"Dinner's ready!" A eunuch carrying a basket entered the cell as someone opened the door.
A Bao has been imprisoned in the Censorate for two days, receiving her meals as usual. This day marks the end of the three-day agreement A Bao made with Consort De. A Bao has been struggling internally these past few days, still fearful that the Crown Prince might send someone to kill her. The easiest way to do this would be to poison her daily food. But two days have passed, and A Bao has survived unscathed.
"Abao, dinner's ready." Today, the person delivering the meal was a young eunuch with an unfamiliar face.
Abao looked at him and asked, "Where are you from? You're not a food deliveryman from the Censorate!"
The young eunuch hadn't expected A Bao to notice these things. Although the person who brought him food each day was different, A Bao still felt that the person in front of him wasn't from the Censorate. Because the people from the Censorate always treated him with condescension and arrogance, they would never show such a friendly attitude.
"I was sent by the former Crown Prince to deliver your food." The young eunuch quickly knelt down and said to A Bao, "Don't make a sound. The former Crown Prince is currently under investigation and is confined to the palace. However, he still cares about you, sir, and sent me to deliver your food. There is a letter from the Crown Prince inside. Be careful; those people outside only allowed me to deliver food after they received money from the disaster area."
A Bao's heart skipped a beat. His worst fear had come true; the Crown Prince had sent someone after all. He stared at the young eunuch as he carried the dishes out of the food box one by one, and a feeling of dread, like a thousand ants crawling all over him, welled up inside him.
"Alright, Eunuch Bao, the former Crown Prince's letter is under this food box. Please read it yourself. I'll take my leave now. I can't stay any longer," the little eunuch said in a low voice. He naturally didn't know whether the food was poisoned or not; the Crown Prince had only entrusted him with the task of delivering a letter to A Bao and had slipped him a gold ingot before agreeing to come in.
The little eunuch walked away without even checking whether A Bao had eaten or not; at least he had delivered the letter.
Abao stared at the food before him, all of which were his favorite dishes. The Crown Prince actually remembered. He reached into the food box and, sure enough, found a piece of paper inside. Trembling, he picked it up and unfolded it. Familiar handwriting came into view—it was indeed the Crown Prince's handwriting. The handwriting of the person he had served countless times was right before his eyes. Abao was so moved that tears welled up in his eyes.
He began to read the letter he had written to himself, word by word. The letter contained all the harmonious and affectionate moments they had shared in the past.
So, he hadn't forgotten at all. He still remembered everything! Ah Bao thought to himself!
The former crown prince, with incredibly long and drawn-out words, recounted every moment he and A Bao had shared over the years, like a loving couple, going on and on, full of twists and turns. A Bao, reading the former crown prince's "love letter," was so moved that tears streamed down her face, almost soaking the front of her clothes. At the end of the letter, he mentioned her situation and hoped the prince would be able to help, promising to do everything in his power to rescue her.
After reading the long letter, A Bao felt that it was worthwhile for him to stay here for the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince knew the suffering he had endured for him. Thinking of this, A Bao's fear vanished, replaced by a sense of comfort that made him forget he was in prison.
Folding the affectionate letter carefully and tucking it close to her heart, A Bao then began to look at the delicious dishes. They were all meticulously prepared for her by the Crown Prince, and she was determined to enjoy them to the fullest.
Just then, two rats suddenly fell from the roof beam, landing right on the food. Before Abao could even shout, the two rats were already feasting on his meal. Rats in the prison cells are impossible to drive away. If you chase them away, they'll come back for revenge. So, the prisoners usually share their food with the rats. Once they've eaten their fill, they'll naturally leave.
Abao watched the two rats crawling around in the dish, and an extremely disgusting feeling welled up inside him. He felt heartbroken that the delicious food the Crown Prince had prepared for him had now become a feast for rats. However, he dared not shoo them away, and even if he did, he would no longer be able to eat it.
Ah Bao could only suppress his disgust and wait for the rats to finish their meal and leave. The prince's letter was enough to comfort him. Ah Bao leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and thought about his past moments with the prince, feeling a strange warmth in his heart.
After a while, the noise of the mice suddenly interrupted Abao's thoughts. He opened his eyes and was surprised to find that the two mice that had just been feasting were now lying on their stomachs in the food dish, foaming at the mouth.
Abao stared in astonishment at the two rats that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, unable to believe what had happened to them. He picked up a stick from the haystack beside him and used it to poke the rats.
They're dead! Abao poked at them for a long time and found that the rats' bodies were getting harder and harder, which led him to conclude that they were dead.
Abao stared at the two rats in disbelief. His heart sank. He knew immediately that if he had eaten those dishes, he would be the one with the stiff body now.
Abao suddenly felt as if a branding iron had been seared into his heart—the very letter he had been carrying. He frantically pulled the letter from his pocket and threw it to the ground, as if trying to rid himself of something unclean. What he had just cherished so dearly was now a scar on his heart.
He came to kill me! He really wanted to kill me; he didn't even trust me!
Ah Bao had to face this cruel reality: he was just a eunuch, his plaything, but now he had become a stumbling block that Ah Bao had to get rid of.
Thinking about this, A Bao suddenly felt incredibly ridiculous, so ridiculous that he was about to be killed without even realizing it. He struggled to climb to the cell door, grabbed it with both hands, and shouted, "Help! Help!"
Before long, A Bao was taken away from the cell again. He returned to the room where Consort De had made the bet with him and was placed in a chair.
"Boy, have you thought it through?" the fat eunuch asked, looking at A Bao.
“I’ll only tell Consort De.” Abao was unwilling to pay attention to the fat eunuch’s trickery.
"You wait here, I've already sent someone to inform them. Hehe, I say, you've really hit the jackpot, those vegetables were eaten by rats, otherwise you would be the one dead." The fat eunuch seemed to have developed a bit of curiosity about A Bao, because this eunuch was really lucky.
"Perhaps fate is against me!" Abao said with a bitter smile.
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