Chapter 19 The Street Horse Incident
The once bustling streets of Suzaku were plunged into a brief silence by the terrifying accident involving a runaway horse.
The raging horse lay foaming at the mouth, its limbs convulsing, clearly injured by the internal force. The little girl who had been rescued sat on the ground, seemingly still reeling from the shock.
However, for Shen Jin, what shocked him most at this moment was not the horse, but...
He slowly turned around, his gaze passing over the crowd and landing on a carriage not far away that was missing a door.
There, his queen, the one who was said to be frail and unable to take care of herself, and who had just been shouting "I'm so scared!", was in an extremely strange posture:
She had one foot on the carriage shaft and the other dangling in the air, her hand... just like she was holding a sesame seed cake, she was holding the incredibly heavy, iron-clad rosewood carriage door with one hand.
That's the carriage door!
To protect against assassins, the doors of the Regent's carriages were specially made, weighing dozens of kilograms, and the hinges were made of fine iron.
At this moment, the hinge was not detached, but rather presented a teeth-grinding twisted shape—clearly it had been violently torn apart.
"Clang—"
The moment Shen Jin looked over, Jiang Mianmian finally realized what was happening.
[Holy crap! We're doomed! They're holding a "murder weapon"!]
[Jiang Mianmian, you big idiot! Serves you right for being so fast! Serves you right for having such superhuman strength! Now look what happened, your image is completely ruined! How do you explain this? How the hell do you explain this?!]
Her hand trembled, and the heavy door slammed to the ground again with a loud bang, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Immediately afterward, Jiang Mianmian's legs gave way, and she slid down the carriage shaft, collapsing weakly to the ground. One hand covered her forehead, while the other pointed at the door, and she let out a piercing cry:
"Waaaaah... I was so scared! This car... this car is so shoddy! I was just too frightened and wanted to open the door to see if Your Highness was alright, but... but the door just fell down by itself!"
[Yes! It's poor quality! Shoddy construction! The manufacturer cut corners! Anyway, it's not my fault! As long as I cry loud enough, Shen Jin won't have the nerve to doubt me!]
Shen Jin: "..."
He glanced at the fresh metal stub at the fracture point, a mark left by a tremendous force that had instantly twisted it off.
Poor quality?
He personally oversaw the construction of this carriage, which could withstand powerful crossbow bolts.
She calls this poor quality?
Shen Jin took a deep breath, strode forward, and walked step by step to her.
The surrounding people also came to their senses and gathered around, pointing and commenting on this strange scene.
"My God, the Regent's wife is so strong... no, so incredibly lucky! She actually escaped death!" "What happened to that door? It looked terrifying." "It must be the princess's fierce protectiveness of her husband that unleashed her hidden potential! That's what they call... what's it again? A love stronger than gold!"
Hearing the absurd comments from the people around him, Shen Jin's lips twitched slightly.
He looked down at the woman on the ground, her acting exaggerated, his eyes as deep and unfathomable as a still pool:
"The princess said...it fell down by itself?"
Jiang Mianmian peeked at him through her fingers, nodding guiltily like a pestle striking garlic: "Yes, yes! I was so anxious just now, worried about Your Highness's safety, and the moment I touched it... it fell off with a 'snap'! Really! This door must have been in disrepair for years!"
[Don't look at me! Don't look at me! I'm calling the police if you look again! Shen Jin, is that an X-ray? Can you please stop staring at that broken edge?]
Shen Jin squatted down, his slender fingers gently stroking the twisted iron bar.
"This is black iron."
He said calmly, "Ordinary swords and blades couldn't cut through it. The force of the princess's 'touch' was... astonishing."
Jiang Mianmian's heart skipped a beat.
[Damn it, I can't make this up anymore. Mystic Iron? This lousy door is actually made of Mystic Iron? Does that mean I just tore it apart with my bare hands?]
[What am I going to do now? Should I admit I'm Popeye who ate spinach? Or should I say I'm naturally strong? No way! If I admit it, I'll be forced into hard labor, and I'll have to move furniture and carry loads of rice... I don't want that! I want to be a couch potato!]
Just as Jiang Mianmian's brain was racing, preparing to come up with an even more outrageous reason (such as being struck by lightning), Shen Jin suddenly stood up.
He neither exposed her nor pressed her for answers.
He simply gave her a deep, meaningful look.
In those eyes, there was mockery, helplessness, and a hint of... knowing but not saying anything, a kind of indulgence.
“It seems,” Shen Jin turned around and said loudly to the crowd, “that the craftsmen in the Prince’s mansion really need to be replaced. They actually used inferior materials and almost injured the Princess. This door really did fall down on its own.”
The entire audience erupted in uproar.
"So that's how it is! It really is a quality issue!" "Your Highness truly dotes on his wife. When something goes wrong, he blames the craftsman first, not the princess for breaking the things." "The princess must have been really frightened; look how pale her face is."
Jiang Mianmian sat on the ground, completely dumbfounded.
[Huh? He believed it? He actually believed it?]
[No, he definitely didn't believe me! He's...helping me cover for him?]
【Shen Jin, you...you're such a good friend! Even though you're usually a bit sharp-tongued, you really know how to handle things when it counts! You even took the blame for me? I love it!】
Hearing the cheers in her heart, Shen Jin shook his head helplessly.
He bent down and, ignoring everyone's gaze, scooped up the "excessively frightened" woman from the ground.
"ah!"
Jiang Mianmian gasped and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, "Your Highness..."
"Since you're frightened, don't sit on the ground."
A deep, cautious voice rang in her ears, carrying a warning that only she could understand, "I'll settle the score with you when we get back. Also, next time you want to 'push' the door, remember to tell me in advance so I can have it removed first, saving the princess from straining her hands."
Jiang Mianmian blushed and buried her head in his chest, pretending to be dead.
【Fine, let's settle the score! The door's already broken, what are you going to do with making me pay for it? I have no money, but you can take my life!】
The carriage door was broken, so naturally, it couldn't be ridden in.
Shen Jin picked up Jiang Mianmian and strode towards a spare horse not far away—the one Ying Yi had just ridden.
"Shadow One, clean up the scene. Take that door back... and melt it down," Shen Jin instructed, lest anyone notice anything amiss.
"Yes." Yingyi looked at the twisted car door, which once again refreshed her understanding of the princess's combat strength.
Shen Jin mounted his horse, holding Jiang Mianmian tightly in his arms, and spurred the horse's belly.
"drive!"
The horse neighed and carried the two of them at high speed toward the Prince's Palace.
The autumn wind howled past, but Chen Jin's embrace was unusually warm. Jiang Mianmian nestled in his arms, watching the scenery rushing past on both sides of the street, and a strange sense of security rose in her heart.
[Is this the legendary shared ride? Pretty romantic, huh? If you ignore the awkwardness of me tearing the door apart with my bare hands, this is straight out of an idol drama.]
[Chen Jin smells so good, a faint, cool fragrance, it seems like I've smelled it somewhere before...]
He lowered his head and gently rested his chin on the top of her head.
romantic?
This woman is too carefree. She almost gave herself away just now, and now she's already having wild fantasies.
but……
Recalling how she jumped out of the car without hesitation to save people, Chen Jin's heart softened slightly.
Though reckless and violent, that innocent heart was genuine. In the calculating capital, such pure instinct was truly precious.
...
By the time they returned to the palace, it was already dark.
After all that commotion, Jiang Mianmian was starving.
But Shen Jin didn't seem to intend to let her off the hook.
As soon as he entered the main courtyard, he dismissed everyone around him and pinned Jiang Mianmian against the door.
“Your Highness,” Shen Jin said, his hand resting on her ear, his gaze intense, “now that there are no outsiders, tell me, what exactly happened with that door?”
Jiang Mianmian's eyes darted around: "I already said it's about quality..."
"Hmm?" Shen Jin's voice rose at the end, carrying a hint of danger. "Although I dote on you, I am not blind. I know the hardness of Xuan Tie better than you do. Unless one has profound internal strength or innate divine power, it is impossible to make such a cut."
Who exactly are you?
This is the second time he has asked this question.
The last time was when she broke a large rock with one hand; this time, she tore down a door with her bare hands.
Jiang Mianmian's heart skipped a beat.
[It's over, there's really no escaping it this time. That bastard is too cunning!]
[Should I admit it? Admit I'm from another time? Admit I have superpowers? No, that's too terrifying, I'll be burned at the stake as a monster!]
[Then... a mix of truth and fiction?]
Jiang Mianmian took a deep breath, raised her head, and looked at him with an extremely sincere and innocent gaze:
"Your Highness, since you've already seen it, then this concubine... will no longer pretend."
Shen Jin's eyes narrowed, waiting for her to confess.
Jiang Mianmian sighed and said softly, "Actually... when I was a child, I met a wandering Taoist priest in the countryside. He said that I had extraordinary bones and was a martial arts prodigy, one in ten thousand, and gave me a 'power pill'..."
"A powerful pill?" Shen Jin's lips twitched.
"Yes! After eating it, I found myself to be incredibly strong. Sometimes I couldn't control myself and would... vandalize public property."
Jiang Mianmian's story flowed more and more smoothly as she fabricated it, "I'm afraid of being seen as a monster, and even more afraid of not being able to get married, so I've always hidden myself and pretended to be weak. Your Highness... you won't dislike me for being a woman with superhuman strength, will you? Waaah..."
As she spoke, she began to fake cry again.
Trust me! Trust me now! This reason may be ridiculous, but it's still easier to accept than time travel, right? This "powerful pill" is much more down-to-earth!
Shen Jin watched her clumsy acting and listened to her internal monologue, which, though chaotic, was logically consistent.
A powerful tonic?
A wandering Taoist priest?
This kind of nonsense can only fool a three-year-old.
But he didn't expose it.
Because he heard her deepest fear: [The fear of being treated like a monster, the fear of being burned at the stake.]
She wasn't trying to lie to him; she was genuinely scared.
His usually cautious heart felt as if it had been gently stung by something.
He reached out and gently wiped away the tears she had forced out from the corners of her eyes, his tone becoming softer than ever before:
"So what if she's super strong?"
He said in a low voice, "I am the Regent, and you are the Regent's Consort. Even if you tear down this palace, no one will dare to say a word against you."
"If you want to demolish anything in the future, just tell me, and I'll have someone hand you a hammer."
Jiang Mianmian was stunned.
She stared blankly at Shen Jin, and this time she really couldn't stop the tears.
[What...what an amazing guy! Handing me a hammer? That's such a cheesy and hardcore pickup line! But I love it!]
【Shen Jin, you win. I'm sticking with you for life!】
“Then…” Jiang Mianmian sniffed and tentatively asked, “What if I wanted to demolish the Empress Dowager’s Cining Palace?”
Shen Jin raised an eyebrow, a hint of arrogance flashing in his eyes: "It's not impossible. As long as you can take it apart."
"Your Highness is mighty!"
Jiang Mianmian burst into laughter through her tears and hugged Shen Jin's waist tightly. "Then I'll go practice my skills now and try to destroy that old hag's den as soon as possible!"
Shen Jin's body stiffened for a moment, then he slowly relaxed and hugged her back.
At this moment, although the secret between the two was not completely revealed, the barrier between them was completely dissolved through these repeated acts of "cover-up" and "indulgence".
...
It was late at night.
Shen Jin went to his study to handle official business (mainly to calm his mind).
Jiang Mianmian was alone in her room. Although she was in a good mood, her stomach started growling uncontrollably.
"Gurgle—"
I haven't had dinner yet.
Although she had the power to manage the household and could have the kitchen make whatever she wanted to eat, the chefs in the kitchen were probably all resting at this time, and it would be too troublesome to wake her up again (actually, she was afraid that Shen Jin would laugh at her for being a pig if he knew she was hungry again).
I'm so hungry... I want to eat roasted sweet potatoes. The kind with a charred black skin, oozing honey-like oil inside, hot and sweet.
I heard there's an old lady in the alley behind the back gate who sells amazing roasted sweet potatoes. Maybe... I should sneak out and buy one?
Let's get right to it.
Jiang Mianmian changed into a light, dark outfit, and without a maid, she found her way to the back gate of the Prince's mansion.
Although her lightness skill is only average, she can still easily climb over a wall (after all, she is strong enough to jump directly up).
She quietly opened the back door a crack, preparing to slip out.
But they discovered that a small, dark figure was crouching on the steps by the door.
The dark figure was curled up in a ball, facing a piece of... roasted sweet potato in its hand, looking worried.
Jiang Mianmian was taken aback.
Who's that? Eating alone by my back door in the middle of the night? That's my sweet potato stand! That's my territory!
She leaned closer to take a look.
By the moonlight, she could see the face of the small dark figure.
Young, round, and a little chubby.
He was dressed in ill-fitting casual clothes, but the dragon pattern embroidered on his shoes gave away his identity.
Jiang Mianmian: !!!
[Holy crap?!]
Isn't that the unlucky little emperor?
[The emperor, in the middle of the night, went on an incognito visit just to squat at my back door eating sweet potatoes? How bad is the food in the palace?]
The small dark figure was Shen Xingchen.
He finally managed to shake off the eunuchs and sneak out of the palace, hoping to visit his aunt (actually, he wanted to mooch off the "Emperor's Happy Candy"). However, he got lost and starving, so he bought a sweet potato by the roadside, only to realize he had no money. He had to pawn his jade pendant to get it back.
At this moment, he was holding a scalding hot sweet potato, unsure how to eat it or how to knock on the door of his uncle's house.
Suddenly, a faint voice came from above:
"Kid, your sweet potato looks delicious, can I have half?"
Shen Xingchen was so startled that her hand trembled, and the sweet potato almost fell to the ground.
He looked up abruptly and saw his aunt, whom he both feared and longed to be close to, squatting on the wall, staring at him with shining eyes... at the sweet potato in her hand.
At that moment, the two most distinguished "foodies" of Da Gan met victoriously in the back alley filled with the aroma of charcoal.
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