CH 41

Gu Xuan said: “It flew away from my chambers yesterday and I haven’t been able to find it. I have sent people to search the palace all night, but they haven’t found it, so I thought it might’ve returned to the Prince Rui Manor.”

Ye Zi shook his head: “I haven’t seen it.”

He paused for a moment and asked: “Little sparrow never left without saying goodbye like this before, did something happen?”

Gu Xuan hesitated for a moment.

Yesterday, when he returned to his chambers, the little gray sparrow suddenly spat out human words, but before he could ask more questions, the little fellow flew out of the chambers without looking back, as if it was terrified.

He did feel that the little gray sparrow was quite spiritual but never thought that it could speak the human language. So when he was initially shocked, he forgot to chase after it. It wasn’t until the little gray sparrow didn’t come back that he finally started to worry.

Would a little bird that could talk be captured as a demon if it roamed around like this?

Likewise, he wasn’t sure how Ye Zi would react if he found out about this.

Gu Xuan had doubts in his heart and didn’t dare to tell the truth. He deliberated for a while before replying: “Yuanhui only came here to confirm whether the little sparrow had returned to the manor. Since it is not here, I will search elsewhere and won’t bother Cousin-in-Law any longer.”

Ye Zi chuckled.

The man was a little disheveled and his expression couldn’t hide his tiredness, it was obvious he hadn’t slept all night. It was rare to see His Third Imperial Majesty looking lost whilst still pretending to be indifferent in front of him. This person was too dishonest.

But Ye Zi didn’t expose him and just responded softly.

After Ye Zi said goodbye to Gu Xuan, he didn’t rush to leave. 

That little bird wouldn’t have left for no reason, something must have happened. Since Gu Xuan refused to confess, he was quite worried.

Ye Zi looked around for a while. The streets were sparsely populated in the early morning and only a few chirping magpies sat on a branch by the side of the street. Ye Zi walked under the tree, raised his head, and smiled lightly at the magpies: “Sisters, can you do me a favor?”

A few moments later, Ye Zi found the little bird that had run away from home was at an abandoned courtyard in the city.

He pushed the door and stepped into the deserted courtyard, and at a glance, he saw the little gray sparrow squatting in the corner. The little gray sparrow’s head was buried in its neck, balling itself up into a fluffy, soft little ball of fur. There were a few fallen leaves resting on its body, as if it was afraid of the cold, and it was sleeping soundly.

Ye Zi squatted down and gently poked the little gray sparrow’s head: “Little sparrow, wake up.” 

The little gray sparrow woke up in a daze and when it saw Ye Zi, its eyes lit up. But just as it was about to open its mouth, it suddenly seemed to remember something and quickly spread its two wings to cover its beak tightly.

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Ye Zi suspiciously inclined his head and reached out to pull on its wings: ”What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Let me take a look.”

The little gray sparrow shook its head vigorously. Its round eyes stared at Ye Zi and it didn’t speak or scream as its eyes gradually filled with a thin layer or vapor. 

Ye Zi said: “Don’t cry, what’s wrong, is Gu Xuan bullying you?”

Hearing this name, the little gray sparrow finally couldn’t hold back any longer as tears fell down in big drops, soaking a small section of its feathers on its chest. Ye Zi cupped it in his palm and said in a warm voice: “What’s wrong, tell me. If Gu Xuan is bullying you, I’ll teach him a lesson for you, don’t cry…..” 

The little gray sparrow whimpered and said with a sobbing voice: “He didn’t bully me.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

The little gray sparrow cried and hiccupped and said intermittently, “I……I spoke, Little leaf. I don’t know why, but I spoke in front of him, I……”

“You spoke in front of him? What do you mean, aren’t you……” Ye Zi’s voice came to an abrupt end, only realizing with hindsight what the little gray sparrow was referring to.

Just now, it wasn’t the usual bird chirp that the little gray sparrow always had, but the sound of a clear and clean teenage voice.

He……really was talking.

“You……” Ye Zi paused for a moment and asked in a low voice, “When did you realize that you could talk?”

The little gray sparrow huffed: “I don’t know, it only came out yesterday. What am I going to do little leaf, am I going to turn into a demon? The demons in the story books all were taken away by priests, none of them had good ends. I don’t want to be a demon…..”

Ye Zi stroked its feathers soothingly: “So you ran away because of this? You’re afraid of being captured as a demon?”

“Mnn……” The little gray sparrow was aggrieved, “A-And it seems that I have scared A Xuan……Will he abandon me?” 

Ye Zi wiped its tears and laughed: “Of course you scared him, he just came to find me, looks like he didn’t sleep at all last night.”

“If you don’t go back, he will be worried to death.”

The little gray sparrow sat in Ye Zi’s hand and lowered its head: “I don’t want to go back, if A Xuan knows that I’m a demon, he’ll hate me to death, I don’t want to see him.”

Ye Zi cupped its face: “Little sparrow look at me, aren’t I also a demon? And the Prince didn’t come to hate me.”

The little gray sparrow turned its head and thought about it seriously. But as long as it thought of Gu Xuan’s shocked expression when he heard it speak, its heart felt very painful. It stubbornly said: “It’s not the same, I don’t want to go back.” 

Ye Zi helplessly said: “Then what are you going to do, just stay here?”

He paused and then tried to scare it: “……It’s cold and dark here and at night, there might be wild cats and dogs coming to bite you. There will also be other birds fighting with you for food. Do you really want to live here?”

The little gray sparrow shrank its eyes and said with a straightened neck: “I used to live in this kind of place too.”

Ye Zi sighed and gathered it into his hand: “You leave me with no choice, you’ll come back to the manor with me. When you have thought it through, I’ll send you back, how does that sound?”

The little gray sparrow was happier and nodded happily: “Okay.”

Ye Zi held the little gray sparrow and walked out of the courtyard. As he walked out, he subconsciously glanced toward the darkness behind him. After not seeing anything strange, he turned his head and continued walking forward.

Ye Zi’s figure quickly disappeared in the distance and only then did two men in black appear from the original darkness.

One of the men in black confirmed: “Did I hear wrong? He just said……that he’s a demon?”

“Didn’t you see the bird in his hand that spoke? They must all be demons.” The other man in black said, “Master was right to let us keep an eye on Princess Consort Rui. Let’s go back and report.”

Ye Zi didn’t forget his original intention and brought the little gray sparrow with him to Gu Yan’s other villa outside the city. That villa was the occasional Summer retreat used by the Prince Rui Manor and Ye Zi didn’t spend much effort to inquire about the location of the villa.

This villa wasn’t large. It was hidden in a bamboo forest outside the city and was clean and pleasant.

Gu Yan only left two guards outside the villa’s main gate. Ye Zi brought the little gray sparrow around the gate and entered the villa by leaping over the wall. 

“Little leaf, why did you come here?” There were no other people inside the villa so the little gray sparrow dared to speak.

Without waiting for Ye Zi to answer, the little gray sparrow was shocked: “Is it because the Prince is keeping a lover here?” 

Ye Zi: “……”

The little gray sparrow said in a fervent manner: “I have read in storybooks that when some lords of rich and noble families fall in love with someone else and are worried about the anger of the main wife, they wouldn’t bring them into the family and will look for a place outside to keep them. Could the Prince be like that too?” 

Ye Zi originally wanted to retort, but when he remembered the name Gu Yan called out last night, he was suddenly a little uncertain again.

Could the one named Huaiyuan be the person Gu Yan had been thinking about all this time?

After last night, Ye Zi felt that Gu Yan had him in his heart.

If not, why would he treat him this well, accommodating him in every way? And in order to save him, he didn’t hesitate to make a military pledge in front of Emperor Jinghe.

Ye Zi’s eyes drooped.

Frankly speaking, when he saw Gu Yan go to the prison to rescue him last night and then fall ill because he was worried about his well-being, his heart ached but there was also a sweetness. 

But before he had time to be happy for a long time, a basin of cold water was poured on his head.

On the way here, Ye Zi forced himself not to think wildly before finding out the truth and not to doubt Gu Yan that easily. But when he entered the villa, some fear suddenly arose in his heart.

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If Gu Yan really liked that person named Huaiyuan, then what was he (YZ) supposed to be?

The months he spent with Gu Yan, sleeping in each other’s arms every day, being close to each other, were for what?

Ye Zi even wondered, could that person be the true Princess Consort from the beginning? 

Could it be that Gu Yan originally had a Princess Consort, but something happened to that person? And since Ye Zi happened to appear, he became Princess Consort Rui by accident?

The villa wasn’t big, Ye Zi walked forward with a heavy heart and soon came to a quiet courtyard. This should be Gu Yan’s courtyard in the villa.

Ye Zi stood in front of the door for a long time until the little gray sparrow urged in a low voice: “Little leaf, go in. Don’t worry, if Gu Yan really wronged you, I’ll help you teach him a lesson too.”

Ye Zi smiled at it, took a deep breath, and pushed open the door of the room.

The villa had been uninhabited for a long time, but the room was still cleaned by the servants. It was spotless, neatly organized, and there was nothing to be seen. Ye Zi searched around the room and found nothing.

Ye Zi breathed a sigh of relief after not finding anything.

Ye Zi called out as if he was relieved: “Little sparrow, let’s go.”

“Little leaf, wait!” The little gray sparrow’s voice was slightly dull, as if it came from some confined space.

Ye Zi followed the direction of the little gray sparrow’s voice and a small bulge bulged behind an ink painting behind the table.

Ye Zi lifted the scroll and saw the little gray sparrow squatting there: “What are you doing?”

The little gray sparrow’s beak pecked at the wall: “There is something in here.”

Only then did Ye Zi realize that the wall behind this ink painting was a secret door.

His heart jumped wildly for a moment and he suddenly regretted coming here. He even wanted to stop the little gray sparrow immediately and take it out of there. 

But he didn’t.

Quietly, Ye Zi stretched out his hand and pushed.

A “click” came from inside the wall and the secret door slowly opened in front of them.

No one dared to set foot in Prince Rui’s bedroom so Gu Yan didn’t set up complicated mechanisms on the door. Behind the secret door was a small dark room.

Ye Zi lit the only oil lamp on the wall of the small room and the slightly dancing lamplight illuminated the things inside.

There was nothing special about this small room, only a small table and a chair were placed inside.

Above the small table and on the ground next to it, there were many pieces of paper scattered about. Some of them had been torn and some of them were crumpled into a ball. Ye Zi stooped down and picked one up, unfolding it on the table.

The same name was written all over the paper.

Huaiyuan.

The handwriting on the paper was messy and disorganized, as if it was written when unconscious, but when he took a closer look, it wasn’t difficult to see the writer’s unique vigorous strokes.

It was Gu Yan’s handwriting.

Through these handwritings, Ye Zi could even imagine how that man had locked himself in this small room as he frantically wrote down these names in the midst of pain and torture that made people want to go crazy.

Ye Zi’s eyes suddenly turned red and he looked lost in thought until the little gray sparrow gently called out to him: “Little leaf, there……”

Ye Zi raised his head and the little gray sparrow was staring blankly at the wall in front of the small room.

There were several portraits hanging on the wall.

The content of the portraits varied: there were ones that had someone holding a sword, ones that had someone riding a rose, and ones that had someone taking a nap under a tree……

But in all the portraits, the same person was painted.

The painter was no longer crazy and out of control as he solemnly portrayed the face in memory stroke by stroke.

Every frown and smile was meticulous.

And that face looked exactly like Ye Zi’s.