IN THE FACE OF Prince Jing's clear indifference, the emperor felt a
little awkward.
"Fifth brother, our Royal Father is asking you a question." Mu
Tianzhao reminded him, with what might have been a smile. The second
prince had always been a little wary around Prince Jing because of the
difference in their statuses. Now that he was about to become the crown
prince, though, he was going to take that all back.
Prince Jing looked up, but not to acknowledge the second prince.
Instead, he looked at the head eunuch, Luo Ruisheng. Luo Ruisheng had
been prepared ever since the emperor had ordered Prince Jing to enter
Qianqing Palace alone. At Prince Jing's glance, Luo-gonggong ordered a
few servants to bring the necessary ink and paper before him. It might be a
bit inconvenient, but even if he couldn't speak, he could still write.
Prince Jing accepted the brush with his right hand, his left still
playing with the fish. He didn't even look at what he was doing; he just
wrote a couple of strokes and tossed the brush away.
Not daring to look at what the prince had written, Luo Ruisheng
brought the prince's writing up to the emperor, his head lowered.
When the emperor's gaze fell on the strong, powerful strokes that
made up the vigorous characters, he couldn't help feeling a pang of
sadness in his heart. But this was not the time to admire the prince's
calligraphy.
The only thing the prince had written was, "It deserved it."
For as long as the emperor could remember, the prince had never
once lied. This was the reason the emperor had decided to summon him, to
question him directly. Back when Prince Jing had punched the other
princes, he never tried to hide what he'd done, so the emperor didn't think
he would deceive him in this instance. Since the prince said the cat had deserved it, then something must've happened that he didn't know about.
He couldn't be too hasty.
The emperor's expression darkened, and he looked toward Head
Eunuch Luo. "Luo Ruisheng, go find out who else saw what happened that
day."
Noble Consort Qiu's face twisted, betraying her panic. She had spent
so much time preparing for this moment, but now the emperor was doubting
her just because of a couple of random words from Prince Jing?
But as the noble consort dabbed at the corners of her mouth with a
silk handkerchief embroidered with crab apple blossoms, her somewhat
ferocious expression settled back into its beautiful facade. So what if the
emperor investigated? There wasn't a shadow of a doubt that Prince Jing
abused the cat. Not to mention, she even had an eyewitness… It would be
good if Prince Jing admitted it, but it would be even better if he made a fuss
and refused to confess.
Xiaolinzi was quickly brought over from the imperial kitchen. The
emperor decided to carry out the questioning himself, since the matter
involved his son, Prince Jing.
Xiaolinzi knelt there, his voice quavering as he recounted everything
he saw that day. "…This servant saw…as soon as Prince Jing saw the noble
consort's cat, h-he grabbed it," he finished.
Of course, Noble Consort Qiu was at least two steps ahead, having
ordered her trusted servants to bribe Xiaolinzi before she even came to
stand before the emperor. She knew the witness would be on her side.
"Your Imperial Majesty, it seems I didn't misunderstand the situation.
Shouldn't Prince Jing give me an explanation?" She smiled.
"Prince Jing, do you have anything to say?" Was this what all his
questioning had come to? The emperor rubbed his brow. He was getting a
little tired.
A ruthless light flashed in Prince Jing's eyes. Noble Consort Qiu
must have gotten her claws into Xiaolinzi, distorting the truth. He originally
wanted to request that the emperor should summon a guard who had been
working at the time for questioning; he doubted Xiaolinzi was the only eyewitness in such a large palace. But after considering the matter further,
he quickly lost all desire to do so.
It didn't matter if there were eyewitnesses present that day or not;
each side would have their own version of what had happened. The
situation wouldn't change; why go through all that hassle? No, he'd be
better off going straight for Xiaolinzi's throat. It was unlikely this person
would stick to his story under threat of having his throat sliced open. It
would be the quickest and most effective way to force him to tell the truth.
Don't do it!
Li Yu was extremely worried. He had a pretty good guess as to what
Prince Jing's next move would be, having read the original book. Prince
Jing would be walking straight into the noble consort's trap if he got violent
in front of the emperor, further souring his relationship with his royal father.
But if he didn't resort to violence, what else could Prince Jing do?
The noble consort had clearly come prepared. First, she had managed
to convince the emperor to prevent Wang Xi from accompanying Prince
Jing, effectively taking away the prince's voice. Now, she'd provided an
eyewitness who was extremely unfavorable toward Prince Jing. The prince
was out of options.
Aside from Xiaolinzi, the only ones who were present at the time
were the cat and Li Yu. With Xiaolinzi deep in Noble Consort Qiu's pocket,
there was no way he'd speak the truth. Who was left to be Prince Jing's
witness? That cat?!
Was there perhaps other evidence?
Without realizing it, Li Yu had drifted to the bottom of the bowl—
he'd forgotten to even keep swimming, trying his hardest to remember how
the white cat had run into Prince Jing.
An image came to him. When he'd peeked at Prince Jing changing,
he had caught sight of what looked like a bruise on his leg.
He had been so embarrassed at the time that he didn't take a good
look, and what he did see had been too brief. Besides, it wasn't out of the
ordinary for a man to have some bumps and bruises on his body, so Li Yu didn't think much of it. But he remembered the bruise had been right on his
shin, around the same height as the cat. Was that Piaoxue's doing?
It was possible. If it were true, then it would prove the cat had
attacked Prince Jing, and he had just cause for punishing it!
Li Yu felt a rush of excitement at the thought of being able to clear
Prince Jing's name. But now came the hard part—how could he let the
prince know about his epiphany?
He couldn't speak, so he had to get inventive! Desperately, he
concentrated all his energy on his tail and mustered up all the strength he
had to swing it.
His fish tail came smacking down, and with a splash, almost half the
water in the bowl sloshed out. In the silent Qianqing Palace, so quiet you
could hear a pin drop, the sound of the water splashing onto the golden tiles
was downright cacophonic. The emperor's eyes darted to the fish.
"Prince Jing, what is wrong with your fish?" he asked, baffled.
Prince Jing had been staring daggers at Xiaolinzi. His glower was
enough to convey his thoughts: You're a dead man. But at the little carp's
sudden movement, he turned to look at the fish, where it waited expectantly
for him.
Closer…closer… Now!!
A quick and accurate swish of his tail, and Li Yu splashed all the
remaining water in the bowl at Prince Jing.
Prince Jing had rolled up his sleeves to keep himself dry while he
played with the fish. But in just a split second, his face, chest, and robes
were completely soaked, with his pants as the biggest casualty. Prince Jing
said nothing, but his expression was like a dark storm cloud as he wiped at
the water dripping down his face.
Li Yu zipped to the bottom of the bowl to hide, too terrified to look at
Prince Jing. Sob sob sob, the tyrant looked ready to explode! But he had no
other choice. Plus, he didn't know it would get this wet.
Would the tyrant deal with him first, then Xiaolinzi, before going to
change his clothes?
Ah! Prince Jing…was reaching toward him!!
Li Yu squeezed his eyes shut. Was this tyrant about to kill a fish?!
But after waiting with bated breath, all Li Yu felt was a light tap on
his head, followed by a touch on his back. He was dumbfounded.
Prince Jing glared at the troublemaking little carp, before getting up
and bowing to the emperor.
The emperor understood and said, "You may change quickly. We'll
continue this once you return."
Wang Xi had been standing just outside, waiting anxiously. As soon
as he saw this window of opportunity, he rushed in with a set of dry clothes
for Prince Jing and slipped into the side hall to help him change.
Li Yu let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Prince Jing didn't lose
his temper. He had intentionally splashed water on Prince Jing's pants in the
hopes that the prince would see the bruise on his leg when he changed and
think to use it as proof. But it was fine even if the prince never saw it,
because Li Yu had still managed to buy the prince some time to cool down.
In addition, now that Wang Xi was here, there was someone who could
protect and speak for Prince Jing. Together, the prince and Wang-gonggong
should be able to come up with a strategy to deal with the noble consort.
If worse came to worst and they were forced to concede this
particular conflict to the noble consort, the emperor would, at most, ask
Prince Jing to apologize to her—he wouldn't actually punish the prince. It
would leave the noble consort and her son feeling smug for a while, but
Prince Jing could always get his revenge later. As he waited for Prince Jing
to finish changing, Li Yu swished his tail happily at how well everything
had played out.
Lady Qiu eyed the fish Prince Jing had brought. For years, she'd held
a mix of hatred and envy for Prince Jing in her heart. Prince Jing might not
be present in the room right now, but she wasn't going to let him go
unscathed.
She stood up, sauntered over, and peered down with interest at the
fish in the bowl. Something seemed to occur to her as she let out a light peal
of laughter.
Mu Tianzhao had followed her over. He chuckled. "Mother, what is
this fish? I've never seen the likes of it before."
He and his mother both had that kind of attitude to things they
considered beneath them, so this really was the first time Mu Tianzhao had
ever seen a live carp.
The noble consort pursed her lips, then laughed daintily. "My son is
of royal blood; how could you be expected to recognize such a crude thing?
It's nothing but the most ordinary fish used for cooking."
His lips twitched up into a smile. "My brother's taste is certainly
quite unique. Perhaps I should ask our royal father to gift him some fish
with a little more value."
Their words of admiration were thinly veiled barbs aimed right at
Prince Jing. Li Yu halted directly underneath the two of them, not even
bothering to hide the fact that he was openly listening to them, utterly
disgusted by their words. How dare they insult his owner and say he had no
taste—that was the same as insulting him! They even had the audacity to
say he was crude. Not even the emperor had gone that far.
Li Yu flicked the water angrily. He had to do something.
All of Lady Qiu's attention was on the little carp as she came closer.
She had never seen such a lively fish before—but of course, she could
never have guessed that, when it had splashed water all over Prince Jing
just now, it had done it on purpose. After all, it was just an ordinary fish.
But this fish had more guts than the noble consort could ever
imagine! As she peered down at him, Li Yu was preparing himself to give
her a face full of water. He had already drenched Prince Jing; there was no
way he was going to show any mercy to cannon fodder.
But as the noble consort approached, a flash of light caught Li Yu's
eyes, and he noticed a golden phoenix hairpin by her forehead. Held
delicately within the beak of the phoenix was a large sparkling pearl about
the size of a person's thumbnail.
Li Yu felt his stomach drop. He had a bad feeling about this.
That couldn't be…the eponymous pearl from his side quest, "Clear,
Bright Pearl," right?
The system, which had been silent for a long time, replied lightly:
‹User, you got it right.›
Li Yu was stunned.
Stupid system! Can you get any more annoying?! How was a fish
supposed to retrieve a pearl from the forehead of the emperor's beloved
concubine?!
Splashing her was out of the question for now. The noble consort was
still a little too far away. He had to get her to come a little closer first. Li Yu
readied his fish tail. He was going to strike back! For the pearl! For Prince
Jing!
As for how…
The noble consort was very calculating in the book, which meant she
was also very suspicious. An idea started to take form inside Li Yu's head.
If you wanted to deal with these kinds of dirty tricks, you had to fight dirty
too.
How did a fish flip over again?
Li Yu rolled over playfully, trying to rotate his belly up slowly. He
floated in the water in that position without moving a muscle. It wasn't a
comfortable position for a fish. But if he endured it for a little bit, he would
definitely get results.
The second prince was looking straight at the bowl while he spoke to
Noble Consort Qiu. He saw it clearly when, suddenly, Prince Jing's fish
twitched strangely, then flipped over.
"Mother, what's wrong with the fish?" he blurted out.
Noble Consort Qiu, who was still basking in her smugness, glanced
over, and her heart nearly stopped. Didn't fish flip over when they died?
But this fish had been so lively just a second ago…
Lady Qiu hardly cared whether a fish lived or died, of course, but this
was the fish Prince Jing had brought before the emperor. The emperor
himself had been acquainted with it! But now the prince had left to change
his clothes, and the two of them were the closest to the fish when it
suddenly died—who'd be able to explain that??
Was this all part of Prince Jing's plan? She'd used Piaoxue to cause
problems for him, so he was using this fish to turn the tables on her? It was very possible. Otherwise, why would Prince Jing bring a fish to see the
emperor? He had been waiting for this exact moment!
This conspiracy theory was growing more and more likely to Noble
Consort Qiu, who was well-versed in back palace drama. As the fish floated
belly-up in front of her, she began to panic.