CH 18

The next day, Gu Yan rose early to go to court as usual. Ye Zi also didn’t stay idle. He stayed in the manor to teach his newly purchased cockatoo.

Ye Zi was able to communicate with flowers, birds, and plants in a simple way so it naturally wasn’t difficult to teach a cockatoo. Ye Zi taught a few simple birthday greetings, fed it some rice and millet, then heard the familiar sound of a birdsong from outside the window.

A small gray sparrow flew in from afar. Ye Zi opened the window for it and the small gray sparrow flew in. However, once it saw the parrot, it immediately blurted out a reproach: “Little leaf, how dare you raise other birds!”

Ye Zi lightly laughed: “Where have you been these past few days? Why haven’t you come to the Prince Rui Manor?”

The little gray sparrow jumped onto Ye Zi’s shoulder and said with a puff of anger, “You are half-hearted and always change your mind, I won’t tell you!”  

Ye Zi froze and asked helplessly, “Where did you learn those phrases again?”

“Naturally, from a book.” The little gray sparrow glared with obsidian eyes and said aggrieved, “I heard that you became the Princess Consort so I rushed back to see you. But it turns out, you actually took a liking to another bird!” 

Ye Zi was silent for a moment and said sincerely, “Be good, little sparrow. You should read less of those nonsense books, they are turning you bad. Also, I am giving this bird as a gift, I’m not keeping it.”

“……Really?”

“Yes, really.” Ye Zi assured, “I don’t like other birds, I only like you.”

Gu Yan, who had just stepped into the courtyard and heard his Princess Consort say that he liked some other person: “……”

The little gray sparrow was startled and immediately flew towards the door, but was caught by Gu Yan with a hand. The little gray sparrow fluttered its wings twice but was unable to move at all because it was clutched tightly by Gu Yan.

Ye Zi called out anxiously, “Your Majesty!”

Gu Yan glanced at him and returned the little gray sparrow to him: “Is this a little demon too?”

The little gray sparrow jumped in Ye Zi’s palm and argued, “Hmph, I’m not a demon!”

Gu Yan reached out and poked the little gray sparrow, causing it to fall back into Ye Zi’s palm: “What is it saying?”

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“It said it’s not a demon.” Ye Zi stroked the little gray sparrow’s feathers soothingly, “Little sparrow has only opened its spiritual consciousness so technically it’s not a demon yet.”

“It can’t turn into a human?”

Ye Zi shook his head: “No.”

Gu Yan’s mind was put at ease: “That’s good.”

Ye Zi didn’t hear him: “What?”

“Nothing.” Gu Yan didn’t say more and asked him, “Are you hungry, should I have someone prepare lunch?”

Ye Zi nodded, brought the frightened little gray sparrow to the bird cage, and distributed some cockatoo food to it.

The little gray sparrow was aggrieved: “He is so scary……”

Ye Zi agreed silently and comforted: “He was just playing around with you, don’t be afraid.”

The little gray sparrow asked, “Little leaf, didn’t you want to leave this place? Why did you stay and become the Princess Consort?” 

Ye Zi glanced at Gu Yan, lowered his voice, and said half-heartedly: “I’ll tell you another day.”

The little gray sparrow nodded. It didn’t seem to care much and concentrated on pecking at the rice.

Ye Zi asked: “Now you tell me, where have you been lately?”

The little gray sparrow paused for a moment and said sheepishly: “I-I didn’t go anywhere.”

“Didn’t go anywhere?” When Ye Zi heard the lack of confidence in its voice, he began interrogating, “I don’t believe you. You haven’t come to visit me for several days, you must have gone somewhere to play.” 

The little gray sparrow didn’t answer and soon a servant came in to serve food so Ye Zi couldn’t talk to it again. He leaned by the window to tease the bird, when he suddenly heard Gu Yan speak gloomily: “Who told you to prepare these?”

The tone of voice was obviously very angry.

Ye Zi walked over to take a look and suddenly his eyes darkened.

The table was full of dishes, including deer antlers, fresh shrimp, donkey tendon, oysters, and a porridge placed in front of Gu Yan. Ye Zi couldn’t see what it was, but he could make out a few green chives floating on top.

Ye Zi: “……”

All of them were ingredients that benefit a male’s sexual performance and nourished the body. Impressive. 

The attendant in charge of serving dishes was so frightened that he fell to his knees and said tremblingly, “Your Majesty, this is what the Great Princess ordered, saying that it will be good for your health.”

The veins on the back of Gu Yan’s hand rippled: “This Prince doesn’t need——”

“All right, we’ll eat these.” Ye Zi grabbed Gu Yan’s hand and said to the attendant, “You can go back and tell the Great Princess that I will supervise the Prince. You may all leave.” 

“Yes.” The attendant answered, and as he was leaving, he turned back and instructed, “Your Majesty, the Great Princess instructed that this ‘sheep kidney and chive congee’ is something she specially asked someone to make, so you must finish it.”

Gu Yan said: “Get lost.”

The subordinates all withdrew, Ye Zi finally couldn’t hold back and snorted out a laugh.

Gu Yan looked askance at him: “You still dare to laugh?”

“I-I don’t dare.” Ye Zi put away his laughter, picked up the cup of porridge in front of Gu Yan, and said seriously, “The Great Princess is also kind, why don’t you just reluctantly……nourish yourself, Your Majesty?”

Gu Yan gritted his teeth: “Do you think this Prince has been too nice to you recently and really won’t do anything to you?”

Actually, yes. 

Ye Zi was addicted to making him angry. He put the bowl down and laughed: “What? Do you want to hit me then?” 

“Your Majesty, if you want to hit me, then that’ll be domestic violence and I will report it to the Great Princess. I will also go out and cry, saying that the majestic Prince Rui was someone who would take it out on others in private. This gossip is much more interesting than whether or not I am favored, don’t you think so?”

Ye Zi’s cunning appearance made Gu Yan’s insides hurt. He took two deep breaths and curled up the corners of his mouth: “Since the Princess Consort seems to like it so much, then don’t leave a single bite behind and finish this table of nourishing meals.”

Ye Zi looked at him in horror: “No!”

Gu Yan turned his head and whispered something in his ear.

Ye Zi’s ears instantly reddened and he conceded: “I……I’ll eat.”

After finishing speaking, he obediently picked up the cup of nourishing medicinal food and drank it down.

The little gray sparrow happened to fly to Ye Zi’s side and tilted its head in confusion, “Little leaf, what did the Prince say he wanted to prove just now? What does ‘can’t get out of bed’ mean?” 

Ye Zi’s hand shook and he nearly choked himself to death.

Gu Yan didn’t intend to force him to eat all the dishes on the table. After drinking the porridge, Gu Yan found an excuse to take Ye Zi out of the manor. The two of them didn’t bring their attendants nor did they prepare a carriage, they walked on Chang’an Street and prepared to find a restaurant to have dinner.

Gu Yan listed off the names of several restaurants with pretty good food and asked Ye Zi: “Which one do you want to go to?”

To be honest, Ye Zi was frightened by Gu Yan’s words. He didn’t dare to disobey and said cowardly: “………I’m good with whatever.” 

Gu Yan looked at him helplessly and was about to say something when he suddenly heard someone behind him call out, “Cousin?”

Inside the private room of a restaurant, Gu Xuan sent away the server and personally poured a cup of tea for Gu Yan and Ye Zi.

Gu Xuan said to Ye Zi: “Cousin-in-law, I would like to toast you with a cup of tea instead of wine, and also apologize to you on behalf of Shouyu for having offended you before.”

Ye Zi accepted his tea: “I don’t dare, Your Third Imperial Majesty has spoken too seriously.”

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Gu Xuan said: “Cousin-in-law can just call me Yuanhui.”

Gu Yan frowned slightly and interrupted: “How come the Third Imperial Prince has time to leave the palace today?”

Gu Xuan responded: “Father intends to advance the Spring hunt to be held in time for Imperial Grandmother’s birthday so that there could be some luck. In the past few years, Father has put me in charge of the Spring hunt, which is why I am out and arranging relevant matters.”

Every year, in Spring and Autumn, Emperor Jinghe would hold a hunting event, in which all important officials of the Imperial family could participate. There were three days of hunting and those who came out on top in the hunt would be rewarded by Emperor Jinghe.

According to the novel, ever since Gu Yan first participated in the hunt at the age of fifteen, he had always come out on top and no one had ever shaken his position.

Now this Gu Yan wasn’t quite the same.

This sickly child, not to mention horse-riding, even having him bend a bow would require him to spend a lot of energy. 

Since childhood, he had never participated in a hunt nor did he ever go and join in on the hype. 

Gu Xuan said: “I’m afraid Cousin can’t miss out this year.”

Emperor Jinghe intended to hold the Spring hunt together with the Empress Dowager’s birthday, so Gu Yan couldn’t miss out even if he wanted to. 

He answered: “Naturally.”

The three of them had a meal and chatted in the private room while the little gray sparrow landed by the window, staring at them intently. Gu Xuan seemed to have noticed something and looked over in its direction.

The little gray sparrow was startled and flew away with a flutter of its wings.

Gu Xuan stared at the direction it left, pondering.

Gu Yan asked: “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Gu Xuan shook his head and said in a warm voice, “It’s just that……I thought I happened to see someone familiar.”

The little gray sparrow landed on the street before finally breathing a sigh of relief.

So close, it was almost discovered.

It had been following Gu Xuan these past few days. It didn’t dare to show itself, but only followed him secretly or flew to the eaves of his bedchamber to peek at him.

But the more it observed, the more strange it felt. Gu Xuan was either reading or writing all day long or discussing matters with others. And at most, he went out of the palace to meet with a few friends, not at all like someone who lived a life of debauchery.

Could little leaf have made a mistake? 

The little gray sparrow was lost in thought. It didn’t notice someone approaching behind it and was grabbed.

The three of them finished their lunch. Gu Xuan had some business to attend to so he said goodbye to them and left. He was walking down the street, passing a stone bridge, when he suddenly heard a few chirps.

Gu Yan’s footsteps slightly paused as he inclined his head to look over. Under the bridge, several children aged six, seven, and eight were gathered together, laughing and playing.

The little gray sparrow was lying on the ground, its feet were tied with a rope, and the other end of the rope was held by a boy. Its feathers were completely wet since it was just thrown into the water by them. It fluttered its wings in distress, but it was exhausted and unable to scream.

“Why doesn’t it fly anymore?” One boy poked the little gray sparrow’s stomach with a small stick, but the latter just shrank, not even having the strength to dodge.

Another boy said in dissatisfaction: “How boring, let’s roast it and eat it.”

When the little gray sparrow heard this, its dark eyes quivered and it exerted itself to raise its head to escape. As soon as it looked up, it happened to meet Gu Xuan’s gaze.

“Save me……” The little gray sparrow whimpered and a few teardrops rolled down from its eyes.

But the other party did not move.

The flowing water under the bridge was gurgling and the man just stood on the bridge and looked at it quietly, his eyes were calm and indifferent.

The children lifted it upside down. The little gray sparrow shivered incessantly, closed its eyes, and lost consciousness in extreme fear.

So it wasn’t able to see that the man on the bridge came over and clutched the wrist of the child who was holding it.

On the other hand, Gu Yan feared that Great Princess Rui would pull something again so he accompanied Ye Zi strolling the streets for most of the day. Only when the sun was about to set did they finally head back to the manor. Just as they entered the door, the housekeeper greeted them.

“Prince, Princess Consort, the two of you have finally come back. Great Princess Rui has been waiting in the hall for a long time.”

Gu Yan’s temples twitched and he instinctively felt that it wasn’t something good: “What for?”

“The doctor that Great Princess Rui invited has arrived.” The housekeeper lowered his voice, “To cure your unmentionable illness.”

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The author has something to say:

In fact, the little sparrow’s side has a happy ending. Don’t worry about it~