CH 33

Gu Yan pressed Ye Zi onto the couch in the carriage, kissed him tenderly, and rewarded him. Ye Zi was so entranced by his kiss that he still couldn’t get enough of it when he was let go. He tugged on the other party’s sleeve in a daze and tried to chase after him.

Gu Yan reached out and pulled him away, pinching him gently on the face. He restrained himself as he said: “Only one reward a day, don’t get carried away.”

Ye Zi’s eyes were red. It looked like he was being bullied as he silently bit his lips.

Gu Yan’s heart softened: “If you perform well, I’ll throw in an extra.”

Ye Zi lowered his head and quietly agreed.

Gu Yan stopped looking at him, took a sip of tea, and calmed down.

Ye Zi felt somewhat unsatisfied and Gu Yan definitely knew. But he also knew that he couldn’t give out too much sweetness at once. 

This person was delicate and sensitive. He had to be careful with him for fear of frightening him by overstepping even a little. If he didn’t slightly force him, it would probably be difficult to hear the truth from him.

Gu Yan sighed in his heart and glanced at the person beside him whose ears had gone red. He forced down the tortuous feeling in his heart and said: “Tomorrow, you will be traveling around Chang’an with Jia Xiedan, I will send a few people to secretly follow you, but you also have to be careful yourself.”

Ye Zi nodded: “I understand.”

Gu Yan was still unsure: “Why don’t I take a day off tomorrow and go with you?”

“That won’t do.” Ye Zi shook his head, “Does Your Majesty think that I am a child? That I would be useless all by myself? Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. Even if the Northern Barbarian Prince really had a purpose, he wouldn’t dare to make a move against me on the Emperor’s territory.”

“But——” Gu Yan wanted to say something else when Ye Zi suddenly heard a familiar bird chirp from outside the carriage.

He was stunned for a moment, lifted the carriage curtain to look out, and was just in time to see a light gray figure flying over the palace not far away.

It was the little gray sparrow.

This little bird lived in Chang’an City in carefreeness all day long. In the past, it was worried that Ye Zi would be lonely which was why it would go to the Prince Rui Manor to visit him every two or three days. But ever since Ye Zi became a human, he hadn’t seen this little bird for a while now. It had been more than half a month since Ye Zi saw it last time.

Ye Zi turned back to Gu Yan: “Your Majesty, wait for me, I’ll be right back.”

After saying that, Ye Zi didn’t care about Gu Yan’s reaction and directly ordered the carriage driver to stop. He got off and chased after the sparrow.

Ye Zi quickly walked around the palace. He was not familiar with the Imperial palace and chased through several gardens in the direction where he saw the little gray sparrow before he finally saw the fluffy, soft little ball.

The little gray sparrow had stopped on the branch. Its pair of round eyes gazed at the distance in curiosity and didn’t notice Ye Zi. 

Ye Zi stood under the tree and called out: “Little sparrow, why are you here?”

The little gray sparrow was startled and its furry body shook. It wasn’t able to stand still and rolled down from the tree.

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Ye Zi hurriedly reached out to catch it.

The little gray sparrow sat in Ye Zi’s palm and raised its head, delighted: “Little leaf, I haven’t seen you for a long time!”

Ye Zi helplessly said: “How stupid. You’re a bird, how come you suck at flying. You…..”

He felt something off as he said this and lightly touched the little gray sparrow’s wings, his face changed: “What happened to your wings?”

Its wings were almost fully recovered. Flying short distances was no problem, but one could still see some inconvenience in movement. 

When this was mentioned, the little gray sparrow seemed aggrieved as it cried out: “There were a few bad children who caught me and also wanted to roast me. My wings were broken by them……”

Ye Zi touched its feathers: “Sorry, I didn’t even know.”

The little gray sparrow shook its head: “It’s okay, I’m fine now.”

Ye Zi was still worried: “That won’t do, come back with me to the Prince’s manor, I’ll take care of you.”

The little gray sparrow hesitated and didn’t answer.

Ye Zi could tell that it had something it wanted to say: “What’s wrong?”

The little gray sparrow stammered, “Actually, I……”

At that moment, a little eunuch hurried over with an empty gold cage and bowed towards Ye Zi: “Greetings Princess Consort Rui, this bird didn’t disturb you, did it?”

Ye Zi glanced at the cage in his hand: “No, is something the matter?”

The little eunuch laughed: “This little bird is the Third Imperial Majesty’s bird. Just now when this servant wasn’t paying attention, it bit off the cage lock and flew out. If it’s fine with you, can you return it to this servant?”

“……The Third Imperial Majesty loves it very much. If he isn’t able to find it, he will be worried.”

“Third Imperial Majesty?” Ye Zi frowned and turned his head to ask the little gray sparrow, “Was it the Third Imperial Prince who saved you?”

The little gray sparrow looked evasive for a moment. Before it could answer, a warm and quiet voice suddenly came from behind it: “What’s wrong?”

When Gu Xuan came from a distance and immediately noticed the little gray sparrow in Ye Zi’s hand, he frowned.

This bird didn’t like to be touched by anyone but him and it was rare to see it being held so obediently in the palm of someone else’s hand.

Gu Xuan pressed down his discontent and nodded towards Ye Zi: “So it’s Princess Consort Rui.”

Ye Zi returned the greeting and asked: “Third Imperial Majesty, this bird is yours?”

Gu Xuan paused and replied: “Not really, I just picked it up on the side of the road. It was wounded and refused to leave, so I allowed it to stay.”

Ye Zi pondered a little and said smoothly: “Don’t blame me, Third Imperial Majesty, but this is actually the bird I raised. I don’t know how I lost it earlier so thank you for saving it.”

Seeing the little gray sparrow being held in Ye Zi’s hands earlier, Gu Xuan already had a guess. The first time he saw this little gray sparrow was in the Prince Rui Manor. Since this bird was raised by Princess Consort Rui, it made sense.

Gu Xuan’s eyes moved slightly, but the expression on his face remained unchanged: “That’s fine, then it will return to its original owner.”

The little gray sparrow’s eyes widened: “How can you do this……”

“Thank you, Third Imperial Majesty.” Ye Zi wasn’t polite with him and directly said: “Come on little sparrow, come home with me.”

As he said this, he turned around to leave and Gu Xuan didn’t try to stop him. 

The little gray sparrow didn’t expect Gu Xuan to let it go so easily. It became so anxious that its eyes began to water: “L-Little leaf!”

Ye Zi soothingly stroked the little gray sparrow’s feathers. Ignoring its chattering, he continued to walk forward.

Behind him, Gu Xuan’s eyes were dark.

The Prince Rui carriage wasn’t parked too far away. Ye Zi was about to take the little gray sparrow to the carriage when Gu Xuan suddenly spoke up and called out to him.

Ye Zi turned his head and Gu Xuan walked towards him: “Yuanhui knows that Your Highness loves this bird, but Yuanhui thinks that everything in this world has emotions. Whether it wants to stay or leave should be left to its own decision.”

Ye Zi smiled and looked down at the little gray sparrow in his palm: “That makes sense, little sparrow, do you want to stay?”

“I……” The little gray sparrow hesitated and turned its head to look at Gu Xuan.

Gu Xuan still had a cool and calm look, but his gaze was firmly fixed on the little gray sparrow.

A few moments later, the little gray sparrow flew out from Ye Zi’s palm and landed on Gu Xuan’s shoulder.

The corners of Gu Xuan’s lip curled up into a shallow arc.

The little gray sparrow said softly: “Sorry little leaf, but I want to stay here.”

Ye Zi smiled, reached out, and ruffled the little gray sparrow’s feathers: “If you want to stay, then stay. As long as you are happy here.”

They were friends, but he was not qualified to influence the little gray sparrow’s choice.

Ye Zi straightened up and said to Gu Xuan: “Since little sparrow wants to stay in the palace, please take good care of it, Third Imperial Majesty.”

He turned around to get on the carriage. Then as if he remembered something, he turned back and said: “Little sparrow doesn’t like the cage. It won’t run around so don’t lock it up.”

Gu Xuan nodded: “Okay.”

The carriage slowly drove away and the little gray sparrow was relieved. It dropped to sit on Gu Xuan’s shoulder, pecked him twice on the neck, and let out its anger: “You actually wanted to let me go……”

Gu Xuan naturally couldn’t understand its words, but he could hear the indignation in its cries. 

He stretched out his hand, allowing the little gray sparrow to jump into his palm, and whispered: “I thought you were a wild bird, but it turns out you did have a home that you didn’t want to return to and wanted to freeload here.”

The little gray sparrow squatted in his palm and titled its head, pretending not to understand.

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The little eunuch came over with the gold cage. Gu Xuan glanced at the cage and said indifferently: “Throw it away.”

Gu Xuan carried the little gray sparrow toward the direction of his bedchamber. While walking, he also lectured: “I know you don’t like the cage, but I have told you, you can’t fly too far until your wings are healed. If you hadn’t decided to follow me everywhere I went, I wouldn’t have locked you up in the cage.”

“……But look at you, you chewed open the cage and flew off. If I had arrived a little later, would you have followed Princess Consort Rui back to the manor?”

The little gray sparrow chirped lowly, as if retorting.

Inside the carriage, Ye Zi let out a long sigh and muttered listlessly: “I don’t know if it was right for me to leave it in the palace or not.”

Gu Yan poured him a cup of tea and said indifferently: “It wants to stay out of its own free will, what does it have to do with you?”

“But……”

“A Zi.” Gu Yan interrupted him, “Everyone has their own destiny, you won’t be able to help it.”

Ye Zi understood this concept. 

But it was one thing to understand and another to truly experience it.

If it was just staying by Gu Xuan’s side as a pet, it would be better for the little gray sparrow to stay there. Gu Xuan treated it well and it didn’t have to worry about food and drink in the palace, let alone worry about being bullied.

But does the little gray sparrow really just want to be a pet?

Ye Zi sipped his tea and swallowed the words that came to his lips.

Perhaps it was because the little guy had lived amongst humans for a long time, but he felt that the little gray sparrow’s spiritual power was getting stronger. If its spiritual power grew stronger, would it also turn into a human?

In that case, would Gu Xuan still treat it the same as before?

That man was the future Emperor, the winner of the battle for the throne. He was destined to marry and have children with plenty of women filling the harem.

When that day came, what would happen to the silly little bird?

Ye Zi thought wildly as the carriage drove out of the palace gate. Soon, they returned to the Prince Rui Manor.

Ye Zi was about to get out of the carriage when he was suddenly pulled. Ye Zi fell into Gu Yan’s arms and subconsciously struggled. But Gu Yan gently pinched him on the side of his waist. 

He suddenly went limp and was held in the other party’s embrace in an orderly manner.

Ye Zi turned his head to look at him: “What……are you doing?”

“One more rule has to be added to the list.” Gu Yan clamped down on Ye Zi’s waist and whispered into his ear, “Having nonsensical thoughts makes me angry. I’m deducting a reward. I don’t believe that I won’t be able to cure this worrying nature of yours.” 

Ye Zi froze and came back to his senses as he bit his lips in an aggrieved manner: “Don’t…..I-I’ll stop, okay?”

There weren’t that many rewards in the first place, how could he……..

Gu Yan was about to say something else when the curtain of the carriage was suddenly lifted. Standing beside the carriage, Qiu Tang could clearly see their postures.

Ye Zi was now sitting on Gu Yan’s lap and was leaning against his chest with a posture that was as indecent as it could be.

Ye Zi’s face flushed red as he tried to explain: “Um, i-it’s not what you think……”

Not waiting for him to finish, the curtain fell back down, blocking the interior view completely.

Qiu Tang stood by the carriage with a red face. Not daring to raise her head, she thought in a daze: Who said the story books were fake? Wasn’t it quite realistic?