LYIPhSAA (lvi)
Edited: 09.10.2023
As Gu Yan and Guangxu Zi chatted, the sky gradually darkened and Ye Zi knocked on the door to softly urge them. Gu Yan couldn’t stay long so he got up and said goodbye to Guangxu Zi.
Before saying goodbye, Gu Yan thanked Guangxu Zi: “Thank you for your help, I will also keep Taoist Priest’s advice in mind.”
Guangxu Zi waved his hand dismissively: “It wasn’t a big deal, you’re being too courteous, Your Majesty.”
Gu Yan then asked again: “Taoist Priest, what are you going to do with this cat?”
Guangxu Zi looked back at the orange cat on the table and pondered: “Since I caught it as a demon, I naturally can’t give it back so quickly. How about this, I will take care of this cat for a few days and after the matter is properly settled, I will return it back to the Prince.”
Gu Yan said: “If this was destiny, then there is no harm for this cat to follow the Taoist Priest in the future.”
Guangxu Zi blinked and was surprised: “Really?”
Gu Yan hesitated for a moment but nodded.
After raising the cat for so many years, Gu Yan did have some feelings for the cat, but when he thought about how afraid Ye Zi would be if the cat came back home, he could only reluctantly part with it.
Guangxu Zi was delighted: “That’s great! Your Majesty, please don’t worry. I will take good care of it.”
The orange cat seemed to have understood their words and frantically scratched the iron cage with its claws.
Gu Yan looked down at it and said in a warm voice: “Erbao, don’t make a fuss, in the future, you will obediently follow the Taoist Priest, understand?”
The orange cat meowed twice and seeing that Gu Yan’s mind was made up, it gave up on breaking out of the cage and obediently sat down. Gu Yan stroked its head and turned around to leave the room.
As soon as Gu Yan closed the door and left, Guangxu Zi couldn’t wait to put his hand into the cage and rubbed the orange cat’s fur with a smile: “What are you hissing for? Didn’t you hear him, he gave you to me. In the future, as long as you follow me obediently, I won’t let you suffer any hardships.”
The orange cat immediately put away its well-behaved appearance, slapped Guangxu Zi’s hand with one paw, and pawed at the iron cage door.
“You want me to let you out?” Guangxu Zi hesitated for a moment and instructed: “I can do that, but you can’t run around. If you were to run away now, all the effort I did during the day would be for naught, understand?”
Only after he finished speaking did he open the door of the iron cage.
The orange cat stepped out gracefully, stretching its limbs and legs.
Guangxu Zi didn’t seem to care at all. He looked at the orange cat’s soft and fluffy fur with greedy eyes and his palms itched. Just as he was about to reach out and touch it, the orange cat seemed to sense something and turned to glare at him. Guangxu Zi retracted his hand guiltily.
Guangxu Zi stuck out his lips and muttered: “I have helped you so much, but not only are you not grateful at all, you treat me like this?”
Ignoring him, the orange cat jumped off the table and climbed straight onto the bed. It lay down in a ball in the middle before raising its eyes to glance at Guangxu Zi.
Guangxu Zi went after him: ”Silly cat, if I don’t have you take the blame for this, won’t Mr. Ye suffer? The Emperor asked me to catch a demon so there needs to be a demon that will come out to take the momentary blame. After thinking long and hard, you were the most suitable.”
The orange cat meowed nonchalantly and he took it as an indication that it agreed with his statement.
Guangxu Zi walked over and lay down beside the orange cat. He crossed his legs without a care for his image and complained with his eyes closed: “I’m a Taoist Priest, a demon catcher, and a matchmaker who helps couples solve their misunderstandings. Does it look like I have it easy?…….”
The orange cat let out a few soft grunts from its nostrils before closing its eyes and ignoring him.
Silence returned to the room.
On the other side, Ye Zi changed back to his original appearance and left the inn through the back door.
As the lanterns began to light up, Chang’an Street was bustling with activity at night. The two of them didn’t let anyone know about their trip so they didn’t bring any attendants with them and there was no carriage for their return trip. The two of them walked slowly on the long street and with many pedestrians on the street, collisions were inevitable when passing by.
Ye Zi was worried about Gu Yan’s injury and pulled him behind him: “Your Majesty, is your injury okay, should I go find you a palanquin?”
Gu Yan said: “No need.”
“But……”
Gu Yan didn’t wait for him to finish and grabbed Ye Zi’s hand tightly in his palm, whispering: “If you’re afraid something might happen to me, hold me tighter.”
Ye Zi looked down at their interlocked hands and gently nodded: “Okay.”
Ever since he changed back to his original appearance, his pretty facial features were even more colorful under the light. Gu Yan looked at him deeply, and for the first time, he felt extremely happy in his heart.
What did he do to deserve something like this? To be given the opportunity to live a new life and walk hand in hand with this man on the street.
No matter what Ye Zi’s identity was, whether he was an immortal or a demon, made no difference to Gu Yan. He didn’t care about such things at all.
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Just like Guangxu Zi said, the matters about the gods and demons were just legends before their time. It already wasn’t easy for anyone to take care of the person they liked in their lifetime.
And how could he not want to take care of the person in front of him? But because he had thought about it, resentment, hatred, and fear grew in his heart. He made all kinds of calculations and planned on how to avoid past regrets to escape from that ending, but at the same time, he was pushed by reality to take more detours, heading toward perhaps a darker abyss.
In the end, it was all because of fear.
Because he could no longer tolerate himself losing anything.
Gu Yan’s steps gradually slowed down as he massaged his temples with a frown. Ye Zi noticed and hurriedly asked: “Your Majesty, your complexion looks so bad. Do you have a headache again?”
“No.” Gu Yan shook his head, “With Pei Ge’s medicine, I shouldn’t have any more problems in the next few days.”
Ye Zi was frowning: “You can’t always be like this……”
“You’re only suppressing the illness in your body and there’s no way that’s a good thing.” Ye Zi paused and added, “No matter what, you can’t drink that medicine anymore when you go back. Ask Dr. Pei to change it to something that will recuperate your body. If your illness keeps coming back, I will really……”
Gu Yan gently answered: “Okay, I will listen to you.”
The two of them didn’t say anything again and no one in the noisy crowd noticed their presence. Although Gu Yan said earlier that he wanted Ye Zi to protect him more, in the end, it was clear that he was protecting Ye Zi more. Gu Yan took advantage of his height to carefully protect him in his arms, preventing the crowd from squeezing him.
Ye Zi hadn’t walked quietly on the street with him for a long time. He couldn’t help but feel a little greedy and his pace repeatedly slowed down.
But no matter how slow they walked, they would still make it back eventually. As the two returned to the manor. Gu Yan went to explain what happened today to Great Princess Rui and asked Ye Zi to go back and wait in their room.
Knowing that Emperor Jinghe would send someone to the manor to catch the demon today, Gu Yan thought of a reason in advance to send Great Princess Rui away so as to avoid any side complications.
After Gu Yan had pacified Great Princess Rui, he returned to his room where he noticed Ye Zi holding a book in front of his desk. Seeing Gu Yan return, he asked: “What did Great Princess Rui say?”
Gu Yan closed the door and laughed: “What else could she have said? She was extremely angry with Emperor Jinghe and blamed that old thing for taking away her cat.”
“It was a cat that Great Princess Rui has raised for many years, her feelings for it must be very deep.” Ye Zi paused for a moment and added, “How about we go bring Erbao back when this is all over?”
Gu Yan asked: “You’re not afraid anymore?”
Ye Zi bit his lip and struggled with his response in every possible way before finally saying truthfully: “I’m afraid……”
“Then why do you still want to bring it back?”
Ye Zi was silent for a moment and whispered: “But you can’t drive it away just because I’m afraid. Erbao has lived in the manor for so many years, it must also be sad to be sent away.”
Gu Yan bent down and stroked his hair, saying in a warm voice: “You’re still so kind.”
Ye Zi averted his gaze: “What does this have to do with being kind or not?”
Gu Yan smiled: “Let’s do it this way, after things are properly resolved, we’ll go meet Erbao. If it is willing to come back with us, we will take it back. If it wants to follow Taoist Priest Guangxu, then we’ll just let it go, okay?”
Ye Zi nodded and was a little more relieved. He thought for a moment and then asked: “The Wen family won’t give up like this, right? I don’t know how they figured out my identity but because they haven’t caught me, will they invite other Taoist Priests? “
Gu Yan agreed: “The Wen family is indeed a problem. I have discussed it with Taoist Priest Guangxu and this matter isn’t actually difficult to deal with.”
Ye Zi asked: “How do we deal with it?”
Gu Yan said: “It’s something that I can’t deal with myself, since it’s inconvenient.”
Ye Zi didn’t understand and asked: “Then who should be the one dealing with it?”
Gu Yan, however, stopped answering and just said that Ye Zi would know tomorrow.
The next day at noon, a servant actually came to report to Gu Yan that the guests had arrived.
Ye Zi followed Gu Yan to the hall to meet the guests and just as he reached the door, he heard a familiar voice call out to him.
“Little Leaf!” The little gray sparrow appeared out of nowhere and pounced in front of Ye Zi, hugging him tightly.
Ye Zi was caught off guard and hurriedly caught the little teenager in front of him.
The little gray sparrow had contacted Ye Zi after he had followed Gu Xuan into the palace and told him what had happened to him. The day the little gray sparrow turned into human form, Ye Zi was drunk and had only a vague impression of the matter. Now at this time, he was still a little unresponsive to the little gray sparrow’s human form.
Gu Yan looked at the little gray sparrow that had occupied his princess consort in front of him and frowned. Just as he was about to get angry, a hand suddenly stretched out from behind the little gray sparrow and lifted him up like a baby chick.
Gu Xuan nodded towards Gu Yan with a natural expression: “Cousin, pardon our intrusion.”
Gu Yan shook his head: “Let’s go inside first.”
It was lunchtime when the two arrived, Gu Yan had informed the kitchen early in the morning to prepare extra and everyone ate in the small pavilion in the garden.
After the little gray sparrow turned into a human, he still didn’t change his chirping habit. He would idly eat two mouthfuls of rice and then pester Ye Zi for small talk: “Little Leaf, you might not know, but when I heard yesterday that someone was coming to catch the demon, I was scared to death. I was afraid that the Taoist Priest would come and take me away. But when I heard from A Xuan that they had gone to the Prince Rui Manor, I was even more worried and wanted to come to you right then and there.”
He pouted and glanced at Gu Xuan reproachfully: “It’s all because of A Xuan, he had to lock me up in the palace and wouldn’t let me come out.”
Gu Xuan looked up at him calmly: “How could you have helped if I allowed you to come here? Aren’t you afraid that you’ll be captured and made into a roasted sparrow?”
The little gray sparrow shrunk his neck and muttered: “Why would he roast me, I don’t taste good.”
The group stopped talking and during their meal, Ye Zi intentionally observed Gu Xuan, vaguely understanding what Gu Yan meant yesterday when he said that he wanted to let someone else handle the matter.
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The Wen family had made a big deal about the demon and it wasn’t just Gu Yan and Ye Zi who were worried, Gu Xuan was also affected by this. The little sparrow was very naïve, if they really did invite a Taoist Priest, he probably wouldn’t even know how to save himself.
This matter involved the Prince Rui Manor from the very beginning so Gu Yan was naturally reluctant to take action, however, Gu Xuan had no such qualms.
This Third Imperial Prince was never a simple character.
Ye Zi still remembered that Gu Xuan also overturned many stumbling blocks in the process of seizing the throne, and the Wen family was one of them. The Wen family was the Crown Prince’s family and had the Crown Prince and Empress’s backing. Furthermore, Wen Shuhou was also a veteran official and had much support in the court. But even so, Gu Xuan still managed to grab hold of his weakness and bring him down in one fell swoop.
According to the novel, Gu Xuan kept his strength hidden early on and quietly weakened many of the Crown Prince’s forces and then sat back and watched as the Crown Prince and Gu Yan fought to the death. In the end, the side character benefited and Gu Xuan became the ultimate winner.
It was most appropriate to hand such matters over to such a meticulous person.
After being glared at by Gu Xuan, the little gray sparrow obediently shut up and ate without further comment. After they finished eating, Gu Yan asked Ye Zi to take the little gray sparrow around the manor while he and Gu Xuan went into the study to discuss the situation.
The little gray sparrow had been in the manor for as long as Ye Zi had been here. He was so familiar with the manor that there was no need for them to stroll around. Ye Zi took the little gray sparrow directly to the courtyard and turned away the servants.
The little gray sparrow didn’t dare to say much during the meal earlier, but now that he was alone with Ye Zi, he finally asked: “Little Leaf, have you reconciled with the Prince?”
Ye Zi was stunned for a moment and whispered: “Roughly……”
“Roughly?”
Ye Zi poured a cup of water for the little gray sparrow: “I have some guesses in my mind, but I don’t dare to ask yet. Actually, after this incident is over, I don’t think I care about it that much anymore.”
The little gray sparrow didn’t understand: “How can you not care about it? That room in the villa…..”
Ye Zi shook his head and didn’t explain anymore.
In the past few days, right after Gu Yan had just recovered from his serious illness, he was immediately busy with other matters. He didn’t want these things to distract him, so he didn’t ask any more questions. But even though this was the case, he already had some guesses about who Huaiyuan was.
Because Gu Yan had said that there was no one else in his heart.
If that person could recognize him in the crowd after he had disguised himself, was there any doubt about his sincerity?
This was why Ye Zi was willing to wait until the matter settled and then have Gu Yan tell him everything in its entirety.
When the little gray sparrow saw that he didn’t want to explain, he stopped asking any more questions. Instead, he mysteriously shuffled closer to Ye Zi’s side: “Little Leaf, I want to ask you a question.”
Ye Zi said: “What is it?”
The little gray sparrow looked up at Ye Zi with sparkling eyes and asked seriously: “What do I need to do to become a woman?”
☽ ⋆ℍalf 𝕄oon 𝕋ranslations⋆ ☾ 
Interesting question, little sparrow XDD But fun fact, sparrows are real s*x predators, they making love maaaany, many times on daily basic for fun, so maybe our little guy is in this stage of life~ (￢‿￢ )
Thank You for the new chapter (๑ơ ₃ ơ)♥
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