"My Lord is a Stone"《我家君王是石头》Chapter 18

While fast asleep Zhao Jin Yu felt a scorching stare, like a spearhead at her back, she instinctively opened her eyes, immediately seeing the stone standing right in front of her face, with an arrogance she was used to as it looked at her, the stone did not have eyes, and did not have legs, but why did she feel the stone was watching her…, in truth it was only a kind of feeling, the stone’s surface gave off a glossy lustre, extremely spiritual, clearly it was already awake, and directly facing her like this, the same way it used to watch her.

“Little thing, you’re awake.” A pleasant surprise flashed through Zhao Jin Yu’s eyes, she couldn’t help grab it and place it against her lips kissing it quite a few times, “I finally found you.”

Her unimaginably soft lips touched his skin, bringing about an indescribably familiar fragrance, a feeling light as a feather as if someone was lying on a cloud, the emperor’s originally prepared malicious words stuck in his throat unable to speak no matter what.

“Let us go!”

Zhao Jin Yu thought according to the stone’s temper it would certainly berate her for a time, who would have guessed it only said the words let go, she was somewhat unprepared, her face however carried a smile, placing the stone against her chest holding it tighter, shamelessly saying, “No, you are mine.”

The emperor could feel through Zhao Jin Yu’s thin inner clothes the elasticity of her cleavage, surrounded by her fragrance, a little dizzy, and hearing Zhao Jin Yu’s declare such ambiguous words…, what you are mine, he only felt an indescribable heat rush to his cheeks, he couldn’t help angrily rebuke, “Woman who doesn’t have a sense of honour! We have told you many times before, we are a man!”

Zhao Jin Yu hearing the stone’s familiar fierce voice, actually felt an unspeakable relieve, she lowered her head to look at the stone who was half visible in her cleavage, she couldn’t help hehe laugh, saying, “Oh, I actually didn’t know our most revered Majesty is in fact a man, why don’t you change appearance for me to see?” Zhao Jin Yu actually only embraced it, but the stone was simply too small, it was wedged between her breasts by chance.

The emperor was so angry his chest rose and fell, pushing down resentment in his chest, he decided not to discuss the topic of chastity with this shameless woman, he changed the subject and asked, “We still haven’t gotten even with you, why don’t you tell us, why a few days ago, when we opened our eyes we were in a dried up well.” Soon after he looked at Zhao Jin Yu with a sinister gaze, the atmosphere actually became somewhat stifling, causing people’s hearts to shiver, the emperor’s body emitted a viciousness unable to ignore.

Zhao Jin Yu lowered her eyes in guilt, using her fingertips to stroke the stone, quietly saying, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to, who told you to lie to me first.”

“We lied to you?” The emperor sense his heart thud, very quickly he had an ominous feeling, sure enough he heard Zhao Jin Yu continue saying, “You say you are a mysterious stone lost by the emperor, so long as I offer you up not only would I receive a reward, but those innocent women would also be released earlier, but did you know…” Zhao Jin Yu profoundly looked at the stone, an injured look floating in her eyes, “you are a stone I’ve had by my side since I was a child, that’s why you simply cannot be a stone the emperor lost.”

The emperor naturally knew this was a possibility, but at that moment he had thought someone spurred on by greed would overlook this detail, so much so that they would believe it in order for an award, besides at that time Zhao Jin Yu wanted to help those people urgently…, although her thoughts of helping people made him think she was simply completely foolish, humans were evil by nature, even if she went to help them regardless of the perils, how many of those people would be grateful to her? Who would extend a hand in her time of need?

The emperor wasn’t frantic at all, very calmly he said, “We only ask you, where did you put us at that time? And could always keep an eye on it?”

Zhao Jin Yu was immediately struck dumb, all of a sudden she felt the stone made some sense, that 

stone had always been kept in her jewellery box, she almost forgot, if it wasn’t for that night when the stone’s origin came up, how would she have suddenly remembered…, that’s why it could actually not be the original stone, rather the emperor lost…, but if the emperor lost it how did it end up in her house? The more Zhao Jin Yu thought about it the more confused she was, only feeling this entire situation was a puzzle, unable to figure out the facts and fictions.

“Then why were you in my house? Where is my original stone?” Because it was a long time ago, Zhao Jin Yu did not remember what her original stone looked like, anyway the two stones were very similar.

The emperor was a confident and profound person, seeing Zhao Jin Yu’s bewildered expression he knew she was swaying, thinking to himself, truly an idiot! With just a few words she was perplexed, it seems that in the future coaxing as he wished she would be a good puppet for him to order about, he said, “Our memory from before is also a bit fuzzy, I can clearly recall, that day when you had the audacity to throw us out into the courtyard, so how could I be in your house, we’re not sure either.” In other words what he meant was, I don’t know how I ended up in your jewellery box before, simply I do not remember! The explanation was very ample, a direct manner without mistake, with a bit of gloominess towards the end.

Zhao Jin Yu’s body trembled, she was dizzy and light-headed by the stone’s words as well as an indescribable guilt, in every case her heart felt something was not right, but she could not come up with a retort, how did she know…, the irritable emperor, looking at the world in disdain, even looking at her in distain beneath contempt had already moved along, now he properly understood his situation, moreover the emperor had already set into motion his two-faced plan.

“Sorry.” Zhao Jin Yu always saw the stone as a cute little thing, that’s why when she spoke it always held a gentleness as if amusing a child, she acted light-heartedly said, “I absolutely will not in the future.” She still remembered that heart-wrenching and  lung-tearing pain that suddenly came that day when she was having a meal, it was an unknown connection between her and the stone, making her feel they were very close.

The emperor obviously would not accept Zhao Jin Yu’s apology, but he also knew he couldn’t stubbornly fight her, he haughtily hmphed, saying, “Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared, you can bring us back.”

Zhao Jin Yu squeezed her fingers with unease, saying, “Didn’t you say you didn’t want to return? Saying the palace is boring…, hai hai, actually I don’t want to send you back right now.”

The emperor raised his eyebrow looking at her, “Why?”

Zhao Jin Yu heart was still uneasy, she could still feel an evilness coming from the stone, for the reason of safety she decided to first complete the task set by her father before thinking again, he summoned her courage saying, “I’m not in the capital city right now, I don’t have a way of returning.” Then in order to coax the stone, she was prepared to bring gourmet food to entice it, saying, “The tavern’s meat wedged in steam bun is so good you’ll bite your tongue, do you want to try it.”

The emperor felt he ought to seriously discuss with Zhao Jin Yu the problem of where he should be, this girl’s brain was very pure, to speak frankly she was an idiot, without much effort he could make her listen to him, but hearing the words meat wedged in steamed bun, he could feel his stomach begin to rumble with hunger, he couldn’t help swallow saliva, he recalled how he hadn’t thought of water or food for the last few days, very rationally he decided to first eat his fill then talk about it!

Zhao Jin Yu went downstairs to call for the shopkeeper to give her a plate of meat wedged in steamed buns, frequently customers did not lodge there in order to hasten on with their journey, having come here in the middle of the night, after getting a room they must eat their fill, that’s why the tavern’s kitchen was managed the whole day, so the meat wedged in steamed buns that Zhao Jin Yu wanted were very quickly delivered up.

A plate had four meat wedged in steamed buns in total, white bun with red meat, ample amount of juice, taking a bite it was truly very delicious as Zhao Jin Yu described, the emperor ate three one after the after before he then stopped, it wasn’t because he couldn’t eat the fourth one, rather the fourth one had been eaten by Zhao Jin Yu, =.=, this gluttonous girl, isn’t she afraid of eating too much and becoming too well-rounded, unable to marry? Thinking of the two words well-rounded, the ridges and peaks of Zhao Jin Yu’s chest moving up and down floated into his mind involuntarily, an indescribably strangeness in his heart, resolutely he cursed, this is an unsettling girl!

Having eating his fill, the emperor obediently allowed Zhao Jin Yu to wait upon him and bathe him before he laid on the bed, the tavern had lit braziers, even though it wasn’t cosy like underground heating, it was still very warm, Zhao Jin Yu as usual placed the emperor by her pillow, saying, “Tomorrow we’ll catch a boat, thinking about this it will be first time on a ship.” In her previous life Zhao Jin Yu had of course sat on a boat, but since coming to the past this was her first time, she was somewhat looking forward to it.

The emperor comfortably stretched himself, sleepily fighting against his eyelids, asking, “Such a peasant, you haven’t been on a ship before? What is there to look forward to”

Zhao Jin Yu hear roared, could she choke this thing to death? How did she think it was cute before? = . =

The emperor seemed to detect Zhao Jin Yu’s anger, he raised his eyelids, seeing Zhao Jin Yu panting with rage under the candle light with puffed out cheeks, like an angry frog, unexpectedly he somewhat thought it was cute, he flung his head back, with an even more vile manner he said, “If you can’t stand it then hurry up and send us back.” The two people had argued for quite a while as they ate the meat wedged in steamed buns, the matter of whether or not to send the emperor back to the capital city, however obviously Zhao Jin Yu persisted abnormally, making the emperor feel, she was a stubborn ox, a feeling that when it acted dumb not even ten oxen could drag it back.

Anyway what made him feel odd was, normally he would definitely think of a way to trick her to return, but this time he didn’t actually have an intense longing, because he knew this was a foolish girl, very stupid, she simply would not harm him, it didn’t even have to be said, since he changed into a stone, food was so delicious like this, making people…, reluctant to part with.

The last few days had been like hell, and when he compared it, to being with this foolish girl, he unexpectedly felt an inexpressible comfort.

The next day, the emperor knew what feeling this was.

Before the sky brightened Zhao Jin Yu and Chen Rong had boarded the ship, the room they booked was on the furthest left, their room doors faced each other, if there was a problem calling out it would be heard, Zhao Jin Yu placed the things she carried with her neatly into the cabinet, spreading out her bedding, it was still dawn then, the exquisite and tall ship with several decks had stopped at the dock, the distant first rays of the morning sun was like a warm cover, enveloping everything inside, the dark green vast body of lake water, the beautiful snow covered scenery far away, as far as the eye can see it was like a snow ocean, the boatman yelled, the sound of peddlers and carriers selling breakfast, the emperor quietly laid in the crook of Zhao Jin Yu’s arm, somewhat unwilling to close his eyes, because once he closed his eyes he would return to the palace, seeing the scene outside the window, all of a sudden he felt…, turning into a stone, and exploring places with this stupid girl, it wasn’t the most troublesome thing.