From the moment Eunuch Wang stepped into the cave, he had been tidying up nonstop. The cave was littered with animal hides and dried grass. In the corner, there were many stones, pearls, shells, and even a few tufts of bird feathers. The capable Chief Steward couldn't stand it. He quickly sorted and folded the animal skins, swept the hay into a pile, and picked up the toys one by one and put them into a jar carved from stone.
After he was done, he hurriedly ran to serve the cats.
The big pot of fish soup was soon empty. When Wang Gonggong served Prince Hao the third bowl of soup, he couldn't help but say, "Shouldn't you leave a bowl for the National Tutor?"
Prince Hao's hand that was holding the bowl suddenly stiffened. He slapped his forehead and said, "Oh no, oh no!" After saying that, he snatched the spoon from Wang Gonggong's hand, scooped up some soft fish meat, filled the bowl with soup, and ran into the cave in a panic.
When he walked to the side of the bed, he saw that the big white cat had already woken up. It was sitting on the bearskin with a pair of crystal clear eyes, quietly looking at him.
Prince Hao's hair stood on end. He forced himself to smile and said, "You're awake. Come and eat."
After a while, the people sitting at the entrance of the cave heard a scream …
"Twenty-One, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Didn't I bring it to you? Hey, don't scratch my face … Meow! "
Hearing the noise, the Retired Emperor curled his lips. Even if he turned into a cat to protect his handsome face, he still couldn't avoid being beaten. Thinking of this, he drank the last mouthful of fish soup and took the cloth that Wang Gonggong handed to him to wipe his hands. He had no intention of saving his younger brother.
After Wang Gonggong cleaned up the tableware, boiled some hot tea, and took a piece of animal skin from the cave to spread on the ground, the National Tutor came out with the listless big golden cat and sat on the animal skin rug with everyone.
The rain outside didn't seem to stop. Everyone sat and drank tea while taking shelter from the rain and started to talk about their experiences over the years.
Fifth Uncle Prince Zhong volunteered to speak, but all the cats ignored him.
The Retired Emperor passed his cup of hot tea to the National Tutor. Wang Gonggong hurriedly poured another cup for the Retired Emperor.
Prince Ling could finally get rid of his brother's "story" and get close to Ninth Brother. The black-and-white Prince Yong looked very sturdy. He was a size bigger than Prince Ling. Seeing his younger brother come over, he licked his head in a friendly manner. Prince Ling was stunned for a moment. He raised his head and looked at the big cat with a gentle gaze. He rubbed his head against Brother Nine's body. As expected, black and white brothers were the best … He suddenly missed Brother Thirteen.
The golden cat with a white right ear lay listlessly on the animal skin. The crown prince, who had eaten his fill, stumbled over and crawled under his grandfather's belly. His Majesty found it interesting and went over to join in the fun. He used Seventh Uncle as a soft cushion and lay down comfortably on it.
"Bastard, you're just like your father!" Seventh Uncle angrily slapped the emperor's tail.
Fifth Uncle looked around and his eyes lit up. He pulled Su Yu up. "Niece-in-law, come here. Fifth Uncle will show you something."
His Majesty immediately stood up and bared his teeth at Prince Zhong.
Prince Zhong obviously wasn't afraid of him. He was still in high spirits as he pulled Su Yu into the cave. "They didn't have the patience to listen to me, but what I said was the most detailed." There were torches that Wang Gonggong had just put in on the walls of the cave. The torches lit up the entire cave and also clearly reflected the huge text on the stone walls.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that it was a huge text. Su Yu looked up. The stone walls of the cave were densely engraved with small words and even pictures.
In the spring of the 19th year of the Tianqi era, the four of us led three thousand soldiers into the deep sea to explore the mystery of the sea monsters. We passed by three nests … There was a picture engraved next to it. Four cats were facing a school of strange-looking fish.
Then the sea was like a deep pool, so dark that you couldn't see the bottom. When the moon was dark and the wind was strong, the night of killing was when the sea monsters attacked! At that time, the descendants of Yazi suddenly attacked and destroyed our ships. The four of us fought bravely … There was a picture next to it. The four cats bravely bit a monster that looked like a centipede …
"Fifth Uncle, the descendant of Yazi we saw looked different from this one." Su Yu scratched his head. He remembered that the creature had a dragon head and a jackal body. It was just that its neck was longer and had many bone spurs.
Prince Zhong coughed dryly. "How is it different? There was only one in the sea."
"But …" The picture didn't look like it at all. Su Yu swallowed his words and continued to read.
There were no details written on the wall. In short, it was a touching story of four heroic ancient mythological beasts fighting a sea monster and sacrificing themselves to protect the world's peace. The big cats would provoke the sea monster every once in a while, but they couldn't defeat it after fighting for so many years. They were also trapped on this island. Interspersed with the food they ate every day and the good toys they found. It looked a little strange in this epic.
For example, today, they fought 300 rounds with the sea monster. Huge waves surged, the sky was dark, and the way back was vast … There were three sea crabs on the reef at the southeast corner of the beach. They were as big as a bucket. They were caught, roasted, and tasted delicious … There was a picture next to it of a few crab legs and pincers.
Su Yu was dizzy from reading, but the story of the retired emperor was much simpler.
They encountered a huge sea monster at sea and were pulled to this island by a golden light after narrowly escaping death. They lived the life of a stray cat for five years.
Seeing the National Tutor silently raise his hand, the retired emperor hurriedly explained, "It's not that we don't want to go back. If we can go back, even if we have to paddle a bamboo raft, we'll paddle back."
Every time they tried to cross the sea, the big monster would appear at night and raise huge waves. It would also shoot out bone spurs. After fighting for so many years, they could handle the bone spurs. However, the monster was too big. A swing of its tail would destroy the small boat they built with great difficulty. Once they were injured, it would attract a lot of disgusting Xan Zhi.
"Every time you're in danger, you're pulled back by the golden light?" The National Tutor frowned slightly after hearing the story.
The retired emperor nodded. They also discovered this problem later on and unscrupulously provoked the monster. However, they still couldn't find a way to deal with it because it was too big.
"What's that golden light?" His Majesty the Emperor swung his tail.
"I don't know," Seventh Uncle answered and pulled the sleeping His Highness The Crown Prince into his arms.
Just as they were talking, Prince Jing, who had disappeared for a long time, suddenly scurried back.
The big black cat was dripping wet. The moment it jumped onto the animal skin, it was despised by all the other cats.
Eunuch Wang hurriedly took out a cloth towel from his bosom and wrapped it up to wipe the big black cat. He then dipped the towel in hot water and wiped the muddy paws clean. Only then did he put the cat back on the animal skin.
Prince Jing shook his fur. "I saw something incredible in the forest! There's a mythical beast on this island! "
The Retired Emperor suddenly raised his head and picked up the big black cat. "You saw a mythical beast?"
The other Imperial Uncles also stood up and looked at Prince Jing with shining eyes.
The big black cat shook its head. "Follow me and you'll know!"
The light rain outside gradually stopped. The blue sky was clear and the sun rose again. The group followed King Jing through the forest to look for the "incredible thing" he had seen.
Su Yu was concerned about the Emperor's injuries. Before he turned into a human, she quickly stuffed the cat into her clothes.
The Retired Emperor glanced sideways at his son, who was clinging onto Su Yu's clothes. He despised his son's behavior of wanting his wife to carry him.
The Emperor glanced at his Imperial Father, raised his chin slightly, and harrumphed.
Su Yu's lips twitched as he followed King Jing through the winding roads. They passed through the forest and crossed a small stream. He could not understand where King Jing had gotten so much energy to run so far in the rain.
After walking for a long time, a bush appeared in front of them. The bush was rather strange. It grew in a circle. The circle was about fifty feet square. It wasn't made of rocks or soil, but soft sand. It was quite thick when one stepped on it.
The big black cat quickly ran to the center of the sand. It stuck out its butt and began to dig. Not long after, a golden object appeared in front of it. That object was neither gold nor jade. It sparkled under the sunlight. She used her claws to knock it. It was very hard, but its shape … no matter how she looked at it, it looked like a pile of … feces.
Everyone was silent for a moment. The National Tutor said faintly, "The mermaid and Gao Peng have returned."
Only then did Su Yu remember that ever since the Imperial Preceptor beat up his elder brother, Duke Lu's son and the mermaid girl had disappeared. It seemed like the Imperial Preceptor had sent them to look for the fleet.
Su Yu's guess was correct. The mermaid and the prince had indeed found the imperial ship and the remaining soldiers. However, only the two of them and a small boat that was obviously unloaded from a large ship came back.
"The ship is less than thirty miles away from here, but we can't get close." Prince Lu reported truthfully.
Whether it was the imperial ship or the Eastern Sea's warships, they would subconsciously deviate when they were thirty miles away from the island. They couldn't get close to the island. It was as if there was an invisible barrier that prevented the ships from getting close. It was the same for the soldiers on the small boat. However, the prince and the mermaid who had signed a blood contract could enter without any hindrance.
Fortunately, Prince Lu brought back a lot of things. Su Yu excitedly squatted by the small boat and looked through it.
Pots and pans, blankets, mattresses, candles, and most importantly, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea leaves. With these, they could at least make a decent meal.
His Majesty the Emperor stood behind Su Yu and allowed him to pick and choose. However, his eyes looked straight at the Retired Emperor. "Is Imperial Father hiding something from your son?"
The Retired Emperor snorted. "What do I have to hide?"
"Then what's with the thing in the forest?" An Hong-chul persistently asked.
After staring at each other for a long time, the Retired Emperor sighed. "There's an ancient mythical beast living on this island. If I'm not wrong, it should be my An Family's imperial uncle."
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