Chapter 001 Dressed as a Fish

When he was exhausted and swept away by the turbulent river, Rong Yin's first thought was not that he was about to die, but that he was fortunately able to get the child ashore. At least this young life was still alive and there were infinite possibilities in the future.

As for him, he was already suffering from a terminal illness and had only a year to live, so it didn't matter whether he died sooner or later.

For the first time, he was grateful for the orphan status that had given him twenty-one years of suffering. He had no relatives and no close friends, so even if he died, no one would be sad.

I hope that in my next life, God will not let me be alone again.

Rong Yin made a wish, gave up struggling, closed her eyes, and waited quietly for death to come.

But the expected pain of suffocation from choking on water did not occur. He only felt his body was extremely light and his breathing was as smooth as on the shore.

Just as Rong Yin was wondering, an old voice rang in his mind: "God has his own way, good deeds will be rewarded, and evil deeds will be punished. Your life should not end today. One year of life should be returned to you."

The next moment, the roaring sound of flowing water beside my ears disappeared, replaced by a soothing tranquility, and the pleasant sound of birds singing not far away.

Rong Yin opened his eyes, his light blue pupils were clear and bright, like a vast and boundless ocean.

There was a moment of confusion in his heart, but it did not prevent Rong Yin from seeing the scene in front of him clearly.

Under the azure sky, the well-arranged rockeries are flanked by tall, verdant bamboo forests, the cobblestone paths meander, corridors and pavilions stand not far away, the tender flowers and plants sway in the breeze, and the air is occasionally filled with fragrance.

High walls and black tiles confine these landscapes in one place, making this place look like the backyard of a wealthy family in ancient times in TV dramas, fresh and elegant, yet low-key and luxurious.

Rong Yin was still wondering why he was here when the answer he wanted automatically appeared in his mind.

It turned out that although he had a terminal illness and was about to die, he still had a year to live.

He died accidentally while saving someone, and God took pity on his kindness and sent him to another world, giving him a body free of disease and pain, so that he could live the rest of the year in good health.

Rong Yin was indeed in great pain every time he fell ill. He followed his heart to save people, not intending to seek rewards, but he was still very grateful for the reward given to him by heaven.

After silently thanking him in his heart, Rong Yin turned his attention back to his current body.

It was at this moment that he realized that he was floating in the pool. Looking down, he saw his image reflected in the clean water.

His facial features were the same as in his previous life, except that his eye color had changed, his skin was whiter, and his ears were like fish fins...

Wait, fins?

Rong Yin raised his hand to touch his ear, and round drops of water slid down his delicate skin. On his wrist, a few almost transparent scales were faintly visible.

After being stunned for a moment, Rong Yin suddenly felt uneasy. He leaned against the bank of the pool and exerted force on his waist and abdomen.

"Splash!" The sound of water was heard, and a long and powerful fish tail emerged from the water, bringing out water bubbles.

The fishtail has a beautiful curve and the scales are silvery white in color, but they reflect dazzling light under the sun. It is breathtakingly beautiful, as if it were a work of art carved out of crystal.

However, Rong Yin had no mood to appreciate it at this moment, because the fish tail was growing on his body. In other words, God had made him enter the body of a mermaid.

“Plop!”

The fish tail paused in the air for a few seconds before falling back into the water. The stunning scenery was hidden by the deep water, just like Rong Yin's mood, which also experienced ups and downs.

Did he become a mermaid who cannot be drowned because he drowned?

This thoughtfulness made Rong Yin feel a little amused and helpless.

As Rong Yin was digesting the fact that he had changed his species, the memories of his original mermaid self also flooded into his mind.

Mermaids, also known as mermaids, originally lived in the deep sea far away from the mainland. One day, they and their friends came to the shallow sea area for adventure and accidentally saved a human who fell from a large ship.

The human was not completely unconscious when he was rescued, and he saw clearly that it was a mermaid who saved him.

Mermaids have stunning looks, tears that turn into pearls, and heavenly singing voices. There are countless legends about them in the human world.

Because of greed, the rescued people reported their experiences to the ship owner. So they devised a plan together to pretend to fall into the water to lure the mermaid to rescue them and take the opportunity to capture the mermaid alive.

After being surrounded by boats and crowds, the original owner let his friends go first and stayed behind to block the humans, but was unfortunately caught in the end.

Mermaids could not understand or speak human language. The ship owner tortured the original owner in various ways, wanting to see if he could really cry tears, but the original owner was so proud that he did not shed a single tear.

The ship owner was a businessman. He knew that he could not keep the treasure on shore by himself, so he offered the mermaid to the local dignitaries in order to seek a better future.

This powerful nobleman was King Jing, whose fiefdom was in the south.

It so happened that at this time King Jing had offended the emperor for some unknown reason and was about to face death. He thought of using the mermaid to please the emperor, hoping that he would spare him.

So the original body was sent to the capital again.

The original owner fell ill due to the bumpy journey. Knowing that he could not return to his hometown, he was filled with grief and anger, and refused to eat. He died just after arriving in the capital. The people who transported him did not notice and thought he had just fainted.

The original owner was gone, and the one who woke up again was Rong Yin.

Rong Yin was in good condition after waking up, which should be the credit of heaven. After all, heaven said that it would give him a healthy body.

Having said that, the original owner could not speak human language, but he had a good memory, and all this information was extracted from his memory by Rong Yin.

The poor original owner never understood until his death why these people sent him back and forth, nor did he understand how they could be so evil as to repay kindness with hatred.

The remaining emotions of the original owner seemed to still be lingering in her heart. Rong Yin's eyes turned red and she had an urge to cry, but in the end she didn't cry.

Mermaids never shed tears easily, and the original owner only dropped a small pearl when she felt that she was about to die, but she quickly threw it away quietly without letting the bad guys know.

Rong Yin covered his chest and silently wished that the original owner's soul could return to his long-cherished hometown.

When Rong Yin was trying to calm himself down, he suddenly heard footsteps in the corridor. Someone was coming, and there was more than one person.

"Thanks to the blessing of your majesty's true dragon spirit, the prince was able to find such a precious treasure as the mermaid. The prince ordered us to rush the horses to send the mermaid to the capital to present it to your majesty, just to show the great power of our Great Sheng country. Even the mermaids in the deep sea will be unable to resist coming ashore to pay homage!"

These words are nothing but flattery. His Majesty hates officials making such unrealistic remarks the most. Jiang Xun is also aware of this situation, but he has to say this.

He was originally the brother-in-law of King Jing. He had no special skills but was good at flattery. King Jing let him be in charge of sending the mermaid to the capital because he thought he was good at talking.

Who caused King Jing to be caught and let the emperor know that he was suspected of murdering him?

Think about ten years ago. The emperor of the previous dynasty was incompetent and tyrannical, the court was in chaos, and local officials oppressed the people, causing widespread resentment among the people. The people could not survive and had no choice but to rise up in rebellion.

There were ten large-scale rebel armies in total, and Munemasaji's was the least noticeable one among them. But in the end, those rebel armies died or scattered, and only Munemasaji became more and more courageous, and finally succeeded in ascending the throne and establishing a new dynasty.

The leader of the Zong Zheng family's rebel army was called Zong Zhengming, the father of the current emperor Zong Zhengxiao. In fact, he should be the first emperor of Da Sheng.

Unfortunately, before the rebel army entered the capital, Zong Zhengming fell seriously ill and could not be rescued, so he died at the very step closest to becoming emperor.

Zong Zhengming and his first wife had four sons and one daughter. His first wife died early, and his daughter married his capable subordinate. His four sons were all brave and good at fighting. They went to the battlefield many times and made great military achievements.

However, the eldest son had one leg chopped off by the enemy, becoming a cripple, so naturally he had no chance of becoming emperor. There were three remaining contenders.

Because Zong Zhengming died in a hurry and left no will, the three of them could compete for that position.

The three sons all had ambitions, and the Zong Zheng army was forced to split into three factions. Only they themselves knew how fierce the struggle was. The world only knew that the outcome of this brotherly fight was that the second son died of "illness", the third son voluntarily withdrew, and the fourth son Zong Zhengxiao became the final winner.

After Zong Zhengxiao ascended the throne, he posthumously conferred the title of Supreme Emperor on his father and the title of Empress Dowager on his mother. Over the past three years, he has been diligent in his work and loved the people, and he has been well regarded by the people.

The officials of Da Sheng, especially the important officials in the court, had exactly the opposite view from the common people. Their impression of Zong Zheng Xiao could be summed up in two words - fear.

Zong Zhengxiao learned the lesson of the previous dynasty's demise and treated officials particularly harshly.

Not to mention the remaining ministers of the previous dynasty, even the heroes who had conquered the world with Munemasa were treated harshly. Those who made mistakes were sentenced, and those who were honest were kept under control.

The Protector of the Nation General once saved Zong Zhengxiao's life on the battlefield, but when his family's collateral branch took advantage of their power to seize the people's land and kill people, even though the Protector of the Nation General personally went to the emperor to plead for mercy, Zong Zhengxiao still sentenced the entire family to death.

Even the generals protecting the country were implicated. Zong Zhengxiao criticized him for not being strict in his rule and took the opportunity to seize a lot of his real power.

After Zong Zhengxiao became emperor, he killed many officials for various reasons. Everyone in the court was in danger, like a taut string that would break and rebound at the slightest touch.

The relationship between the emperor and his ministers was tense, and officials privately called Zong Zhengxiao a tyrant.

Moreover, for unknown reasons, Zong Zhengxiao suffered from severe insomnia, which made his character more gloomy and cruel, and the officials avoided him even more.

A few months ago, when Zong Zhengxiao was raiding the home of a convicted military commander, he accidentally discovered some letters the commander had exchanged with others three years ago.

The content of the letter is that the generals conspired with Zong Zhengqing to kill Zong Zhengxiao and seize the throne.

Zong Zhengqing is King Jing, the third prince who voluntarily gave up the throne.

Because Zong Zheng Xiao thought that he was quite sensible and did not want to be accused of ascending to the throne by stepping on the corpse of his brother, he made him a leisurely prince, drove him to a remote and desolate fiefdom, and had people keep a secret eye on him.

According to the general, he kept the letter because he thought that if he could use Zong Zhengqing one day, these things would be a weapon to threaten him, but he did not expect that the letter would fall into the hands of Zong Zhengxiao.

After receiving the letter, Zong Zhengxiao felt that it might be a fabricated frame-up. Adhering to the principle of catching the thief and the stolen, Zong Zhengxiao ordered the secret guards to search for evidence at King Jing's place.

Perhaps King Jing had sensed something, and as he valued his life, he quickly offered the mermaid to Zong Zheng Xiao, hoping that he would be spared because he had been relatively honest over the years.

And he asked his elder brother-in-law Jiang Xun to go to Beijing to meet the emperor, not only because he was good at flattering, but also because he wanted Zong Zhengxiao to know that he was surrounded by such rubbish, and even if he wanted to rebel, he did not have the capital.

But no one could guess whether Zong Zheng Xiao would like this mermaid, and whether he would spare his life for the mermaid's sake.

Jiang Xun had long heard of Zong Zhengxiao's "great reputation" and felt that this was the most stressful time he had ever had to speak.

Listening to Jiang Xun's flattering speech, Zong Zhengxiao's gloomy expression did not change at all, and it was unclear whether he was happy or angry.

Jiang Xun carefully wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and followed Zong Zhengxiao to the Mermaid Pond with two eunuchs.

Zong Zhengxiao's secret guards were everywhere around King Jing, so he had known for a long time that Zong Zhengqing had sent him a mermaid.

But he pretended not to know and did not order anyone to build a special pool for the mermaids to live in. After Jiang Xun and others entered the palace, they could only arrange the mermaids in an ordinary fish pond in the Hundred Beasts Garden.

After they arrived, they looked around and saw no sign of the mermaid in the fish pond. Jiang Xun was so scared that his face turned pale, wondering if the mermaid had disappeared out of thin air.

However, Zong Zhengxiao's attention was attracted by a pair of light blue eyes hidden behind the flowers and plants by the water in the corner of the pool.

At the same time, he heard a gentle voice whispering: Is he the emperor? He doesn't look like a good person.

Zong Zhengxiao's brows twitched unconsciously.