CH 4

Ye Zi’s shout caused Qiu Tong to directly stiffened behind the screen divider. He hurriedly pulled on Gu Yan’s quilt and wrapped it around his body: “Don’t……Don’t misunderstand, I have no malice, I just……”

That voice was a clear and clean teenage voice with some haste and it didn’t sound like an evil person. Qiu Tang boldly looked in through the carved wooden screen, just in time to see a naked arm sticking out from the messy bed.

She instantly understood and her face turned red with shame.

Who else would be allowed to sleep on Prince Rui’s bed?

Ye Zi hadn’t thought of an excuse yet when he heard the person behind the screen divider kneel down with a thump: “Greetings, Your Highness.”

……Huh?

Ye Zi was stunned and Qiu Tang continued: “This servant was ordered to come to the courtyard to take care of the flowers and plants. This servant didn’t know that the Princess Consort was here and had disturbed the Princess Consort’s rest. Please forgive this servant, Princess Consort.”

Ye Zi: “……”

This misunderstanding had become too big.

Ye Zi subconsciously wanted to clarify but just as the words reached his mouth, he then withdrew them.

If he denied it now, he wouldn’t be able to wash his hands of the crime of trespassing the Prince’s manor as someone with an unknown background. 

No, that absolutely couldn’t happen.

Ye Zi cleared his throat, “No worries, you can get up first.”

Qiu Tang answered, “Yes.”

……

The room was silent for a moment and after a moment, Qiu Tang asked in a low voice: “Do you need this servant to help you get dressed?”

“Huh? N-no need.” Ye Zi was busy wrapping himself up tighter with the quilt and mouthed, “Your Majesty likes it when I stay like this.”

Qiu Tang: “……”

There was a person who liked to let people stay without clothes?

Ye Zi sincerely continued, “You might not know, but some people have this fetish.” 

“……Your Prince is very domineering, if I don’t listen to him, he will become angry with me.”

Qiu Tong was dumbfounded.

Ye Zi became more theatrical and his words became more and more persuasive: “So you must not tell anyone that I am here and don’t let the Prince know that you have found me. Your Prince is thin-skinned, if people knew he was so clingy, he would be ashamed to death.”

This was too much information and Qiu Tong was in a trance from listening: “T-The Prince, he’s…..clingy?”

“Yes, very clingy.” Ye Zi leaned back on the bed. His words were eloquent and he almost believed them himself, “Look, our wedding date is approaching, but he couldn’t wait even just a few more days. He came crying and begged me to come into the manor to stay with him.” 

“How could he do that? He locked me in this room and won’t let me go anywhere. He doesn’t even let me wear clothes, don’t you think he is a bit too much?”  

Qiu Tang, an unmarried girl who had never heard of such things, could only blush and concur in a small voice: “……It is a bit too much.”

“Exactly.” Ye Zi shook his head and sighed, “But what can I do about it? Who told me to like him? In the end, I can only do as he pleases.” 

Qiu Tong was convinced and heavily nodded: “This servant understands, this servant will definitely keep your secret!” 

Ye Zi was satisfied: “With your words I am relieved, you can go down.”

“Yes.”

Qiu Tang bowed to Ye Zi with the screen divider in between and then turned her head and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Ye Zi held his breath and listened for a while. After hearing no more movements outside, he finally felt relieved.

He climbed up and got out of bed with a thin blanket on. Fumbling, he opened the wooden closet by the bed, which was neatly arranged with Gu Yan’s clean clothes.

Although it was indecent to steal someone’s clothes, it was better than hanging around naked in their room.

“I’ll borrow this for now. I will wash it later and return it to you, my apologies.” Ye Zi whispered to himself. After finding a set of soft silk inner clothes from the closet, he haphazardly put them on his body.

Ye Zi’s figure was no longer short, but the clothes on his body were obviously a lot bigger. The cuffs were especially long and only after rolling them up several times was he able to barely wear them. 

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While pulling up the cuffs, Ye Zi walked to the bronze mirror and sat down.

A handsome face was reflected in the mirror.

The young man in the mirror looked just 17 or 18 years old. With a pair of standard peach blossom eyes, his eyes were clear and moist. They slightly droop downwards, revealing a few hints of innocence and obedience.

Ye Zi stared at the person in the mirror for a while. As his eyes curved, a pair of shallow dimples revealed themselves. 

This look wasn’t that much different from his past appearance except for the long ink-like hair, which was casually draped behind him. For some reason, it added a bit of color to this face.

Ye Zi picked up a hair tie from the table to tie up his hair when a familiar call resounded from outside the window. 

He looked back and saw that the little gray sparrow was standing on the windowsill, cocking its head to survey him.

Ye Zi smiled: “You’re here.”

When the little gray sparrow heard the familiar voice, it stared in shock: “Little leaf? Why have you become like this!”

“Actually, I don’t know why I became like this……” Ye Zi sat down by the window, supported his chin, and told the sparrow briefly what happened from last night to just now.

The little gray sparrow asked: “So what do you plan to do now?”

Ye Zi asked, “Can you do me a favor?”

An hour later, Ye Zi slipped out of the courtyard where Gu Yan lived wearing the clothes of a manor servant.

The little gray sparrow squatted on his shoulder and asked quietly, “Little leaf, do you really want to escape?”

“Of course, otherwise why would I ask you to help me steal clothes?”

“But why don’t you want to stay in the Prince’s manor?” The little gray sparrow hopped around on his shoulder, “The Prince’s manor is so much fun. There is so much delicious food and people who serve. If there was a place that could take me in, I wouldn’t have to catch bugs and find water.”

Ye Zi reached out and poked it: “When you are really locked up and kept at home, you won’t feel that it’s amazing.”

He walked quickly across the long corridor and was just about to turn into the front yard when he suddenly heard someone call him from behind: “Hey, what are you doing here?”

The little gray sparrow was startled by the voice and fluttered its wings, flying up into the tree. Ye Zi was much calmer. He turned back and quickly swept the person a glance, recognizing the other party as a steward in the Prince’s manor.

Ye Zi lowered his head and replied, “Housekeeper He asked me to pick up some things, saying that they were for the Prince’s wedding banquet.”

“Hasn’t a group of people already been there in the morning?” The steward was still carrying some things in his hand, as if he was busy, so he didn’t even bother to look at Ye Zi. “Forget it, go ahead and hurry up.”

“Yes.”

Once Ye Zi passed this hurdle, he was slightly relieved. Just as he quickly made it into the front yard, he suddenly froze in place.

In the middle of the front yard, the fat orange cat, twice the size of an ordinary household cat, was lying on its back in the sunlight without a care for its image. Its chubby body shook from time to time as it slept soundly.

Wasn’t this thing locked up?

Ye Zi swallowed his saliva and subconsciously took half a step back.

……That wasn’t right, he was now a human being, why should he be afraid of cats?

But……he still seemed to be very afraid.

Ye Zi stood in place for a while and didn’t dare to move. The steward, who had previously talked to him, had returned from his delivery. When he saw that he was still standing there, he loudly reprimanded: “Why haven’t you left yet? What are you doing?”

Keep your voice down!

The steward walked up to Ye Zi and finally realized that he was a bit unfamiliar: “Where are you from, how come I haven’t seen you before?”

His voice wasn’t low and the orange cat in the courtyard was woken up. Its ears twitched as it slowly opened its eyes.

“I……I am……” Ye Zi couldn’t care less about the steward, his gaze was fixed on the orange cat. He was so anxious that his breathing was about to stop. He only saw the orange cat twitching the tip of its nose, as if it had smelled something before it raised its head and a pair of cat eyes met Ye Zi’s gaze.

——The eyes were exactly the same as when they saw Ye Zi in his small plant form.

No way, it could recognize him even like this? ? !

The steward frowned: “I’m asking you, where are you from——”

“Meow!” The orange cat screeched and suddenly rushed towards Ye Zi.

“Ahhhhhhh——” Ye Zi fled backward without thinking.

There happened to be an old Japanese pagoda tree next to the courtyard wall so Ye Zi fled in a panic and scrambled up the thick trunk of the tree, scurrying up to the waist of the tree.

——Agile beyond words.

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The orange cat chased him to the tree and jumped, but wasn’t able to reach him so it scratched the bark with its claw out in anger. 

Ye Zi’s hands clutched the thick tree trunk as he trembled like crazy. He was absolutely terrified that tears were about to come out.

Gu Yan had just walked into the manor when he heard the loud noises.

“What’s all the noise?”

Gu Yan walked up to the steward and the steward busily bowed towards him as he explained, “Replying to the Prince, I didn’t know which courtyard this child was from and was just asking him, but……” 

Before his words fell, the orange cat tried to jump a second time and its sharp claws directly hooked onto the hem of Ye Zi’s outfit. The tree branch underneath his feet couldn’t bear the weight of such a person and a cat, and it finally broke under their weight.

Ye Zi wasn’t able to hold on and fell straight down from the tree.

Gu Yan looked up from under the tree and saw a man plunging towards him. And that face was exactly the same as the one he saw in his dream.

He froze in place for a moment and forgot to dodge out of the way, and was pounced on by the falling Ye Zi.

Gu Yan staggered from the impact and subconsciously wrapped his arms around him, and both of them fell to the ground. Ye Zi felt a little dizzy and shook his head. Raising his head, he just so happened to meet Gu Yan’s gaze.

The other party’s eyes were filled with surprise, astonishment, and a few imperceptible……elation?

Ye Zi was in a trance for a moment and before he could see clearly, a few people scurried from out of nowhere and hurriedly pulled him away. When Ye Zi came back to his senses, he had been escorted to kneel on the ground.

The steward was so frightened that his soul was about to fly away. He hurriedly went to help Gu Yan up: “Your Majesty, did you injure yourself? Why are you all standing there, go call for a doctor!”

“No need.” Gu Yan gently pushed away the person helping him and stood up, his gaze still fixed on Ye Zi, “I’m fine.”

Ye Zi hung his head, not daring to meet his eyes.

Theoretically saying, Gu Yan had never seen his face before and shouldn’t recognize him. But for some reason, the way Gu Yan looked at him just now didn’t seem like he was looking at a stranger.

Just as he was wondering, the white brocade boots came in front of him, and Gu Yan waved away the people who were holding Ye Zi, “Lift your head up.”

Ye Zi’s heart turned cold and he didn’t dare to move.

Gu Yan bent down and whispered in his ear, “You want this Prince to repeat it a second time?”  

At the same time, a cold hand fell on Ye Zi’s face. The hand slowly slid down from Ye Zi’s face and gently hooked his chin, forcing him to raise his head.

Gu Yan looked at him for a long time and asked, “Where are you from, how come I haven’t seen you before?”

Ye Zi’s eyes drifted and he didn’t dare to look at him as he lied stiffly: “I……I just entered the manor today.”

Gu Yan narrowed his eyes: “Just entered the manor?”

The orange cat was previously frightened by the movement of Ye Zi’s fall and hid to the side, but now that everything had calmed down, it was bold enough to sneak over, eager to try and approach Ye Zi again.

Ye Zi was still thinking about how to make up an excuse in his head when he noticed the cat coming over and the fright caused his brain to go blank. He wanted to escape but also didn’t dare to as he pitifully tugged on the hem of Gu Yan’s outfit.

Gu Yan swept a glance behind him and understood: “You are afraid of cats?”

Ye Zi whispered: “Afraid……”

Gu Yan laughed lightly and instructed the attendant beside him, “Take this cat down.”

The orange cat was carried away and before Ye Zi could breathe a sigh of relief, he heard Gu Yan say again, “There are guests in the manor today. You will come and serve them.”

……Huh?

********

The author has something to say:

Gu Yan: I hear people saying that I lock you in the room and won’t even let you get dressed?

Ye Zi: That, umm, let me explain……

No need to explain, let’s just make it true