"The Ragged Prince," was Huang Taiji's nickname. Another, more infamous nickname was "The Imperial Eunuch." Coupled with his unattractive appearance—quite repulsive, resembling the ugly eunuchs portrayed on television—it's unclear who started calling him that, but gradually, everyone in the neighborhood began calling him "The Imperial Eunuch." Huang Taiji was an orphan, abandoned by some heartless parent. He was taken in by an old woman who cleaned an orphanage. However, because of his extreme ugliness as a child, none of the orphans liked him; even the other children often bullied him, and he dared not tell the old woman.
After the old lady died, the people at the orphanage became even more arrogant. He was put in charge of cleaning the orphanage and was fed leftovers. Once, he was so hungry that he stole a steamed bun. The director found out and accused him of stealing. He was sent to a juvenile detention center and spent half a year in labor camp. After he was released, he never went back to the orphanage.
After he was released, he made a living by picking up garbage in the city and usually lived under an overpass. Later, he met the boss of a gang of thugs in the city. The boss saw that although he was ugly, he was very smart, so he took him in as a follower and even gave him a school to attend.
They treated him well, and his life became much easier afterward. As he grew older, his intelligence and cunning allowed him to carve out a position as a strategist among the thugs—though, given his ugly appearance, he truly looked like a cunning strategist. However, his good days didn't last long. In a chaotic fight, their leader was slashed by several opponents and died from his wounds. The gang disbanded, with most of its members joining the opposing group. Huang Taiji didn't join; he couldn't bring himself to do that. His leader had treated him well, and he was grateful. Although he was powerless to avenge his leader, he wouldn't join the side that killed him.
After that, he returned to his old life, starting work on time every day, picking up trash, and stealing things when all else failed. These streets used to be under their jurisdiction. Although he was a hoodlum, he treated the residents well, sometimes even helping the shopkeepers chase away thugs. So, when people caught him stealing, they didn't say anything. Kind old men and women would also occasionally help him out.
He'd been having a run of bad luck these past few days, running into an old nemesis. Apparently, he'd tricked the guy, breaking his left thumb, and now he was down on his luck. He never expected to bump into that guy while picking up trash on the street, and even more unexpectedly, that guy turned out to be a small-time leader from the same thug gang that had killed his boss. The moment they met, the guy got angry and called his henchmen to beat him up.
Huang Taiji was too weak and frail to be a match for them, so he dropped his things and ran, managing to shake them off thanks to his familiarity with the terrain. However, he had no money for the day's expenses and dared not return home. These days, gangsters are like spies; those ambitious young men can dig a person out of the ground. It's a pity that China's intelligence agencies don't recruit gangsters; otherwise, what color underwear Bush wore would probably be on Hu Xijin's breakfast news the next two days.
"What bad luck! I actually ran into this damn guy. That son of a bitch, he ruined all my household expenses. Damn it, what am I going to eat now? Damn it, damn it, damn it..." Huang Taiji was currently hiding in an underground pipe, a place filled with the city's excrement, filthy and stinking. Even those thugs hadn't come looking for him. To survive, Huang Taiji would endure anything.
People were searching for him everywhere, and he dared not go out. But there was no food in the sewers. How could he survive? It had been three days. He had no strength left, but he was starving. He had no choice but to find something to eat, even if his body was discovered and he couldn't escape. Otherwise, he would starve to death. He carefully climbed out of the sewers and onto the shore, taking a few deep breaths. "Ah, it's been so long since I've felt the air in this city so fresh. That place is definitely not fit for humans. I'd better find some food quickly; the longer I stay out here, the greater the danger."
Huang Taiji had originally planned to cross the street to the opposite apartment complex to see if he could steal something, but unexpectedly, he saw his enemy as soon as he stepped out. Terrified, he immediately scurried into a garbage dump. Fortunately, the man didn't see him, and he escaped unscathed. "Oh dear, what am I going to do? They're still outside, and I'm so hungry!" Huang Taiji groaned, his stomach rumbling loudly. Suddenly, he saw a plastic bag of white rice on the garbage heap—probably leftovers. He rushed over, picked it up, and wolfed it down.
"Even though it's gone bad, it still tastes pretty good, even better than the chicken, duck, and fish I used to eat." This guy was starving. He'd just eaten a little and felt much better, and was about to go out when he tripped over something. "Damn it, what the hell is that? Damn it, damn it again!" In a terrible mood, Huang Taiji kicked the thing that tripped him, but heard a loud thud that startled him. After a while, there was no further movement. He went over and rummaged through the trash, finding a person dressed in ancient clothing inside. There was blood at the corner of their mouth, and their body was still warm, but they were already dead. "Could it be that bad luck? A random kick could kill someone?"
Huang Taiji thought he had killed someone and was in a panic when he suddenly thought, "Damn it, I used to be a hoodlum myself. Although I rarely get involved in fights, I've seen my share of things. I'm not afraid of killing someone. Anyway, since things have come to this, I'll see what he looks like first, so I don't not even know who I killed."
He mustered his courage and walked over to look at the man. He found that the man was dressed in ancient clothing, like that of the Ming Dynasty, with a stern face and long hair. He appeared to be around forty years old, but his body looked charred, and blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth. "Did this guy time travel? Was he struck by lightning? And then, severely injured, was kicked to death by me? Bullshit!" This guy had read too many novels; seeing the man in ancient clothing, he even thought he was a time traveler.
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