Chapter 26
Li Yu could transform into a human for an hour, which meant that when the time was up, he would turn back into a fish. Before the time was up, he would still look like a human. It was impossible to cancel the transformation, as the system did not provide him with a way to do so.
He was about to be trapped in the room by King Jing again. Although the room was big, there was no place to hide. Going into the wardrobe or hiding behind the curtain was basically suicide.
Li Yu stood up and ran to open the window inside. He really had to jump out of the window again.
He remembered that he had climbed out of this window once when he used the transformation medicine. The outside was against the rockery, so he was familiar with this path!
Li Yu used his fingers to push the window bolt. The window, which was supposed to be easy to open, could not be opened!
What was going on?
Li Yu anxiously shook the window twice, but it did not move at all. He suddenly realized that the window could not be opened. It was most likely sealed.
Needless to say, who could seal the window? But when was it sealed? Why did he not know?
Cold sweat broke out on Li Yu’s back. Since this window did not work, he decisively changed to other windows.
But after trying one round, he realized in despair that none of them worked. There were guards outside the door, so he knew that he could not get out.
Xiong Feng’s screams were getting closer and closer. Li Yu raised his head. If he was caught by King Jing …
King Jing had captured him for so long. Would he directly kill him?
Should he say, “Stop, Master, I’m your pet fish!”?
It was hard to imagine what King Jing’s expression would be when he found out that he was a pet fish. But if he did not say anything and just made up a lie, it would not take long for him to be exposed. If he fell into King Jing’s hands, he would not need to do anything. He would be discovered as long as he turned into a fish …
There was still one last step to complete the main mission. Because he was busy saving people, he did not put in much effort to get intimate with them. If King Jing found out his true identity, he would be lucky if he did not kill him. He would definitely not allow him to do any more missions in the future.
Was there really no other way?
Li Yu had sweat on the tip of his nose. He tried his best to sweep his eyes over everything in the room.
King Jing and Ye Qinghuan followed closely behind the running Xiong Feng.
Xiong Feng was about to run into the backyard. It seemed that he was going straight for King Jing’s room. King Jing was surprised.
He had already suspected that the youth who had escaped earlier had used Xiong Feng to deliver the letter. Could it be that the youth, under his intense pursuit, had still not left the palace?
King Jing recalled that none of the men he had sent out had returned with any useful information.
At first, he had thought that the thief was too cunning. However, the thief had repeatedly left clues in the King’s Mansion and his room.
Could it be that he was mistaken and this person was hiding in the Prince’s Mansion and had not run far? After all, the most dangerous place was also the safest place!
If Xiong Feng did not lead him to the wrong place and the thief was really hiding in his room… he was confident that he would not let the thief escape this time!
Seeing that Xiong Feng was about to break into the door, he suddenly stopped and sniffed around with his nose.
“Why did you stop chasing?” Ye Qinghuan caught up and rubbed his beloved dog’s head.
Xiong Feng barked twice and turned into a small bamboo forest outside the room. He ran towards a person standing at the entrance of the bamboo forest.
… Wrong?
King Jing looked at the room in surprise. He hesitated for a moment and then followed Xiong Feng into the bamboo forest.
Li Yu, who was in the room at the moment, was on high alert. Sob, sob, sob, that scared the fish to death.
He did not know why Xiong Feng did not come back, but one thing was very clear. Xiong Feng’s sudden change of direction was a great help to him. His transformation time was almost up …
As long as he could turn back into a fish and return to the fish tank, he would not have to worry about losing his disguise!
Xiong Feng ran to the people in the bamboo forest and wagged his tail happily at one of them.
This person was dressed in white. He squatted down and rubbed Xiong Feng’s head intimately.
Xiong Feng seemed to like this person very much and circled around him a few times.
“Who are you?”
Ye Qinghuan looked at this person from head to toe. He noticed this person’s beautiful and
otherworldly appearance. If it were not for the man’s clothes, Ye Qinghuan would have thought that this person was a woman.
This person saluted in a manner that was neither servile nor overbearing. He said, “In reply to the Crown Prince, I am Chu Yanyu who lives in the Qingxi Garden of the Prince’s Mansion. I was just passing by and did not know why your beloved dog ran over here.”
“So your name is Chu Yanyu … Xiong Feng seems to like you very much.”
Ye Qinghuan grinned. He did not have any other intentions. Crown Prince Ye was usually very kind to beauties.
Although the other party was a man, Ye Qinghuan did not like men. That did not stop him from admiring Chu Yanyu’s face.
However, Ye Qinghuan did not believe Chu Yanyu’s words. Duke Chengen’s Mansion was such a prestigious family. They had seen all kinds of tricks in the inner chambers. Xiong Feng rarely pounced on strangers. He was afraid that this Chu Yanyu had done it on purpose.
Ye Qinghuan did not come to King Jing’s Mansion for nothing. He knew that King Jing had arranged many people to come to this courtyard. It seemed that this Chu Yanyu’s background was not legitimate.
He did not expect to encounter this kind of thing in King Jing’s Mansion.
Ye Qinghuan laughed in spite of himself. He was not in his own mansion. He should just watch the show. There was no need for him to overstep his boundaries.
King Jing recognized Chu Yanyu not long after the banquet. King Jing’s cold gaze fell on Chu Yanyu’s hand. Chu Yanyu said that he did not know why Xiong Feng pounced on him. However, King Jing’s eyes were sharp. He had already noticed that Xiong Feng had hurriedly kicked a stalk of green grass to the side. He did not have time to wipe the green juice off his fingertips.
King Jing’s eyes darkened. Chu Yanyu was lying. This person had done something to make Xiong Feng run over on purpose.
King Jing was displeased. He shot a glance in Ye Qinghuan’s direction.
Because King Jing and Grown Prince Ye were in a hurry, Wang Xi did not have time to chase after them. Ye Qinghuan, who had suddenly become a mouthpiece, was speechless.
Crown Prince Ye coughed lightly and pretended not to understand.
King Jing glared at Grown Prince Ye again. Crown Prince Ye reluctantly asked, “Chu Yanyu, why are you here?’
Chu Yanyu knelt down and bowed. He raised his head and said, “I heard that Your Highness and Grown Prince Ye are looking for someone who is good at calligraphy. Why don’t you let me try?’
Ever since Chu Yanyu entered King Jing’s mansion, he had been living in Qingxi Park. King Jing’s mansion was heavily guarded. It was not easy for the Sixth Prince to pass him a letter. However, the letter instructed him to find a way to win over King Jing so that King Jing could pu strings for them with Duke Chengen’s mansion.
Chu Yanyu really wanted to help Mu Tianxiao. However, since he entered the mansion, he had not even seen King Jing’s face. The entire King Jing’s mansion treated the people living in Qingxi Park as outsiders. Naturally, that included him.
If he wanted to help Mu Tianxiao, he must first leave Qingxi Park and win over King Jing’s attention.
When Chu Yanyu entered the mansion, the Third Prince gave him a lot of banknotes to win him
over. Chu Yanyu spent a lot of money to bribe an imperial bodyguard who was in charge of patrolling outside Qingxi Park. It was very difficult to bribe the people who served in King Jing’s backyard. This imperial bodyguard only agreed to pass him a few words. Most of it was useless information.
This time, the imperial bodyguard told Chu Yanyu that Crown Prince Ye had brought his dog to King Jing’s mansion. King Jing and Crown Prince Ye were looking for someone – someone who seemed to be good at calligraphy. The imperial bodyguard was not around to serve these two people, so he did not understand. After Chu Yanyu learned about this, he came up with the idea of using Crown Prince Ye’s dog to show his face in front of King Jing and recommend himself.
He had read a lot of books and had read from a book that dogs liked a kind of fragrant leaf. This kind of leaf was planted in Qingxi Park, and Chu Yanyu managed to get some. He asked the imperial bodyguard to let him go out of Qingxi Park. In fact, the people who lived in Qingxi Park could occasionally go out for a walk, but they couldn’t go too far from Qingxi Park and had to be followed by an imperial bodyguard.
The imperial bodyguard helped him because of the money and asked to personally follow him.
Chu Yanyu got his wish and went out of Qingxi Park. When the imperial bodyguard was not paying attention, he shook him off.
He had heard the imperial bodyguard talk about the general layout of King Jing’s mansion, so he tried to walk in the direction where he could meet King Jing. From afar, he saw King Jing and a young man chasing a black-furred dog. He felt that the imperial bodyguard was not lying. The young man must be the heir of Duke Chengen, and the dog must be the heir’s favorite dog.
Chu Yanyu resisted his fear of the dog, tore up the grass, and smeared the juice on his fingers. The dog’s nose was very sensitive. Sure enough, it was attracted from afar.
Chu Yanyu didn’t have any status in King Jing’s mansion. He was just a person who had been stuffed in from outside. He couldn’t even be considered a servant, so he didn’t even have the qualifications to call himself a “servant” in front of King Jing. He used to follow the Sixth Prince, and Mu Tianxiao was close to him. Mu Tianxiao knew that Chu Yanyu had high aspirations, but he never asked him for anything. Chu Yanyu called himself a commoner, so he called himself “I” in a strange way. Although he looked refined and courteous, he was actually extremely rude.
If Wang Xi had heard him, he would have scolded him. However, between Heir Ye and King Jing, one had never cared about these empty formalities, while the other was about to explode.
However, it wasn’t because of Chu Yanyu’s self-proclamation.
King Jing was very displeased that Chu Yanyu acted on his own initiative and led Xiong Feng away, disrupting Xiong Feng’s original route.
Chu Yanyu was just short of saying, “I’m the person you’re looking for.” King Jing stared at him for a while, then chuckled coldly.
Chu Yanyu felt his hair stand on end from being stared at. Although the Sixth Prince had asked him to take down the King Jing, and he also told himself that he had to move the King Jing’s heart, King Jing was a mute. He didn’t know how to see through the mute’s thoughts. In any case, the other party’s eyes weren’t infatuated. Instead, they made him feel somewhat apprehensive.
At this time, Eunuch Wang finally caught up. King Jing raised his chin and moved his fingers.
Wang Xi tried to figure it out, then ordered someone to prepare a brush and ink. King Jing casually wrote a few words and threw them to Chu Yanyu.
Chu Yanyu didn’t understand what was going on. Wang Xi said, “His Highness ordered you to write these words again.”
Ye Qinghuan also came over and glanced at the letter. He smiled but didn’t say anything. Chu Yanyu didn’t know, but he knew that King Jing didn’t just pick these words to write.
Since Chu Yanyu said that he was the person they were looking for, they naturally had to check the handwriting.
Chu Yanyu thanked him and carefully thought about it for a while before he also wrote these words. His hand was written in elegant small regular script. In order to leave a deep impression on King Jing, he even used his left and right hand to write again in a dashing and unrestrained cursive style with his other hand.
He was just worried that he wouldn’t be able to display his talents. Although people who saw him would praise his handsome appearance, Chu Yanyu was most satisfied with his own talents. What was talent? This was it.
Unfortunately, with his talents, King Jing only glanced at him indifferently. The little attention he gave him was even less than the pen he put aside after he finished using it.
King Jing brushed his sleeves in disgust. Wang Xi immediately said, “His Highness said no. He asked you to get lost.”
Chu Yanyu, “…”
Chu Yanyu still wanted to say something, but Wang Xi had already ordered the imperial bodyguards to take him away.
He heard Wang Xi scolding him. Because he left Qingxi Park without permission and broke the rules, he and the imperial bodyguards he bribed were severely punished with two hundred strokes of the cane.
The imperial bodyguards were directly expelled from King Jing’s residence. As for him, who was full of talent, he was dragged back to Qingxi Park to fend for himself. Eunuch Wang said that this was King Jing’s order to prevent him from dying outside. He also wanted to inform the Third Prince. If he died in the King’s residence, he could just be buried on the spot.
Chu Yanyu was scared out of his wits. He lay on the bed covered with wounds and tears. No one had ever treated him like this. How could this man be so cruel?
After being lured by Chu Yanyu, Xiong Feng didn’t want to move anymore. No matter how Ye Qinghuan teased him, Xiong Feng just licked his hand and remained very quiet.
At this rate, they probably wouldn’t be able to find the culprit.
Ye Qinghuan smiled apologetically at King Jing. He also didn’t expect this to happen.
King Jing looked at Xiong Feng in a daze for a while. If Chu Yanyu didn’t come out, then wouldn’t Xiong Feng’s original direction be …
His room.
It was probably too late to go now. King Jing still ordered Wang Xi to keep an eye on him while he went to investigate.
“Tianchi, I’ll go with you.”
Ye Qinghuan also wanted to know who sent the letter.
King Jing paused and looked back at Ye Qinghuan. He shook his head gently and walked away.
Ye Qinghuan:???
Wang Xi sighed and said, “Crown Prince, His Highness already has someone in mind. Please let King Jing handle it.”
Ye Qinghuan’s eyes widened. “Does he have other clues … Who is it?”
Wang Xi frowned when he thought about it. “His Highness ordered people to investigate for a long time, but we still don’t know the name. It seems to be someone’s male concubine.”
Ye Qinghuan:???
Someone else’s male concubine actually sent him a letter?
Ye Qinghuan scratched his head in confusion. Was the Grown Prince really that charming?
King Jing came to the room and pushed the door open. There was no one in the room.
He knew that the teenager was used to running away and cleaning up traces. Sometimes he would even pretend to be suspicious. However, he would always leave some traces behind.
Previously, the teenager had sneaked in a few times, so he ordered Wang Xi to secretly seal the window. The window couldn’t be opened. At least this time, the teenager couldn’t have escaped through the window.
King Jing glanced at his fish as usual. The fish was swimming gently in the fish tank.
King Jing decided to look for clues himself this time. He walked around the room but didn’t find anything. His undergarments and underwear had been stolen every single time. Once, they were scattered all over the floor. Another time, they were mixed in with the clothes he had worn before.
King Jing felt that he had to start with his undergarments, so he opened the wardrobe.
He didn’t notice that there was a gaze behind him that had been following him since he entered the room.
In the crystal fish tank, the little carp nervously clung to the wall of the tank. It didn’t dare to breathe loudly as it watched King Jing search everywhere.
Xiong Feng didn’t directly run into the room, which bought him some time. Li Yu took off all his clothes. After his interspatial storage increased, he usually had one compartment to store water and the other compartment to store other things. After the letter was sent, there was an empty compartment that could store a set of clothes. However, if he really put them into the interspatial storage, King Jing would still suspect that the clothes were stolen if he couldn’t find them.
Therefore, Li Yu simply folded the clothes and put them back into the wardrobe.
It turned out that he was right. After King Jing opened the wardrobe, he curled his lips as if he didn’t find anything ..
In the next moment, King Jing, who shouldn’t have found anything, easily pulled out the clothes he had worn!
Li Yu:!!!
Li Yu was dumbfounded. He even forgot to flop around. How did he do it?
He had been extra careful. The clothes weren’t dirty. After folding them, they looked the same as the other clothes in the wardrobe. Moreover, he didn’t put the worn clothes at the top. King Jing shouldn’t have noticed.
Li Yu didn’t know that since King Jing’s clothes were targeted for the second time, he had secretly ordered Wang Xi to embroider a number plate on the inside of the clothes. The clothes were to be placed in the wardrobe and only the number plate was allowed to be arranged…
The thief had already stolen twice. King Jing had a hunch that the thief would steal again.
As long as he matched the order of the number plate, he would know if the clothes had been tampered with – and it turned out that they really had been tampered with!
But other than that, he didn’t find anything else.
The thief wasn’t trapped in the room as he thought. Instead, he slipped away again.
Moreover, it was in a way that even he didn’t know.
King Jing walked over. While watching the fish swim, he thought about the teenager’s whereabouts.
Li Yu was afraid of his serious look. He was too handsome … No, no, he was too smart. He was always so close to taking off his disguise. He couldn’t let his guard down.
Li Yu made up his mind and decided to betray Yu Se again!
However, King Jing was with him all the time. Ordinary Yu Se probably wouldn’t be tempted by him. It was Xiong Feng who reminded him that some dogs liked to chase their tails in circles. Xiong Feng was one of them. Li Yu planned to learn from him and chase his tail once!
Even if he looked silly, as long as he could divert King Jing’s attention, it would be enough!
Li Yu turned around and chased the tip of Yu Se’s tail. He kept muttering to himself, “As long as I don’t treat my tail as my tail…”
As he chased, he was surprised to find that the tip of Yu Se’s tail could touch his head.
Li Yu, who couldn’t help but play with his tail for a while, thought to himself, “I accidentally played with my tail too much again!”
King Jing noticed that Yu Se was playing with his tail. He unconsciously followed Yu Se and watched for a while. King Jing had never seen Yu Se play with his tail like this before.
When Yu Se stopped, King Jing scooped up Yu Se’s fish and placed it in a nearby teacup as usual. After rubbing it a few times, Li Yu shamelessly used the tip of Yu Se’s tail to wrap around King Jing’s finger again for a while.
The coldness in King Jing’s eyes retreated. He smiled and shook his head.
Hmph, you don’t want it verbally, but you want it very much in your heart!
Li Yu saw through his hypocritical master and refused to let go of the tip of Yu Se’s tail.
Suddenly, King Jing seemed to have seen something. His eyes were filled with surprise. He couldn’t help but let Yu Se play with him and turned his fish face to face.
Li Yu, “???”
King Jing gently removed a piece of food residue from the joint between the fin and the fish body.
Li Yu, “…”
Li Yu often ate fish food, so it wasn’t strange for him to occasionally drop some fish food residue.
Anyway, he was a fish raised by King Jing, so he didn’t have to worry about dirtying the water. His subordinates changed the water quite frequently.
However, the residue in front of him was pink …
Li Yu, “F * ck, peach blossom pancakes!”
When he transformed into a human, he did eat a few peach blossom pancakes. Before he transformed back, his mouth was still full. Although he remembered to wipe his face, who knew that he didn’t wipe it clean? After he transformed back, some of the pancakes landed on Yu Se’s fin?
Li Yu felt very guilty. He felt that he was going to lose his identity again.
King Jing thought for a while and looked around the room. He also guessed that it was because of the peach blossom pancakes on the table. The corners of his mouth couldn’t help but twitch.
This small fish could jump around in the room. It probably jumped onto the peach blossom pancakes.
Could it be that the fish also wanted to eat the peach blossom pancakes?
King Jing thought to himself, “Why not? Peach blossom pancakes are vegetarian pancakes. Fi; should be able to eat them.”
King Jing slowly walked over and took the plate of peach blossom pancakes that had been delivered today. He picked up a piece, broke it into pieces, and sprinkled it into clear water.
Li Yu was stunned for a moment. He wagged his tail happily. He didn’t expect that King Jing not only didn’t suspect anything, but also personally fed the fish the peach blossom pancakes. Sob, he was inexplicably touched.
The pancakes that had been soaked in water still tasted good for the fish.
Seeing that the fish was eating happily, King Jing picked up a piece for himself. When he put it into his mouth, he inadvertently glanced at the remaining desserts from the corner of his eye.
Although the desserts were arranged in a common style, the number of desserts was clear at a glance. No.
The imperial family was particular. The number of things sent by the servants, even if they were just desserts or fruits, must be an auspicious number.
But now, including the one he had in his hand and the one he fed the fish, the number was obviously wrong.
The peach blossom pancakes had been touched ..
Realizing this, King Jing quickly put down the peach blossom pancake in his hand. He knew that the servants wouldn’t be so bold. Moreover, there seemed to be only one person who had the guts to touch the things in his room.
Fortunately, the other party didn’t poison the pancakes. Otherwise, his fish …
King Jing’s heavy gaze met the small carp, who was eating a small piece of peach blossom pancake on his head and anxiously trying to eat another piece.
King Jing: “…”
The small fish was a little cute, and it disturbed his train of thought.
King Jing shook Yuling and summoned the guards who were in charge of guarding outside the room.
All the guards told him the truth, “Before Your Highness came here, only the heir of Duke Chengen and Eunuch Wang Xi had been in this room. There was no one else. Heir Ye originally came here with his dog. After Heir Ye left, the dog stayed in the room for a while and ran out of the room by itself. “
As for whether Xiong Feng had a letter in his mouth when he left the room, the guards didn’t know.
King Jing rubbed the space between his eyebrows. This didn’t make sense. If it was only Ye Qinghuan and Wang Xi, and no one else had entered the room, how could the clothes and the number of peach blossom pancakes be changed?
Even if the thief entered the room when the guards weren’t paying attention, it was impossible for him to get out. The windows had been sealed long ago…
He had made all kinds of arrangements, but it was a fact that the thief came and went freely in his room.
“Tianchi, Xiong Feng seems to have recovered.”
Ye Qinghuan was led by Wang Xi into the room with his beloved dog. Xiong Feng excitedly rushed to the fish tank and wagged his tail at the little carp to show that he had completed the task well and asked for praise.
Li Yu quickly swam over and wagged his tail at him, “Stupid dog, don’t always surround me!”
However, dogs didn’t understand fish language. When Xiong Feng saw the fish swimming over, he insisted on poking the fish with the tip of his nose. Separated by the crystal wall, he was hit several times, but he still persevered.
Ye Qinghuan looked at his beloved dog awkwardly.
This situation suddenly reminded King Jing of something. When Xiong Feng went to deliver the letter to Ye Qinghuan, most of his body was wet. There were still traces of water on the dog’s body. However, the fish tank in the room wasn’t broken, and Xiong Feng couldn’t have entered the fish tank. Then how did Xiong Feng get wet?
Everything was wrong. From the unknown young man who always appeared in the room and he couldn’t find him, to the clothes and peach blossom pancakes that were touched when no one entered or left the room …
He always felt that he was just a little bit away, just a little bit away. Just a little bit, and he would be able to string everything together and then the truth would be revealed.
Ye Qinghuan listened to Wang Xi’s story one by one and his eyes were a little wide. He swallowed his saliva and said with an uncertain expression, “Tianchi, is your room haunted?”
.. Haunted?
King Jing paused and then sneered. How could there be a ghost? It shouldn’t be. At most, it was a thief.
And even if there really was a ghost, he wasn’t afraid.
Xiong Feng barked excitedly a few times and still wanted to poke the fish. King Jing saw that his little fish cleverly hid in the rockery, only showing its tail.
Seeing the fish, King Jing, who wasn’t afraid of ghosts, became calmer.
This couldn’t go on. He wasn’t afraid of thieves, but he was afraid that thieves would harm Xiaoyu.
It was useless to strengthen the defense earlier.
King Jing glanced at Wang Xi. Since strengthening the defense didn’t work, there was only one way left.
Ye Qinghuan felt that King Jing’s fish and his beloved dog were fated to be together. He wanted to take the fish back to Duke Chengen Mansion and let him experience the fun of raising fish for a few days. However, before he could propose to King Jing, he saw Wang Xi take out a … crystal bottle that was bigger than an ordinary teacup from his sleeve.
It should be a crystal bottle. The top of the bottle was covered with a golden cap, and the bottle was inlaid with a handle for easy carrying.
Wang Xi nimbly opened the crystal bottle and poured some water into it. Then, he carefully put the little carp hiding in the rockery into the crystal bottle.
As soon as the little carp entered the crystal bottle, it swam around curiously.
Ye Qinghuan was stunned. “What are you trying to do?”
Wang Xi smiled and said, “His Highness is worried about Master Xiaoyu, so he plans to take it with him wherever he goes. This bottle’s golden cap is filled with air so it won’t be stuffy. It’s perfect for Master Xiaoyu.’
Ye Qinghuan was very embarrassed. “Is it not enough to put it in the big fish tank bestowed by the Emperor? You still want to take it with you??*
He originally wanted to ask King Jing for the fish, but now that he had it with him, there was no point in asking.
