Chapter 73
On the day of rest after the wedding, Duke Chengen’s heir brought his new wife over to the mansion.
Because King Jing was working at the Ministry of Works, the couple purposely chose a time when King Jing was around and asked Wang Xi to pass on a message in advance. They also wanted to meet Young Master Li. Li Yu was very happy when he heard this. Ye Qinghuan and the princess were among the few friends Li Yu had made in this ancient era. He also liked to hang out with them.
On the appointed day, Li Yu purposely waited for Wang Xi to pass on the message before transforming into his human form to welcome the heir and his wife.
Princess Jinjue came to King Jing’s mansion for the first time. When she looked up, the first thing she saw was the confession on the wall. She looked at Ye Qinghuan meaningfully. Ye Qinghuan’s old face reddened. He thought to himself, I got married before King Jing, so why am I still inferior to him?
Princess Jinjue then looked at the connected ponds that formed a huge fish tank. She was so shocked that she couldn’t speak.
Under the princess’ envious gaze, Li Yu took the princess and Ye Qinghuan to walk around.
It was said that marriage was like a second life. After seeing these two again after a period of time, Li Yu felt that they had changed a lot.
Ye Qinghuan’s cheeks were still slightly red from shyness. There was a faint smile at the corner of his mouth as he looked gently at his wife. Princess Jinjue was still as sweet and radiant as ever.
However, after meeting Ye Qinghuan’s gaze a few times, the happiness in her eyes was about to overflow.
“You’re really different,” Li Yu joked.
For the first time, Ye Qinghuan didn’t reply. Princess Jinjue blinked and also joked, “Young Master Li is also different.”
Li Yu:”…”
Li Yu stole a glance at King Jing, who was beside him. How could I be so obvious?
Ye Qinghuan also brought Xiong Feng over. Together with the princess, he held Xiong Feng’s chain. Xiong Feng hadn’t seen Li Yu for a long time, so the moment he came up to Li Yu, he wildly wagged his tail. Li Yu still remembered that Xiong Feng also liked to eat fish food, so she took out a box of fish food from her sleeve and fed a few to Xiong Feng.
As Li Yu fed her, she suddenly remembered all the things she had said about the second master.
Ye Qinghuan married Princess Jinjue, so wasn’t the princess Xiong Feng’s second master?
Xiong Feng, are you used to it?
Li Yu scratched Xiong Feng’s chin, then touched Xiong Feng’s belly. Xiong Feng’s entire body was fat and smooth.
It seemed that Xiong Feng and the fish were getting along well with their second master, and their lives were very comfortable.
The difference was that Xiong Feng’s second master, the princess, had a good personality and liked to raise pets. The fish, on the other hand, had become its second master.
If all the pets in the world shared one stone of happiness, the fish would definitely have eight.
“Oh right, Young Master Li, I also brought fish today!”
After exchanging greetings, Princess Jinjue smiled and clapped her hands. She ordered the maids behind her to carefully bring up a hibiscus stone fish tank.
This fish tank was made of pink and elegant hibiscus stone. There were all kinds of koi fish in the tank, and they swayed their beautiful fish tails as they swam back and forth.
“Not bad.” Li Yu smiled at Ye Qinghuan.
The little princess had always liked his fish body. Was this what she liked?
Ye Qinghuan stuttered, “It was all the princess’ idea. I, I just occasionally helped to feed them.”
Li Yu covered his mouth and laughed, “It’s just raising fish. Why is Heir Ye blushing?”
Isn’t it just admitting that you also like fish? There’s no need to be embarrassed!
Princess Jinjue’s fish tank was very healthy, but the princess herself was a little disappointed.
The princess rested her chin on her hand and looked at the fish in the tank, “The servants who raise the fish all say that these are the smartest fish. I don’t know why they can’t compare to His Highness King Jing’s fish…”
Ever since she started raising fish, the little princess realized that fish were different from other fish.
King Jing and Li Yu looked at each other and said in their hearts, “That’s only natural.”
Not only did they bring up the topic of raising fish, the princess also mentioned that she wanted to take a look at King Jing’s fish.
Li Yu was a little embarrassed. Young Master Li and fish couldn’t coexist. He was afraid that the princess would want to take a closer look, so he didn’t dare to bring the fish pillow out to fool her.
Fortunately, King Jing kept a straight face after the princess made the suggestion. The owner of the fish didn’t agree, so the princess couldn’t do anything about it.
Ye Qinghuan tried to smooth things over. Li Yu tried his best to discuss food with the princess for a long time. Soon, the time limit of the transformation was about to end.
Li Yu still said that he had something to do and had to leave first. After Li Yu left, King Jing waited for the time it took to drink a cup of tea before he ordered Wang Xi to take the fish from the crystal fish tank.
Li Yu, who was busy moving between human and fish forms, was quickly scooped out of the crystal fish tank by Eunuch Wang with a large jade spoon. Because King Jing had been a little petty recently and didn’t allow anyone to touch his fish, Eunuch Wang could only use a spoon instead of both hands. Then, Wang Xi put Li Yu into a brand-new fish tank made of bluestone. The fish tank wasn’t a simple square. It was built into a small house. There were jade bells hanging from the eaves, which made light sounds when the wind blew. For the convenience of viewing, all the doors and windows of the tank were filled with a layer of crystal.
Li Yu had never seen this fish tank before. He was afraid that it was newly made by King Jing.
Such a big bluestone must be very expensive. Li Yu didn’t dare to swim after entering it.
Wang Xi came out with the bluestone fish tank. Ye Qinghuan’s mouth twitched when he saw the new fish tank. Bluestone, which was as beautiful as the sky, was rare and hard to find. Only the royal family could afford to use it. This time, he and the princess had lost a lot of money.
Princess Jinjue hadn’t seen fish for a long time. Last time at the market, she had only seen a fish pillow from afar. Now that she saw a real fish, the princess was surprised and said, “It … how did it become like this?”
Even though Ye Qinghuan had reminded her, she still remembered the little black fish that swam to King Jing to eat fish food at the state banquet.
King Jing glanced at Wang Xi. Wang Xi had already memorized this part of the story, so he explained it to the princess. The princess’s almond-shaped eyes widened and she couldn’t help but exclaim, “Oh, oh!”
The servant placed the two fish tanks together. King Jing’s fish tank was obviously bigger than the princess’.
Li Yu looked at the fish on the other side through the crystal wall.
The emperor had also sent fish to King Jing, but Li Yu didn’t have the chance to be so close to other fish at that time.
Slowly, he came up with an exciting idea.
If a person couldn’t understand the language of fish, no matter how many bubbles he spat out, it was useless. Then what about other fish?
Fish … how should they greet each other?
Li Yu tried to swim closer and shouted at the fish tank on the other side, “Hey, can you hear me?”
There was no response from the other side.
Li Yu felt that he was being whimsical. After all, he wasn’t a normal fish, but a bookworm fish. Even if he was in a pile of fish, he wouldn’t be able to understand their language, right?
Suddenly, the scales in front of him flashed, and the fish on the other side all swam towards him one after another.
The fish raised their heads and spat out bubbles at Li Yu. Although they didn’t make the same sound as Li Yu, Li Yu could magically understand what they were saying.
This group of fish was saying, “Hello, what are you doing?”
Li Yu was speechless.
This was really a pleasant surprise!
Li Yu tried to wave his tail, and the fish lined up in a “one” shape.
Li Yu waved his tail again, and the fish lined up in a “ten” shape again.
Li Yu laughed foolishly. What should he do? He had an even more exciting idea.
“Tianchi, these fish … What’s going on?”
Ye Qinghuan exclaimed. He saw the fish that he and the princess raised run over to King Jing’s fish tank and spat out bubbles together. It was a spectacular sight.
If it was one or two of them, it could be considered a coincidence. But if it was a group of them, it was too strange.
King Jing was watching from the side, so of course, he knew what was going on. Xiaoyu’s true body was a carp spirit, so she should be communicating with the other fish.
But he couldn’t hear what she was saying.
King Jing looked at the group of fish, and the irritation and unwillingness in his heart kept surging.
He personally walked forward and picked up his fish tank. The group of fish that suddenly lost their target was speechless.
King Jing gave Ye Qinghuan a warning look. You didn’t see anything.
Ye Qinghuan was speechless.
Ye Qinghuan was stunned and found an excuse for himself. He suddenly realized something and said, “Tianchi, your fish are actually female?”
Other than female fish attracting male fish, Heir Ye couldn’t think of any other possibility.
Li Yu and King Jing were speechless.
Li Yu’s new idea was related to the group of fish. He remembered that it was almost the Emperor’s birthday. In the original novel, the Sixth Prince began to shine during the Emperor’s birthday. If King Jing wanted to fight for the position of Crown Prince, he could use the Emperor’s birthday to cut off the Sixth Prince’s path and leave the Sixth Prince with no way out!
In the original novel, the Sixth Prince couldn’t afford an expensive birthday gift, so he used light and shadow to project the word “longevity” on the golden bricks of the main hall of the Palace of Heavenly Purity. This ingenious idea made the Emperor very happy.
Of course, the Sixth Prince deliberately said that he couldn’t afford it. The Sixth Prince had already thought of this way to win the Emperor’s sympathy and make him happy.
Li Yu wouldn’t encourage King Jing to destroy the Sixth Prince’s birthday gift. He would only think of a better one to compete with the Sixth Prince. After all, the Emperor’s birthday was a time for the Eight Immortals to cross the sea and show off their abilities!
Li Yu first asked Wang Xi to help him get a tank of fish. After fiddling with the fish for a while and making sure that he was confident, Li Yu found an opportunity to ask King Jing about the details of the Emperor’s birthday gift.
King Jing’s birthday gifts in the past were to personally write a piece of calligraphy and send it to the Emperor.
Now that he had decided to fight for the position of Crown Prince, he couldn’t be too casual. The Emperor had appointed King Jing to do this task, so King Jing should also express his gratitude.
Therefore, in addition to personally writing the calligraphy, he also found an artist that the Emperor liked very much and asked him to draw a painting of a crane and a peach for the Emperor. This artist was usually eccentric and never drew for others. It was very difficult for him to accept King Jing’s request.
When Li Yu came over to inquire, King Jing had already made all the arrangements. However, he still wanted to hear Xiaoyu’s idea.
He knew that Xiaoyu was doing this for his own good. He liked it when Xiaoyu was busy working for him.
Li Yu carefully asked, “Your Highness, do you have any ideas about the Emperor’s birthday?”
King Jing cooperated and shook his head. He saw that Xiaoyu’s black eyes suddenly lit up.
“What idea do you have now?” King Jing looked at him with a smile.
Li Yu rubbed his hands and said, “Your Highness, let’s try to use the fish formation to make a ‘longevity’ character and send it to the Emperor!”
The Sixth Prince’s light and shadow was dead. It wasn’t as lively as the fish formation. Moreover, it had the meaning of a carp greeting the Emperor. He didn’t believe that a birthday made up of fish wouldn’t be as beautiful as the Sixth Prince’s light and shadow!
Moreover, he had experimented a little in the past few days. His fish form could communicate with other fish, so it wouldn’t be difficult for him to make a simple ‘longevity’ character! When the time came, he could even blend in with the school of fish to provide support and prevent any accidents.
No matter how Li Yu thought about it, he felt that his idea wasn’t bad. He said happily, “I often feed fish, so I know a way to make them make a ‘longevity’ character. Your Highness, let me try.”
King Jing raised his eyebrows. He had seen the interaction between Xiaoyu and the school of fish with his own eyes, so he couldn’t help but think about the feasibility. Li Yu was afraid that he wouldn’t agree, so she quickly grabbed his arm and shook it coquettishly.
King Jing, “…”
This was the first time King Jing had been shaken by Xiaoyu like this. His heart trembled slightly, and his lips curled up. King Jing expressed that he was still considering the fish’s coquettish behavior, but his eyes kept glancing at his legs.
Li Yu’s face immediately turned red. How could this bastard be like this? He really didn’t forget to take advantage of her at all times!
Forget it, he was a fish that could adapt to circumstances. He couldn’t be troubled and had to share weal and woe with her …
In order to get this important job, Li Yu endured her shyness and obediently sat on the chair.
