Chapter 8

When Ji Zeming returned to the prime minister's office, it was already dawn. He thought he would not meet anyone, but he saw his father in his study.

He walked in and bowed, "Father."

The prime minister didn't show any displeasure at his late return. Instead, he asked calmly, "Are you blaming me? Are you blaming me for calling you home but not giving you a high-ranking position, but only assigning you to the Hanlin Academy to compile history books? Is that why you're so unhappy?"

Ji Zeming knelt down at once: "Father, you taught me since I was young to start with small things. If I can't even do a small official position well, how can I be a big official in the future! I don't blame you, father. I understand you."

The prime minister looked at the ink on Ji Zeming's cuffs from painting, and unfolded the portrait of a beauty he had painted. "Painting is a good thing, it can cultivate one's character, but I don't understand, what good is it for you to paint girls in brothels to cultivate your character?" After saying that, the prime minister slammed the portrait of the beauty on the table.

Ji Zeming didn't say anything and could only remain silent.

The prime minister looked at Ji Zeming and said disappointedly, "How can a tiger without claws still be called the king of the mountain? Well, paint whatever you want. Even if you bring all the prostitutes to my house, I won't care about you anymore. Do whatever you want!"

Ji Zeming fell to the ground, not saying a word, his eyes fixed on the portrait of the beauty. No one knew what he was thinking.

*

Li Yin stared at the wound on his finger in a daze. Eunuch Ma saw the wound and expressed his concern in a flattering manner: "Your Highness, what happened to you?"

"I was bitten by a dog." Li Yin said casually, recalling that Luo Sanrong woke up last night and drank all the wine he brought to welcome Weidao, and took the opportunity to go drunk and bite him. Li Yin smiled with an ambiguous meaning.

Eunuch Ma was confused: "How can that be? He was bitten by a dog. We need to ask the imperial physician to come and take a look!"

Li Yin stood up and covered the wound with his sleeve. "It's okay, it's just a minor wound. It will heal in a few days. But we have to punish that little dog that hurt people!"

The next day, Luo Sanrong woke up on the ground. Only Weidao was there. Luo Sanrong covered her head with her hands, which was aching: "Where is Li Neigong! Where did he go?" she asked a series of questions.

"I advise you not to ask about him, otherwise, if you are not careful you will..." Weidao made a beheading gesture with his hand.

Luo Sanrong was frightened for a moment and did not continue to ask questions.

The third exam began, and Luo Sanrong received his own paper. On it was written: "If your master wants to chop off your head because of anger, how can you save your life?"

As soon as Luo Sanrong saw the paper, he immediately made up his mind to leave the palace. Who could stand a job that could result in death at any time?

When it was time to hand in his paper, Luo Sanzhen decisively handed it in blank. The invigilator repeatedly confirmed, "You know, if you can't pass any of these three tests, you can't become a qualified eunuch. Even so, are you still going to hand in a blank paper?"

Luo Sanrong smiled awkwardly: "I'm sorry, Master Neiguan, I really don't know how to answer this question."

The eunuch was helpless and shook his head regretfully, waving his hand and letting her go.

The eunuchs who were taking the exam with her also felt very sorry and said in unison, "It's okay if you just wrote something down randomly, but how can you hand in a blank paper?"

Luo Sanrong also pretended to be annoyed, but she was actually very happy inside, thinking that she could leave the palace now.

She was just about to leave with the eunuchs who had been accompanying her when the eunuch who had imprisoned Luo Sanzhen in the dark room last time came running over in a hurry: "Wait a minute, the Prime Minister's family is hosting a banquet and they're short on staff. Can you go and help out?"

There was no other way, so Luo Sanrong and several eunuchs came to the Prime Minister's Mansion to help. Luo Sanrong then learned that this banquet was to celebrate the Queen's pregnancy. Luo Sanrong was speechless. She had never seen such a situation before. The child had not been born yet, but they were busy celebrating with fanfare just because the child's existence was confirmed. And it was not the child's father who was celebrating, but the child's grandfather. It was simply ridiculous. However, Luo Sanrong was just a small eunuch who had not passed the exam yet, and was just doing what he was told.

"Go and serve the dishes. Go and see how the food is prepared in the kitchen." The eunuch instructed the two people around Luo Sanrong, and finally only Luo Sanrong was left.

The eunuch looked at Luo Sanrong, then at the busy crowd: "You...you go catch □□!"

"Catch chickens?" Luo Sanrong's tone expressed doubt.

"Yes, do you have any questions?" The eunuch's eyes were fierce, and he would make her pay if she said no.

"No problem, but how many should we catch?" Luo Sanrong asked humbly.

"Just catch... twenty!" said the eunuch as he looked at the menu.

"Yes." Luo Sanrong immediately started to catch chickens after knowing this.

When the eunuch saw her heading towards the front yard, he quickly called out to her, "Hey, where are you going? The chickens are all in the back hill..."

Luo Sanrong started to go to the back mountain to catch chickens.

At this time, another eunuch who was listening in hesitated and said to the eunuch: "Isn't twenty chickens a bit too much? After all, they are very precious chickens..."

Without even looking up, the eunuch said, "Don't worry. Do you think catching twenty chickens is that easy? Ten at most, no... five at most... that would be good."

“…”

*

His father was hosting a banquet, but Ji Zeming couldn't go out. He could only stand outside the house and stare at the sky in a daze, sighing in his heart: "This life is so boring!"

Here, Luo Sanrong was catching chickens in a panic. The chickens' legs and feet were more flexible than hers. One, two, three... seventeen, eighteen, nineteen... almost twenty. Luo Sanrong set her sights on a chicken. The chicken flew from the rockery to the grass, and finally to the roof. Luo Sanrong, who was determined to achieve her goal, decided to climb onto the roof to catch the chicken. However, when Luo Sanrong climbed onto the roof, she found that the roof was so high, and she immediately regretted it.

At this time, the rooster was walking around on the roof in a swaggering manner. This seemed like a provocation to the embarrassed Luo Sanrong. So, Luo Sanrong, who was becoming more and more courageous, approached the rooster cautiously. When he was about to catch it, he slipped and fell off the roof. Luo Sanrong closed his eyes and thought it was over.

The unexpected pain didn't come, and Luo Sanrong found herself in the arms of the same young man who had rescued her when she was almost considered a wanted criminal. Bewildered, Luo Sanrong blurted out, "Why are you here?"

Ji Zeming looked at the stunned Luo Sanrong in his arms and gestured to her with his chin: "Are you sure you want to talk to me like this?"

Luo Sanrong then realized she was being carried like a princess. She quickly got down and awkwardly pretended to tidy up her clothes: "I...I was trying to catch that chicken..." The chicken also jumped down from the roof in response. "You haven't answered my question yet, why are you here?"

"This is my home. If I'm not here, where else can I be?" Ji Zeming said innocently, spreading his hands.

"Is this your home? Then are you the prime minister?" Luo Sanying asked tentatively.

"Yes, the prime minister is my father." Ji Zeming admitted generously.

Luo Sanrong was very shocked and asked again to confirm: "You said that the Prime Minister is your father?"

"Yes!" Ji Zeming responded again affirmatively.

Luo Sanrong tried hard to adjust herself so as not to look like an inexperienced person.

Ji Zeming looked at her with amusement: "Are you a eunuch now?" After saying that, he glanced up and down at Luo Sanrong, and paused deliberately when he said "eunuch".

"What's wrong? Can't a wanted person be a eunuch?" Luo Sanrong said loudly to show that he was right.

"You know, that's not what I meant." Ji Zeming denied with a smile.

"I haven't become a formal eunuch yet, but I will soon not be a eunuch..." Luo Sanrong replied.

"What's wrong? Have you encountered any difficulties?" Ji Zeming asked with concern.

Luo Sanzhen avoided answering and changed the subject: "As the son of the Prime Minister, don't you need to entertain guests in the front yard?"

Ji Zeming also acquiesced to Luo Sanrong's abrupt change of subject, "It's a boring social interaction. It makes no difference whether I'm there or not."

Luo Sanrong saw that he was bored and was about to comfort him when he saw a servant hurriedly come to Ji Zeming and said, "Sir, there is an assassin in the front yard."