Chapter 133: The Competition

At midnight, the Royal Villa was quiet. Aside from the patrolling guards and the shadow guards lurking in the corners, all the servants were asleep, including the young maids and eunuchs stationed at the palace gates.

Fu Bao was sleeping soundly, dreaming of an incredibly fat bird hopping on a branch that looked ready to snap.

"What a fatty chicken," Fu Bao muttered, almost drooling.

The bird mid-hop paused. "..." *You're the chicken!*

"Would you like to hear me sing?" a remarkably beautiful and melodious voice emanated from the fat bird's beak.

"Yes," came a chorus of three familiar voices.

"No..." Before Fu Bao could finish the word, she was cut off.

Fu Bao was confused. She turned her head to find the little princess, her personal nanny, and the maid Cherry all standing in a row, staring at the bird on the branch with dazed, lovestruck expressions.

"Excellent. Ladies, you are my first batch of customers. Allow me to change clothes to perform for you." With that, the fat bird vanished with a *whoosh*. In an instant, the scene shifted; the four of them were now in a luxurious palace, seated at four wooden tables laden with food.

"Guests, allow me to play a song for you." From somewhere out of sight, a flamboyant, strikingly handsome man appeared, cradling a zither, and began to sing.

Fu Bao had been forcibly pushed into a seat at a small table. Truth be told, the fellow sang quite well, but for Fu Bao, even the most beautiful music served only one purpose: it was a lullaby. Soon, the sound of rhythmic breathing filled the air; Fu Bao was dead to the world.

At that moment, Ya Ya was racing toward them at top speed.

"Hey! I'm singing such beautiful music and you actually fell asleep? What is the meaning of this?" The man slammed his hand on the wooden table. An apple on the table bounced off the plate and rolled across the floor.

Fu Bao remained asleep. Heaven and earth might be vast, but sleep was the most important thing of all. She had served the little princess all day and was exhausted.

The man felt deeply insulted. How could anyone be so indifferent to such exquisite singing?

"Wake up!" After a violent shaking, Fu Bao began to foam at the mouth. *So dizzy!*

"This guest must be so skilled herself that she looks down on my singing," the flamboyant man said, taking the main seat and flicking his wrist to produce a gaudy feather fan.

"How could I dare? I was just stunned into a dream by your lingering melodies, sir."

"Oh! Stunned into a dream, and drooling too?" The man fanned himself, his tone dry.

Fu Bao thought, *Can we not just talk normally?*

"Little girl, do you think I'm a pushover?"

"Aren't you?"

"..."

"Ahem, regardless, you have insulted me. If you don't give me an explanation, don't think about leaving this illusion tonight," the man declared, speaking nonsense with a straight face.

"No, I didn't, don't talk nonsense," Fu Bao denied three times over.

"Hmph, if you want to prove your innocence, you can sing a song for me," the man said haughtily.

"What if I refuse?" Remembering the consequences of her own singing and playing, Fu Bao decided to decline.

"Refuse? Oh, I forgot to tell you, no one has ever dared to say the word 'refuse' to me. Of course, if you want to try, your outcome might be a bit more dramatic than theirs." He pointed to the three people standing aside with dazed, lovesick expressions.

Fu Bao thought, *...I'd better sing.*

"Ahem, are you sure?" Fu Bao asked once more to be safe.

"Of course."

"Fine."

...

Meanwhile, Ya Ya was still racing toward them.

"Pfft—!"

"Oh my, what's wrong with you?"

"Pfft, pfft—!"

"Oh, you can't die! If you die, who will take the blame for this?" Fu Bao covered the mouth of the flamboyant man—who was now spurting blood—with one hand while continuing to utter heart-piercing words.

Moments later, the illusion dissipated. Fu Bao found herself in the peach blossom grove of the villa with the little princess and the others, clutching a fat bird that was foaming at the mouth.

"Huh? What happened?" Fu Bao squeezed the bird. It kicked its legs once, then fainted again.

Fu Bao thought, *Useless.*

By the time Ya Ya arrived, Fu Bao and Little Ginseng had already tied the fat bird up tightly, with Xiao Bai watching hungrily from the side.

"Oh! It’s a nightingale. No wonder those three were so bewitched," Little Ginseng poked the bird's head, earning a pair of eye rolls in return.

"Is there any way to fix them? They’re still dazed," Fu Bao said, staring intently at the bird while propping up her chin.

"No, unless it voluntarily releases their souls. By the way, how did you manage to catch such a powerful bird?" Little Ginseng asked, turning to Fu Bao.

"I sang to it."

"Oh."

"Quack, quack."

"Oh! Ya Ya is here! Look, we caught the monster!" Fu Bao said happily.

After some communication, they learned that the bird was a pet belonging to Imperial Concubine Li. No one knew why it had escaped or how it possessed such magic.

"How about this: we make it return their souls, give it a beating, and let it go," Fu Bao suggested.

"No, if we don't deal with it thoroughly, it will harm others," Little Ginseng objected to letting it go.

"Then what should we do? Maybe strip it of its magic and throw it back into the palace? Concubine Li has raised it for so long and it never harmed her, so it must listen to her," Fu Bao said.

"That works too," Little Ginseng nodded, stroking his chin.

A moment later:

"How do we strip its magic?" Fu Bao asked, tugging on the fat bird's feathers.

"I don't know," Little Ginseng said, scratching his head.

Suddenly, a bird's head poked out.

Ya Ya: *I'll do it!*

The fat bird, previously arrogant, thought: *I'd better do it myself.*

The nightingale, having been soundly thrashed by Ya Ya, was taken back to the palace by Concubine Li. It was now just an ordinary bird.

"Come here, Yingying, see what I've prepared for you," Concubine Li said, coaxing the nightingale with "premium" bird food—earthworms.

The utterly dispirited nightingale ate them, and before Concubine Li could even speak, it began to sing: "Concubine Li is the most beautiful, Concubine Li is the most beautiful..."

"Wonderful! I knew my teaching wasn't in vain. Come, have another one!"

The nightingale ate another one, feeling dead inside. *Waaah, I don't want the immortal pill, I don't want to sing, I want to go home!!*

In the Imperial Garden, a small turtle was wandering in the water, searching for something, poking around here and there, muttering to itself.

"Why can't I find it? Where did it go? Oh! That immortal pill the Master only bestows once every few centuries, it's gone again!"

...

At the White Estate:

"Master," a figure in black emerged from the shadows.

"Speak," said the woman in white, threading a needle.

"The old turtle was just crying to me, asking if you could bestow another immortal pill upon it."

"Does it think those things just appear out of thin air whenever it wants one?"

The figure in black dared not speak.

"There are no more immortal pills. Wait for the next batch."

"Yes."

"Wait, look at my embroidery skills." The woman in white handed over her work.

"This is..." the figure in black hesitated.

"It's that fat fish. How is it? Does it look like it?" The woman in white looked proud.

The figure in black thought, *...Thank goodness I didn't say it looked like an earthworm.*

"It looks just like it. Naturally, anything you embroider is excellent."

"Not bad, you have a good eye."

"You may go."

"Yes." The figure in black vanished instantly—he couldn't hold it in any longer; he was going to be sick.