Chapter 138 Testing the Waters
The birds were small, like gray-white pearls, scattered on Xie Mianmian's double buns and shoulders.
She stretched out her index finger and caught a small bird that had nowhere to land.
They all opened their mouths and began to chirp. Xie Mianmian listened to the birds recount the prince's cruel and inhumane deeds while letting out a gasp of surprise.
"Oh my god, he actually did something like this!"
"That's terrifying..."
Seeing Xie Mianmian surrounded by birds as if she knew some incredible secret, the Seventh Prince scratched his head for the first time, eager to know what gossip was going on.
For the first time, he wished he could have the same ability as Xie Mianmian—to understand animal speech.
"Mianmian, what are they saying?" Please tell me.
The birds chattered away, and Xie Mianmian listened intently, then relayed their messages to the Seventh Prince.
"They say that His Highness the Crown Prince abused animals. He ordered people to throw turtles into large water-filled vats and pile them up with very low bricks, so that the turtles could barely breathe by standing on one foot every day."
Xie Mianmian recalled the time she fell into the lotus pond, the icy water filling her nose, and the feeling of suffocation and helplessness.
She shook her head, trying to put the terrible memory of that day behind her, and continued, "The little bird said that His Highness the Crown Prince was always watching from the side, and he laughed happily when he saw the tortoise struggling to survive."
“He would also occasionally order people to drain the water from the fishpond, so that the plump koi fish would crowd together and watch them open and close their mouths. Then he would dig a small puddle nearby and watch them vigorously wag their fins and swim into the water.”
"He euphemistically called it 'carp leaping over the Dragon Gate,' saying that if it can reach the Dragon Gate, it will live, and if it cannot, it will die, and that the Eastern Palace has no need for useless koi."
After Xie Mianmian finished relaying the message, she opened her mouth slightly, pulling the corners of her mouth back in a disgusted manner.
Good heavens! If the birds hadn't told them, they probably would never have known that the prince was secretly abusing animals like this, and without leaving a trace!
No one could have known that beneath the Crown Prince's gentle and kind facade lay such a cruel and twisted sense of humor, a true plaything of life.
The little bird perched on the index finger said, "I saw it that day. He killed a big red bird. Birds are so scared."
Xie Mianmian grabbed the Seventh Prince's arm and said, "It was a parrot. The little bird saw His Highness the Crown Prince kill it with his own eyes, so it is the bird's testimony..."
Speaking of eyewitness accounts, Xie Mianmian's eyelids drooped. She had forgotten that last time in Quhe Garden, she had mistaken the flamingo Xiaoju for an eyewitness, but everyone laughed at her, calling her a crazy child, and no one would believe her...
The hot hand lifted Xie Mianmian's listless face, and the Seventh Prince looked earnestly into her eyes: "I believe you."
It was obvious to the naked eye that Xie Mianmian had regained her composure. "So the Seventh Prince believes that His Highness the Crown Prince is the bad guy who framed my family?"
“One thing at a time.” The Seventh Prince turned his head away. “This only shows that the Crown Prince likes to vent his anger on animals. We still need to find evidence to frame him.”
Xie Mianmian pouted and asked the little bird, "How come you still stay in the East Palace when you are such terrifying people?"
"Chirp chirp chirp, because he's been raising a lot of bugs lately. When they die, he buries them in the ground. When the two-legged creatures aren't around, we all rush to peck at them. They're so delicious!"
"Oh dear." Xie Mianmian rubbed her arm with one hand, getting goosebumps all over. Could this insect be poisonous? But the birds are still alive, which means they're not stupid enough to eat poisonous insects.
She warned the birds, "Don't stay here anymore, or he might tie you up and make you swim in the fishpond."
The birds were so frightened that they scattered and flew away, only the little bird in Xie Mianmian's hand remained staring blankly at her.
Xie Mianmian flicked her index finger into the air, and the little bird flapped its wings and flew back to its flock.
"So where do we go next?"
Xie Mianmian was unsure whether they would find physical evidence.
"Go to the study," the Seventh Prince said.
He led Xie Mianmian along the way to a quiet and clean courtyard, where the study was just ahead. There wasn't a single palace servant guarding the door.
Seeing that the Seventh Prince was still walking, Xie Mianmian grabbed him, "Wait a minute, are we just going in like this?"
"otherwise?"
She whispered, "Isn't the Crown Prince's study a restricted area? Could there be secret guards watching over it?"
The Seventh Prince stopped in his tracks. He rarely came here and had never noticed the problem with the secret guards.
Xie Mianmian pulled him behind a pillar in the corridor, picked up a small stone, and threw it towards the door of the study.
"Clatter, clatter." The pebbles made a crisp sound as they landed. After waiting for a few moments, they did not see anyone appear.
"Alright, there's no one here, let's go in."
The Seventh Prince pursed his lips, feeling that Xie Mianmian's actions were somewhat unreliable. Was this reasonable? It seemed that he couldn't spend too much time with her in the future, or he would become stupid too.
He led Xie Mianmian to the study door and was about to push it open when suddenly a voice appeared beside him.
"Greetings, Seventh Prince, Princess. My master is not in the study."
The two children froze on the spot. They turned around and found that a person had silently appeared beside them, dressed in black with a black cloth covering his face, looking extremely mysterious.
Xie Mianmian winked at the Seventh Prince, "Look, there really are secret guards."
The Seventh Prince glared back, "Even if there is, your so-called 'testing the waters' is completely unreliable!"
The guards watched their flirtatious exchanges with blank expressions, without saying a word.
The Seventh Prince calmly said, "A few days ago, my elder brother, the Crown Prince, said that he had a book called 'Foolish Notes,' which had benefited him greatly. Today, since I have nothing to do, I'll go and take a look."
Seeing that the guards still didn't react, the Seventh Prince said in a deep voice, "What, it's not working?"
The next instant, before the two children could even see how the guard had done it, he vanished in a flash.
Xie Mianmian opened her mouth wide and looked around, "Is this what lightness skill is? It's amazing!"
The guards left so easily; is this study really that important?
The Seventh Prince pushed open the door, pulled Xie Mianmian, who was still looking up for the guards, into the study, and then closed the door tightly.
They walked to the large, simple desk and carefully turned over the pages, trying to restore the items they had turned over, but after searching for a long time, they found nothing unusual.
Exhausted, Xie Mianmian slumped onto the wooden floor, her head resting against the table, her round eyes scanning around to see if she had missed anything.
The seventh prince lifted his robe and sat down beside her.
"The letters are normal official correspondence, nothing unusual," the Seventh Prince said.
They couldn't find a single useful clue, no wonder the guard let them in without a word.
There was no physical evidence in the study, so they weren't worried about finding it.
So, did the Crown Prince really do something bad?
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