi rushed over to take a look. He knew that the little carp had a “problem”, which was that it often “fell asleep”. Recently, the little carp did not like to move much. When Wang Xi saw the fish lying neatly, he did not think much of it at first. After the attendant reminded him, he felt that it was too quiet. Could it be that something had gone wrong with the fish?
Wang Xi looked at the fish carefully for a while and said uncertainly, “Guard it well. I’ll go and invite His Highness immediately.’
Wang Xi looked solemn. He turned to Mu Tianzhao and said, “Your Highness, His Highness will be here soon. Please wait a moment.”
Mu Tianzhao still had a lingering fear after being tricked by this fish. Wang Xi refused to let him go, so he was a little angry. “What do you mean by this? What does King Jing’s fish have to do with me? I didn’t even touch this fish!”
“Oh, Your Highness, this old servant didn’t say anything. Why are you so anxious?” Wang Xi said with a faint smile, “You probably don’t know, but this fish is His Highness’s treasure. Even the emperor knows about this fish. Not only you, but everyone who has come to this room has to wait for His Highness to come and make a decision.”
He was really a dog relying on its master’s power. He even used the emperor’s name!
Mu Tianzhao’s eyes turned cold. A servant from King Jing’s residence dared to treat him like this.
What kind of attitude would King Jing have towards him?
However, when he thought about his position as the crown prince … he would let this mute be proud for a while. When he ascended the throne, he would make sure this mute couldn’t cry even if he wanted to.
Mu Tianzhao forced himself to calm down and said, “Then let’s wait for Fifth Imperial Brother to come over.”
Congealing Hall.
As soon as the Second Imperial Prince left, Mu Tianming suggested that the dancers continue.
The Third Imperial Prince was unwilling to give up. His meticulous preparations had been disrupted by the Second Imperial Prince.
King Jing was dispensable, so there was no harm in continuing. However, just as the sound of the stringed and woodwind instrument started, a familiar-looking little eunuch ran over. He looked at King Jing from afar, scratching his ears and cheeks anxiously.
King Jing had some impression of this eunuch. He remembered that he always followed Wang Xi around. He waved at the eunuch.
The eunuch received the order and immediately approached King Jing to whisper to him.
The eunuch didn’t know what had happened and was hurriedly sent over by Wang Xi. According to Eunuch Wang’s instructions, something had happened to the fish master and he needed to ask King Jing for instructions. The eunuch couldn’t explain the details. King Jing remembered that the Second Imperial Prince had gone to retrieve the night-luminescent pearl. He was afraid that it had something to do with the Second Imperial Prince, so Wang Xi couldn’t say it clearly.
Could it be that the Second Imperial Prince had hurt his fish?
King Jing’s expression immediately turned cold. He waved his sleeves and dismissed the dancers.
The Third Imperial Prince wanted to persuade him, but King Jing waved him away and went to the back hall.
Soon, he arrived at his residence. Wang Xi and the eunuch were all there, as well as the Second Imperial Prince, who didn’t look too good.
King Jing didn’t care about the Second Imperial Prince. He didn’t wait for Wang Xi to say anything and went to look at the crystal fish tank.
He saw his fish lying quietly on the white stone bed.
King Jing looked at it for a moment, then reached his hand into the water and touched the fish’s back. After touching it, his expression changed and he immediately fished the little carp out.
Wang Xi leaned over and saw from the corner of his eye that King Jing had actually … flattened the fish???
“Your Highness, this … this isn’t a real fish!” Wang Xi reacted quickly.
King Jing threw the fake fish to Wang Xi. Wang Xi held it in his hands and looked at it over and over again. From a distance, this fake fish looked no different from a real fish, except that it felt soft and boneless. He didn’t know what it was made of!
The little carp wasn’t in the fish tank, but there was a fake fish in the tank. This was a big problem!
“Your Highness, who could have done this?”
There was a fake fish in the fish tank. It was obvious that this person wanted to hide it from them.
Who was so bold?
More importantly, where was the real little carp?
Mu Tianzhao originally wanted to clarify that the dead fish had nothing to do with him, but he didn’t expect that the dead fish was a fake. Mu Tianzhao was thunderstruck. Unfortunately, he was the only outsider in King Jing’s room.
King Jing looked at him seriously. Second Prince felt that he had been tricked again. This time, he was tricked by a fake fish!
He dared to say that he had nothing to do with either the real fish or the fake fish. More importantly, would King Jing believe him?
Just as the Second Prince was about to argue, his vision blurred. King Jing’s sword was already at his neck.
“Fifth Brother, what, what are you doing? This has nothing to do with me …”
Second Prince felt that King Jing’s sword was about to cut his throat. He was scared out of his wits. He didn’t expect King Jing to threaten him over a fish!
King Jing glanced at Wang Xi sharply. Wang Xi said on his behalf, “Your Highness, please tell the truth.”
“I’m telling the truth. I just came to get the night-luminescent pearl. I … I don’t like this fish. If it was really me, why would I put a fake fish in it? I could have just thrown it away.”
In order to survive, Second Prince didn’t care about anything else.
King Jing narrowed his eyes and looked at Second Prince for a while, thinking about whether he was telling the truth. Second Prince broke out in a cold sweat.
King Jing finally put down his sword and ordered someone to escort Second Prince out of the room. At this point, Mu Tianzhao should be telling the truth. There was no need for him to beat around the bush. Besides, if there was really something wrong, King Jing would look for Second Prince. Mu Tianzhao really didn’t have to do such a stupid thing.
Therefore, it shouldn’t be Mu Tianzhao’s doing.
But the fake fish was really to divert his attention so that he wouldn’t find out that the fish was missing. Who would make such an arrangement for what purpose?
King Jing was anxious just now and forced Mu Tianzhao to tell the truth by force. Now that he had calmed down, he began to order people to check the room to see if there were any changes.
After the inspection, the chamberlain said that there was an open window in the south. This window faced the garden of King Jing’s residence, but King Jing didn’t have the habit of opening this window.
There were originally many teacups on the floor for the little carp to stroll around. King Jing had a good memory and remembered the position of each teacup. He counted them and found that one was missing.
It was easy to think that someone had used a teacup to take the fish and then escaped through the window.
King Jing pondered for a moment and ordered people to search the room again to see if anything else was missing or moved.
Wang Xi came back soon and reported, “Your Highness, nothing is missing or moved. Only the wardrobe has been rummaged through. Your set of … a set of underwear and underwear is missing.”
King Jing, “…”
Wang Xi was puzzled. Could it be that a thief not only stole His Highness’ fish but also his underwear and underwear?
This thief’s eyes were too strange.
King Jing ordered Wang Xi to order people to search the garden for suspicious people, especially those with teacups. They had to find the little carp even if they had to dig three feet into the ground.
King Jing was busy searching for the fish. At the same time, a young man in green clothes flipped down from the rocks of the rockery.
Half an hour ago, Li Yu drank the transformation medicine and lost consciousness. When he woke up and found that he had returned to his human form, Li Yu was very happy. He was even happier when he saw his face in the bronze mirror. But then he encountered an unprecedented crisis – after transforming back to his human form, he didn’t have any clothes on!
Because he had the body of a fish before, the scales were part of the fish. Li Yu didn’t think about the problem of clothes. As a result, when he turned into a human, his clothes were gone! And such an important thing, the fish-trapping system didn’t mention it at all!
Li Yu, ” … Okay, why else would it be called a fish-trapping system?”
The most important thing now was to find clothes to wear.
Li Yu transformed back to his human form in King Jing’s room. When he was still in his fish form, he lived with King Jing day and night, so he naturally knew where King Jing’s clothes were. The were only King Jing’s clothes here, so Li Yu went to the wardrobe and casually searched.
King Jing’s wardrobe had all kinds of clothes, but King Jing was taller than Li Yu. In ancient times, there were more wide-sleeved robes. Li Yu couldn’t see anything when he put on King Jing’s outer robe. Moreover, it was empty inside, so he had to be careful when he walked. It was easy to be exposed …
These were all secondary. Many servants who served the master would recognize his clothes. Li Yu was afraid of being discovered and arousing suspicion, but he couldn’t not wear it. After thinking for a while, he picked out King Jing’s inner robe and underwear.
Underwear was much smaller than outer robes. The inner robe didn’t have any embroidery or markings, so it shouldn’t be obvious. Moreover, King Jing had hardly used the wardrobe that he took out his clothes from. It should be new or spare, so it wouldn’t be too uncomfortable to borrow it.
At the very least, even if King Jing wore it, he would have to grit his teeth and bear with it. A pure boy couldn’t run around naked, right?
He had no choice but to wear shoes. King Jing’s feet were bigger than his, so it was better not to wear shoes. It would be more convenient for him to move around.
Li Yu nimbly changed his clothes, filled the teacup with water, and put some fish food in it. He effectively combined the three things into one and stored it in the storage space.
Then he looked at the fish pillow. It was perfectly replacing him in the fish tank. As long as he didn’t touch it, he wouldn’t be able to find it. Everything was ready.
Li Yu deliberately opened the window near the garden. Of course, he didn’t want to go out from this window. There were definitely many guests in the garden. He just wanted to divert their attention.
