PRINCE JING BROUGHT Li Yu to Qianqing Palace. As they made their
way over, the system, which had been silent this whole time, suddenly
spoke to Li Yu.
‹The prerequisites have been met for the side quest 'Clear, Bright
Pearl.' Would the user like to begin the quest?›
What was going on? He hadn't "gotten along" with Prince Jing yet,
but now there was another quest. And a side quest too? He couldn't glean
anything from just its name, though. Li Yu didn't want to overcomplicate
things by having to worry about a side quest and the main quest at the same
time; he'd be overworking his poor fish brain. But out of curiosity, he still
asked about the reward.
The system replied: ‹The reward for the quest is a temporary
transformation medicine, allowing the user to return to human form for a
short period of time. The effects will last two hours. There will not be any
penalty for failing the side quest.›
A medicine that could turn him back into a human? Why wasn't this
brought up before? Even if it only lasted two hours, couldn't he just do the
quest a couple more times, receive the reward over and over, and use them
one after the other? Then he could stay human forever!
‹The reward can only be claimed once.› The system mercilessly
reminded him as it witnessed his naive stupidity.
‹Fine. I already knew you were a fish-scamming system.›
He absolutely had to do this side quest. He had nothing to lose if he
failed. If he had the medicine to transform, he could pick a suitable day to
eat a ton of human food, talk a lot, and go anywhere he wanted to—
Li Yu was originally human, but it wasn't until he became a fish that
he appreciated how freeing and delightful it was to be a human. It would
only be a short couple of hours, but getting to re-experience being human
for even that amount of time was simply too alluring!
It's just one more task. I'll do it.
This quest called "Clear, Bright Pearl" consisted of only a single line:
obtain one luminous pearl.
The stupid system's quests had always been vague in its instructions,
but Li Yu was already used to it. He had no idea what a luminous pearl
could possibly have to do with him, a fish. The system had previously
explained that side quests could only be activated after the corresponding
prerequisites had been fulfilled. Seeing how this side quest became active
while Prince Jing was taking him to Qianqing Palace, it must have
something to do with seeing the emperor… So it didn't seem like he'd need
to make any detours.
Despite being royalty, Prince Jing didn't like to ride in a palanquin.
Holding the little carp, with Wang Xi trailing behind, he made his way to
Qianqing Palace at a leisurely stroll. The head eunuch, Luo Ruisheng, had
already been waiting in front of the doors to Qianqing Palace for some time,
and as soon as he saw Prince Jing, he rushed forward to greet him, bowed,
and escorted him inside. Wang Xi couldn't go in, so all he could do was
wait anxiously outside the palace.
They had finally arrived. Li Yu swam to the water's surface, taking in
the view of Qianqing Palace. As expected of the emperor's quarters, it was
a majestic and extravagant structure filled with all sorts of rare and precious
furnishings. The scent of sandalwood wafted by. Li Yu was utterly
mesmerized.
As magnificent as the room was, though, there was no fish tank in
sight. Li Yu much preferred the quarters with the porcelain fish tank.
It was only because of this excursion that he discovered Prince Jing
was keeping him in Jingtai Hall. Even after the title of "prince" was
bestowed on him and he left the palace, Jingtai Hall, where Prince Jing had
grown up, was still reserved for him. It truly was Prince Jing's territory. Li
Yu was quietly proud of himself for managing to get into the tyrant's lair
without much effort.
He scanned his surroundings, but, to his dismay, he didn't spot any
luminous pearls. Li Yu had hoped the system would give him some hints,
especially since the side quest had come out of nowhere, but there hadn't
been another peep from the stupid system since it announced the side quest.
Li Yu had to set both the main and side quests aside for the time
being. Without any leads, all he could do was leave it up to fate. Seeing the
emperor was more important right now.
In the book, the emperor had quite a backstory with Prince Jing. In
the original story, Prince Jing's mother, Empress Xiaohui, had already been
in ill health before she gave birth to the prince. After he was born, she
couldn't bear the fact that her son was mute, and she passed away shortly
afterward. The emperor deeply loved and respected Empress Xiaohui, so his
feelings for his son had always been complicated, and he never grew very
close to him. This was especially clear after Prince Jing turned sixteen,
when the emperor ordered him to move out of the palace and into his own
manor. All the other princes had only received their respective manors after
they were married, but it didn't seem to matter to the emperor that Prince
Jing remained unmarried to this day. As such, many people believed Prince
Jing was unwanted and unloved.
Li Yu was not one of those many people.
The reason the emperor was so distant from Prince Jing wasn't
because he didn't care for him, but because he sought to protect him. As
Empress Xiaohui's son, Prince Jing had a much higher status than most. But
no matter how noble he was, his muteness prevented him from inheriting
the throne. Although the emperor had no desire to foster a close relationship
with Prince Jing due to his wife's death, this was still his cherished wife's
flesh and blood. Ordering him to move into his own manor early was the
emperor's way of protecting his son. Ultimately, the emperor hoped this son
would be able to live a peaceful life.
All else aside, Prince Jing wasn't really the tolerant type. When he
was a child and the other young princes taunted him for being mute, Prince
Jing would just roll up his sleeves and beat them up. After the emperor
found out, everyone was punished, but he also privately warned the other
princes to be kinder to Prince Jing.
With Prince Jing's inability to speak, his education was a challenge
too, but the emperor specially appointed a strict teacher who had experience
teaching mute and deaf students. The emperor never voiced his love for
Prince Jing, but his actions spoke for him. Li Yu, therefore, was not at all
worried about this trip.
In the main hall of Qianqing Palace, the emperor sat on a throne
carved with intricate flying dragons, draped in bright yellow imperial robes.
He nodded slightly when Prince Jing entered. "Tianchi, you've arrived."
Prince Jing set the large bowl that held the little carp on a small table
off to the side and bowed seriously. The emperor beckoned him to stand
back up, smiling. As he looked at his son from a distance, he noted that
Prince Jing was just as cold and quiet as always. Naturally, the emperor's
gaze fell on the large bowl Prince Jing had brought.
In the emperor's experience, bowls generally held soup. If someone
came into Qianqing Palace with a bowl, they were usually there to present
the soup to him. Assuming that Prince Jing knew what he had done wrong
and had brought an offering of soup to apologize, the emperor chuckled.
"How considerate of you."
The misunderstood Prince Jing wasn't sure how to respond.
Of his sons, the emperor rarely tried to get closer to this one.He felt
his heart warming at the sight of the prince trying to please him. He
immediately ordered Luo Ruisheng to bring forward the prince's "soup."
Prince Jing couldn't speak; there was nothing he could do to stop
Luo-gonggong in time, and the head eunuch nimbly picked up the large
bowl before he could make his objection clear. Another eunuch waiting on
the side handed over a silver needle.
At first glance, the soup looked like goji fish soup. Needle in hand,
Luo-gonggong was about to test it for poison like usual when he made eye
contact with the lively little carp that had poked its head out of the water to
watch all the commotion.
Luo-gonggong was so alarmed that he nearly dropped the bowl.
"Aiyou, Prince Jing, what did you bring?"
Equally startled by Luo-gonggong's sudden appearance, Li Yu
immediately sank to the bottom of the bowl.
It's alive! Luo-gonggong realized with a start. This wasn't fish soup!
"What exactly did Prince Jing bring?" The emperor was too far away
to see, but Luo-gonggong's exclamation had made him curious.
While Luo-gonggong struggled to think of how to answer, Prince
Jing got up, approached Luo-gonggong, and took the bowl back, all without
saying a single word. The emperor looked on in befuddlement. Prince Jing
proceeded to bring the large bowl before the emperor himself, but he didn't look like he had any intention of handing it over. His hands remained
clamped around the bowl.
The large bowl, with its water-ripple patterns, held a large volume of
water. Swimming inside it was a small, palm-sized carp.
The emperor paused. "Prince Jing, what is the meaning of this?"
Mu Tianchi smiled as he reached a finger into the water, swirling it
gently.
Li Yu had managed to steal a glance at the emperor from within the
water and saw a middle-aged man with a square face and a short mustache.
It was fortunate that Prince Jing's other features were more like Empress
Xiaohui's, Li Yu thought, and that he only shared his eyes with his father. If
he looked more like the emperor, it would have been a blow to his good
looks.
Perhaps because he'd sensed Li Yu's criticism, the prince suddenly
dipped his hand into the water. Li Yu was at a loss for what to do. He
realized after a few seconds that the prince was playing with him. But they
were standing before the emperor right now. What was the prince trying to
do?
Ever since Prince Jing had switched out his bowl, Li Yu knew the
prince wasn't planning on giving him to the emperor. When it came to
presenting gifts to the emperor, looks were paramount. Of course, a small,
dainty jade bowl would be more suited to the ruler's tastes, but since the
prince had passed on the jade bowl, it was clear he had no plans on using
him to try to please the emperor.
In that case, why did the prince bring him to see the emperor? Why
play with him in front of the emperor?
Oh well, who cared. If the master wanted to play with his pet, it was
the pet's duty to…respond.
Li Yu shoved down his embarrassment. This wasn't the first or
second time he had to act cute for Prince Jing. He swam, stopping in
between the prince's fingers. After hesitating for a moment, Li Yu nuzzled
his fish mouth against Prince Jing's finger affectionately.
Whoa… There was the smell of fish food. The mouthwatering red
kind.
His movements were initially a little stiff, but as time went on, he
began willingly chasing after the other man's finger.
As Prince Jing looked down at the little carp swimming happily in
the bowl, a light shone faintly in his eyes. The emperor almost thought he
was seeing things. Prince Jing had always been cold and harsh, keeping his
emotions under tight lock and key. And yet here he was, playing with a fish
in a way that could only be described as gentle…
In the past, concerned that Prince Jing was too unsociable, the
emperor had tried sending many cats and dogs to his son in the hope of
providing him with a companion. But the prince never even spared them a
single glance, never mind accepting one of them. At the time, the emperor
thought the prince perhaps simply disliked pets. But now, for some reason,
the Prince Jing who didn't like pets was making an exception for a fish, of
all things?
Dazed, the emperor considered the different possibilities. After a
while, and with great difficulty, he opened his mouth. "Do you mean to say
that you've started taking care of this fish?"
Mu Tianchi nodded slightly.
Prince Jing had actually decided to raise a pet fish. The emperor was
flabbergasted. It wasn't a bad thing, since this son of his seemed to be
finally demonstrating some human feelings, but…this fish…
It wasn't even a precious, auspicious koi. It was just a little run-of-
the-mill carp. It looked like the kind that was usually made into soup.
Prince Jing's tastes sure were…something.
At this point, the emperor had already forgotten why he had
summoned the prince. "A pet fish," he said with a twitch of his lips,
sounding a little forced. "Not bad."
Li Yu watched Prince Jing nod and felt like a little pony had trotted
proudly across his heart. Although Wang-gonggong, and even Li Yu
himself, had long since accepted that he was Prince Jing's pet, this was the
first time the prince was acknowledging it himself. Did the prince bring him here for the sole purpose of announcing Li Yu as his pet in front of the
emperor? What a high-profile and distinguished pet he was!
Li Yu was floating on cloud nine. The point of the main quest,
"Priceless Pet Fish," was for him to become Prince Jing's pet fish, after all
—and now the prince had straight up announced he was his pet in front of
the emperor! Didn't that mean the main quest was complete?
But there was no prompt congratulating him on completing a task.
Apparently a concession from Prince Jing wasn't enough for this stupid
system. He still had to press on until he succeeded at "getting along" with
the prince.
A eunuch rushed in announcing that the noble consort and the second
prince were outside, requesting an audience.
That was when the emperor remembered why he had summoned
Prince Jing. He gave the prince a meaningful look, but he was so busy
playing with his fish that he didn't react. The emperor sighed lightly. "Let
them in."