Chapter 559. Lies and the Truth (1/2)

Naturally, all of this occurred around a hundred years later. Since meeting the young dragon maiden caused Xiaocao to tarry, she was currently being scolded roundly by her family and Royal Prince Yang for staying out for so long.

“You said that you were having so much fun with the little dolphin that you forgot the time? You’re not a child anymore but you don’t know to come home when it gets dark. Do you know just how worried we all were when we didn’t see you come back this late? Do you know that if you didn’t come back now, this prince would have sent out ships to patrol and search for you tonight?!!”

It wasn’t surprising that Zhu Junyang was angry. This was the final day of the pearl diving competition. Since he needed to judge the results, by the time he got back to Dongshan Village, it was already completely dark. When he found out that Xiaocao hadn’t gone back then, how could he not be worried?

In addition, Zhuang Xiaomo, who had won first place in the competition, told him that when he had gone back to shore, Xiaocao had still been in the ocean playing around with her dolphin friend. At that time, it was already sunset. The sea at night looked tranquil but there were a lot of hidden waves and currents.

When the whole family heard this, they almost became crazy from anxiety. Although Xiaocao’s swimming abilities were quite good, it wasn’t as if she was idly frolicking in the pool at ‘Blossoming Beauty’ or the pond behind their home. Instead, she was playing in the dangerous ocean. No matter how smart the little dolphin was, if they encountered any sharks or other fierce beasts, it would be hard pressed to save itself let alone protect Xiaocao.

As the moon rose higher and higher and the stars illuminated the dark blue sky, there was still no word of Yu Xiaocao. Madam Liu and Xiaolian both started to weep from worry and Yu Hai and Yu Hang had already changed into swimsuits. They were planning on going to the areas that Xiaocao usually liked to play in to find her. Zhu Junyang had Bodyguard Dong bring over his horse in preparation to go docks to get the fleet put under his command. Even if he had to search the entire night, he needed to find either the live person or a dead body…

The whole family was about to go crazy when Xiaocao, holding her little golden kitten, suddenly appeared before them. When they asked, they found out that she had been having too much fun playing around and forgot the time!

“Yu Xiaocao, from what this prince knows about you, you’re not that type of person. Are you not telling the whole truth about what happened to delay you until now?” Zhu Junyang deeply inhaled a breath in an effort to calm himself down and not let his temper spill over.

Yu Xiaocao also knew that no one would believe this weak excuse of hers. However, if she told the truth and said that she had been distracted by the Dragon King’s youngest daughter and had been telling her about the mundane world, who would believe that? In any case, if someone told her that story earlier in the day, she would have slapped them silly for telling such a foolish story——just how stupid did they think the other person was?

”Zhu Junyang saw that she refused to tell the truth and was even curling her lip. He couldn’t help but grab onto her shoulder and shake her a few times, “Just what is it? Just what are you hiding that you can’t tell us? The people here are the ones closest to you. Why can’t you believe in us?”

Her refusal to tell the truth made Zhu Junyang unable to stop himself from thinking more. A young maiden, coming back very late, who refused to tell the truth of what happened...was it possible that Xiaocao encountered a bad person and was...harmed, so that she…

When he got to that thought, Zhu Junyang felt his whole body shudder. He had been protecting his little treasure and keeping her safe as she slowly grew up, making sure to never go too far. However...however…an aura of fury exploded from his body and everyone in the room couldn’t help but take a few steps back.

“Zhu Junyang! Zhu Ruizhi!!! Wake up, wake up!!” Yu Xiaocao instantly could tell that something was wrong and she pulled on Zhu Junyang’s hand while patting his face gently with her other hand. She had personally watched as the Wu Family’s ‘demolition’ had happened and she didn’t want her family’s residence, which had only been recently built in the past few years, to also be destroyed by his ‘presence’.

The soft and icy cold hand on his face returned a bit of reason back to him. He forcefully clenched his hands into two fists and didn’t even feel his nails digging into his flesh. He felt like he needed to be considerate of the little girl’s frail and tender feelings and lowered his voice to say, “No worries, no matter what happened, this prince will make sure to stay by your side. Don’t be afraid, I’m here! I will absolutely make sure to rip the person who hurt you into ten thousand pieces!”

“What are you talking about?” Yu Xiaocao, who had been tightly embraced by him, didn’t know whether she should cry or laugh as she used a hand to pat his back, hinting that he should let her go. This fellow’s imagination was a bit too strong, right? He actually thought that she had been...however, didn’t the ancient people take chastity and celibacy quite seriously ah? Even though Zhu Junyang thought something of that magnitude had happened to her, he still tried to comfort her through his anger. This truly showed just what a treasure he was.

“Zhu Junyang, I am seriously telling you that I am perfectly fine! When I left Older Brother Xiaomo’s boat, I truly spent the rest of the time in the ocean and didn’t come ashore!” Yu Xiaocao looked directly into his eyes and stated the facts solemnly.

Zhu Junyang gripped Xiaocao’s wrist to feel her pulse. Her calm and steady heartbeat told him that she wasn’t lying. The pressure that had been choking his heart seemed to disappear and it felt like a ten thousand catty stone had fallen down. However, if that was the case, then what was she doing this whole time in the ocean? Why didn't she come back before it got so dark?

Yu Hai noticed that his youngest daughter had been looking into Royal Prince Yang’s eyes for a bit of time and hurriedly cleared his throat, “Royal Prince Yang, Cao’er is still half a child, so it’s quite normal for her to want to play as much as she can. In a bit, her mother and I will definitely scold her properly.”