Chapter 5
In the imperial study.
Prime Minister Ji Ke was reporting to His Majesty on the grain price situation. "Your Majesty, the mastermind behind the grain price hike has been apprehended. I believe this is due to collusion among merchants, and we cannot let them off lightly. So, how about executing the masterminds, the merchants Sun Qian and Qian Gui?"
His Majesty, somewhat absentminded, replied submissively, "Just do as the Prime Minister wishes!"
"Yes, Your Majesty." After listening to it, the prime minister made a mark on the memorial.
His Majesty suddenly realized: "Has he been executed? How come I didn't know about this?"
The prime minister replied casually, "It is my order."
His Majesty was somewhat surprised. The Prime Minister, noticing his Majesty's expression, explained, "Don't your Majesty and I have the same idea?"
"Prime Minister, what I mean is not to fundamentally solve the problem of high food prices and riots caused by people's hunger, but to execute everyone indiscriminately. This..." His Majesty hesitated.
The Prime Minister said with some disdain, "Your Majesty, how can you be so indecisive! If the people don't impose severe punishment for looting the granary this time, they will become more aggressive. Next time, they won't just rob the granary, they will storm the palace. Your Majesty, do you want what happened ten years ago to happen again?"
His Majesty's mind flashed back to the tragic scene of the people storming the palace ten years ago, and his fingers couldn't help but tremble.
The Prime Minister was even more disdainful upon seeing this. "Your Majesty, I am loyal to you, so just take good care of your health and leave the rest to me."
His Majesty was obviously still not recovered from his fear and remained silent.
The Prime Minister continued to ask, "Your Majesty, is there anything else you would like to inquire about?"
Li Yin stood outside the imperial study and listened for a while, then left disappointed. In his eyes, his father was like a puppet, a puppet controlled by the court.
*
After leaving the soldiers' sight, Ji Zeming let go of Luo Sanrong, and the two walked in silence.
Ji Zeming was the first to break the silence: "But, have you always wanted this?"
Luo Sanrong didn't react. She thought he was asking her if she wanted to live her whole life in hiding like this. Just as she was about to answer, she saw Ji Zeming staring at her chest.
Luo Sanrong admitted generously: "Since you have seen through it, then I will no longer hide it. But thank you for saving me."
Ji Zeming said: "This matter is not a capital crime, and I am helping you because I have nothing better to do. However, it would be very difficult to conceal such a thing for a lifetime. What are you going to do next?"
Luo Sanrong smiled without saying anything, and Ji Zeming did not ask any more questions.
When they reached the fork in the road, the two said goodbye and walked for a distance. Ji Zeming suddenly remembered to ask Luo Sanrong's name and told her that the two people who eloped looked very happy. Unexpectedly, Luo Sanrong disappeared in just a short while.
In the dim thatched hut.
Luo Sanrong's mouth was blocked by cloth, and her hands and feet were tied to a chair. She stared at the three ferocious men in front of her with horror.
These three men were the three people that Luo Sanrong borrowed money from at high interest rates in order to treat his master's illness. They pressed their hands firmly and signed on a piece of paper that looked like a receipt.
"What are you doing? What are you going to do? I've already told you that I will pay you back. What are you going to do now?" Luo Sanrong asked loudly.
One of the men, who was obviously the leader of the three, folded the receipt and smiled obscenely: "Don't worry, Luo San, you don't have to pay us back in the future. We plan to send you to a good place."
"Where?" Luo Sanrong had a bad feeling.
The man did not tell her directly, "Don't worry, I promise you that place will definitely be much better than where you are now." After that, he knocked Luo Sanrong unconscious.
When Luo Sanrong woke up, he found himself lying on a simple wooden bed, with an old man sharpening a knife next to him.
Luo Sanrong got out of bed trembling and asked cautiously, "Where is this place?"
The old man gave her a devilish smile: "The Inner Court."
"What is the Imperial Household Department?" Luo Sanying asked again, his bad premonition growing stronger.
"That's the place where men are turned into eunuchs." After saying that, he looked down at Luo Sanrong.
Luo Sanrong was so scared that she fell to the ground and looked down at her lower body, but she didn't have the man's thing!
The old man held a knife in his hand and walked towards her with a sinister smile. Luo Sanrong retreated in fear and knocked on the door, desperately begging for help and begging the old man to spare her life. She said all the nice words she had never said in her life, but the old man still wouldn't let her go.
The old man placed the knife at Luo Sanying's feet and said in what he thought was a gentle tone: "Who said I want to turn you into a eunuch now? You must fast and abstain from water for three days before becoming a eunuch." After that, he picked up the wine jug, took a sip of wine, and walked away staggeringly.
Luo Sanrong looked at the rooftop speechlessly: "What about eating and drinking? I can't care about that right now. I... I don't have that stuff at all!"
But this was just what she was thinking, and she didn't dare say it out loud, otherwise she might be sold to a brothel by those three bullies. Luo Sanrong couldn't help but cry silently in her heart...
Three days passed, and Luo Sanying was tied to a chair by the old man with a rope, and could not stop crying.
The old man couldn't stand it anymore and said, "How can you, a grown man, cry so much? Don't worry, my knife is very sharp. Back then..." When it came to this topic, the old man couldn't help showing off. He drank and said, "Back then, my skills were the best in the whole capital. Others might only survive 3 out of 10 people, but I could survive 6..."
He didn't notice at all that Luo Sanrong had broken free from the rope and was sitting next to the old man, supporting him and getting him drunk.
The old man realized that the topic had gone too far and was about to return to the main topic. He had just picked up the knife when he fell headfirst onto the table.
The next day, the old man woke up and found his knife covered in blood. Luo Sanrong lay weakly on the couch, breathing faintly. The old man walked over to her and felt her breath. Luo Sanrong woke up and said weakly, "Sir, your skills... are indeed unparalleled... It really doesn't hurt at all..."
The old man looked at Luo Sanrong's weak appearance and felt guilty. He lifted her quilt and found that Luo Sanrong was covered in blood. He thought he had succeeded when he was drunk.
The old man said considerately: "You should take a rest first! We just finished, everyone is doing this..." Then he left the room guiltily.
Luo Sanrong forced himself to sit up, lifted the quilt, and looked at his blood-stained leg. This was really his own blood, but the wound was on his leg.
Last night, Luo Sanrong cruelly stabbed the knife into his own thigh to disguise the wound and deceived the old man, so the blood was real and the weakness was also real.
She looked at the door and found that the old man had gone far away. She endured the pain, got up, washed, bandaged her wounds, and adjusted her bra to prevent others from noticing that she was a woman.
As he sorted things out, he recalled what his master had once said to him: "You'd better go far away. I really don't want to see you again." He smiled bitterly, thinking that he would soon be entering the palace as a eunuch. This would surely make his master very happy.
*
Princess Ming'an was deeply depressed after not receiving a letter from Young Master Zheng. She refused to eat or drink, her teeth itching with anger, and she worried that something had happened that delayed her reply. The servants around her were deeply worried because they saw the princess alternately happy, angry, worried, and depressed...
She had no choice but to report to the prince. The prince came to Princess Ming'an's palace and first taught her a lesson, saying that it was very stupid to not eat or drink and harm her body for a man. Then he called the servants around him in, each of them holding a scroll in their hands.
Princess Ming'an was a little confused: "Brother, what are you going to do?"
Li Yin picked up the soup in front of her and said to her, "Eat first, and I'll tell you after you finish eating."
Princess Ming'an obediently picked up the bowl and started eating.
After eating, she realized that this was the most outstanding man in the entire Xia'an Kingdom chosen for her by her brother, and he promised that as long as she liked him, her brother would do everything he could to bring him to her.
“…”
Luo Sanrong had recovered and was about to follow the main force into the palace. She wanted to escape, but the old man told her, "The palace has a complete list of eunuchs who have chosen to enter the palace. If you fail to enter the palace on time, the government will sentence you for fraud."
Luo Sanrong gritted his teeth and endured the first day, but heard even more shocking news from his companions.
It turns out that there will be another inspection in the palace to check whether the thing has been completely cut off.
Hearing this, Luo Sanrong was shocked and became even more determined to escape. After escaping, he would wander around or beg, but he would not just wait to die.
So, taking advantage of the dark and windy night, Luo Sanrong packed her bags and tried to sneak out while everyone was asleep. However, while sneaking out of the palace, she ran into an unexpected and formidable enemy...
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