Chapter 6
With a loud thud, Wang Deming crashed to the ground. The only sound in the imperial kitchen was the crackling of firewood. No one dared to approach or speak. The intense heat caused everyone to break out in a sweat, and even some inexperienced eunuchs trembled.
"Pretending to faint?" Xue Jin'an tilted his head. He could tell from the pounding heartbeat that the person in front of him was not really unconscious.
However, he didn't care. Whether he felt dizzy or not didn't stop him from digging out batteries. After all, it was Wang Deming's own choice to do it for free, so it was his right.
Xue Jin'an adjusted the motion parameters, then squatted down, slowly raised the knife in his hand, and aimed it precisely at Wang Deming's chest. Thinking of the new battery that was about to be obtained, he kindly reminded him with a smile, "Control your heartbeat, otherwise you will bleed too much and increase the mortality rate."
The human heart is roughly equivalent to a cell phone battery, and human blood is roughly equivalent to a cell phone's battery level. However, a cell phone will simply shut down when it runs out of power, and will turn back on when it is charged. On the other hand, a human will die and become a corpse when he/she bleeds out. For a corpse to come back to life, it either needs to become a zombie or repair itself with its soul... In short, it is not something that ordinary people can do.
"I'll finish before you bleed out," Xue Jin'an said, indicating that he only wanted to change a battery and didn't want anyone to die.
To the others, these words meant: I will torture you until you bleed to death.
Wang Deming: "..."
The unconscious eunuch Wang couldn't help but tremble all over. He kept his eyes tightly closed, shadows dancing on his eyelids. Finally, he couldn't help but jump up from the ground with a "whoosh," and Xue Jin'an couldn't catch him for a moment.
Then Wang Deming knelt down and wept bitterly, saying, "This servant knows his mistake, this servant knows his mistake, this servant—this servant is willing to go to the Ministry of Punishments, please, Your Highness, spare this servant's life, this servant begs you!"
He kowtowed heavily, and blood quickly appeared on his forehead.
The battery he had just acquired had flown away. Xue Jin'an frowned in dissatisfaction and said coldly, "You don't need to go to the Department of Criminal Justice. I won't punish you. I just want your heart as compensation."
They were practically trying to kill him, and this was just...? Wang Deming felt a chill run through his body and shook his head frantically, "No, no, no, no, this servant is willing to go to the Imperial Prison to receive punishment, please grant my request, Your Highness!"
The tone was so firm that it sounded as if the speaker wasn't asking to go to the Imperial Prison, but rather to serve the emperor. Anyone who didn't know better would think the Imperial Prison was some kind of prestigious place.
The Imperial Penal Division, one of the three departments in the palace, used far more severe methods of torture than any other department. Palace maids and eunuchs who entered it rarely came out without some kind of disability. This shows how much Wang Deming wanted to escape Xue Jin'an's butcher's knife.
Xue Jin'an didn't think his act of digging out the heart was crazy or cruel at all. He just thought that this old man was very bad. Even if he didn't care about human emotions and language, he could still see the clues from his behavior just now.
Wang Deming harbored ill intentions towards him. Just now, he deliberately pulled Xiao Luzi aside and secretly attacked him. It seems that the motives of such a person are not pure.
Xue Jin'an activated his brand-new human brain and tried to analyze it. He had heard from otaku that there are many different kinds of humans, and there is a type of human who are born to enjoy being tortured; the more injuries they suffer, the more pleasure they get.
Well, most eunuchs in novels are somewhat ill, and many even have sadistic tendencies. It seems Wang Deming is indeed a masochist.
"I don't want to reward you," Xue Jin'an coldly refused once again.
The Censorate? Rewards?
Wang Deming almost choked on his words, and the expressions of those around him also became strange.
The Imperial Kitchen was a lucrative position in the palace. Those who worked there were all shrewd and adept at understanding the emperor's intentions; they could tell what someone meant just by listening to them.
The young eunuchs, lacking self-control, couldn't help glancing at Wang Deming, their minds flashing back to the scene. Some of the more sensitive ones even blushed.
Wang Deming was filled with shame, anger, and despair. Just as he was about to take a desperate gamble to seize the knife, a familiar voice came from the crowd, "What's going on? Why is the Seventh Prince so angry?"
Xue Jin'an looked in the direction of the voice and saw the old eunuch who came out of the crowd. It was the same old eunuch who had been respectfully handed the food box by Wang Deming earlier. He had wrinkled skin, a kind and gentle smile with squinted eyes, and looked very inconspicuous.
From the moment Xue Jin'an started making trouble for Wang Deming, he hadn't heard any noise outside. Either the old eunuch had already been there, or the other party's arrival hadn't alerted him at all.
Xue Jin'an watched his steady steps without making a sound, the huge food box he was carrying remaining motionless, his breathing and heartbeat steady and powerful... He was an old eunuch who, although old, was healthy and had considerable martial arts skills.
Xue Jin'an felt a little emotion that she didn't understand herself. She thought to herself: How come after being on the market for so long, even though I'm an old eunuch that's about to be scrapped, my battery is still healthier than mine?
Later, Xue Jin'an learned that this feeling was called depression.
"Eunuch Lu, Eunuch Lu, save me!" Wang Deming saw the man and immediately rushed over, grabbing the old eunuch's leg as if he had found a lifeline.
Xiao Luzi stood guard vigilantly beside his master and whispered, "Master, it's Eunuch Lu Bingzhu from Cining Palace."
Cining Palace was the residence of the Empress Dowager. There was no Empress Dowager in this dynasty. The current emperor's birth mother died early, and he grew up under the care of the Empress Dowager. He had great respect for his ancestor and was also very polite to the old palace maids and eunuchs around the Empress Dowager.
The original story unfolds in the 35th year of the Jiahe reign. The Empress Dowager has long since passed away, and Xue Jin'an knows very little about the Cining Palace. The only two instances are: one is at the beginning of the story when the emperor knows that his princes are restless and about to cause trouble. He has a heart-to-heart talk with the old nanny left behind by the Empress Dowager in the Cining Palace and laments that there are no fathers and sons under the imperial power, and that he is ultimately a lonely man.
The second part depicts the final stages of the succession struggle. With princes either dead or entrenched in the palace, the aging emperor is increasingly losing his grip on power, becoming increasingly panicked, anxious, irritable, and unpredictable. One day, disregarding the objections of his ministers, the old emperor suddenly insists on visiting the imperial mausoleum to pay respects to the Empress Dowager. That night, he silently drinks with the old eunuch guarding the tomb, and upon leaving, he takes the eunuch back to the capital, entrusting him with his will to ensure its safekeeping.
This old eunuch is Lu Bingzhu.
He was an old man who had been by the side of the Empress Dowager since she became Empress. He served three emperors and was the first supervisor of the Imperial Clothing Department. He also had a mentor-student relationship with Li Hechun, the chief eunuch of Qianyuan Palace. Because of this, Lu Bingzhu had a very high status in the palace. Even though he had retired to Cining Palace for many years, the ladies in the palace would still call him Supervisor Lu.
Xiao Luzi was also frightened by his master's recklessness. He specifically mentioned Lu Bingzhu's identity, also telling his master to be careful. Killing Wang Deming was nothing, given his status as a prince, Wang Deming wouldn't dare to do anything. But it would be bad if he accidentally injured this Governor Lu.
If Xue Jin'an could understand the unspoken meaning in Xiao Luzi's words, he would definitely say that he was overthinking things.
Lu Dugong was a martial arts expert with internal strength, and with his broken body, he couldn't possibly defeat the old man.
Xue Jin'an said "Oh," and then turned her gaze back to Wang Deming, stating the facts, "He promised to compensate me."
Wang Deming immediately kowtowed and said, "This servant requests forty strokes of the court rod!"
He just volunteered to be punished at the Censorate, but now he's changed his mind and wants to be flogged. He's got quite a few tricks up his sleeve. But there are different ways to flog; forty strokes can kill someone, or they can only leave them with minor injuries. Wang Deming offended the prince and was caught red-handed, so he deserves a lesson. Let him be beaten half to death, and he'll be out of the Imperial Kitchen.
Lu Bingzhu glanced down and calmly decided a person's future.
"What does Your Highness think?" Lu Bingzhu paused for a moment and then said, "If it is a court beating, this old servant can supervise the punishment in Your Highness's place, and will surely satisfy Your Highness."
The implication is that he agrees to be flogged in court.
"Master." Xiao Luzi tugged at Xue Jin'an's sleeve.
Xue Jin'an used 3% of the battery to analyze the data from several battles with Lu Bingzhu, and determined that his current combat strength was insufficient. The system had already given the result of temporarily giving up.
However, Xue Jin'an was still somewhat unwilling. He unconsciously puffed out his cheeks. "I still want him to compensate me." He wanted me to get a free battery.
What a persistent child. Lu Bingzhu couldn't help but chuckle sincerely, and earnestly advised, "Seventh Prince, it's never a bad thing to be forgiving when you can."
"Moreover, compared to a quick and easy death, the most painful thing is living helplessly," Lu Bingzhu said meaningfully.
Wang Deming's face suddenly turned deathly pale. He let his hands fall limply to his sides, his eyes filled with fear and unease. He vaguely felt that he might have made the wrong choice...
When Lu Bingzhu said he would supervise the execution, he actually had two benches placed in front of the Imperial Kitchen. He then had Wang Deming dragged up the benches and started beating him right in front of all the Imperial Kitchen eunuchs.
Wang Deming had a wooden stick in his mouth, choking all his screams. One blow after another, the pain made his blood rush to his head, and the eunuchs watching all turned pale, looking even more miserable than him, the one actually being tortured.
Lu Bingzhu's words were actually a warning to the people in the Imperial Kitchen. It was common practice in the palace to flatter the powerful and bully the weak, but to so blatantly bully a prince was going too far.
Presumably, things will be more peaceful in the palace after today, which will also ease the Empress's worries.
Xue Jin'an was still upset about not getting the free battery, so he watched the execution for a while. However, after seeing Wang Deming's battery health rapidly decline after being hit a few times, he lost interest and even felt that Lu Bingzhu was somewhat wasting resources.
Although Xiao Luzi also hated Wang Deming for bullying his master, he was ultimately kind-hearted and couldn't bear to see the bloody scene, so he simply took the food box and bought food for free in the kitchen.
"I'm leaving." Xue Jin'an didn't bother to look anymore and turned to leave.
"Hey, I'm here, I'm here." Xiao Luzi struggled to carry the full food box and quickly caught up with him.
To their surprise, the two soon encountered the Fourth Prince, who was in a hurry and looked anxious, shortly after leaving the imperial kitchen. His clothes were somewhat disheveled and his face was very pale. When he saw Xue Jin'an, he didn't cause any trouble, but just glared at her fiercely.
Shunde, carrying a box of books, followed beside him with a bitter face, not daring to utter a sound.
Xue Jin'an watched the two figures disappear into the distance, truly envious of the Fourth Prince's batteries. Wang Deming had offered him a way to get batteries for free; he had no money, but he could stage an accident.
The Fourth Prince dislikes the original owner so much that if he provokes him, the other party will definitely want to take action, and then he can rightfully demand compensation.
"Yes, it should be done in private. It wouldn't be good if another Lu Bingzhu, whom we can't defeat, suddenly appeared." Xue Jin'an's gaze was quietly fixed on the Fourth Prince, and he thought to himself.
"The Fourth Prince is late for class again. Looks like he's going to be punished." Xiao Luzi was somewhat gloating, but when he turned around, he saw his master staring blankly at the Fourth Prince's back, and his heart was filled with bitterness.
Yes, the master has reached the age to study in the Imperial Study, but so far there has been no indication from above, as if he no longer exists.
“Master, you’ve only just turned seven. There’s no rush to send you to the Imperial Academy. I’ve heard that the studies there are very demanding. It’s better if you don’t go. I can play with you for a few more years,” Xiao Luzi said, feigning happiness as she tried to comfort him.
"The Imperial Study? No way." The original novel only briefly mentioned that the original owner entered the Imperial Study with the Ninth Prince when he was nine years old, but he only studied for a year before suffering a terrible head injury and having to drop out of school.
Xue Jin'an felt that his battery was already so bad, he couldn't possibly drop the outer screen.
"I might as well stay home and take online classes," Xue Jin'an thought.
What Xue Jin'an didn't know was that all their conversations had been carried by the wind to the old eunuch's ears.
Lu Bingzhu held his teacup, lost in thought.
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