CH 3

Ye Zi seemed to be in a long and unreal dream, in which he was led through a long palace and through a corridor with intricate windows to a courtyard full of flowers and plants.

At first, he saw no one and began to wonder when he suddenly heard the sound of a branch breaking not too far away——

A teenager less than ten years old was falling from a tree.

His body reacted faster than his brain, and when Ye Zi came back to his senses, he had already leapt in and swept the teenager up as they landed firmly on the ground.

The teenager’s panicked expression entered his eyes and he heard himself chuckle lightly as he spoke leisurely: “Little Highness, be careful.”

Ye Zi woke up from his dream with a start.

He opened his eyes and didn’t come back to his senses for a while.

He had never experienced the scene in his dream before, but the person in the dream was not unfamiliar to him.

That was Gu Yan from his early childhood.

But at that time he clearly hadn’t transmigrated here yet so how could he have met Gu Yan?

Ye Zi couldn’t understand why he had such a strange dream. Just as he wanted to sit up, he saw Gu Yan’s sleeping face close at hand when he raised his eyes. He blinked in confusion and moved his eyes down to see his arm resting on Gu Yan’s shoulder and his naked body half hidden under the thin blanket.

! ! !

Ye Zi was so shaken that he almost jumped up from the bed.

H-h-h——he had actually changed back into his human form? ? !

Cold sweat began to form from Ye Zi’s fright. He stared at Gu Yan’s face and his buttocks quietly moved back a little, and a little bit more——

The sleeping Gu Yan suddenly murmured something and with a stretch of his arm, he pulled Ye Zi directly into his embrace.

? ! ! ! !

Ye Zi’s head was now against Gu Yan’s chest. He was frightened to the point that his breathing almost stopped. He was frozen in place and didn’t dare to move. The person next to him didn’t make another move and Ye Zi looked up; that person was still asleep.

Perhaps the effects of the medicine from last night hadn’t worn out yet, but Gu Yan just frowned slightly at this moment and didn’t show any intention of waking up.

Ye Zizi tentatively pushed at his chest, but he didn’t budge at all. 

How come this sick child had so much strength? ! 

As if annoyed by him, Gu Yan’s palm slid down to his lower back. With no clothing as a barrier, his slightly cool fingertips were directly pressed on his narrow waist. He even took the advantage to rub around a little.

Ye Zi lightly trembled. His ears had turned bright red and his legs had gone soft. 

What was wrong with this person, he was being immoral even when he was sleeping!  

Ye Zi forced himself to calm down.

Since turning into a plant, Ye Zi had never turned back into human form. However, since he could turn into a human, he should also be able to change back.

As long as he changed back.

Ye Zi closed his eyes and tried to quickly meditate in his heart: let me change back, let me change back, let me change……

At this time, there was a sudden rattling outside the door and someone knocked gently on the door: “Your Majesty, are you up?”

It was the voice of the old housekeeper.

This voice didn’t wake Gu Yan completely. He murmured something in his sleep and his arm around Ye Zi tightened. He even buried his head directly into Ye Zi’s neck.

The warm and smooth breathing struck Ye Zi’s ears and Ye Zi only felt his body burning up.

Change back quickly, change back quickly! !

Whether he was found naked in Prince Rui’s bed as a person of unknown origin or found out that the plant Prince Rui had been raising had turned into a human being, it would be a dead end for him either way.

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He must change back, ahhhhhh——

When the old housekeeper got no response, he gently pushed the door open. He went to the screen divider and whispered, “Your Highness, the Great Princess has been waiting for you for a long time. You promised to go out with her yesterday.”

Still, no one answered from inside the room. The old housekeeper was about to go around the screen divider when Gu Yan suddenly spoke in a low voice: “……I got it, you can leave.”

The old housekeeper paused and answered: “Yes.”

However, Gu Yan didn’t get up at all. After he heard the old housekeeper close the door and leave, he pulled the quilt and turned over, as if planning to continue sleeping.

Under the couch, the little green herb clung to the edge of the bed and let out a long sigh of relief. He slid down as if his body had been stripped of its strength and plopped down on the floor in a “大” shape.

The moment the old housekeeper opened the door, Ye Zi finally changed back into a small plant, but it was too late to return to the flower pot on the desk. Fortunately, Gu Yan sent the old housekeeper away in time so that he was not discovered.

This torment exhausted Ye Zi. He slowly crawled back into the flower pot, hastily ruffled the soil, and buried himself again.

A few moments later, Gu Yan sat up from the bed in a sleepy haze.

Between hazy consciousness and wakefulness, Gu Yan remembered afterward that he seemed to have had a good dream.

His eyes fell onto his hand and he rubbed his fingertip lightly, as if there was still some tenderness left on them. Gu Yan recalled the delicate and firm skin in his dream, the narrow waist so slender that it could be wrapped around with one arm, and…..that face that made him crazy.

He completely lost his sleepiness and something else also woke up fully……

Gu Yan froze. Beneath his thin clothing, a certain part was in high spirits.

Gu Yan held his forehead. He only felt that he might really be dissatisfied with his desires recently, not to mention having that kind of dream, but to even be like this early in the morning——

Ye Zi, who was lying in the flower pot and pretending to be a plant, was at a loss. He didn’t know what Gu Yan was thinking. After waking up, the man sat on the bed in a daze for a while. He then quickly got up and put on a robe and hurried into the washroom, as if he was afraid of being seen by someone.

There was no one else in the room except himself, why was this man being shy?

After Gu Yan washed up briefly in the washroom, a maidservant brought over breakfast. After Gu Yan finished eating, he sat in front of the copper mirror and his eyes fell on the little green plant on the table behind him through the copper mirror.

After waking up, Gu Yan blamed himself a little.

How come he didn’t do more in the dream?

If that person really dared to get into his bed naked, how could he let the person leave so easily?

At the very least……he should also collect some benefits as well.

Gu Yan observed the small green herb out of the corner of his eyes and found something off.

The little green herb was lying in its pot as usual, leisurely stretching its branches and leaves, looking no different from last night. But the stems and roots that were obviously buried a little shallower and the little soil spilled from the side of the flower pot clearly revealed that this little plant was certainly not being honest in the middle of the night.

Gu Yan lightly sighed. He had long been used to this guy’s sloppy work.

He could ignore the times he slipped out of the flower pot to play, but to not even realize the aftermath he created? Whether it was having a leaf in the corner of the room or spilling some soil on the side of the flower pot, if it weren’t for Gu Yan always helping him clean up his mess, this little fool would have been discovered by his underlings several times already.

“Your Majesty, it’s ready.” The maidservant combed Gu Yan’s hair up into a bun and whispered to wake him up from his thoughts.

Gu Yan nodded, got up, and walked over to the table. He casually wiped the soil next to the flower pot, picked up the thick invitation he had written last night, and ordered, “Give this to the housekeeper, prepare everything according to this for the wedding banquet, and have him come to me directly if there are any problems, nothing can go wrong.”

“Yes.”

After Gu Yan finished his explanation, he left with the maidservant. Just after he left, Ye Zi jumped out from the flower pot.

Ever since he woke up as a human and changed back from a human, Ye Zi had been itching to try to see if he could take on human form again.

Although Ye Zi had lived in the Prince’s manor for ten years, he wasn’t as easy-going as he appeared on the surface.

Ye Zi was born to an ordinary family and was the only son of the family. Although his parents didn’t earn a lot of money, their relationship was very good and they treated him with care and attention. Since he was a child, he always felt that he was already very blessed compared to many people.

But he never thought that God would play this kind of joke on him.

In the early years, he couldn’t take on a human form. Although he could leave the soil for a short time to walk around, he couldn’t last long without soil and water. Once he leaves the Prince’s manor, there would only be a dead end for him in this unfamiliar world. 

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But now it was different.

If he could become human, it meant that he could do more things he couldn’t do before, such as……figuring out how to get out of here and finding a way back.

Ten years later, Ye Zi’s desire to go back was actually not as strong as it was a few years ago, but if he didn’t try, it would always be a knot in his heart.

More importantly, as long as he could become human, he didn’t have to be afraid of that stupid cat in the front yard!

Driven by a strong desire for revenge, Ye Zi stood in the middle of the room. Following the pattern he did in the morning, he earnestly chanted to himself: let me become a human, let me become a human, let me become……

……

……Nothing happened.

Ye Zi stomped with his small grass roots in exasperation. Clearly, he was still able to change in the morning, how come it suddenly didn’t work now? He was so angry that he paced back and forth in the house and also rebelliously jumped onto Prince Rui’s bed and rolled around in the soft quilt.

What exactly did he have to do to become human, what exactly did he have to do——

Suddenly, a faint white light came out of the small green plant’s stems and leaves, flickering like a firefly for a few moments. Ye Zi stopped moving and stared blankly at the changes in his body. The white light was like a warm spring as it gently wrapped around his entire body, covering it.  

After the light faded, a young man without any clothes sat on his knees on the bed. His expression was a bit dazed and laced with confusion.

Ye Zi didn’t react for a while. He blinked and looked down at his hands.

These hands were good-looking; they were pale and slender and his memory of these hands was almost exactly the same. Only, there was a faint layer of thin calluses on his right-hand fingertip and the web between his thumb and forefinger. It was as if he had been used to holding some sort of weapon all year round.

His long, thick ink-like hair fell down, blocking most of his naked body.

Ye Zi dropped his gaze to the copper mirror not far away.

He was just about to get up to see how he currently looked when the sound of footsteps suddenly came from outside the door. Ye Zi was shaken and suddenly remembered that at this hour, it was time for the two maidservants, who took care of the flowers and plants, to come to the courtyard to water them!

Ye Zi shrunk himself on Gu Yan’s bed and waited with bated breath.

These two maidservants only came to water the plants. Without any special reason, they don’t dare to enter Prince Rui’s room at will. As long as he didn’t make any noise……

Ye Zi just finished soothing himself when he heard a servant girl say: “Hey, how come the little immortal herb isn’t here? Did the Prince not bring the little immortal herb out to sunbathe today?” 

Ye Zi: “……”

Someone replied to her, “Maybe it’s because the Great Princess was in a hurry and he forgot about it.”

“I’ll go. That little plant is so delicate. The leaves won’t be watery if it doesn’t get sunlight for a day.”

The servant girl said while pushing open the door of the room.

The one who walked in was the short servant girl who helped pour medicinal soup on Ye Zi the day before, named Qiu Tang. She was sold into the Prince’s manor ever since she was a child and was just 15 or 16 years old now. She pushed open the door. After looking around and not finding the familiar flower pot, she came directly toward the inner room.

Before she could go around the screen divider, Ye Zi shouted from inside the room, “Don’t come in!”

********

The author has something to say:

Qiu Tang: Princess C-Consort? Σ(⊙▽⊙”

Ye Zi: I’m not, I didn’t, listen to my explanation……

Qiu Tang: ? ? ? ? Then why are you here?

Ye Zi: …….Fine, I am.

Congratulation to the small immortal plant, all evidence secures your spot as the Princess Consort.