Chapter 70
Ye Qinghuan was wearing a bright red wedding dress with a big smile on his face. Princess Jinjue was wearing a veil with a picture of mandarin ducks playing in the water. She was holding a jade bottle and a ruyi. Although her face couldn’t be seen, when she bowed, he could catch a glimpse of her bright red lips.
Li Yu watched the young couple bow to each other and felt very emotional.
This young couple was able to break out of the original book and be together because of him. He hoped that they would live happily ever after and live a peaceful and happy life.
This was like an excellent omen. There was another couple that was also different from the original book.
Li Yu couldn’t help but glance at King Jing and found that he was also looking at him. Under their sleeves, they touched each other’s hands.
Li Yu silently made a wish in his heart.
The wedding went smoothly under the auspices of Duke Chengen. Not long after, an elderly servant came to invite them, saying that an old friend wanted to meet with King Jing.
King Jing glanced at the person and knew who it was. He held Li Yu’s hand tightly.
Li Yu understood. Did King Jing want him to come with him?
Li Yu followed King Jing. King Jing held his hand with one hand and didn’t forget to hold the crystal bottle with the other. Li Yu knew that it was impossible, but he still couldn’t help but feel jealous.
Did King Jing like fish more, or did he like him more?
If it was other people, he definitely wouldn’t be worried. But if it was fish …
After all, King Jing had made the entire mansion into an oversized fish tank for fish and made many exceptions for fish.
And his human form, Young Master Li, was originally arranged to take care of fish. Even the ornaments that King Jing gave Young Master Li were all fish.
Thinking about it this way, it was extremely scary. Maybe it wasn’t because there was a fish in his name, but because he really wasn’t as good as a fish.
No, he had to test him. If King Jing dared to like fish more, he wouldn’t let him off!
For a moment, Li Yu seemed to be possessed by the god of jealousy. He completely forgot that the opponent in his imagination was also himself.
King Jing was completely unaware that Xiao Yu was up to no good. He held Li Yu’s hand and followed the servants into the back garden of Duke Chengen’s residence.
In the depths of the forest, a white-haired old man was boiling wine in front of a small red clay stove.
King Jing pursed his lips and strode forward with Li Yu.
“He’s here?”
When the old man saw the two of them, he didn’t seem surprised at all. He generously pointed at the two chairs in front of him and said with a smile. “Take a seat.”
King Jing bowed his head respectfully and led Li Yu to their seats.
Li Yu was still trying to figure out the old man’s identity when he suddenly smelled the aroma of green plum wine. It was said that the green plum wine of Duke Chengen Mansion was personally brewed by the old Duke Chengen. Then who was this person who could sit in front of King Jing and boil wine?
It was Ye Qinghuan’s grandfather, King Jing’s maternal grandfather, Duke Chengen!
“He-how are you!”
Li Yu felt a burst of excitement and hurriedly stood up to bow. In the book, this old man was the backbone of Duke Chengen’s residence. However, because of his poor health, he didn’t make an official appearance. Ye Qinghuan passed away not long after the incident. Now that Ye Qinghuan and the princess were married, the old Duke Chengen must be fine. However, he didn’t expect that he would be able to see this old man with his own eyes.
This was the genuine King Jing’s guardian!
Ye Qian smiled and glanced at the youth in front of him, then looked at King Jing.
“What a good child.”
Ye Qian smiled slightly and motioned for Li Yu to sit down. He believed that he was very good at reading people. He could tell the character of a youth of this age with just one look.
*Has Your Highness decided?” Ye Qian asked King Jing.
King Jing’s expression was grave as he nodded.
Ye Qian didn’t ask him for the reason. Instead, he smiled and said, “Then I have decided too.
Since Your Highness has ordered, I will do my best.”
King Jing looked at him for a moment, calm and grateful. King Jing lowered his head to pour wine for Ye Qian and also filled his own cup.
The two of them drank as if they had reached an important agreement.
Li Yu, “???”
Li Yu didn’t know what kind of riddle they were playing from the beginning to the end. It wasn’t appropriate for him to interrupt in such an occasion. He could only weakly push his bamboo cup in front of King Jing. Yu didn’t want anything too complicated. He just wanted to try the plum wine, right?
Ye Qian and King Jing were both stunned by his action.
Ye Qian held back his laughter and only cared about watching the show. King Jing glanced at Li Yu and also turned to fill Yu’s cup.
However, just as Li Yu happily raised the cup to smell it and was about to lick it, King Jing snatched the bamboo cup from his hand and drank it in one gulp.
Li Yu, “!!!”
“Your Highness, you’re drinking my wine!” Li Yu protested softly. The cup that was poured for him was naturally his.
King Jing smiled and shook his head. It would be terrible if the carp spirit got drunk outside. Just a whiff of the wine would be enough.
Li Yu grumbled to express his anger to King Jing while Ye Qian leisurely drank by himself. A calm and composed youth and a lively and enthusiastic youth. This pair made him happy.
He had met Ye Qinghuan and Princess Jinjue before. Like these two, they were both good children.
When he saw the pair of jade butterflies that Li Yu was holding, the smile in Ye Qian’s eyes deepened. He also took out the jade pendant that he received when he got married.
It didn’t seem that difficult to meet the parents. Li Yu held the jade pendant and the jade butterflies as he thought to himself.
In fact, he was a little worried that King Jing’s relatives would object. After all, King Jing was gay with him. None of these relatives were worried that King Jing would also go astray in the future.
Needless to say, Ye Qinghuan and the princess were acquainted with him. Old Duke Chengen and his wife seemed to like him very much and gave him gifts. Old Duke Chengen even secretly told Li Yu when King Jing wasn’t paying attention that he would specially send him a few jars of good wine next time. He was very considerate of him.
Li Yu: Oh, what’s with this huge sense of responsibility?
He suddenly felt that since he had met the parents and they treated him well, he had to treat King Jing even better.
Xiao Yu’s inexplicably serious expression made King Jing want to pinch Xiao Yu’s cheeks.
Of course, the people of Duke Chengen’s Mansion wouldn’t object to the two of them. King Jing himself had long passed the age of marriage and children. He didn’t have anyone close to him.
Now that he finally found someone he liked, they would probably be grinning from ear to ear and couldn’t wait to help King Jing settle down.
However, King Jing’s marriage still had to be decided by the Emperor. Bringing Xiao Yu to meet the relatives of Duke Chengen’s Mansion was the attitude he should show.
King Jing, who had never been envious of others, was more or less envious of Ye Qinghuan’s marriage.
King Jing didn’t even need to think about it. Of course, he wanted to marry Xiao Yu. However, King Jing had his own considerations about when to let the Emperor know and propose marriage.
Especially after he reached an agreement with old Duke Chengen.
He was the son of the first wife with a noble status. Throughout his life, he had always been subjected to criticism and assassination attempts. He was already used to it and knew how to survive. However, after the Duke Chengen Mansion was almost set up and the other princes made a fuss about the fish one after another, King Jing realized that he couldn’t protect the people around him just because he didn’t interfere with any of the forces.
None of those princes were reliable. The best way to protect the people he wanted to protect was to become the ruler himself.
Because he was born with a disability, he still had a long way to go. His future was bound to be filled with more and more dangers. Before he could achieve a stable life, he could not bear to involve Xiaoyu in this.
Therefore, he could only let Xiao Yu fall in love first. He couldn’t directly confirm Xiao Yu’s status.
However, one day, he wouldn’t be missing anything.
“Your Highness, I want to walk around by myself. After that, I’ll go back first.”
Li Yu put the jade butterfly and jade pendant into his pocket and informed King Jing.
Because of the three-point agreement, even his excuses were very casual. In any case, King Jing wouldn’t ask about it.
King Jing watched him walk to the edge of the garden and behind a few trees.
Li Yu quickly turned back into a fish and slid back with his tail. The crystal bottle was not far behind King Jing. It was blocked by King Jing’s tall figure and the old Duke Chengen couldn’t see Li Yu quietly jumped into the crystal bottle. Although King Jing didn’t directly stare at the fish, he heard the soft sound of water behind him and knew that he had safely turned back.
Ye Qian was in high spirits. He ordered someone to bring over a chessboard and said with a smile, “The last time I played chess with Your Highness was before Your Highness moved out of Jingtai Palace. I was ordered to visit the palace… so many years have passed in the blink of an eye.”
King Jing nodded and let his grandfather play white while he played black.
Li Yu swam to the mouth of the bottle and carefully lay down. Thinking about the riddle these two played before, he felt that it was very likely that he was present and that the old Duke Chengen couldn’t say it clearly. Who knew that after he “left,” this pair of grandfather and grandson played the riddle to the extreme and focused on playing chess.
Li Yu only knew the simplest five-in-a-row chess and couldn’t understand it at all. Moreover, after watching for a while, he became very sleepy.
King Jing had been paying attention to the fish. When he saw that the fish was about to slip out of the bottle again, King Jing quickly cut the Gordian knot. The game, which had been in a stalemate, was instantly cut open, and the situation became clear.
Ye Qian rubbed his chin and said, “Your Highness’s aura is very different. Is it because of ‘him’?”
King Jing only smiled casually. Protecting oneself and protecting others were naturally different.
Ye Qian had a rare opportunity to see King Jing and wanted to say a few more words to King Jing.
Suddenly, a servant came to report that the Emperor had arrived.
Ye Qian and King Jing immediately went out to welcome him.
The Emperor wore casual clothes and was followed by the Head of the Imperial Bodyguards. He personally came to the Duke Chengen Fu.
Originally, it was just a wedding between the Duke Chengen Shizi and Princess Jinjue. The Emperor only needed to give gifts and there was no need for the Emperor to come. However, because of what the Second Prince did, the Emperor had to appease Jin Jue Wang and come personally to take a look to show the importance of the marriage.
The courtiers and the Duke Chengen couple all knelt down and bowed to the Emperor.
The Emperor waved his hand and said with a smile, “The wedding will continue as it should be. I’m just here for a toast.”
The Emperor and Jin Jue Wang, whose face was full of joy, sat and talked for a while before the tense strings of the guests slowly relaxed.
Ye Qian and King Jing entered the hall and bowed to the Emperor.
Ye Qian hadn’t been well these years and rarely entered the palace. When the Emperor saw Ye Qian and King Jing, he couldn’t help but think of the past with Empress Xiaohui.
Since Ye Qian agreed to help King Jing, he had to make full use of King Jing’s advantage. He took the initiative and said, “We still have the room where the late Empress lived. Does the Emperor want to take a look?”
After Empress Xiaohui passed away, the Emperor almost never came to the Duke Chengen Fu because he was afraid of being sad. However, at this moment, he couldn’t help but nod. King Jing was Empress Xiaohui’s only remaining son. Therefore, the Emperor called King Jing to come with him.
King Jing still carried the crystal bottle with him. The Emperor took a look and said in surprise, “How long has it been? Your fish has changed like this?”
The Emperor then remembered that King Jing had given him a report about the changes in the fish. However, the last time the Emperor saw the fish, it was still black with a hint of gold. Now, the color of the fish had changed. No wonder the Emperor didn’t react at first sight.
“It seems that Liao Kong was right. This really is the offspring of a koi.” The Emperor sighed.
The Emperor walked closer and looked at the fish in the crystal bottle. Li Yu was afraid that the Emperor would find out and didn’t even dare to spit out bubbles. He elegantly played the role of an emotionless koi.
Fortunately, his fish wasn’t the main character today. The Emperor quickly followed old Duke Chengen to the room where Empress Xiaohui lived.
The place Ye Qian was talking about was the boudoir where Empress Xiaohui lived when she was young. The Emperor brought King Jing in and saw that the room was filled with decorations similar to Changchun Palace. The Emperor’s vision became a bit blurry. He sat down and talked to King Jing about a few small things about Empress Xiaohui.
Li Yu hid in the crystal bottle and was in a low position. What he saw was different from other people. The Emperor saw mostly familiar decorations, but Li Yu saw a picture of a maid hanging on the wall. Because it was Empress Xiaohui’s boudoir, Li Yu guessed that it might have been written by Empress Xiaohui herself.
King Jing also knew how to draw. Did he inherit his mother’s talent?
It wasn’t impossible.
After Li Yu finished studying the painting, his gaze naturally fell on an inconspicuous wardrobe under the painting.
An old cloth doll was revealed in the corner of the wardrobe.
At first, Li Yu only felt that it was familiar. But after thinking about the black and yellow cloth doll for a while, Li Yu was stunned.
Wasn’t this the cloth tiger he saw in the secret reward from the system?
Although he couldn’t be sure if it was the same one, it was very similar. Moreover, the cloth tiger in the secret reward was still an unfinished product, but the cloth tiger in this room was clearly a finished doll.
Could this secret be related to Empress Xiaohui?
But the room in the secret reward wasn’t this one. Moreover, Li Yu was very sure that it should be a palace in the palace.
… Could it be Empress Xiaohui’s Changchun Palace?
Li Yu hadn’t been to Changchun Palace and couldn’t confirm it. He could only look at the cloth tiger anxiously.
Suddenly, he had an idea. He pointed his fish mouth in the direction of the cloth tiger and kept knocking on the wall of the crystal bottle.
King Jing noticed the fish’s imitation and walked over. He also saw the cloth tiger in the wardrobe.
King Jing thought for a while and took out the cloth tiger. The Emperor smiled and said, “Your Empress Mother likes these very much. She even made them for you in the past. There were many in Changchun Palace. Do you still remember?”
King Jing nodded slightly.
The Emperor’s words were like fireworks, instantly exploding in Li Yu’s mind.
