Chapter 27: Golden Fish

Gu Tingye led Xu Zaijing through the palace garden, wandering aimlessly.

They occasionally saw palace guards stationed at various points.

Yet these palace guards stood with clear discipline—neither intrusive nor negligent, yet always ready to spot anomalies.

Just as Gu Tingye and Xu Zaijing stopped by a pond, they heard several boys in the midst of voice change talking.

“In places like Yuzhou, you can only produce peasant songs—crude, lowbrow nonsense.”

“Agriculture is vital. Don’t you know the people live by food?”

“I’m telling you, how dare you talk back? You want a beating?”

“Your Highness, Zhao Huan is also a royal clansman. If you lay hands on him, it might…”

“My father said his old man is a coward who won’t defend him. Go on, hit him.”

Nearby palace soldiers had seen the royal clansmen fighting.

Yet they acted as if they saw nothing.

Gu Tingye and Xu Zaijing walked over.

They saw a boy surrounded by five others.

The scene stirred some unpleasant memory in Gu Tingye.

He stepped forward and said:

“Hey, picking on one with five? What kind of hero are you?”

“My father is the Prince of Yong. Who the hell are you?”

“Prince of Yong?” Gu Tingye’s tone hesitated.

Beside him, Xu Zaijing shouted loudly:

“How dare you! Royal clansmen are refined gentlemen. How could you be such bullies?”

Xu Zaijing’s words left the five boys speechless.

“Hmph, what do you two want? If you’ve got nothing to say, get lost.”

“You’re five against one—that’s not heroism. If you’ve got guts, let go of him. We three will take on your five!”

The five boys were mostly teenagers—equivalent to middle schoolers in modern times, the most rebellious age.

The boy called Yuzhou was likely the future Crown Prince from the original storyline.

Now, he was just a lowly collateral branch clansman, standing like a lackey.

He was only one or two years older than Gu Tingye.

So the battle was five “middle schoolers” versus three “elementary schoolers.”

Gu Tingye rolled up his sleeves, eager to fight.

The leader among the five—the Prince of Yong’s son—glanced at the odds, then lifted his chin.

His men shoved the boy named Zhao Huan toward them.

As Zhao Huan approached, Xu Zaijing whispered:

“I’ll count one, two, three—we turn and run.”

Gu Tingye sneered.

“You coward!”

“Gu Tingye, are you stupid? They’re taller and bigger than us. We run, and we split them up!”

Looking at Zhao Huan, Xu Zaijing continued: “Once we split them, I can knock one down fastest. What about you, Gu Tingye?”

“I see their steps are shaky—they’ve got no real skill. I can take one down too.”

“I work the fields with my father. I can run.”

“One, two, three!”

“Pfft, you bullies, brainless fools. Only idiots fight you.”

Gu Tingye mocked them loudly, then turned and ran.

Xu Zaijing: “Tsk tsk tsk.”

Paired with his head-shaking gesture, his disdain stirred more hatred than Gu Tingye’s insults.

Zhao Huan patted his own backside.

All three bolted off.

“Catch them! I’ll make them regret this!”

Soon, they chased each other to a fork in the path.

Xu Zaijing and Gu Tingye each sprinted down a different branch.

But they quickly stopped.

The five from the Prince of Yong’s household hadn’t split up as expected—they all charged after Zhao Huan’s escape route.

The last one running was the Prince of Yong’s heir.

He smirked at Xu Zaijing and Gu Tingye on either side:

“You think I’m stupid? You two performed so well for His Majesty—I wouldn’t split my men!”

He laughed triumphantly.

But his smile vanished quickly.

He realized his four men had all followed his order to chase Zhao Huan.

He, unable to keep up, had fallen behind.

Gu Tingye and Xu Zaijing exchanged a glance.

They sprinted toward him.

When the Prince of Yong’s four men returned with Zhao Huan,

they found their heir already “captured.”

“You idiots!! You’re all head and no ass! I—”

The heir fell silent—he realized he’d just called himself “ass.”

“We’ve got your commander. Exchange him for your prince,” Gu Tingye said.

“Didn’t you hear? Let him go!”

The four men understood their heir’s intent.

Once they released him, they’d say something else entirely.

But now he was in Xu Zaijing’s grasp—powerless.

Soon, Zhao Huan was released. He took a few steps, rubbing his shoulders repeatedly, as if beaten hard.

“What happened? Did they hit you?”

“Nothing. Just a few punches.”

Gu Tingye wanted to avenge this boy he’d known barely half an hour, but Xu Zaijing silenced him with a look.

“After we release him, we head to the banquet.”

“Alright.”

Xu Zaijing shoved the Prince of Yong’s heir hard, and all three turned and ran.

“Three of you chase them! One stays to guard me!”

The three ahead scrambled, panting, to pursue.

But as they rounded a garden rock corner, Xu Zaijing and Gu Tingye ambushed them.

Xu Zaijing and Gu Tingye had trained since childhood—though young, they were far superior to these noble youths.

The three front-runners each took a painful but non-injurious punch to the stomach.

They collapsed, clutching their bellies.

The two struck once and bolted away.

But they didn’t head toward the banquet hall—they took a wide detour and returned to the garden.

“Two brothers, splitting and reuniting—excellent tactics.”

Hearing the praise, Gu Tingye beamed with pride.

Xu Zaijing said nothing.

“Come on. Let’s go see the stupid fish in the pond.”

The three strolled slowly to a rock beside the garden pond.

There, fat red and gold fish swam carefree in the water.

Gu Tingye picked up a few pebbles and tossed them in. The fish didn’t flee—they swam over eagerly.

“Definitely stupid fish.”

Yuzhou was a remote place, and Zhao Huan’s father was obsessed with farming—he had no interest in ornamental ponds.

Zhao Huan, at his age, had never seen such fat, foolish fish before.

“Too bad we’ve no net or spear. Otherwise, we’d haul them all in.”

“Oh? You’ve got a good grasp of idioms.”

“What’s that? I learned it from my eldest brother. His calligraphy’s beautiful! Why are you staring at me like that?”

Xu Zaijing suddenly raised a finger to his lips, signaling silence.

He peered sideways.

“Where are they! Catch them!”

Xu Zaijing turned and ran.

The five men dashed after Xu Zaijing in a line.

When Xu Zaijing looped around a wide circuit and returned to the pond, he was already sweating.

He glanced from beside the rock.

Zhao Huan was pulling a pastry from the banquet out of his pocket, crushing it, and tossing it into the pond.

Watching Gu Tingye say

“Hurry, throw more.”

Meanwhile, Gu Tingye had already taken off his robe and used it as a net to scoop fish, threading them on branches from the garden and lining them up.

Suddenly, a eunuch’s shrill voice called out

“Where did this little monkey come from, daring to trouble the imperial garden’s fish?”

(End of Chapter)