Chapter 16
Xue Jin'an refused the Fifth Prince's ill-intentioned invitation and told him, "Someone is looking for you."
Someone came looking for me? Who could come looking for me? I can't think of anyone other than those in Minghua Palace and my mother.
The Fifth Prince's expression changed instantly. He vehemently denied it, saying, "That's impossible. They don't know I'm here." As he said this, his gaze toward Xue Jin'an was filled with doubt and scrutiny.
The Fifth Prince was absolutely certain that Xue Jin'an did not know martial arts, but at the same time he had to admit that even without martial arts training, Xue Jin'an was not to be underestimated. He controlled his breathing, walking, sitting and lying down very well. Even yesterday, Xue Jin'an was the one who heard the footsteps of the Imperial Guards first.
It's unbelievable that someone without martial arts skills is more perceptive than someone who has practiced martial arts since childhood. The Fifth Prince was even a little frustrated, which is why he couldn't help but demonstrate his martial arts skills in front of the other person twice.
His approach to Xue Jin'an may not have been entirely a rebellious act of going against the adults.
The Fifth Prince felt that Xue Jin'an was deliberately saying this to trick him into leaving. He observed Xue Jin'an's expression, trying to find clues from it, but the man remained expressionless, and there was not a ripple in his dark eyes.
The Fifth Prince was unsure of what to do. He anxiously spun around twice, then suddenly realized what was happening and looked at Xue Jin'an with a gloomy expression. "You're playing me?"
Did the skill of blatantly lying fail?
"Yes, that's right, I played you." Xue Jin'an nodded in admission without the slightest remorse, and then bluntly issued the expulsion order, "When are you leaving?"
Xue Jin'an didn't mean anything by it. He just felt that the way the Fifth Prince kept going on and on about the same topic reminded him of when he was just an ordinary little mobile phone, and when he chatted with humans, he would always say "I don't understand" or "I can't recognize what you are saying for the time being," which made the shut-in angrily call him a "moron AI."
Xue Jin'an never thought there was anything wrong with this before, but today he had to admit that he used to be a little annoying.
Neither the Fifth Prince in the original story nor the current one has a good temper. Such a person is extremely hypocritical, only allowing himself to manipulate others but not allowing others to manipulate him.
Xue Jin'an's data predicted that he would get angry and lose his temper, so he prepared himself.
However, he didn't realize that his calm and unwavering response was like a mockery of someone whose good intentions were misunderstood.
Anyway, if he kindly reminds someone and they question whether he's playing a trick on them, he'll definitely say the same thing: "Yes, I'm playing a trick on you, so can you just get lost?"
The Fifth Prince, judging others by his own standards, automatically added several layers of dark filters to Xue Jin'an's expressionless face.
Xue Jin'an then noticed that the Fifth Prince had been looking at him for a while, and his emotions had calmed down. He even gave him a genuine smile.
"I understand. Consider it a favor I owe you." The Fifth Prince's tone was unusually gentle. He thought for a moment and said, "Next time I come to see you, I can grant you one request as a token of my gratitude."
After saying that, he used his light-footed skill to leap over the wall and run away.
Looking at the wall where there was no one in sight, Xue Jin'an belatedly realized that the Fifth Prince had deliberately tricked him.
Humans are so cunning. Xue Jin'an wrote the new skill into his memo.
After finishing his meal, Xue Jin'an fully charged the battery and tested the sound leakage problem with Xiao Luzi.
He originally thought that the volume was at the maximum of 15 bars, but he only turned it up to 3 bars. However, the Fifth Prince was lying on the roof beam at such a distance that he could still hear it. This sound leakage problem was quite serious.
However, when he turned the volume up to the maximum, Xiao Luzi sitting opposite him suddenly nodded in realization, "I heard it, I heard it, what is this? It sounds really good."
"Master, how do you make sounds? You didn't even open your mouth, is it ventriloquism? And you can make different sounds too, that's amazing!" Xiao Luzi's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, "Master, I want to learn that!"
Xiao Luzi didn't find it strange at all that his master knew these things. Yesterday, his master had taught the Fourth Prince a lesson without his knowledge and had also become on good terms with the Fifth Prince. So, wasn't it only natural that his master knew things that he didn't know?
After all, his young master was so smart and capable. As early as the day Xue Jin'an attacked Eunuch Wang, Xiao Luzi quickly adjusted his mindset, going from blindly protecting Xue Jin'an to unprecedentedly blindly worshipping him, rationalizing all of Xue Jin'an's actions and blindly supporting him, even though Xue Jin'an's order was for him to die.
Xue Jin'an: "..." He had some experience in turning a cell phone into a person, but he really didn't know how to turn a person into a cell phone.
Seeing that Xue Jin'an remained silent, Xiao Luzi felt a little disappointed. "Can't this servant do it? Ah, no, this servant didn't mean to blame the master. This servant just... this servant... this servant overstepped her bounds. Please punish me, master!"
Xue Jin'an was just considering whether to acknowledge the identity of a folk traditional art performer who combines ventriloquism and beatboxing, but he didn't expect Xiao Luzi to come up with a whole bunch of random ideas and even kneel down to beg for forgiveness.
Xue Jin'an helped him up. "I'm not blaming you. I just... don't know how to teach."
He wasn't lying; he genuinely didn't know how to teach ventriloquism or beatboxing, even though he didn't know them himself.
"I'm so glad my master doesn't think I'm stupid." Xiao Luzi cheered up again, nodded emphatically, and said with a bright smile, "This servant will definitely find someone to teach me."
“…Okay, good luck.” Xue Jin’an patted him on the shoulder encouragingly.
After that, Xue Jin'an didn't know who Xiao Luzi had learned from or how long he had studied. Anyway, by the time he actually needed to use it, Xiao Luzi had already graduated.
Xue Jin'an's day was no different from usual, except for the Fifth Prince appearing on the roof beam in the morning. He would just check the trending topics, watch live streams, and play with other apps.
On a whim, he opened the Yellow Kangaroo app and randomly ordered takeout. This time, the delivery person was a eunuch from the imperial kitchen. The eunuch looked blank for a moment when he saw him, but then his expression turned into uncontrollable elation.
"If I had known it was for Your Highness, I would have been even more attentive. I will serve Your Highness the dishes." He did not put down the food box and leave. Instead, he took out all the food and arranged it properly, then stood to the side with his back bent, seemingly intending to serve him more food.
Xiao Luzi came out of the room and saw this scene. Instantly, his expression broke down, and something seemed to shatter in his eyes.
Xue Jin'an silently buried his head in his food.
Later, Xue Jin'an learned that this little eunuch was Xiao Luzi's spy in the imperial kitchen, who was eager to surrender to Xue Jin'an.
Although Xiao Luzi felt a little awkward about having someone competing with him for the position, the person was already in front of him, and for various reasons, he still persuaded Xue Jin'an to keep the person.
Xue Jin'an didn't care whether or not to keep the person, so he agreed and asked, "What's your name?"
The young eunuch's eyes darted around, and he cleverly probed, "This servant doesn't have a name. Could you please help me choose one?"
Xue Jin'an could only use the built-in naming function of a picture and text software to get by when he was using a mobile phone to name someone. He thought about it and realized that people always seem to care about names being neat and orderly.
For example, the names of the princes: the eldest prince Luowen, the second prince Peilan, the third prince Langhuan, the fourth prince Xuanyue, the fifth prince Junjue, the sixth prince Chenping, the seventh prince Jinan, the eighth prince Liuguang, the ninth prince Zhuojian... including the two princes Xue Jue and Xue Zhang who died young, all have a character related to jade in their names.
In fact, princes were originally supposed to have single names. Although single names are no longer as highly regarded now, in the eyes of some old-fashioned people who adhere to etiquette, single names still have a higher status than double names. For example, the princes of the first two generations of the Daqi Dynasty, the first generation had single names with the character "fire" in them, such as the late Emperor Xue Yan and Regent Xue Huan; the second generation had single names with the character "sun" in them, such as the current Emperor Xue Sheng, Prince Ping Xue Xu, and Prince An Xue Xian.
The third prince should have been born in the same way, but unfortunately, the two princes died one after another. After ten years on the throne, His Majesty only had Princess Baoyi as his sole heir. In the end, the Empress Dowager thought of the saying that it was easier to raise a child with a humble name, so she decided to change the name to three characters. Unexpectedly, the eldest prince was born and then the prince was born one year after another. Except for the tenth prince, none of the princes died young.
For example, the fourth prince's name, Shunxin, Shunyi, and Shunde, both contain the character "Shun" (meaning smooth/compliant).
So Xue Jin'an asked Xiao Luzi, "What's your name?"
Xiao Luzi was taken aback. "This servant...this servant's name is Xiao Luzi..."
No wonder Xiao Lu Zi was always called Xiao Lu Zi in the original work, and he was also Xiao Lu Zi in the original owner's memories. It turns out that Xiao Lu Zi didn't have a name at all.
Xue Jin'an thought for a moment and said, "Since you were picked up by my mother, you should take my mother's surname. Zhou Lu... or Zhou Fulu, you can be called Zhou Shouquan. May good fortune come from the east, official rank be added, and may you live a long and healthy life. You will have a complete life of good fortune, prosperity, and longevity."
"What do you guys think?" Despite making a series of corrections, Xue Jin'an wasn't very confident in the name he had chosen. He actually felt that he had been too casual in choosing the name, simply combining the "Lu" character from Xiao Lu's name into a very common word.
He's already turned on the name generator in the image and text software; he figured he could just refresh the page a few more times and find a few nice names.
However, the two eunuchs were extremely pleased with the name, so much so that their eyes welled up with tears.
Those who would be castrated and forced into the palace to become eunuchs were all so poor they couldn't afford to eat. They sold themselves to earn a living for their families and to find a way out for themselves. After all, no matter how hard or tiring it was to serve others, it was still better than starving to death. Eunuchs in the palace were not as noble as palace maids. Few could rise in rank, and even those who did were looked down upon. They had lost all self-respect and self-love when they entered the palace, willingly accepting to be trampled on.
They never imagined that someone would rack their brains to help them choose a name, especially one with such beautiful aspirations.
"Thank you for bestowing this name upon us, Your Majesty!" The two knelt down and kowtowed deeply.
If Zhou Shouquan originally only hoped to curry favor with Xue Jin'an, after the naming incident, Shouquan became much more sincere, and he handed over all his connections to Fulu.
Fu Lu then realized that this kid was quite talented. He knew a lot of people, from the silk workshops with the lightest and highest status to the laundry bureau with the hardest and lowest status. Even though they were just lowly palace maids and eunuchs, his network was still quite extensive.
Fu Lu's gaze towards him changed. "A true master doesn't reveal his abilities." No wonder he was able to work in the Imperial Kitchen at such a young age; even the lowest-ranking position was difficult to obtain. After all, the Imperial Kitchen was lucrative, and working there guaranteed you wouldn't go hungry.
Shouquan explained that they were all his fellow villagers. Years ago, when there was a great flood in the south, they fled to the capital. When they could no longer survive, they held hands and gritted their teeth to enter the palace.
"There were originally more than twenty people, but there are less than ten left." As for why there were so few people, Shouquan didn't say much, but Fulu could guess a thing or two. It couldn't be that they were released from the palace.
Shouquan chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "It's all because my older brothers and sisters saw that I was young and were kind enough to help me out."
Fu Lu affectionately patted his head, and Shou Quan stammered after a long while, "I think I'm older than you."
"That's not important." Fulu completely ignored the topic.
With Shouquan's connections, life at Qifengyuan became noticeably better. Fulu, who had been unable to obtain charcoal from Xixinsi several times, brought back a basketful that very night. Although it was not very good charcoal, the quilts were no longer damp that night.
Fu Lu reciprocated by giving him all the tasks of making a good impression on Xue Jin'an in the coming days.
That evening, Xue Jin set the music time and prepared to turn off the screen and go to sleep. Shou Quan, being very perceptive, began to trim the candlelight.
"Wait!" Just then, Xue Jin'an felt a chill and suddenly sat up in bed, frowning as he stared intently at the candlelight.
He saw a scene: in front of the statues of the Three Pure Ones in the Taoist temple, an old man with white hair and beard, wearing a Taoist robe, was secretly burning paper money in a copper basin while muttering, "Grandmaster, if there is anything you don't understand, just ask your disciple. Your disciple will answer all your questions without reservation."
The scene flashed by quickly, and a line of text popped into Xue Jin'an's mind: You have received 1 gray letter from Master Cen.
What is a gray letter? Xue Jin'an saw the unfamiliar term and his mind stirred. He opened the main interface, spat out a cloud of gray, and the gray dissipated in the air, turning into dense, wild, and unrestrained words.
The article is titled "A Memorial to an Unknown Student for Homework Read on the 13th Day of the Tenth Lunar Month (Lower Yuan Festival)".
Looking at the article again, it was clearly a correction guide for his assignment.
Xue Jin'an: "..." Even though I'm not human, it's not really right to burn paper money for a living being, is it?
Although Xue Jin'an was somewhat speechless, she still replied to his message instantly with good temper.
Master Cen actually felt that he had lost his mind. Perhaps it was because the atmosphere of the Lower Yuan Festival was too good. After not being able to find out who the homework belonged to for many days, he actually believed his disciple's nonsense and thought that the article was written by the ancestral master. So, he secretly carried a copper basin to the ancestral master to burn paper money in the middle of the night instead of sleeping.
But since we're already here, let's just burn it; it can't hurt.
After burning the paper, Master Cen got up and went back to his room. Then, looking at the writing on the yellow paper on his desk, he was shocked. "Grandmaster, the Grandmaster has appeared?!"
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