Chapter 20 A Bloodbath Caused by a Sweet Potato
The alley behind the Regent's Palace was dark and windy.
Two figures were squatting undignifiedly on the high threshold of the back gate of the Prince's Mansion, separated by a piece of oiled paper, on which they held a steaming, honey-dripping roasted sweet potato.
"Kid, where did you buy these sweet potatoes? They look pretty good."
Jiang Mianmian didn't mind the heat and broke off half of the sweet potato, which happened to be the sweetest and softest part of the core. She stuffed it into her mouth without hesitation, exhaling from the heat, but with a satisfied look on her face.
Mmm! This tastes amazing! This is exactly what I'm looking for! The joy that carbs bring is something no delicacy can replace!
Shen Xingchen held the remaining half, looking at her aunt who had eaten so much that her mouth was covered in black ash, her little face full of struggle.
"This is mine... I traded my jade pendant for it!"
Shen Xingchen emphasized, taking a careful bite, her eyes instantly narrowing into crescents, "Mmm...so sweet."
"A jade pendant?" Jiang Mianmian glanced at him. [What a spendthrift! Trading a piece of top-grade mutton-fat jade for a sweet potato? The old man selling sweet potatoes will probably be laughing in his sleep tonight.]
"Hey," Jiang Mianmian nudged Shen Xingchen with her elbow, "what are you doing squatting by my back door in the middle of the night instead of sleeping? Running away from home?"
Shen Xingchen swallowed the sweet potato and pouted aggrievedly: "The food in the palace is terrible, the tutor assigns too much homework, and the Empress Dowager... the Empress Dowager is always nagging. I... I want to come out for some fresh air."
As he spoke, he looked up at Jiang Mianmian, his eyes sparkling: "Auntie, I heard from the palace servants that you're living a very carefree life in the Prince's mansion, eating whatever you want, and Uncle does everything you say. Is that true?"
Jiang Mianmian was taken aback.
[Carefree? You haven't seen how hard I work to maintain my "couch potato" persona!]
"He listens to everything I say? That's only true when he's in a good mood and I provide emotional support! If he's ever unhappy, I'm packing my bags and leaving in a heartbeat!"
"It's just so-so," Jiang Mianmian sighed, looking like a seasoned veteran. "You don't understand, this is the trouble of being a wealthy socialite. It looks glamorous on the surface, but in reality, it's like walking on thin ice."
"Walking on thin ice?" Shen Xingchen didn't believe it. "But your royal uncle is very good to you. That day in the palace, he even broke your second brother's hand for your sake."
Once Shen Jin was mentioned, the two immediately started talking non-stop.
In this corner bathed in faint moonlight and filled with the aroma of roasted sweet potatoes, the two most distinguished people in Da Gan launched a "roast session" targeting the Regent.
"What's so good about it!" Jiang Mianmian took a bite of sweet potato, indignantly. "You have no idea how difficult your royal uncle is to please! He's a germaphobe! Obsessive-compulsive! And he's so sarcastic! He always has a cold face, like someone owes him five million!"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Shen Xingchen exclaimed excitedly, almost jumping up. "My royal uncle is so fierce! Every time he tests my studies, if I get even one word wrong, his eyes... it's like he wants to eat me alive! I have nightmares every night about being punished by him to copy books!"
"Right!" Jiang Mianmian slapped her thigh. "And he's so stingy! I just wanted to use a softer fabric for the clothes, and he actually had to see how I behaved! Although he eventually gave it to me, the process was so complicated!"
"He even cut back on my snacks!" Shen Xingchen complained. "The Grand Tutor said that too much sugar would cause rotten teeth, and the Imperial Uncle actually ordered the Imperial Kitchen to remove all the pastries! I... I am the Emperor! What's the point of being an Emperor if I can't even have a piece of candy!"
"That's so pitiful." Jiang Mianmian patted his head sympathetically. "Here, have another White Rabbit candy."
"Thank you, Aunt! You're so kind, Aunt!"
The two, one big and one small, squatted on the doorstep, eating with relish and cursing enthusiastically.
"My royal uncle is such a block of ice!" "My royal uncle is such a miser!" "My royal uncle is destined to be single forever!" "My royal uncle... if only he could be a little gentler."
The two became more and more excited as they talked, completely immersed in the joy of "resisting tyranny," completely unaware that the vermilion back door behind them had silently... opened a crack at some point.
A chilling aura, even more biting than the winter night's wind, was seeping out from the crack in the door.
Jiang Mianmian was getting into the conversation:
"In my opinion, the only thing Shen Jin needs is someone who can control him! Once I've saved up enough money, I'll write him a letter of divorce, and then we'll take the money and travel the world! I'll take you to eat all the delicious food in the world, how about that?"
"Great!" Shen Xingchen cheered, "Take me with you! I don't want to go to court anymore!"
"It's a deal!" Jiang Mianmian held out her hand, covered in sweet potato dust. "High five!"
Shen Xingchen was about to reach out her hand.
Suddenly, a sinister voice, as if drifting from the depths of hell, echoed above their heads:
"A letter of divorce? Wandering the world? No desire to attend court?"
"It seems... you two are living too comfortably?"
"Crack".
Jiang Mianmian dropped the half-eaten sweet potato from her hand. Shen Xingchen also dropped the candy from her mouth.
The two of them froze instantly, as if the scene had been paused.
That voice...that tone...that familiar sense of oppression...
Holy crap!!!
Jiang Mianmian let out a piercing scream in her mind, [What the hell! What's that bastard doing here? Wasn't he in the study? Does he have super hearing? How could he hear this?]
Like rusty robots, the two of them turned their heads little by little with great difficulty.
In the shadows behind the door, Shen Jin stood with his hands behind his back.
He was dressed in all black, almost blending into the night. Only his face was eerily pale and frighteningly black. A gentle yet chilling smile played on his lips as he toyed with a vine he had just broken off from a nearby tree.
"Continue."
Shen Jin flicked the rattan cane lightly, making a "whoosh" sound as it cut through the air. "Why did you stop? I was really enjoying it. Especially that 'forever alone' comment, it was a very apt assessment."
Shen Xingchen screamed in fright and fell to the ground with a thud, instinctively grabbing Jiang Mianmian's leg.
"Aunt, help! Uncle is going to kill someone!"
Jiang Mianmian: [...]
Don't hug me! I can barely take care of myself! Are you trying to cling to me? You're just creating a burden!
"Hehe...Your Highness..."
Jiang Mianmian gave a dry laugh, attempting a final, desperate attempt, "What a coincidence? You're here too... to admire the moon? Um, these sweet potatoes are quite delicious, would you like a bite? Purely natural and pollution-free..."
"Moon viewing?"
Shen Jin looked up at the pitch-black sky, devoid of even a single star. "There's no moon tonight, but this 'bloodshed'... I'm afraid there's bound to be one."
After saying that, he stepped forward and grabbed the two men by the back of their collars, one in each hand, like picking up chicks.
"Hey, hey, hey! Your Highness, let's talk this out! A gentleman uses words, not fists!" Jiang Mianmian kicked her legs wildly.
"Uncle! I was wrong! I will never do it again! I will go back and do my homework right now!" Shen Xingchen cried with snot and tears streaming down his face.
"It's too late."
Shen Jin coldly dragged the two into the gate of the Prince's Mansion, and slammed the back door shut, shutting out the cold wind from the alley.
"One wants a divorce, the other wants to go on strike."
Shen Jin threw the two men onto the grass in the yard, looking down at the two trembling, ashen-faced "accomplices," and said, "Since you have so much energy, you won't be sleeping tonight."
"Shadow One!"
"Your subordinate is here!" Ying Yi emerged from the shadows, barely suppressing a laugh.
"Go and bring the Emperor a set of tables and chairs right here in the courtyard. Copy 'On Governing the Country' ten times. You are not allowed to return to the palace until you finish copying it."
Shen Xingchen was struck dumb: "Ten...ten times? That's ten thousand words! Imperial Uncle! My own uncle! People will die!"
"Then twenty times." Shen Jin said expressionlessly.
Shen Xingchen immediately shut up, tears welling in her eyes, and accepted the pen and ink Ying Yi offered. She leaned over the stone table and began to write furiously, silently reciting in her heart: "I am a wise ruler, I must endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens, fortunes change every thirty years..."
After dealing with the smaller one, his cautious gaze fell upon the larger one.
Jiang Mianmian curled up into a ball, trying to minimize her presence.
You can't see me, you can't see me... I'm just a stone...
"As for the Princess..."
Shen Jin walked up to her, squatted down, and gently lifted her chin with the vine, his gaze lingering on her small, flowery face covered in sweet potato ash and sugar stains.
"Want to write a letter of divorce? Want to wander the world?"
Jiang Mianmian shook her head frantically: "Misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding! Those were lines! I was just rehearsing with the Emperor! Those were lines from a storybook!"
"Yeah?"
Shen Jin chuckled softly, then suddenly leaned down and gently pecked the corner of her mouth, which was covered in sweet potato mash.
Jiang Mianmian's pupils dilated.
【Huh?!】
[They...kissed? In this situation? I was so dirty, how could he even bring himself to kiss me? Did this jerk's obsession with cleanliness run away from home?]
Shen Jin tasted the sweetness of the sweet potato and the softness of her lips.
"The taste is indeed very good."
He stood up, licked his lips, and his eyes became somewhat deep. "Since the princess does not want to copy books, then let's change the punishment."
"Wh...what kind of punishment?" Jiang Mianmian had a bad feeling.
"We only ate half of that sweet potato, what a waste."
Shen Jin pointed towards the main house, "I'm hungry. Since the princess said the sweet potatoes are delicious, then go to the kitchen and roast ten for me yourself. If you don't roast them well, tonight... you'll stay in this courtyard and keep the emperor company while he copies books."
Ten?!
Jiang Mianmian's eyes widened. "Eating ten sweet potatoes in the middle of the night? You'll get bloated! You'll fart so hard the roof will fly off!"
"That's a matter for the Princess."
Shen Jin turned and walked into the house in a very good mood. "Remember, they have to be grilled until they're juicy and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. If you miss one, I'll deduct a month's worth of... KPI bonus."
Upon hearing the words "deduct bonus," Jiang Mianmian instantly sprang into action.
"Grill! I'll grill! I'll go grill right now!"
[Chen Jin, you skinflint! For my money, I'd roast anything, from sweet potatoes to dinosaurs! And when you get indigestion, I'll force-feed you laxatives!]
Watching Jiang Mianmian storm off into the small kitchen, I glanced at the little emperor over there, wiping away tears while copying a book.
Shen Jin stood under the corridor, listening to the two people, one big and one small, cursing (complaining) him in their hearts, but his eyes showed a tenderness he had never seen before.
This cold and impersonal Regent's Palace finally feels a bit like a "home".
Even if this popularity is supported by roasted sweet potatoes and copying books.
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