Chapter 5: then translation of chapter title

Eunuch 5 (Rescue)

That night, Jiang He again sneaked into the Fifth Prince's residence.

He happened to arrive just in time to overhear the Fifth Prince and his subordinates conspiring to divert part of the salt tax from Hai Prefecture into a private fund. Lately, the Fifth Prince's faction has been running short of money for bribing officials; if exposed, they would pin the blame on the Second Prince.

"Your Highness, you are benevolent and righteous!" a retainer said emotionally, "The Jiangnan salt merchants are just a bunch of petty scoundrels; Your Highness is willing to let them off."

They are only diverting part of the tax revenue; it's not like they're extorting money from ordinary civilians. Compared to the other princes, the Fifth Prince is practically the only choice for a wise ruler.

This paragraph is an image paragraph; please visit the correct website, turn off ad-blocking, and exit the browser's reading mode.

The Second and Fifth Princes—one is a genuine selfish villain, the other a hypocrite who mouths benevolence and righteousness.

This paragraph is an image paragraph; please visit the correct website, turn off ad-blocking, and exit the browser's reading mode.

This paragraph is an image paragraph; please visit the correct website, turn off ad-blocking, and exit the browser's reading mode.

When he arrived at the Sixth Prince's residence, Jiang He didn't run into the Sixth Prince holding a small meeting with his subordinates; he sneaked into the Sixth Prince's study and found some interesting things in the hidden room.

The Sixth Prince actually discovered an iron mountain and a silver mountain, and he kept this a secret.

The iron mountain can be used to forge weapons, and mining the silver mountain can buy grain for the army; the Sixth Prince's ambition is obvious—if the old emperor refuses to give him the throne, he will take it himself!

Jiang He had the system photograph all the ledgers, then restored the secret room, not moving even a single hair on the ledger.

Leaving the Sixth Prince's residence, he suddenly glanced at a deserted mansion nearby.

He quickly recalled the map of the capital in his mind, and a look of realization appeared on his face: 'Turns out this place is not far from the abolished crown prince's residence.'

This paragraph is an image paragraph; please visit the correct website, turn off ad-blocking, and exit the browser's reading mode.

Jiang He pondered for a moment, then decided to also pay a visit to the abolished crown prince's residence.

The abolished crown prince's residence was overgrown; if he hadn't known that people actually lived there, Jiang He would have thought it was a graveyard.

The abolished crown prince was deposed five years ago; his concubines either left or scattered, and besides the crown princess and her daughter—who had nowhere else to go and no one dared to take them in—they could only be confined together with the abolished crown prince.

This paragraph is an image paragraph; please visit the correct website, turn off ad-blocking, and exit the browser's reading mode.

Jiang He looked at the rows of vegetables under the moonlight, muttering to himself, his contempt for the emperor growing deeper.

Even though he's been deposed, he's still your son; at the very least, you should put some thought into his food. Just looking at the size of the vegetable plot shows how dire the abolished crown prince's family's food situation is.

However, compared to the crown princess, the abolished crown prince is just a good-for-nothing!

At this moment he was drunk as a skunk, still pouring yellow soup down his own throat, murmuring: 'Father Emperor… why… are you treating me like this?'

Jiang He stood in the shadows, looking down on him from above.

This paragraph is an image paragraph; please visit the correct website, turn off ad-blocking, and exit the browser's reading mode.

The abolished crown prince was born of the Empress, and the old emperor still retains some affection for him, but the emperor is old while the crown prince is young and vigorous; having the grown crown prince constantly looming before him is like a stab to the heart.

The son is heroic and vigorous, like a young lion, seemingly asking him why he refuses to die and let him take the throne.

This paragraph is an image paragraph; please visit the correct website, turn off ad-blocking, and exit the browser's reading mode.

Jiang He has little patience for drunkards, especially when the prince's slightly trembling hand tells him he suffers from severe alcohol poisoning; even if he quit now, he wouldn't live much longer.

This paragraph is an image paragraph; please visit the correct website, turn off ad-blocking, and exit the browser's reading mode.

In the empty, shabby room, under dim light, the crown princess in coarse hemp clothing was teaching a frail little girl to read.

After the little girl learned a little, a discouraged voice sounded.

"Mother, sorry, I'm so stupid! I've read it twenty times and still can't remember."

Jiang He stood outside, nodding silently.

This little girl really isn't very bright; she's read a sentence over and over dozens of times but still can't memorize it, and her reactions are slow—this observer can't help but worry for her; could it be malnutrition stunting her brain development?

However, the crown princess isn't the least bit anxious; she remains calm and gentle, telling the little girl: 'Before, Qiu'er had to recite it fifty times to get it down; now she only needs to recite it thirty-plus times—this is progress.'

The little girl was clearly encouraged and continued to recite repeatedly.

Jiang He, idly lying in a tree and eavesdropping, thought the crown princess would make a great teacher.

Gentle and patient, she doesn't mind her student being slow.

Of course, it's also possible that the only student is her own child, which she can't easily dismiss.

Although the little girl had memorized the text, she obviously felt no sense of accomplishment, only a feeling of defeat.

"Mother, everyone says a woman's virtue lies in having no talent; girls don't need to know so many characters." She said somewhat dejectedly, "Or else I could learn embroidery with you and earn money to buy meat."

At the mention of meat, the little girl's throat made a gurgling sound—clearly she was swallowing saliva.

"Mother, the day after tomorrow is my birthday; I want to eat eggs!" The little girl actually wanted meat more, but meat is too expensive, and Mother would have to embroider for a long time to afford a handkerchief.

"Girls need to have more vision!" the woman in faded coarse hemp clothing sighed, "Mother will definitely find a way to get you out of here! Although your father has been deposed, there are certainly many people who would want to use him for their writings; if Qiu'er were a bit slower, she might be exploited to the bone."

Her voice sounded bitter; as her daughter grows up, the identity of being the abolished crown prince's daughter will make her future life even harder.

The little girl bit her lip, 'Mother, would things be better if I were a boy?' she said sadly, 'Father today got drunk and scolded me again, saying if I were a boy who could carry on the family line, the grandfather emperor might not have abolished him…'

The crown princess gave a cold snort, recalling how the abolished crown prince, in order to have a son, had brought in any and all concubines, fragrant or foul, into the Eastern Palace; she had shed who knows how many tears and endured untold hardships in secret.

But upon seeing her daughter, she quickly replaced the cold smile on her face with a gentle one.

"Mother is very happy that Qiu'er is a girl." She hugged the little girl, stroking her dry, yellow hair, "If Qiu'er were a boy, Mother might have already lost her."

The little girl looked at her, bewildered.

The crown princess didn't want to say more: 'Alright, it's time to sleep; Mother is going to put out the light.'

As she extinguished the lamp, she paid no heed to the drunk-dead abolished crown prince outside; she had long regarded him as a dead man.

The light went out, and the abolished crown prince's residence plunged into total darkness.

The two girls boarded a large ship bound for Green Prefecture, full of anticipation; they had no lingering attachment to the capital, the only thing on their minds being the kind soul who had rescued them from the water.

The original host both hated the imperial family and did not want Liang to fall into war, with the populace displaced; the tasker wants to satisfy the original host, which is still quite difficult.

Although the Seventh and Eighth Princes were born of different mothers, their mothers are sisters from the same clan, and neither is favored by the emperor; there is little conflict between them, their families' interests align, and thus their positions naturally align as well.

When Jiang He left, he buried a small piece of silver in the vegetable plot; those who live earnestly tend to have better luck, and he hoped the little girl would at least be able to eat meat on her birthday.

Their benefactor rescued them, told them to go find Aunt Yin, and then left.

She looked kindly at the two girls she had cured; Heaven had sent her such a precious medical text, precisely so she could help these pitiful girls. Hearing that they had once contemplated suicide, she felt her heart ache.

Take it back, go buy some farmland or a shop—your lives are still long ahead.

"Good person" Jiang He gazed at the moon in the night sky.

The two girls silently prayed, "If we cannot meet again, we will do good deeds and accumulate merit for our benefactor."

Item: System Cat snorted, "Host, your medicine's worn off—look at this complexion, your kidneys are severely deficient… tsk, this unhealthy male-female relationship isn't afraid of getting sick."

Jiang He glanced at the dark circles under the two brothers' eyes and silently shook his head.

They had been sold to the prince's manor by their parents for so many years—not in vain; they had taken the chance to learn quite a lot.

"Thank you, granny; your great kindness and virtue, we sisters will surely repay you in the future!"

At that moment they were at death's door, their eyes stung by the water, unable to see clearly, and they failed to notice what their benefactor looked like.

Those women well understood the reason they were driven out of the prince's manor: medical skills were not advanced enough in this day and age, let alone for a difficult-to-discuss gynecological ailment.

"Don't even think about the path to becoming empress." Jiang He sighed, "After great difficulty we found a decent-quality child, but he's simply too pure; those old foxes will chew him up till nothing remains."

"Granny, although the prince's manor is a disreputable place, we sisters have saved up quite a bit of silver."

Those two girls were not yet eighteen; knowing that someone could treat their 'filthy disease,' they felt as if they had seen hope rising from the depths of despair, and they wept with joy.

After chatting with the system, Jiang He then sought an opportunity to greet the forces secretly left behind by the Jiang family.

Under the light, the two beautiful girls looked ever more lovely and graceful; they produced a large ingot of silver and placed it on the table.

The system, wearing a cat shell, meowed in the moonlight.

Jiang He quickly shook his head; he didn't mind whether the emperor was straight or gay, but he absolutely could not be a love‑brain! An emperor with a love‑brain is too terrifying—the realm cannot be defended.

The night of Liang was too dark, but fortunately the moon was always so bright and so clean.

The two girls exchanged a glance, deciding to wait until they left and then secretly put down the silver.

"Hope I can meet my benefactor again in this lifetime!"

That night, Jiang He happened to run into the Seventh and Eighth Princes together with six or seven women in a massive melee.

The two girls smiled, their eyes full of anticipation for the future.

Before leaving, they hesitated, their faces flushed with embarrassment: "Granny, we accidentally let the sisters in the prince's manor know about our cure; if they later come secretly to see you for treatment…"

Life is hard enough for women; let alone those taught the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, who contract such a disease—it feels as if the sky is collapsing.

"But this will increase the mission's difficulty," the system's mongrel cat yelled in distress, sounding utterly weary of life.

Meow, meow, meow—the workload for rebellion is truly enormous!

Although the woman was called granny, she was clearly under forty, and she shoved the silver back.

"So, the two girls who jumped into the river last month were rescued by a good Samaritan and then went to see Granny Yin."

Item: System Cat's eyes shifted, "I recall the host copied two gynecology medical texts before?" It chuckled, its whiskers twitching, "I wonder who to send it to? If it's gynecology, it should go to a female doctor—there aren't many famous female physicians in the capital, but two kind‑hearted ones stand out: Wan Female Doctor in the east and Granny Yin in the west."

Jiang He pondered, "No rush, let me take another look. To play a king bomb, you first need to calculate the cards in your hand."

The leaders of the group activity all had dark circles; it was obvious they were overindulging in it.

Jiang He spoke coldly: "Last month, another two jumped into the river."

"We've decided to leave the capital and open an embroidery workshop in Lüzhou."

Still playing at being a wise ruler while engaging in homosexual acts?

Of course, if they could, they would never set foot in that filthy place again.

"There are imperial physicians, but the unlucky ones are these women—many suffer from gynecological disease." He chatted with the system in his mind, "The Seventh and Eighth Princes are also ruthless; they only play with them without granting status, and once a disease is discovered they drive these women out."

After visiting several princes' mansions in succession, Jiang He returned to the Huangong, sat on the roof, and chatted with Item: System Cat.

The Seventh and Eighth Princes clung together to survive in the Hougong; this experience let them rare­ly display the fraternal affection uncommon among royalty.

Granny Yin laughed heartily, "As healers, how could we be picky about patients!"

The system hurriedly asked, "Do they still have a way to survive?"

The system brought up the daughter of the deposed crown prince, wanting to take the path to becoming empress.

Jiang He felt his eyes were about to be sullied, and he reflexively stuffed a wad of cotton into his ears.

Night Owl Jiang He continued living the "Prince Observation Daily," busy inside and outside the palace each day.

The brothers were so close that even when with women they felt compelled to share; staying up late to engage in group activities, they used facts to fully prove their kidneys were excellent.

The crown princess would be fine, but he could see that this mother‑daughter pair only wanted to live a quiet life.

"Host, none of these princes are any good! Why don't we consider the enlightened ruler chosen by the first two task‑takers?"

Fortunately, now not only are their bodily ailments cured, but their mental wounds are also beginning to heal, finally giving them hope to live on.

Aside from death, they had no other choice.

Please move the original unaltered content to vinegar. Slip''er, literature#official! website. If already there, please close the ad‑blocking function and exit browser reading mode.