Chapter 400 - Lacking Food (1/2)

The crisp sounds of birds chirping broke the silence in the mountain ravine. The first ray of warm sunlight peeked into the mouth of the cave. Zhu Junyang, who had been sleeping on the ground with the bodyguards outside of the cave, stood up and loosened his stiff and somewhat sore limbs. From time to time, he unconsciously looked towards a certain cave inside.

All of the caves were currently silent without any movement. Other than the sounds of the bodyguards walking around, the rest of the cave system was completely quiet. Before long, the maids and senior servants from the mountain villa had gotten up, washed up simply, and started to cook breakfast for the bodyguards and other servants.

Zhu Junyang stretched his neck a bit. How come there was no sound of movement in the Yu Family’s cave? When would that lazy lass, Yu Xiaocao, finally stop sleeping in? He had only arrived at this place last evening. After eating dinner with his mother and catching up, Yu Xiaocao had already gone inside her family’s cave to start dreaming by the time he came out. The cave housed his future father and mother-in-law, so he couldn’t just walk in to bug their daughter under their noses. He could only resist the temptation within his heart and stroll around the outer cave system for a long time before he went to sleep.

Finally, there were some sounds of movement in the middle cave. The first person to come out was a graceful young maiden who was wearing a simple set of cotton clothing. Her hair had been combed into two hair buns. Happiness crawled onto Zhu Junyang’s face and he stepped forward. However, once he got a closer look at the girl’s face, he revealed a disappointed expression and said, “Ah, good morning, Xiaolian!”

Yu Xiaolian had noticed the disappointed look on the prince’s face and covered her mouth to surreptitiously smile. Then she spoke to the royal prince, who was craning his neck so far that he almost entered the cave, “Younger Sister will probably be sleeping for another hour before she gets up. Yesterday night she told me to tell you that if you woke up early, you could go to the small creek and catch some small white fish to bring back. That way, she could make some fish soup today. This is the ceramic pot that’s already been baited, so you can use it…”

Zhu Junyang looked a bit helpless, “That lass always knows how to order me around. How can I be forced to do such crude labor?” Despite his complaints, he still took the ceramic pot that was offered to him. The little lass wasn’t going to get up for another hour. It was better to take a walk in the ravine a bit instead of staying here doing nothing. Getting some fresh air in the morning would be nice.

He jumped into the valley and traveled to the bank of the creek. After taking off his shoes and stepping into the water, he looked at the white fish swimming in the water and idly thought, ‘Why would I need to use bait to catch these fish? With my skills, how would I not be able to catch these fish easily?’

However, when he started to try without the bait, he immediately discovered that he had overestimated himself. The small white fish were nimble and were even more slippery than loaches. They darted back and forth between the rocks. Sometimes they would brush by his fingertips while other times they would swim around his feet as if they were teasing him.

After trying for quite a bit of time, his body was covered with sweat and he didn’t end up catching many. Now humbled, he could only place the ceramic pot inside the creek and wait. Suddenly, a weird phenomenon occurred. Those little white fish seemed to have been supernaturally drawn towards the ceramic pot and even lined up to go in. It was as if they were all squeezing in to do a pilgrimage to see a saint.

He unconsciously frowned. Every time he was near Yu Xiaocao, he always felt like the little lass had some sort of secret. This secret allowed her to go beyond the natural and do things that were considered impossible in this world. He was worried that, in the future, her mysterious power would cause trouble for her.

However, with him around to protect her, other than the emperor or his imperial grandfather, no one else would be able to harm the little lass before going through him first. He would be her shield and help her protect her secret and keep her safe. With him around, there was no one who could harm his little lass. After thinking it through, Zhu Junyang gradually stopped frowning as his mood improved. His little lass only needed to do whatever she wanted to do. Seeing her act naturally all the time was what he liked about her.

By the time he brought back the ceramic pot full of fish and entered the entrance of the cave, Yu Xiaocao had already started cooking on the crude stovetop. She glanced at Zhu Junyang, who had scuttled by, and didn’t even raise her head as she said, “Prepare the small white fish right now. I’ll need to use them in a moment.”

“Me?” Zhu Junyang pointed incredulously at his nose and his voice had an undertone of obvious surprise. “I know how to use swords, staves and how to kill enemies...I just don’t know how to clean fish to eat…”

“If you don’t know how, you can always learn! Quickly go! I need to use them soon!” Yu Xiaocao didn’t even raise her eyes as if ordering around a royal prince was something that came naturally to her.

The servants from the prince’s residence had already gotten used to this. They continued to do their tasks and not a single one came forward to help their master get out of this predicament. Princess Consort Jing stood at the entrance of her own cave and watched with obvious interest as her youngest son held the ceramic pot in his hands with a look of bewilderment on his face. She covered her mouth to hide the smirk on her face.

In the end, Madam Liu graciously took over. She rolled her eyes at her daughter and then took the ceramic pot from Royal Prince Yang’s hands. She then pointed at his wet pant legs and said, “Your Highness, go change into some dry clothes. I’ll take over the task of cleaning and preparing these fish for you.”

Zhu Junyang smiled at her gratefully. The smile seemed to be even more brilliant than the rays of the rising sun and it blinded Madam Liu for a second. She could only think, ‘The royal prince is too handsome. In fact, he’s even more pretty than Xiaocao by a few fractions. Is this type of person really reliable?’

In actuality, if Madam Liu had the choice, she absolutely would not choose a husband like Royal Prince Yang for her daughter. They were a farmer’s family so what they were looking for was someone who was steady and reliable for their daughter. The best would be to find someone who was around the same social level as them. That way, if their daughter got bullied in the future, they, as her parents, would be able to support her and negotiate. The royal prince was exceptionally handsome and also had an illustrious background. In the future, if he had a change of heart, all they could do for their daughter was to cry and lament with her.

“Oh…” Madam Liu let out a heavy sigh and a worried frown crossed her face.