Chapter 28
King Jing took out the crystal bottle. Wang Xi, who was not far behind him, strode forward and placed a small coral fish tank on King Jing’s table. The clear water had already been prepared in advance. King Jing rolled up his sleeves and personally placed the fish in the water. He watched the fish swim freely for a while.
King Jing glanced at Wang Xi and planned to feed the fish.
Wang Xi knowingly took out the bamboo box that contained the fish food and handed it to King
Jing. He then turned around and gave a look to the several eunuchs behind him. The eunuchs
quickly brought out the many snacks that they had brought along from King Jing’s residence and placed them in front of the fish tank one by one.
King Jing took two pieces of fish food and placed them in the fish tank. He then picked up a peach blossom cake and gave half of it to the little fish. He then ate the other half as if nothing had happened.
The people who were watching King Jing feed the fish with nothing better to do were speechless.
Everyone felt like they were going blind. So King Jing was actually this King Jing?
After King Jing placed him in the fish tank, Li Yu obediently rubbed against his fingers. The fish food and peach blossom cake were placed down. The little carp, who liked new things and disliked the old ones, ate the peach blossom cake first. When he was half full, he ate the fish food.
Seeing that the little fish was eating happily, King Jing took another kind of silver-pill cake, broke it up, and fed it to the little fish.
Li Yu was now very willing to try new foods. He smacked his lips and tasted it. The new cake had a minty fragrance that went straight to his head. People liked it, but fish couldn’t stand it. Li Yu took a bite and then put it down. He continued to eat the peach blossom cake happily. King Jing then knew that his fish didn’t like silver-pill cakes.
“You don’t have to prepare silver-pill cakes in the future.”
Eunuch Wang, who was known as the roundworm in King Jing’s stomach, immediately ordered the eunuchs to write it down. The eunuchs nodded repeatedly.
The people seated around King Jing were already dazzled by the spectacle. Only Ye Qinghuan was not surprised.
Amidst the music, Second Prince Mu Tianzhao stood up. The Ministry of Rites had arranged the oldest Second Prince to toast to Jin Jue Wang on behalf of the other princes at the state banquet.
Mu Tianzhao was very polite and polite. He had a great conversation with Jin Jue Wang. Jin Jue Wang kept praising Mu Tianzhao and drank three cups of wine in a row.
The King was quite satisfied with Mu Tianzhao’s performance. When Jin Jue Wang complimented the Second Prince, the King was also quite happy. Being able to do a good job was one of the Second Prince’s strengths.
Mu Tianzhao could feel that the Emperor was in a good mood. He smiled at the petite figure beside Jin Jue Wang.
He had lost a lot recently and did not have the Emperor’s favor. The spy he had placed in the Palace of Heavenly Purity recently told him that Jin Jue Wang wanted to arrange a marriage for the little princess.
Mu Tianzhao had spent a lot of effort to repair his relationship with King Jing. However, King Jing did not care about him. Mu Tianzhao also wanted to win over the Duke Chengen House. However, King Jing and the Duke Chengen House were obviously tied to the same rope. He had lost in front of King Jing, and the Duke Chengen House was also cold to him.
Mu Tianzhao heard that the Third Prince had successfully arranged a concubine in King Jing’s house. He was afraid that the Third Prince would be one step ahead of him to win the support of the King Jing House and gain the support of the Duke Chengen House. He did not think that he could win the support of the King Jing House. He had to find a way to help himself. However, he could not do it too obviously. After all, the King was watching him.
At this time, a marriage alliance came knocking on his door.
Mu Tianzhao had a good plan. Although Jin Jue was a small country on the border, he had money and soldiers. If he married Princess Jinjue, Jin Jue would not let him go and support the other princes. In this way, even if the Emperor had a problem with him, it would not be easy to shake his position.
As for Princess Jinjue herself, being his concubine was already a great honor. He could promise to make her a noble concubine when he ascended the throne. Jin Jue Wang would not object.
Mu Tianzhao originally thought that for Jin Jue’s help, he would accept the little princess even if she was ugly. However, when he looked at her coldly at the state banquet, he found that this princess was quite beautiful. Compared with the women of this dynasty, she had a different kind of charm. Mu Tianzhao was more than willing to accept her.
“Princess.” Mu Tianzhao ordered a plate of pastries to be served. He said gently, “This is the famous butterfly pastry of this dynasty. Please try it.*
As the name implied, the pastry was made in the shape of a butterfly spreading its wings.
Moreover, the pastry was made in pairs to symbolize a hundred years of love. Mu Tianzhao wanted to make a move first to let others know that Princess Jinjue was already in his bag. He wanted to make those who were interested in the princess think twice.
The Emperor also saw that the second prince had taken a liking to this foreign princess.
The Emperor originally wanted the Heir of Duke Chengen to marry Princess Jinjue. However, when he saw Ye Qinghuan’s solemn expression when he received the decree, it did not seem like he was interested in the princess. The Emperor wanted to test Ye Qinghuan’s attitude and discuss it with Duke Chengen Fu. He did not directly sanction the marriage. Who knew that the second prince would suddenly appear?
The Emperor was a little dissatisfied. However, he thought that the second prince did not understand the Emperor’s intention and should not be blamed. Previously, he had already rejected the idea of marrying Princess Jin Jue to a prince. If the Second Prince had this intention, he would definitely hit a wall. Unless Princess Jin Jue took the initiative to agree and was willing to be the Second Prince’s concubine, then he could fulfill her wish.
Since the Second Prince wanted this marriage, he had to take out enough means to make it happen.
The Emperor wanted to see how Mu Tianzhao would handle this matter, so he did not stop him.
Jin Jue Wang ordered a plate of butterfly pastry to be served to the princess. The princess only smiled and did not reach out to take the pastry.
Mu Tianzhao guessed that the princess did not know the meaning of the butterfly pastry. He wanted to take the opportunity to show it again. Suddenly, he realized that the Princess Jinjue was not even looking at him. Her pretty face was constantly looking into the distance.
Mu Tianzhao, “…”
Mu Tianzhao was a little embarrassed. He was not in a hurry to say anything. However, he could not help but follow the princess’ gaze. Then he saw that King Jing was feeding the fish with pastries on the table. The fish was even wagging its tail beside the fish tank.
It turned out that the princess was looking at the fish. It was the fish that the second prince would get into trouble whenever he saw it. Every time the fish wagged its tail, the princess could not help but smile.
Mu Tianzhao was secretly angry. He was afraid that he would be rude at the state banquet. After he knew that the fish was brought by King Jing, he tried his best to pretend that the fish did not exist. However, this fish that did not fit him in the eight characters of the Eight Characters of the Horoscope was now in his sight.
Princess Jinjue was laughing so hard that her face was red. She whispered to Jin Jue Wang from time to time. The second prince only heard the word “fish” very softly. He did not hear anything else. However, that was enough. He was very sure that this damn fish had stolen his thunder.
Princess Jinjue was also a blind person. How could a fish raised by a mute be compared with the future crown prince?
Mu Tianzhao glanced at the emperor. The emperor also noticed that King Jing was feeding the fish. However, the emperor did not blame him. Instead, he smiled. It seemed that he was very happy to see King Jing working so hard for the fish. The vine called jealousy in Mu Tianzhao’s heart grew rapidly.
He was the second prince and the future crown prince. After all, he could not do anything to a fish.
Mu Tianzhao sat back down with a gloomy face. His heart was filled with panic. He was stunned for a while. Still, no one paid any attention to him. The second prince then gave a few orders to the servant who was in charge of serving him food.
The servant took the order and left. After a short while, he came back with a bowl in his hand.
There was a little soup in the bowl.
The servant knelt down with trepidation and said, “Your Highness, the kitchen did not prepare carp soup today. The soup has to be boiled immediately. It won’t be ready in a short time. I was afraid that Your Highness would wait for too long, so I brought a bowl of white jade ball soup. Your Highness, please have some …”
Although the servant spoke softly, he could not stop people from staring at the second prince. Mu Tianming, who was sitting not far from the second prince, immediately said loudly, “Second Imperial Brother, are the dishes at the state banquet not to your liking? Why do you suddenly want to drink carp soup?”
Mu Tianming deliberately said the word “carp” loudly. Many people present looked at the second prince in shock. Then, they all turned to look at King Jing.
This was because there was only one carp beside King Jing.
Li Yu raised his head from the fish tank and titted his head in embarrassment. Aiya, I’m so shy.
Does the second prince want to use me to make soup?! But I’m still eating food at my master’s place.
Mu Tianzhao, “…”
Mu Tianzhao felt King Jing’s cold gaze on him and inexplicably panicked. However, he clearly did not do anything.
Mu Tianzhao gritted his teeth and reprimanded, “Third Imperial Brother, you think too much. I just suddenly felt thirsty and wanted to drink some soup.”
The second prince’s heart was extremely twisted. Did others have to criticize him for drinking fish soup?
King Jing coldly glanced at Mu Tianzhao. Although Wang Xi stood on the side and did not say anything, he was already cursing on behalf of King Jing in his heart.
The emperor frowned. Drinking a bowl of fish soup was not a big deal. However, only King Jing brought the fish over. The second prince’s intention to target him was too obvious. Perhaps even the second prince himself did not expect his actions to be exposed by the third prince in a fit of pique.
The emperor had a good impression of the little carp and also felt that the second prince was being impulsive.
Princess Jinjue had been looking at King Jing’s fish from afar. She had looked at it several times and liked it very much. Knowing that the second prince wanted to drink fish soup, the little princess stood up and said angrily, “Your Second Highness, the fish is so cute, but you want to drink fish soup in front of it. I didn’t expect you to be this kind of person!”
Princess Jinjue did not like the butterfly crisps that the second prince had given her. Although she was young, she had already seen through the second prince’s schemes against her and Jin Jue.
She also knew that if she married the second prince, she would only be a concubine. Princess Jinjue was not stupid. Jin Jue supported the second prince with all his strength. It was not worth it to exchange the position of concubine for a position that could be abolished at any time.
Moreover, it was still uncertain whether or not the second prince would be able to ascend the throne. Jin Jue did not want to get involved in the war between the princes.
Princess Jinjue had ignored the second prince all this time. When she found out that the second prince wanted to drink fish soup, she did not say anything. The little princess, who was not afraid of anything, jumped out and stepped on the second prince a few times. She also wanted to express to the emperor that she did not want to marry the second prince. Don’t even think about it!
“Your Highness, you misunderstood. That is not the case …”
Mu Tianzhao was speechless for a moment. His heart was filled with anger and he did not know how to explain.
Could he say that he did not want to drink fish soup in front of the fish, but wanted to directly kill the fish and make it into soup?
The emperor could see clearly that Princess Jinjue had no interest in the second prince. It was better not to let the second prince use any dirty tricks. To put it nicely, it was to win the princess’s favor. To put it bluntly, it was to seduce her in vain.
– – The emperor felt that the second prince had helped him gain face, but now he felt the pain in his face.
Sure enough, Ye Qinghuan was more suitable.
The emperor looked at the silent Heir Ye sitting next to King Jing from afar. He silently gave Heir Ye a mature and steady stamp in his heart. He planned to have Duke Chengen and Heir Ye stay behind after the state banquet to have a private talk.
Later, the second prince received news that the emperor intended to bestow a marriage between Princess Jinjue and Duke Chengen’s heir. He was already meeting with Duke Chengen.
It turned out that these people were in cahoots… and he, who suffered great humiliation at the state banquet, did not get anything in return.
Princess Jinjue rejected him, Duke Chengen’s family refused to help him, and King Jing and King Jing’s fish were all laughing at him!
