Chapter 87
The Emperor was shocked. It was just a reward to a subordinate. How did it turn into a marriage?
But King Jing insisted that the marriage was a reward, and the reward to Li Yu was indeed decided by the prospective King Jing himself. With the replies to several memorials in the past as evidence, the Emperor recalled that King Jing had asked him several times and realized that King Jing had most likely set a trap for him.
He was afraid that worrying about how to reward Li Yu was fake. His real intention was to facilitate this marriage.
While the Emperor was shocked, he was also angry. He was angry that King Jing had schemed against him. He was also angry that King Jing suddenly wanted to marry a male princess.
The current dynasty did not forbid men. In the past dynasties, there were also some emperors who took male concubines and doted on them very much. Even the Emperor himself had a male noble when he was young. However, whether a man was a concubine or a concubine, it had nothing to do with the overall situation. Because men could not bear children, it was impossible for them to be the official wife. If King Jing insisted on taking Li Yu as a secondary concubine, the Emperor might have agreed to King Jing’s wishes. Originally, according to the rank of King Jing, he could have one official wife and two secondary concubines. Li Yu was a man and a commoner. If he could be conferred the title of secondary concubine, it would be a wonderful thing and everyone would be happy.
However, King Jing had mentioned the position of official wife in his memorials. He also wanted to ask for the position of official wife for Li Yu. Of course, the Emperor would not agree.
How could a man, especially a man with no background, take the position of princess? If he agreed, it would be difficult for King Jing to marry a young lady from a noble family. After all, which young lady would be willing to be a secondary concubine under a man who could not bear children, while the child she gave birth to could only be a concubine’s child?
The Emperor quickly came up with a bunch of excuses. He did not agree with this marriage. King Jing’s little trick was just a little trick. If the Emperor changed his mind so easily, he would not be the Emperor.
However, it was indeed difficult to go back on his words. The Emperor thought about it and simply left the memorials in the palace and did not reply.
As long as he did not reply, King Jing naturally would not be able to take a concubine.
The Emperor was also very angry with King Jing and expected better from him.
He used to worry a lot about King Jing’s marriage, but King Jing seemed to have no desires. Now, he finally wanted to get married. If he had taken a fancy to any young lady, the Emperor would not have stopped him. But King Jing wanted a male princess. He had just thought that this son of his had some ability, but he did not expect him to stab him in the heart like this!
The Emperor was really angry. He wanted to give King Jing the cold shoulder and let King Jing reflect on himself. He wanted to give King Jing a fair chance by sending King Jing to the western border. He didn’t want King King Jing to recklessly ask for a male wife.
In a fit of anger, the Emperor summoned Duke Chengen and King Jing’s maternal grandfather, Ye Qian, into the palace to discuss countermeasures with Ye Qian.
Ye Qian had already met Li Yu and King Jing’s letter to him had already been sent to him. In the face of the Emperor’s sudden anger, Ye Qian discreetly consoled him.
King Jing’s request for a male princess finally made the Emperor realize that it was time for King Jing to start a family. Without a woman by his side to take care of him, he would not look good. The Emperor thought that if he arranged a marriage for King Jing first, King Jing might not think about Li Yu.
If he still wanted, he would bestow her as a secondary concubine. Wasn’t this better than directly marrying a male princess?
Ye Qian understood the Emperor’s intention and pretended to be troubled. “Does Your Majesty have anyone in mind?”
The Emperor was rendered speechless by his question.
It was not the first time that the Emperor had worried about King Jing’s marriage. King Jing himself did not care and could not find a suitable wife.
The noble ladies in the Imperial City who were well-matched with King Jing all tactfully expressed that they would be more willing to be the concubines of other princes and would not take a fancy to the mute King Jing.
However, there were those who were of lower birth who were willing. They either had a bad reputation and were ugly as if there was no salt, or they were handicapped like King Jing.
Moreover, even the Emperor himself felt that they were not suitable, so he had not arranged a marriage for King Jing.
So his son couldn’t even marry a normal woman?
The Emperor was furious and insisted on finding another suitable wife for King Jing.
Ye Qian tried his best to persuade him. “This official has to say something. This official has never seen His Highness King Jing ask Your Majesty for help before. His Highness is not a reckless person and must be sincere. In the end, His Highness is different from others. This old official feels that perhaps this sincerity is more important in His Highness’s eyes. ”
How could the Emperor not know that this Li Yu had been praised by King Jing in many of his memorials? The Emperor knew that this child had a good character and had made contributions. If it was someone else, the Emperor might have already dealt with them.
Thinking of this, the Emperor became even angrier. King Jing was not reckless at all and had long been thinking of scheming against him.
Recalling how King Jing had led him into a trap step by step, the Emperor panicked. However, King Jing’s every step was reasonable. He could not find any evidence that King Jing was scheming against him. At most, he could only reprimand King Jing for not being clear-headed enough to treat marriage as a child’s play.
This brat had angered him so much. Was he not afraid that he would be forced to stay in the Western border forever and not be allowed to return to the Imperial City?
The Emperor knew in his heart that King Jing should not have gone that far. It was just that King Jing had made a mistake in his marriage. His mistakes were different from those of the Second Prince and the Third Prince. Moreover, King Jing could be considered a prince who had made contributions. If he punished King Jing because of this, the ministers would also advise against it. The Emperor could only reprimand King Jing in front of Duke Chengen.
Ye Qian was very familiar with the Emperor’s temperament. If the Emperor reprimanded King Jing, Ye Qian would quietly listen and occasionally agree with a sentence or two, but would not try to persuade him. After a round of reprimanding, the Emperor felt bored. Although Empress Xiaohui had passed away many years ago, Duke Chengen was still his father-in-law in terms of seniority. It did not seem appropriate to reprimand his son in front of his father-in-law.
In any case, the Emperor calmed down a little.
King Jing’s other memorial arrived quickly. Because the previous one had only been left a few days ago, the Emperor concluded that King Jing’s office had not received the news yet and had sent it directly.
The Emperor picked up the memorial and skimmed through it. The memorial detailed one of Li Yu’s suggestions.
For a long time, other than the bandit chaos in the Western border, there was another matter that worried the Emperor. There were a few towns in the Western border that would be plagued with locust plague every year or two.
The Western border was in turmoil all year round and there were few farmlands. If there was another locust plague, the common people would suffer from hunger and become homeless.
Moreover, the Emperor was also worried that the locust plague would become bigger and bigger. At first, the locust plague only appeared in the Western border, but in the past two years, it had begun to appear in other places.
Every year, the Emperor would allocate a lot of money to control the locust plague, but it could not be completely eradicated. Could it be that the words of a young man were more useful than those of the Ministry of Works officials who had experienced this problem all year round?
However, it was this young man who had once helped King Jing defeat the bandits.
The Emperor was also curious. Even though he knew that King Jing was paving the way for Li Yu, he could not help but continue reading.
Town of Fallen Maple, King Jing’s residence.
Li Yu’s four baby fish were already a month old. Under his and King Jing’s careful care, the baby fish’s body shape had changed. Originally, their bodies were almost transparent, but now, three of the four baby fish had grown scales of different colors, which only koi fish had.
It turned out that Da Bao was a majestic fish with golden scales all over his body. Er Bao’s scales were gold with a hint of silver, which was the exact opposite of Li Yu’s. San Bao was the most beautiful. She was a small silver fish through and through. Looking from afar, the fish’s scales were like delicate pearls that were dazzling.
Gold and silver were the two colors on Li Yu’s body. At first, Li Yu did not see the baby fish with golden or silver scales, so he thought that they would not become koi fish. After all, the fish father’s koi identity was obtained by completing tasks. He was not born this way, so he should not be able to inherit it from the baby fish.
However, he did not expect that after a month, the baby fish would have their own colors. It seemed that it was not that the appearance of koi fish could not be inherited, but that the baby fish had not been growing for long enough.
Among the four baby fish, Da Bao, Er Bao, and San Bao had changed. Only Si Bao remained the same.
Li Yu could not help but feel a little anxious. Si Bao’s reaction was usually slower than the other baby fish. Could it be that even his scales were the same?
He had clearly come out at the same time as Da Bao and the others. Could there be such a big difference?
The baby fish were still not very good at speaking. They only knew a few simple words. Li Yu still could not understand what Si Bao was thinking. Da Bao, Er Bao, and San Bao looked more and more like koi fish. After another half a month, Si Bao’s transparent fish body finally changed.
Li Yu had finally waited for this day.
However, Si Bao’s scales were not gold or silver like his elder brothers’. Instead, they were grayish-black. He had turned into an ordinary little black fish. He looked very similar to Li Yu when he had transmigrated into the book.
They were all from the same time, so why was there such a big difference?
Si Bao had already realized that he was different these days. He was a little depressed that he could not become a little koi fish like his elder brothers.
Li Yu saw this and immediately put the little black fish on his head. He led him in circles to make him happy.
“Whether Si Bao becomes a koi fish or not, daddy will still love you!”
Li Yu used to get goosebumps after hearing these words a few times. However, he did not even blink when he said these words to the baby fish.
Si Bao was comforted by his father and very soon, he became happy again.
After playing around, Li Yu turned into his human form. He placed the baby fish in a crystal bottle and brought them to see King Jing.
King Jing was dealing with official business. Li Yu would bring the baby fish to visit the other father at work every day. As soon as possible, everyone would stay in the same house at night. Li Yu was still diligently cultivating the relationship between the baby fish and King Jing.
As soon as King Jing saw them, he put down his pen. When he realized that Si Bao had turned into a little black fish, King Jing was very happy. Si Bao’s personality was a little like Li Yu’s. When he turned into a little black fish, King Jing saw the shadow of Li Yu in Si Bao. He liked Si Bao even more.
Li Yu placed the crystal bottle on the table, sat down, and accompanied King Jing to read the booklets for a while.
There were too many words written in ancient Chinese. There was a word that was written very carelessly. Li Yu tried for a while but could not recognize it. He began to feel sleepy again.
He always felt sleepy when he read books. He kept nodding his head. The baby fish in the crystal bottle also moved up and down anxiously.
… It was too noisy.
King Jing glanced at the baby fish in the crystal bottle and gestured for them to keep quiet. The baby fish obediently stopped moving. They stuck to the wall of the crystal bottle and looked at it with their eyes wide open.
King Jing pulled open his outer robe and covered the sleeping Li Yu. He covered himself and Li Yu, creating a warm place that only belonged to the two of them.
King Jing gently hugged Li Yu and kissed him on the lips. The memorial to the throne had been sent out. Everything was in the planning stage. They still had to wait patiently.
Da Bao looked at his fathers’ outer robes and shook them for a while. Then, he turned around. Er Bao and San Bao did not know why, but they also followed Da Bao and turned around.
Si Bao knew that he was a little stupid. Da Bao was definitely not wrong. Therefore, although Si Bao was a little slow, he also turned around with Da Bao.
However, Si Bao continued to twist his body and looked at his fathers curiously.
Li Yu was sleepy because of a word that he could not recognize. After a while, he woke up. His mind was clearer and he suddenly remembered what the word was.
It was the word for locust. There was a word for disaster behind it.
— — Plague of Locusts.
Li Yu quivered. “Your Highness, is there a plague of locusts somewhere?”
This was a terrible pest! Locusts ate a lot of vegetation. There was a saying called the crossing of locusts. It described a scene like this. When a large group of locusts flew over, the crops that the people worked hard to grow for a year were all gone!
King Jing told Li Yu about the recent discovery of locusts in a town in the western border.
Li Yu’s expression changed slightly.
King Jing mistakenly thought that he was afraid. He showed a map of the western border to Li Yu and pointed out the location of Luofeng Town.
Luofeng Town was far away from the town where the plague of locusts had been discovered. They were undoubtedly safe.
Don’t be afraid.
King Jing comforted Li Yu. With him around, he would definitely protect Li Yu and the baby fish.
