Chapter 30
The Fourth Prince was not in his residence at Yihe Palace, but in his study.
Because the Fourth Prince was playful and easily distracted, and lacked self-discipline, Consort Zhen moved his study to the most secluded and quiet corner, and also placed many artificial rocks in the courtyard to isolate him, reducing the places where he could play.
Every time he did something wrong, Consort Zhen would punish him by making him study here for a day.
Yesterday, he was reprimanded by his father in the Imperial Study. His mother didn't say anything after she returned, but he knew he had made a mistake and shouldn't have been so presumptuous in such an important occasion. So, unusually, he didn't stay in bed and went to the study to study on his own.
Consort Zhen, who had spent the entire night copying scriptures alone in the Buddhist hall, stopped and lingered for a while when she passed by.
By the time the Fourth Prince noticed, Consort Zhen had already turned and left. He only saw a slender figure in a plain brocade cloak with cloud patterns, its sheen glistening with dew from afar. However, judging from the fact that there were no green grass leaves at lunch, which he utterly detested, his mother was still satisfied with his performance.
"Alright, then perform well from now on." The fourth prince clenched his fist with great ambition.
However, as it turns out, no matter how hard a person tries, they will not be able to sit still. When a person does not want to study, they can watch ants fighting all day long and even count the ant soldiers and generals on both sides clearly.
Of course, the reason he dared to so brazenly lie on the windowsill counting ants was because Consort Zhen was not in Yihe Palace. In order to be even lazier, he had sent all the servants around him away, as far away as possible, so far that if he were to call for help now, they would probably only be able to come and collect his body.
Now, the fourth prince looked at his empty study, which contained only his own eyes, and was filled with tears, regret, and thought that his life was over!
The Fourth Prince had no doubt that Xue Jin'an had the ruthlessness and strength to take action. After all, he was a ruthless person who could stab his fifth brother in public and fight the assassin to a standstill!
On the contrary, the Fourth Prince doubted whether he had the chance to speak up. After all, he had lied to the other party last time. He had promised not to tell anyone, and the first thing he did after escaping was to call for the assassins, which led the Imperial Guards there. Although he was eventually framed and was so frightened by Xue Jin'an's madness that he had nightmares every day—oh, no, not frightened. He had nightmares that the calming incense had been tampered with, and the culprit was Cuiyun!
Despite his stubbornness, the fourth prince's body betrayed him by trembling.
He had no idea how Xue Jin'an had managed to sneak into Yihe Palace unnoticed, nor did he know how the other party had found him. His mind went blank, and he only saw Xue Jin'an land with remarkable agility and dexterity.
He held the sword at his waist, a sword that had already devoured the flesh and blood of his brothers, and strolled leisurely toward him, stepping on the uneven artificial rocks in the courtyard, without making a sound, just like a cat.
The fourth prince was even more desperate. He now felt that even if Shunxin, Shunyi, and Shunde were present, it would only be a sacrifice for Xue Jin'an.
How could he have dared to do that before?! He actually thought Xue Jin'an was a wolf cub who would only bite when pushed to the limit. He's clearly a devil, a devil who takes lives. Fifth Brother was so right, sob sob sob.
As Yama, wielding his Dragon-Slaying Sword, steadily approached, the Fourth Prince, clutching his trembling body, retreated hastily, his back pressed against the wall of fire radiating heat, yet his entire body remained ice-cold.
Watching Xue Jin'an climb in through the window, he stood on tiptoe and tried to stick himself to the wall, turning himself into a human-shaped brick.
"My life is over!" The Fourth Prince waited anxiously and fearfully for the sword of death, but then he saw Xue Jin'an open the small cloth bag he was carrying and take out a very strange wooden object that looked like a handle.
Xue Jin'an immediately asked, "Fourth Brother, where's the knife?"
The fourth prince took a moment to realize that the other person was referring to the kitchen knife.
The other party was clearly carrying a weapon. Even if he didn't know much about weapons, he could tell that the sword with lotus flowers engraved on the hilt was no ordinary weapon. But this person deliberately ignored the sharp blade that could kill with a single blow and instead used a kitchen knife that he had somehow found, with chips from long use and a patina on the hilt, to kill him.
The fourth prince was confused, but then he realized something.
The fourth prince was incredulous and furious.
"Why don't you use that sword? Am I not worthy?!" the fourth prince protested.
Xue Jin'an glanced at him and nodded with a very self-righteous air: "Yes."
The fourth prince's breath caught in his throat for a moment.
Xue Jin'an praised, "You have a great sense of self-awareness."
The fourth prince clutched his heart, which was pierced by the stab.
Xue Jin'an asked again, "Where is the knife?"
The Fourth Prince wanted to say it was lost, but when he met Xue Jin'an's unyielding black eyes, he immediately backed down and truthfully replied, "It was taken away by the Imperial Guards..."
"And who would keep that thing? Just looking at it is enough to give me nightmares for days!" he cried out in his heart, filled with grief and indignation.
The Imperial Guards still had some sense of propriety. Although they avoided the struggles between the princes like the plague, pretending to be deaf and blind, they still had to do what needed to be done.
For example, the kitchen knife that was clearly the murder weapon. If it were allowed to circulate in the hands of the princes, it would be a dereliction of duty on their part. Even if the seventh prince had instructed the fourth prince to keep it, it wouldn't have mattered. They confiscated it on the spot with a respectful tone and forceful actions, which was a way of settling the matter of the "assassination attempt on the fourth prince".
However, the Fourth Prince didn't want it at all. He didn't care how they handled it. After recovering from Xue Jin'an's crazy behavior, he ran back to Yihe Palace without looking back.
He dared not return to the prince's residence, nor did he attend classes. Although he did fall ill after returning, his high fever subsided after only two days. Apart from having nightmares, he was able to eat, run, and jump without any major problems.
Ignoring the gossip, he insisted on staying with his mother, thinking that he would be safe if he stayed in Yihe Palace and didn't go out. Who knew that Xue Jin'an would just swagger in like that!
He now didn't know whether to curse the eunuchs and maids of Yihe Palace for being too useless, or to say that Xue Jin'an, who moved in and out of the palace as if it were his own, was hiding himself very well.
However, the Fourth Prince couldn't help but mutter a low rebuke, "To climb over the wall into the concubines' palace without even announcing it, they have no manners at all..."
"You all have to use VPNs to find me." Xue Jin'an, who had recorded his voice, tilted his head and recalled all the scenes of fanfiction interactions in his memory.
—In the original owner's memories, when interacting with other princes, it was always with Consort Zhen. The rare scenes without Consort Zhen were during palace banquets held during festivals, when the princes and princesses would gather together to play, and they were always accompanied by wet nurses. After all, children don't know any better when they play, and he was too young at the time, so someone needed to be there to watch over him.
By the time the original owner reached the age where he could go out and socialize on his own, Consort Zhen had already died. He lived in the most remote courtyard of the princes' quarters and became a nobody in the palace. No one asked him to attend the New Year's banquets. The only brother who would remember him and look for him was the fourth prince. The fourth prince had an flamboyant personality and was always accompanied by no less than three eunuchs whenever he appeared, making quite a grand entrance.
Therefore, the only images Xue Jin'an could think of related to "personal relationship" were actually the Fifth Prince's face.
“Isn’t this how princes meet in private? Fifth Brother does it too.” Xue Jin’an asked matter-of-factly, and even gave examples to support his point.
As for avoiding the eunuchs and maids serving at Yihe Palace, he just felt that it would be troublesome if Consort Zhen knew he was there. Today, he only wanted to teach the Fourth Prince a lesson and did not want to use his skills to be sarcastic with Consort Zhen.
Xue! Jun! Jue! Guo! Ran! You again! You! You gloomy, cunning, malicious, and divisive bastard! The Fourth Prince clenched his fists, trembling, and gritted his teeth, silently swearing at the Fifth Prince.
With no excitement to watch and his mother confining him to Minghua Palace under the pretext of "recovering from his injuries," the Fifth Prince, who was spending his time alone in the dark and gloomy room, suddenly sneezed loudly.
The Fifth Prince touched the wound on his side and murmured thoughtfully, "I can't sleep when I'm awake, and I sneeze when I want to speak." What is my Seventh Brother muttering about me behind my back?
Xue Jin'an, who wasn't talking about his dear fifth brother, looked at the lotus sword at his waist after learning where the kitchen knife had gone. He weighed his options in less than a second and chose the sword that he was currently using comfortably and didn't want to discard.
He regretfully put the hand drill, which had taken him so much time and effort, back down, stretched his hands, tested his maximum strength, and looked at the Fourth Prince expressionlessly, "Then I'll have to open your skull by hand."
“I have no experience, but my hands are very steady. Don’t worry, I won’t make a mistake. I will open your skull in one go and close it completely again.” After saying that, Xue Jin’an gave a standard friendly smile as usual.
The fourth prince, increasingly horrified, saw him about to approach and suddenly raised his voice eight octaves to stop him, "Wait, wait, what did you say? What skull?"
"—You mean my head? You're going to take my head off? Decapitate me?" He pointed to his head, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Xue Jin'an corrected: "It's just to lift your skull and fix your brain."
"No, why are you fixing my head? Didn't you say you'd only take out my heart?" The fourth prince was so shocked that he was incoherent.
Xue Jin'an glanced at his head calmly, her tone very certain: "Because you need it, and if necessary, we will replace it with a better one."
Xue Jin'an didn't explain why it was necessary, but the Fourth Prince, at that moment, suddenly became quite perceptive and understood the unspoken meaning behind his words.
The fourth prince was extremely indignant. He didn't even care about being afraid anymore. He not only climbed down from the wall, but also took two steps toward Xue Jin'an. He rolled up his sleeves, put his hands on his hips, and was determined to defend his brain. "I just don't like reading those damn Four Books and Five Classics. It's not that I'm stupid. My arithmetic skills are the best in the Imperial Study. Even my eldest brother's study companion can't beat me. Even Father has praised me!"
The eldest prince's study companion was the youngest son of Feng Yinshou, the Minister of Revenue. He grew up listening to his father's abacus. Although he was only a student, he had already decided that the subject of the Five Classics examination for the imperial examination would be the Book of Changes. He was quite famous for his divination skills.
In the original novel, Chu Wenjing's stance on the succession struggle was too obvious. After the eldest prince fell from power, he naturally could not escape being purged. The Chu family was also stripped of their titles. The Chu family, which originally only had Chu Wenjing as the Minister of Justice to support them, quickly declined. As his nephew, the fourth prince was also implicated and was repeatedly neglected by the emperor.
Seeing this, the other princes felt that he posed neither a threat nor was there any need to win him over. As a result, the Fourth Prince's residence became deserted, and even the Fourth Prince's wife, who enjoyed socializing, stayed indoors.
It wasn't until the princes suffered successive defeats that the fourth prince returned to the forefront. However, by then, the protagonist, the eighth prince, had already grown powerful and established himself. As a mere supporting character pushed out to control the court's situation, no one cared about the fourth prince's feelings, let alone whether he had any special talents.
The text doesn't explicitly highlight his mathematical abilities. It only mentions that when he was out of the public eye, the Fourth Prince's wife was ridiculed by the Ninth Prince's wife at a banquet, who said, "I heard that all the accounts in Fourth Brother's household, big or small, have to be reviewed by Fourth Brother before they can be put into storage... Fourth Sister-in-law may not be good at managing the household, but with Fourth Brother's help, it shouldn't be a big problem."
Xue Jin'an did not listen to one side or believe the other. He chose to pose a question directly: "Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother set off from Yihe Palace and Minghua Palace at the same time. If they go in the same direction, Fifth Brother can catch up with Fourth Brother in two quarters of an hour. If they go in opposite directions, they can meet in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. Given that Fourth Brother can walk seven steps in one breath, what is the distance between Yihe Palace and Minghua Palace?"
"Huh?" The Fourth Prince stared at him blankly for a moment. Seeing Xue Jin'an's expression that said, "You really can't answer this," he immediately said, "You asked the question too suddenly. I didn't even hear the whole question. And who's going to calculate the distance and make us walk back and forth? This is completely useless!"
Xue Jin'an didn't take his sophistry seriously, but still carefully changed the question for him: "The Northwest Army paid me military pay twice, the sum of which is two strings of cash and five hundred and fifty cash. The sum of three times the first payment and five times the second payment is twelve strings of cash and six hundred and fifty cash. What is the product of the two payments?"
The fourth prince realized that Xue Jin'an was testing him, and he immediately began to do mental calculations, his fingers unconsciously gesturing and fiddling in the air as if there were an invisible abacus in front of him.
Xue Jin'an watched him quietly as he fiddled with the air, the corresponding steps flashing through his mind, and he was fully aware of the mistake he had made.
Suddenly, the fourth prince's fingers froze, and cold sweat poured down his face. He finally realized that he had made a mistake in his haste at the beginning. He tried to remain calm and pretend that nothing had happened, intending to start calculating from the beginning without making a sound.
But then she heard Xue Jin'an's calm, even voice say, "You've miscalculated."
"..." Seeing that he couldn't fool them anymore, the Fourth Prince's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his temples were wet. He racked his brains to salvage his mind and stubbornly said, "It was a mistake. One mistake is nothing. Your question wasn't difficult, but it was novel. I'm used to doing the questions set by the tutor. I just didn't react for a moment. It's not that I can't solve it..."
This was no challenge for Xue Jin'an. He had already read the math textbook and answered immediately, "Now there is a house whose height is six feet eight inches more than its width. The two corners are exactly one zhang apart. What are the height and width of the house?"
The fourth prince, who knew from reading the textbook that this was the Pythagorean theorem, said, "The Master has just begun to teach the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, and I haven't learned this part yet."
"Can't you just watch and see?" Xue Jin'an tilted his head, delivering a knowing blow. "You can't do it?"
A fourth prince, having lost his dream, buried his head in his hands and fell into self-doubt, wondering, "Am I really a fool?"
Xue Jin'an began to loosen his wrists again, gripped the hilt of the lotus sword, and strode towards the Fourth Prince.
He planned to repair the battery for the fourth prince first, and then perform a manual craniotomy: firstly, because a purely manual craniotomy is quite difficult and takes longer, so it is more appropriate to do it later; secondly, it seems that before humans undergo surgery, it is necessary to check whether they have heart disease, high blood pressure, etc., and if there are hidden dangers in the battery, it will affect the repair effect of the brain to some extent.
Xue Jin'an happily devised a suitable repair plan for himself.
The fourth prince, who still wanted to save himself but had lost confidence in his own brain, was forced to take several steps back and stick to the wall again. He was in a panic. He clutched his throbbing chest and let out a sob.
Xue Jin'an heard his heart pounding like he was about to die, and watched helplessly as the battery health dropped by two points.
Xue Jin'an, who had not found any battery fluid leaking from the Fourth Prince, felt speechless for the first time. He reminded him, "I think you'd better control your heartbeat. It feels like it's going to break down before I can fix it."
Honestly, if this happened again, he'd develop PTSD from the Fourth Prince's extremely unstable battery.
The fourth prince burst into tears, "I can't control myself! I get so scared whenever I see you holding a weapon! Waaaaah, can't you find a less scary way to discipline me? I'm so scared! Why don't you hit me? Waaaaah, I can hold back my screams, just don't chop off my head or rip out my heart... waaaaah..."
“It’s just opening the skull, not beheading,” Xue Jin’an retorted seriously. He watched as the Fourth Prince’s heartbeat grew faster and faster, and his breathing became difficult. He was on the verge of fainting. In the end, he loosened his grip on the lotus sword.
The fourth prince's heartbeat actually slowed down a bit. Although it still hadn't dropped to a normal range, at least his battery health stabilized.
Xue Jin'an glanced at him several times, still not understanding the underlying principle. However, he considered himself a peace-loving and human-friendly machine, and given a choice, he would not resort to the forceful plundering depicted in novels.
Xue Jin'an thought for a moment, "I do know a repair method that doesn't require disassembling the machine."
"What—" Before the Fourth Prince could even utter the word "what," he was sent flying by two punches from Xue Jin'an. He bent over, almost kneeling on the spot, and struggled to speak through his contorted face, "What are you doing?!"
"Repairing without disassembling the machine is useless? Then let's try again?" Xue Jin'an raised his fist. At the same time, as he looked at the Fourth Prince, some inexplicable emotional garbage secretly arose in his heart, and his magic power seemed to have recovered a little bit.
It was really just a tiny bit; if he weren't so familiar with every line of code in his soul, he wouldn't have noticed this subtle change.
Xue Jin'an attributed this to good deeds bringing good fortune, since cultivating immortality emphasizes cause and effect.
"No..." The Fourth Prince mustered all his strength to squeeze out the words from his throat, politely declining Xue Jin'an's death warrant, "It's very effective, I feel much better now, cough cough cough—very good cough!"
He shakily raised his hand and gave Xue Jin'an a thumbs up.
Xue Jin'an also felt that after his battery stopped and started beating again, the frequency did slow down, so he casually patted the Fourth Prince's head twice.
The fourth prince collapsed to the ground, his head buzzing. Amidst the ringing in his ears and blurred vision, he seemed to hear the sound of water flowing inside his brain.
This time, his magical powers were restored a bit more, and the health software even sent him a message in the background, reminding him that his various physical data had slightly increased.
Xue Jin'an's lips curved upwards by five points, revealing a smile that wasn't quite standard.
As the saying goes, "If you're going to help someone, help them all the way to the West," meaning that once the repairs have begun, they should continue until they are completed, Xue Jin'an thoughtfully posed a "chicken and rabbit in the same cage" problem to the Fourth Prince.
The Fourth Prince had developed a conditioned reflex to Xue Jin'an's questions, and had even broken the habit of having to do mental arithmetic by hand in this short period of time. Fortunately, the "chicken and rabbit in the same cage" problem came from "Sun Tzu's Mathematical Classic," which is a very classic problem type that he had learned.
The fourth prince quickly provided an answer.
"It's a bit slow." It's normal that the brain, which was just repaired, took some time to reboot. Xue Jin'an, having done a good deed, was pleased and gave a positive review: "Acceptable."
"Master, I love math. I will study hard from now on and never be late again. If I can still live, sob sob sob..." When the Fourth Prince heard Xue Jin'an's first sentence, he closed his eyes in despair and even thought of his last words. But when he heard the word "qualified," he was stunned.
His head slowly turned, and suddenly, he realized something. Ignoring his dizzy head and heart, he sprang up from the ground with a "whoosh," gesturing wildly and babbling incoherently, "Am I...am I done repairing? I don't have to have my heart ripped out and my head chopped off anymore?"
“It means opening the skull,” Xue Jin’an corrected patiently, then nodded affirmatively.
Heavens above! Earth below! The King of Hell ordered me to die at midnight, but I stubbornly held on until dawn! The King of Hell, in his great mercy, spared my life! Ha! Ha! Ha!
The fourth prince, having survived the ordeal, hugged himself and tilted his head back at a 45-degree angle. He closed his eyes, and tears of happiness slid down his cheeks.
Perhaps the happiness came too suddenly, and his body was impacted. The Fourth Prince was a little short of breath and swayed twice before being pulled back by Xue Jin'an before falling.
Xue Jin'an was in a good mood and didn't hold back his kindness: "Don't worry, there's a three-year warranty. You can come to me if you have any problems during those three years."
Upon hearing the words "Don't worry," the Fourth Prince's eyelids twitched, knowing he didn't need to worry. Sure enough, Xue Jin'an, the devil, couldn't speak the words of the mortal world. He frantically shook his head and shrank back, moving away from Xue Jin'an.
"No, no, no, no, I'm fine, I'm excellent, I'll be absolutely invincible and super good for the next three years!" I will definitely die a natural death, King Yama, find someone else to kill me. I'm still young, I have elderly parents and young children to support, and there's a throne to inherit in my family. I'm really not suited to go to the underworld!
The fourth prince has made up his mind to start taking good care of himself from today onwards, and he will definitely not get sick, so as not to give the King of Hell an opportunity to take advantage of him.
"Keep it up," Xue Jin'an encouraged, then said nothing more, instead mentally opening the main page to check on the recovery of his magic power.
He immediately noticed that the desktop games folder had a red dot, indicating that some games had finished updating and could be opened.
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