King Jing took out the crystal bottle, and Wang Xi, who was not far behind him, stepped forward and placed a small coral-carved fish tank on King Jing's desk. Clean water had been prepared in advance. King Jing rolled up his sleeves and put the fish in the water himself, watching the fish swim freely for a while.

King Jing glanced at Wang Xi and planned to feed the fish.

Wang Xi took out the bamboo box of fish food and handed it to King Jing, then turned around and glanced at the eunuchs following behind him. The eunuchs brought many snacks from King Jing's mansion and placed them in front of the fish tank one by one.

King Jing took two pieces of fish food and put them in the fish tank, and picked up a piece of peach cake, first crushed half of it and gave it to the small fish, and ate the remaining half as if nothing had happened.

The people who had nothing to do and watched King Jing feeding the fish carefully: ???

Everyone said they were going to be blind. Was King Jing really like this?

After King Jing put Li Yu into the tank, he rubbed his fingers obediently. Fish food and peach cakes came down. The little carp, who had recently become a little bored with the old and liked the new, ate the peach cakes first. After eating half full, he ate the fish food.

King Jing saw that the little fish enjoyed the food, so he took another kind of silver elixir cake, broke it into pieces and fed it to the little fish.

Li Yu was now very happy to try the new food. He took a sip. The new cake had a minty scent that rushed straight to his head. People liked it, but fish couldn't stand it. Li Yu took a bite and threw it away. He still turned to eat the peach cakes and enjoyed it. King Jing knew that his fish didn't like silver elixir cakes.

"From now on, you don't need to prepare this silver pill cake."

Eunuch Wang, who was known as the worm in King Jing's stomach, immediately asked several eunuchs to write it down, and the eunuchs nodded repeatedly.

The people sitting around King Jing were already dazzled, but Ye Qinghuan was not surprised.

Amid the sound of bamboo, the second prince Mu Tianzhao stood up. The Ministry of Rites arranged for the oldest second prince to toast King Jin Jue on behalf of several princes at the state banquet. Mu Tianzhao was generous and well-spoken, and he had a good chat with King Jin Jue. King Jin Jue praised Mu Tianzhao and drank three cups in a row.

The emperor was quite satisfied with Mu Tianzhao's performance. King Jin Jue praised the second prince, and the emperor's face was also bright. He was capable and decent, which was also a great advantage of the second prince.

Mu Tianzhao felt that the emperor was in a good mood, and smiled at the petite figure beside King Jin Jue.

He had suffered a series of failures recently and was not very popular with the emperor. Recently, the spy placed in the Qianqing Palace gave him a message that King Jin Jue intended to arrange a marriage for the little princess during his audience.

Mu Tianzhao had previously spent a lot of effort to repair his relationship with King Jing, but King Jing ignored him. Mu Tianzhao also wanted to win over the Cheng'en Mansion, but King Jing and the Cheng'en Mansion were obviously tied to the same rope. He was frustrated with King Jing, and the Cheng'en Mansion was also indifferent to him.

Hearing that the third prince had successfully inserted a concubine into the Jingwang Mansion, Mu Tianzhao was afraid that the third prince would win over Jingwang before him and thus get the support of Cheng'en Mansion. He estimated that Jingwang would not be able to do it, so he had to find other helpers for himself, but he couldn't do it too obviously, after all, the emperor was still watching from above.

At this time, the marriage was delivered to his door.

Mu Tianzhao had calculated well in his mind. Although Jin Jue was a small border country, it had money and troops. If he married Princess Jin Jue, Jin Jue would definitely not let him go and support other princes. In this way, even if the emperor had an opinion about him, it would not be so easy to shake his position.

As for Princess Jin Jue herself, being his concubine was a great honor. He could promise to make her a noble concubine after ascending the throne. I believe that King Jin Jue would not object.

Mu Tianzhao originally thought that for the help from Jin Jue, he would accept the little princess even if she was ugly. However, when he saw her at the state banquet, he found that she was beautiful and charming. Compared with the women of this dynasty, she had a different style. Mu Tianzhao was already willing.

"Princess." Mu Tianzhao ordered someone to bring a plate of snacks and said softly, "This is the famous butterfly pastry of this dynasty. Please taste it."

The butterfly pastry is made into the shape of a butterfly with its wings spread, and they are all in pairs, which means a long-lasting marriage. Mu Tianzhao wanted to make a gesture first to let others know that Princess Jin Jue was already in his pocket, so that other people who were interested in the princess would have the idea of ​​retreating.

The emperor also saw it from above, and the second prince probably had his eyes on this foreign princess.

The emperor originally wanted to marry the prince of Cheng'en and Princess Jin Jue, but seeing that Ye Qinghuan looked solemn when he received the decree, it didn't seem like he was interested in the princess. The emperor wanted to test Ye Qinghuan's attitude again, and he had to discuss it with Cheng'en Mansion, so he didn't directly arrange the marriage. Who knew that the second prince suddenly appeared.

The emperor was a little dissatisfied, but then he thought that the second prince didn't understand the emperor's intention, so he shouldn't be blamed easily. He had rejected the idea of ​​marrying Princess Jin Jue to the prince before, and if the second prince had this idea, he would definitely hit a wall, unless Princess Jin Jue took the initiative to agree and was willing to be the second prince's concubine, which he could do.

Since the second prince wanted this marriage, he had to use enough means.

The emperor wanted to see how Mu Tianzhao would handle it, so he didn't stop it.

King Jin Jue ordered his men to serve the butterfly cakes to the princess. The little princess just smiled and did not reach out to take the snacks.

Mu Tianzhao estimated that the princess did not know the meaning of the butterflies and wanted to take the opportunity to reveal something. Suddenly, he found that Princess Jin Jue was not looking at him at all. Her pretty face was just looking away from him.

Mu Tianzhao: "..."

Mu Tianzhao was embarrassed and did not rush to speak. His eyes followed the princess's line of sight, and then he saw King Jing put a table full of snacks to feed the fish. The fish was lying on the edge of the fish tank and wagging its tail.

It turned out that the princess was looking at the fish, the fish that the second prince would get into trouble when he saw it. Every time the fish wagged its tail, the princess could not help but curl her lips.

Mu Tianzhao hated it secretly. He was afraid of being rude at the state banquet, so after learning that the fish was brought by King Jing, he tried his best to pretend that the fish did not exist. However, this fish that was not compatible with him actually caught his eye again.

Princess Jin Jue smiled with a blushing face, and whispered to King Jin Jue from time to time. The second prince only heard the word "fish" very lightly, and did not hear the rest clearly, but it was enough. He was very sure that it was this damn fish that stole his limelight.

Princess Jin Jue was also a person without tact. How could a mere dumb fish be compared with his future prince?

Mu Tianzhao glanced at the emperor, who also noticed that Prince Jing was feeding the fish from the movement here. However, the emperor did not blame him. Instead, he smiled and seemed to be very happy to see Prince Jing busying around for the fish. The vine called jealousy in Mu Tianzhao's heart grew densely and madly.

He was a proper second prince and the future crown prince. After all, he could not do anything to a fish. Mu Tianzhao sat back with a gloomy face, feeling upset. After a while, no one paid attention to him. The second prince then gave a few instructions to the eunuch who was responsible for serving him food.

The eunuch took the order and left. He came back soon with a bowl in his hand with a little soup in it.

The eunuch knelt down tremblingly and said, "Your Highness, the kitchen has not prepared carp soup today. The fish soup needs to be cooked now, and it will take a while. I am afraid that Your Highness will wait for a long time, so I first brought a bowl of white jade meatball soup. Your Highness, please take some..."

Although the eunuch spoke softly, some people were staring at the second prince. Mu Tianming, who was sitting not far from the second prince, immediately shouted: "Second brother, the dishes at the state banquet are not to your taste. Why do you suddenly want to drink carp soup?"

Mu Tianming deliberately shouted the word "carp" loudly. Many people present looked at the second prince in astonishment, and then looked at King Jing at the same time.

Because there was only a carp next to King Jing.

Li Yu raised his head from the fish tank and tilted his head embarrassedly: Oh, so shy, the second prince might want to use him to make soup! But he is still chewing things here with his master.

Mu Tianzhao: "..."

Mu Tianzhao felt King Jing's cold eyes cast at him, and his heart was inexplicably panicked, but he clearly did nothing.

Mu Tianzhao gritted his teeth and scolded: "Third brother, you think too much, I just suddenly felt thirsty and wanted to drink some soup."

The second prince felt extremely twisted. Could it be that he would be criticized for drinking fish soup?

King Jing looked at Mu Tianzhao coldly. Although Wang Xili stood by and did not say anything, he had already scolded King Jing in his heart.

The emperor frowned. Drinking a bowl of fish soup was nothing, but only King Jing brought fish. The second prince's intention was too obvious. Probably even the second prince himself did not expect that his negative behavior would be exposed by the third prince.

The emperor loved the little carp and had a very good impression of the little carp. He also felt that the second prince was a little impulsive.

Princess Jin Jue was just looking at the fish that King Jing raised. She watched from a distance for several times and liked it very much. When she learned that the second prince wanted to drink fish soup, the little princess stood up and said angrily: "Second Prince, the fish is so cute, but you want to drink fish soup in front of it. I didn't expect you to be such a person!"

The second prince gave her butterfly cakes just now, and Princess Jin Jue looked down on them. Although she is not very old, she has seen through the second prince's calculations on her and Jin Jue. She also knows that marrying the second prince can only make her a concubine. Princess Jin Jue is not stupid. It is not worth it to support the second prince with all her strength in exchange for a concubine position that can be abolished in the future. Moreover, it is still unclear whether the second prince can ascend the throne and when he can ascend the throne. Jin Jue does not want to easily get involved in the dispute between princes.

Therefore, Princess Jin Jue had not paid any attention to the Second Prince. When she learned that the Second Prince secretly wanted to drink the fish soup, and no one else said anything, the fearless little princess jumped out and stepped on the Second Prince's feet, and also took this opportunity to express to the emperor that she was unwilling to marry the Second Prince, and forget about it!

"Princess, you misunderstood, it's not like that..."

Mu Tianzhao was speechless for a moment, and his heart was filled with anger again. He didn't know how to explain.

Can he say that he didn't drink the fish soup in front of the fish, but wanted to kill the fish and stew it directly?

The emperor could see clearly from above that Princess Jin Jue obviously had no interest in the Second Prince, so he should not let the Second Prince use any inferior means. To put it nicely, it was to win the princess's favor, and to put it bluntly, it was seduction in vain.

——Just now, the emperor felt how much the Second Prince had brought him face, and now he felt how much his face hurt.

As expected, Ye Qinghuan is more suitable.

The emperor looked at Ye Shizi, who was sitting silently beside Prince Jing, from afar. In his heart, he silently stamped Ye Shizi with a mature and stable stamp. He planned to keep Cheng Engong and Ye Shizi after the state banquet to talk alone.

The second prince later received news that the emperor intended to marry Princess Jin Jue and Prince Cheng Engong, and was already meeting with Cheng Engong.

It turned out that these people were a group... and he was greatly humiliated at the state banquet, but he got nothing.

Princess Jin Jue rejected him, Cheng Engong's mansion refused to help him, and Prince Jing and the fish he raised were all laughing at him!