Lose My Heart to the Lovely Kitten Princess - Chapter 26

Chapter 26 Princess Qianqian
Chu Yunshen looked at her hand. Chu Mengqian wasn’t exaggerating, and there was truly a few bloody scratches on her hand.

That uncle of his always over-indulged Mengqian since young, so she always had her way, and she never suffered such injustice.

She was usually just a little stubborn, but she never meant harm. This cat truly stirred quite the trouble today!

“Send for the doctor!” said Chu Yunshen immediately as he held her hand up for a look.

“Yes, Master!”

A servantly immediately brought a physician over to bandage Chu Mengqian’s wounds.

“Yunshen!” said Chu Mengqian as she sat in Chu Yunshen’s room. Chu Yunshen sat there drinking tea without saying a word about how he would handle the cat that hurt her. Then she frowned hard as she said, “What are you going to do about that little fellow?”

“I will punish her,” said Chu Yunshen calmly as he sipped tea.

“That cat is so disobedient and vicious. Why don’t you hand her over to me for a couple of days? In two days, I will turn her into a docile cat!”

“It’s fine. What are you doing at my place at this hour of the night?”

Chu Yunshen set his teacup down and looked fixedly at Chu Mengqian with his dark eyes.

Chu Mengqian could tell that Chu Yunshen had no intention of handing the cat over to her. She glared viciously at the cat as she lay in Xiaowu’s arms. Chu Mengqian would have plenty of opportunities to see her in the future. When Chu Yunshen was unable to take care of her, Chu Mengqian would teach her a lesson!

Hmph!

She would let the cat off for the time being!

And get on with business.

“Yunshen, I heard Dad say that Uncle wants you to serve as commandant of justice!”

There was a look of envy on Chu Mengqian’s face.

Chu Yunshen laughed coldly. Then he used the teacup to conceal the coldness in his eyes.

Her father sure was well informed.

“How did your first day of work at the justice department go? Did you see a lot of bizarre cases?” asked Chu Mengqian excitedly, “It’s too bad I’m a girl. Dad said untalented girls are virtuous. He told me to be serious about learning zither, chess play, calligraphy, and painting.”

“Did you come here because you couldn’t wait to ask about that?” asked Chu Yunshen as his eyes turned dark. Then he put down the teacup and continued, “It’s late. Hurry home. Or else, Uncle is going to get worried.”

“This way, please, Your Highness,” said Xiaowu as he instantly opened the door.

“Hey, Yunshen! I’m not done talking yet, Yunshen!” said Chu Mengqian as she glared angrily at Xiaowu, who was trying to send her away. She took a mental note to seek her revenge on both Xiaowu and the cat in his arms the next time she encountered them. Then she veered her eyes from them and said pitifully, “Yunshen, do you remember Gu Bixuan? We hung out all the time.”

“Deputy Minister Gu’s daughter?” asked Chu Yunshen as he sipped tea.

“Yes, that’s her! She’s been missing for days! I wanted you to help me find her!” said Chu Mengqian heartbrokenly, “I’m so worried about her! I kept telling her the scholar can’t be trusted, but Xuanxuan fell for the useless man wholeheartedly! She even wanted to elope with him! Uncle Gu was worried about airing the family’s dirty laundry in public, so he didn’t report it to the authorities.”

Did the daughter of the deputy minister of the ministry of personnel, Gu Ruoshan, elope with a man?

Xiaowu suddenly closed the door.

Chu Yunshen frowned slightly. Deputy Minister Gu was an upright man who never resorted to flattery, but his beloved daughter unexpectedly did something as scandalous as running away with a man. If any of his political enemies who hated him found out, Deputy Minister Gu would be disgraced in Bianjing.

It was no surprise that he didn’t report it to the authorities.

“Yunshen, since you work in the justice department, I’m sure you can help find her. I’m really worried about her! That scholar doesn’t love Xuanxuan! Xuanxuan was blinded by love!”

“Okay, I will get someone to look for her tomorrow. Go home for now and have some rest,” replied Chu Yunshen after he set the teacup down and pondered for a long time.

“Okay, Yunshen. I’m counting on you to find Xuanxuan! You must find her for me! I’m worried she will get bullied by the scholar!”

“Mhm.”

Chu Yunshen nodded. Chu Mengqian and her servants went back to Prince Gaoyang’s residence. Before she left, she glared viciously at Cheng Xiaoxiao as she lay in Xiaowu’s arms.

Those eyes seemed to be telling Cheng Xiaoxiao she would exact her revenge one day.

Cheng Xiaoxiao was so frightened that she shrank her head into Xiaowu’s arms.

She seemed to have offended the wrong person here!

How could she forget that she should never have offended a woman? Women were simply petty.

Also, it seemed as though the princess and Chu Yunshen were pretty close.

Other than Cheng Xiaoxiao, who was a cat, she had never seen Chu Yunshen show concern over any other female creatures.

It seems Cheng Xiaoxiao had to avoid the princess at all costs from now on. Or else if the princess caught her, she would skin her alive. If Cheng Xiaoxiao knew this day would come, she wouldn’t have acted so recklessly!

The next day, Chu Yunshen carried the cat in his arms as he entered the justice department.

“Prince Jing!”

The government office was just buzzing with conversation, but everyone went quiet in unison. Then they turned and greeted Chu Yunshen before getting back to their work.

“Your Highness!” said Qin Cheng. He was buried in work, but the moment he spotted Chu Yunshen, he immediately set aside his work and came over to welcome Prince Jing. Then he said, “This way please, Your Highness! I prepared hot tea for you.”

Xiaowu rolled his eyes coldly at Qin Cheng. It was that lackey again. Qin Cheng simply refused to quit.

Chu Yunshen sat down. Then he glanced at Qin Cheng, who kept standing there.

Qin Cheng realized he had worn his welcome thin. Then he continued, “Your Highness, let me know if you need me. Allow me to take my leave.”

Chu Yunshen stopped looking at him, and Qin Cheng left crestfallen.

Chu Yunshen sipped his tea as he looked at Xiaowu and asked, “What did you find out?”

“Your Highness, all the Imperial Concubines made requisition for Chiting paper from the ministry of internal affairs between 8th to 9th January. All officials above the third grade also took the paper from the ministry of revenue on the same dates,” said Xiaowu glumly.

“Then investigate each and every single one of them,” said Chu Yunshen as he raised his hand and stroked the cat’s back with his dark eyes narrowed.

He was sure that the culprit couldn’t go on hiding forever.

“What about the handwriting comparison?” asked Chu Yunshen. He stroked the cat with one hand, held a cat-related book with his other, and kept reading the book while asking about Cai Mingkun’s case.

“Master, we don’t have any new leads for now,” replied Xiaowu with his head bowed.

They were helpless about the county magistrates’ death.

Even though they possessed an important correspondence, the person who sent it to the county magistrate cleverly wrote all names in code. The letter was probably even written with his left hand!

Chu Yunshen checked throughout Bianjing but was incapable of finding someone with the same handwriting.

“Keep investigating.”

Chu Yunshen leisurely leaned back into his seat as he touched the lion cat in his arms that was sleeping soundly. From the moment they entered the justice department, the little fellow kept sleeping.

“Yes, Master !” said Xiaowu as he bowed to Chu Yunshen and prepared to investigate in a different direction.

“Also, find out where Gu Bixuan is now.”

Chu Yunshen called Xiaowu back just as he was leaving through the door.

Xiaowu hastily halted. Then he turned to look at Chu Yunshen and asked, “Master, you…”

Xiaowu didn’t expect the prince to be so serious about such a minor matter. He thought that the prince was only patronizing Princess Qianqian last night when he agreed to check.

Chu Yunshen glanced at Xiaowu. Xiaowu immediately nodded and replied, “Okay, I will send people to investigate!”

Chu Yunshen looked away from Xiaowu and continued touching the cat with one hand while he held a book in the other. Although he kept his eyes to the contents of the book, his thoughts had already gone somewhere else.

Chu Yunshen ordered Xiaowu to investigate Gu Bixuan’s disappearance because if he helped Deputy Minister Gu to find his beloved daughter, he would certainly do him favors at court in the future.

“What did you say? Did His Highness spend the day playing with the cat again? How can it be?” said Di Yangze, the secretary of the justice department. He couldn’t believe that Prince Jing, who killed countless enemies out on the battlefield, would hang around in the justice department to play with his cat all day.

“It’s true. I saw His Highness playing with the cat and reading up about cat rearing with my own eyes,” replied Qin Cheng as he smiled, “Sir Di, does this mean I can stop spying on Prince Jing? I have a lot of cases on my hands lately. There is a mountain of documents sitting on my desk, waiting for me ever since I started spying on the Prince.”

“You fool! Keep spying on Prince Jing’s every move. If anything goes wrong, I will hold you accountable!” said Di Yangze furiously as he looked at Qin Cheng in front of him.

If Qin Cheng hdan’t been the most suitable person to spy on Prince Jing, Di Yangze would have fired him eons ago.

“Yes, Sir Di! I will go back and keep spying on Prince Jing,” said Qin Cheng. He could sense the fury in Di Yangze’s eyes, so he swiftly left his office.

Qin Cheng thought about going over to Prince Jing’s office to see what he was doing as he walked past the government office’s main hall. But he caught sight of Prince Jing’s guard, Xiaowu, returning

“Why are you standing here so sneakily?” asked Xiaowu as he unsheathed his sword and placed it on Qin Cheng’s neck.

Qin Cheng’s legs went soft and instinctively wanted to kneel. But how could the justice department’s secretary kneel before a little guard? So he said, “I was only checking to see if Prince Jing needed anything from me!”

“If His Highness needs you, he will call for you!” said Xiaowu as he sheathed his sword back by his waist. Then he glared at Qin Cheng viciously and continued, “If I catch you sneaking around here without explicit orders from Prince Jing, you are going to get it from my sword!” Then Xiaowu patted the sword at his waist.

Qin Cheng was so frightened that he turned and headed back to his desk.

This new job of spying on Prince Jing certainly made him get into everyone’s bad graces.

He won neither the favor of the justice department secretary nor Prince Jing.

It was tough to be a lowly official!

He was stuck in the middle!

Since he had a family to feed, he had no choice but to keep playing both sides and resign himself to this fate.

He would just drift along day by day.

After Chu Yunshen returned home, he was sitting in the room and feeding the cat in his hands when Xiaowu’s anxious voice suddenly came from outside.

“Master.”

The moment Xiaowu entered the room, he caught sight of Chu Yunshen, feeding the lion cat a boiled chicken drumstick tenderly. The lion cat curled up in Prince Jing’s arms and was staring eagerly at the drumstick with her watery eyes.

“Yes?” asked Chu Yunshen. He glanced at Xiaowu before continuing to feed the little fellow in his arms as he said, “Slow down. It’s all yours.”

“Meow.”

Cheng Xiaoxiao nodded her head obediently as she continued devouring her food ravenously.

Chu Yunshen patted the cat’s head gently and said, “Slow down.”

Xiaowu walked over to Chu Yunshen. Then he came close to Chu Yunshen’s ear to lean over and replied, “Master, Bu Bixuan died!”

Chu Yunshen suddenly looked up at Xiaowu.

Xiaowu looked surprised by the news too.

Chu Yunshen glared at the maids who were serving them. Then Xiaowu shouted sternly, “Leave.”

“Yes, Sir!” said the maids before they left the room.

Xiaowu immediately continued, “Master, Deputy Minister Gu received a mysterious gift today before I got around to sending men to search for Gu Bixuan! The gift was Gu Bixuan’s head!”

“What?” said Chu Yunshen as his eyes turned dusky and his grip on the cat tightened. Then he said, “Who did something as bold as that?”