Chapter 982: His Highness the Heir Prince

“Auntie, one bowl of tofu pudding.”

“Coming right up, little miss. Here you are. Bring the bowl back when you have time and I won’t charge you a deposit.”

“Thank you, Auntie.”

The woman selling tofu pudding looked at the adorable little girl in fine clothes standing before her and, in a rare burst of generosity, waived the bowl deposit.

In the early years, practically every business in eastern Jin had belonged to Prince Pingxi Residence. No matter which trade one traced upward, the owner at the top was the Residence.

Over the past few years, the Residence had gradually opened portions of the economy so ordinary people could enter trades and run businesses of their own.

Food stalls were among the most common.

And because eastern Jin’s population consisted so heavily of migrants and people from different ethnic backgrounds, its street food came in every imaginable flavor.

After all... no matter the dynasty or the age, the easiest business for ordinary people to enter was food.

Of course... it was also one of the easiest businesses to fail at.

Even so, once the number of hawkers and small merchants along the streets increased, Fengxin City—once almost excessively solemn and severe—finally gained a little more smoke and warmth of ordinary life.

Big Girl held a bowl of tofu pudding in one hand.

She passed the half-eaten candied hawthorn skewer in her other hand to a maid beside her, picked up the spoon, and took a mouthful.

“Mm~”

She swallowed.

Then smacked her lips.

“Terrible.”

At once, another maid reached out, accepted the bowl, and began eating it.

Big Girl’s father loved food.

Quite a few fashionable dishes now popular throughout the realm were said to have been things her father originally tinkered together.

Naturally, the kitchens of Prince Pingxi Residence ranked among the finest beneath Heaven.

And they did not insist every meal be lavish with rare delicacies and enormous fish and meat.

Quite often, simply to suit the Prince’s tastes, the kitchens prepared small street-style dishes and snacks.

For Big Girl, who had eaten tofu pudding at home... the stuff sold outside might look identical.

But it did not taste remotely the same.

Still, the household rules of Prince Pingxi Residence were strict.

Wasting food was forbidden.

So if Big Girl stopped eating something, one of the maids beside her would immediately finish it and return the bowl afterward.

“Little Brother. Little Brother.”

Big Girl called toward Zheng Lin.

Zheng Lin was walking ahead.

Behind him stood a very tall figure dressed in black beneath a cloak.

Zheng Lin turned and looked at his elder sister.

“Let’s go drink tea.”

Big Girl hurried forward and linked one arm through her brother’s.

“I heard them saying Red Auntie had a huge fight with her husband not long ago. Apparently, it was because he went to a Grandpa Teahouse for tea.”

Zheng Lin rolled his eyes at his sister without hesitation.

“If Second Mother finds out I took you to a place like that...”

“My mother wouldn’t beat you.”

“She would tell Father.”

“Father wouldn’t beat you either.”

“Father would tell my mother.”

“Uh...”

Among the businesses the Residence had opened to private operation were Red Tents.

The highest-end Red Tents in Fengxin City were still operated under Residence backing.

But now a number of smaller private establishments had begun doing business as well.

Unfortunately for them, the truly beautiful and talented women still preferred the Red Tents with Prince Pingxi Residence behind them.

So the private establishments tended to be staffed mostly by women who were older and past their prime.

Running a business in Fengxin City required obtaining a license from the appropriate yamen.

And licenses for Red Tents were particularly troublesome and slow to approve.

So many of the little private establishments skirted the rules by registering themselves as “teahouses.”

Because the women inside were mostly older matrons, many of their customers were older men too.

Thus, people jokingly called such establishments “Grandpa Teahouses.”

Red Auntie was one of the laundry women working inside Prince Pingxi Residence.

Women gathered together always had private gossip to chew over.

Somehow, the Residence’s Princess had overheard it.

Zheng Lin knew perfectly well that if the family discovered he had taken his elder sister somewhere like that, his sister would be completely fine.

He, on the other hand... would not.

“Then let’s go drink proper tea,” Big Girl said. “We can listen to stories. Those places are lively too.”

Zheng Lin frowned.

He had no interest in improper teahouses.

But truthfully... he had even less interest in proper ones.

Because storytellers always told the stories their customers most wanted to hear.

And what customers wanted to hear most... were stories about his father.

Listen to enough of them and you would begin feeling, for no reason at all, that these strangers somehow understood your own father better than you did.

You might even develop the illusion that perhaps you had two fathers.

One father spent his days reclining at home.

The other was forever outside slaughtering enemies, specifically seeking out hidden masters and mysterious experts so he could fight them for three days and three nights at a time, collapsing mountains and making rivers flow backward.

Seeing that Little Brother still did not want to go, Big Girl pouted.

“That won’t do. We finally got permission to come out and breathe. We can’t just turn around and go home already.”

Zheng Lin very much wanted to remind his elder sister that the reason it had become so difficult for the two of them to leave Prince Pingxi Residence... was entirely because a certain someone had run away from home last time.

At the thought...

Zheng Lin lifted his head and looked at the figure standing behind him.

By generation... this man counted as his grandfather.

Whenever Zheng Lin left the Residence, Grandpa would wake from his coffin and follow him without taking a single step away.

Zheng Lin had tried sneaking over the Residence wall before.

After Grandpa followed him out, Zheng Lin attempted to use his movement techniques to shake him off.

Then...

Grandpa swung one fist.

Zheng Lin went flying.

Even with the terrifying constitution he had possessed since childhood, that single punch still made him vomit blood.

Zheng Lin had experienced first-hand the love grandparents showed the generation below.

In the end, he could only return home obediently and nurse his injuries.

As for his elder sister...

Second Mother had issued a different order.

If Big Girl ever ran away from home again, then every maid and matron who had served her since childhood—along with every member of their families—would be implicated and executed.

Even Big Girl did not dare test her own mother’s bottom line.

So the two children had remained obediently inside the Residence for a long time.

Only now had they finally begged their way into one outing for fresh air.

Even this exception had come only because their father had just won a great victory and Second Mother was in an excellent mood.

“Then let’s go to Gourd Temple and poke the paper man,” Big Girl suggested.

“Fine...”

Big Girl immediately called to one of the maids beside her.

The maid nodded and hurried off to report.

A while later... she returned with approval.

“Let’s go, Little Brother!”

Big Girl grabbed her brother and pulled him out through the north gate.

Before they arrived, a force from the City Patrol Office had already moved ahead and cleared Gourd Temple.

By the time the two young masters reached the temple entrance, many people had gathered outside on both sides.

Normally, the two children were long accustomed to this sort of road-clearing and crowd control.

Their father sometimes enjoyed “sharing joy with the people.”

At other times... he wanted peace and solitude.

But today was different.

Because many of the people being held outside by the armored City Patrol soldiers were dressed in mourning clothes.

“Ask what happened,” Big Girl ordered.

“Yes, Princess.”

Before long, the maid returned.

“Replying to Your Highness, the casualty rolls from last night reached Fengxin City.”

News of the great victory itself had arrived much earlier.

Fengxin City and the front communicated almost every day.

But the accounting of soldiers killed in battle always lagged behind.

At least two rounds of verification were required before the rolls could be confirmed and sent home.

And before those counts could even begin, the army still had to establish camps, organize defenses, and deal with countless other matters after battle.

Big Girl pressed her lips together.

She looked toward her brother.

“Little Brother, what should we do?”

The people who had come to the temple today were families from Fengxin City whose relatives had died in battle.

They had come ahead of the formal rites to burn incense.

According to eastern Jin custom, after every major battle, a large collective burial ceremony would eventually be held.

“I don’t think it is right to keep them blocked outside,” Zheng Lin said.

“Mm. I think so too. But since we already came...”

“Elder Sister, you decide.”

“Good Little Brother.”

“His Highness the Heir Prince and Her Highness the Princess have arrived!”

In truth, the people outside the temple had already guessed someone from Prince Pingxi Residence must be coming.

Only members of the Residence had the privilege of ordering soldiers to clear Gourd Temple and maintain order before they arrived.

No matter how high-ranking another official might be... he did not possess that qualification.

But the moment people heard that the visitors were the Heir Prince and the Princess... excitement appeared in countless eyes.

In eastern Jin... the Prince was the Emperor.

And the Heir Prince... was the Crown Prince.

“May His Highness the Heir Prince live a thousand years! May Her Highness the Princess live a thousand years!”

Everyone dropped to their knees.

Big Girl and Zheng Lin walked side by side.

At the temple entrance, Big Girl stopped and ordered the attendants around them to fetch incense.

Then... the Heir Prince and the Princess stood to the right of the temple gate, incense sticks in their hands.

Once the City Patrol soldiers were ordered to lift the cordon and allow people through, every person dressed in mourning white received three sticks of incense from either the Heir Prince or the Princess.

In this age... it was an extraordinary honor.

Many people received the incense with tears in their eyes.

Then they entered the temple and placed the sticks inside the censer.

Because everyone had to move in orderly lines and could not delay those behind them, after completing their offering the commoners exited through the other side of the gate.

There... they would kneel again and kowtow toward the two noble children.

There was still crying.

There was still grief.

But eastern Jin’s people—especially its Standard Households—possessed a certain openness toward death in battle that people elsewhere rarely shared.

Eastern Jin itself had been carved out through killing and war.

Elsewhere in All Xia, people already considered the Yan martial and therefore called them barbarians.

But eastern Jin had been rebuilt almost entirely from wasteland by outsiders under the Prince’s leadership.

Its martial spirit... was the fiercest anywhere in Great Yan.

There was also another reason.

Eastern Jin had long ago established a mature system for caring for the families of men killed in battle.

No household needed to worry that a soldier’s death would leave the rest of the family unable to survive.

For that reason... the three incense sticks that had passed through the hands of these two little nobles carried an extraordinary meaning.

To put it broadly... perhaps it was simply the old saying:

A man will die for one who truly understands him.

Many elderly people had brought children with them to offer incense.

While wiping away tears, they would motion for a grandson to kneel and kowtow beside them.

What they said was usually no more than two or three simple sentences.

Plain.

Repetitive.

And yet extraordinarily sincere.

Something like:

Child, your father died following the Prince into battle. He did not shame us.

When you grow up, follow the Young Prince into battle too.

And do not shame us either.

There were many people.

So the incense offering lasted from noon until dusk.

Afterward...

Gourd Temple closed its doors.

Big Girl immediately began shouting that she was starving.

Monk Liaofan personally brought over the vegetarian meal.

A large bowl of white rice.

Green vegetable leaves spread over the top.

Big Girl stirred the leaves aside with her chopsticks.

Underneath... were braised pork, lion’s-head meatballs, and diced chicken.

She raised her head and looked at Liaofan.

Liaofan smiled faintly.

Big Girl ate quickly.

When you were truly hungry, you stopped caring what food was in front of you.

Everything became delicious.

Zheng Lin ate too.

But he ate much more quietly than his elder sister.

He glanced toward her.

His elder sister’s constitution was far weaker than his.

That was something decided at birth.

And because she had carried Longyuan on her back since childhood, she would inevitably walk the path of a swordswoman in the future.

There was no need for her to temper her body as aggressively.

So standing for most of the day, repeatedly bending slightly to hand incense to mourners... was genuinely exhausting for her.

Zheng Lin knew that since childhood...

Father had always loved Elder Sister most.

People rarely looked for the problem in themselves.

Zheng Lin certainly was not going to spend time considering exactly how unlikeable a son he himself might be.

Even so... he had never once envied how thoroughly Father doted on Elder Sister.

There was something Elder Sister did not know.

When she had gone to Second Mother to ask permission for today’s outing...

Zheng Lin had been outside.

And because he had recently advanced another Grade, his hearing had improved somewhat.

Even through the courtyard wall... he had heard Elder Sister’s conversation with Second Mother.

Elder Sister had said many people would probably come to Gourd Temple today to burn incense for relatives killed in battle.

She wanted to bring Little Brother with her.

Little Brother was the Heir Prince.

He would inherit Father’s princely seat in the future.

He ought to go.

Second Mother, who had never dared relax the restrictions on either child leaving the Residence, had agreed only after hearing that.

After all... whatever else might be said... she had no reason and no right to stop the Residence’s Heir Prince from gathering popular support.

And in order to help him gather that support...

Elder Sister had stood beside him for most of the day.

Truthfully...

Zheng Lin possessed no great obsession with inheriting some princely seat.

He had once told Blind Uncle exactly that.

Then Blind Uncle used psychic force to flip him over more than twenty times in succession.

Afterward, he blasted Zheng Lin with enough psychic force to make blood run from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

Finally...

Blind Uncle brought his face very close to Zheng Lin’s and spoke with the gentlest smile imaginable.

“You will be very strong. You will certainly become very strong. But can you become stronger than tens of thousands of soldiers?”

Zheng Lin still refused to accept the logic inside his heart.

But he no longer dared say things like *I don’t care about the princely seat.*

To outsiders... and even to his elder sister, Second Mother, Third Mother, and the others... the gentlemen of Prince Pingxi Residence seemed to have a truly special fondness for him.

But this particular sort of “love” was not something ordinary people could endure.

Still...

Zheng Lin had never hated or resented them.

After being tormented, beaten, or disciplined, he could still sit there with blood running from his nose, drinking and eating beside them.

The uncles had once told him that he was the same kind of existence they were.

And Zheng Lin... thought so too.

Old Monk Kongyuan brought over soup.

He said it was tofu soup.

The broth was excellent.

The tofu was fresh and tender.

There were not many pieces of tofu, though.

For some reason... there was rather more fish serving as the “garnish.”

Once they had eaten and drunk their fill...

Zheng Lin wanted to ask whether his elder sister was ready to go home.

After all...

Grandpa was still waiting outside the temple.

Big Girl, however, seemed full of energy.

She said they were too tired to properly stab the paper man today, but could at least play with him for a while.

The paper man was one of the siblings’ toys.

When common people spoke of “stabbing together a paper man,” they meant constructing one.

The two children... actually stabbed theirs.

Ever since they were very young, when Father and Mother first brought them into the temple, both children had felt an indescribable dislike toward that moving paper man.

Later, whenever they had a chance to visit Gourd Temple... they used him for entertainment.

It was difficult to call that cruelty.

Perhaps it was simply the cycle of karma.

Good earned good.

Evil earned evil.

After all, the Daoist had once entered Fengxin City while the two children were about to be born and tried to cause trouble.

Now... he was merely repaying that debt to the pair of them.

Today, however... the paper man had changed bodies.

One glance was enough to tell that this new shell was finely made and expensive.

Gourd Temple itself sheltered a number of crippled veterans who helped with chores.

In their spare time, they also made paper ingots and simple paper effigies to sell.

But the finest work usually came from Fengxin City’s funeral shops.

This body looked especially impressive.

It had been made in the image of an official.

It even sat properly in a chair.

“Chu has lost. Unless your father suddenly decides to rebel against Yan, the momentum of Yan has already reached completion.”

One child picked up a stone.

The other picked up a small wooden stick.

Neither reacted much to what the paper man said.

Every time they came to stab him for fun, the paper man liked screaming while saying strange, half-understandable things.

They were used to it.

Seeing that his opening statement had failed completely to interrupt the siblings’ rhythm... the paper man panicked.

“I know those beasts! They believe they have glimpsed Heaven’s secrets. Now that the greater momentum has developed this way, they probably no longer have the courage to step out personally and oppose it. But they will almost certainly use underhanded methods! For example... you! For example... your elder sister!”

Zheng Lin raised one hand and stopped Big Girl.

The paper body swelled slightly.

Then deflated.

As though it had just released a long sigh of relief.

“There is a group of people. They survive like vermin inside the shadows, yet claim themselves bearers of light and executors of Heaven’s will. They cannot do much to your father anymore. Your father now carries the blessing of royal qi. Even ordinary Rulers do not possess an aura as deep as his. Just like Master Cang in those years... he could not act directly against an Emperor. But he could...”

The paper man stopped.

“So perhaps... you two will become their targets.”

Zheng Lin smiled.

“We are very safe.”

“Not necessarily.”

“Aren’t you yourself an example?” Big Girl asked.

“There are many of us.”

Big Girl’s eyes lit up in delight.

“So in the future, we’ll have lots of paper men to play with?”

“...”

The paper man went silent.

The two children did not feel much about the warning.

Since childhood, they had known they were extraordinarily noble.

They had also known they were in danger.

At the same time... since childhood, both of them had been stronger than ordinary children.

Stronger even than most ordinary adults.

And the protection surrounding them was more than enough to make them feel secure.

“I can feel it. They will act against you,” the paper man almost roared.

“Then I simply won’t run away from home anymore,” Big Girl said.

“Do you intend to hide forever?”

“Father won’t let them hide forever,” Big Girl answered with complete certainty.

“I can protect you,” the paper man said.

Big Girl laughed.

Zheng Lin laughed.

Even Monk Liaofan, standing behind them... could not help laughing too.

“I really can!”

The paper man felt insulted.

Then it seemed to deflate a little.

Its voice lowered.

“I can help your father... find them.”

Crash!

The paper body suddenly gained a huge hole through its middle.

In the next instant... another paper figure lying nearby abruptly moved.

Clearly, the Daoist had transferred himself into a fresh body.

He shouted furiously:

“What was that for! What was that for!”

Zheng Lin tilted his head.

He looked at the new paper man.

“If we find them ahead of time... wouldn’t that be boring?”

“I can agree to your offer.”

A woman’s voice suddenly came from behind them.

Big Girl turned.

Her face lit up immediately.

She rushed over.

“First Mother! I missed you so much.”

“Good girl.”

Siniang picked Big Girl up and pinched her cheeks.

“First Mother, you’re back! What about Father?”

“Your father is still at the front. I came back first to hand over some matters. And to ask whether your mother wants to return home and visit her family.”

“Mm? Really? Mother said the road home used to be difficult.”

“The road has been repaired now,” Siniang said.

Zheng Lin, who was still standing nearby, straightened himself as much as possible.

He even tried to imitate Big Girl and force a delighted smile onto his face.

“Mother. You’re back.”

Siniang carried Big Girl over toward her son.

Bang!

Her son was kicked flying.

He crashed beside the well.

“If we find them ahead of time... wouldn’t that be boring?”

Siniang walked over again.

Zheng Lin’s body tensed instinctively.

He wanted to run.

But a strand of silk shot from his own mother’s hand, wrapped around his ankle, and dragged him straight back.

Bang!

His mother planted one foot on his face.

She lowered her head and spat:

“Do you have any idea how much that garbage you just said sounded like one of those villains who talks too damned much? And do you know how those people usually die? The same way you will. They die of stupidity! I worked myself half to death giving birth to you. I would rather you fall into that well and drown right now than watch you get yourself killed because you’re an idiot!”

“First Mother, Little Brother knows he was wrong.”

Big Girl hurriedly pleaded for him.

Hum!

The silk line pulled.

Zheng Lin was lifted from the ground and suspended directly in front of Siniang.

“Mother...”

“Do you know you were wrong?”

“I wasn’t—”

Smack!

Big Girl immediately understood what he needed.

She rushed to explain:

“First Mother, Little Brother was imitating Father. Father likes saying things like that when the mood is right too. Little Brother was imitating Father!”

The moment Zheng Lin heard this explanation... he panicked.

“I wasn’t.”

Smack!

“As if he’s even worthy of me—”

Smack!

“I was wrong.”

Smack!

“...”

Zheng Lin fell silent.

Both cheeks of the pitiful child were covered in palm prints.

Big Girl closed her eyes.

Scenes like this had been common inside the family for years.

But she still could not bear watching.

Besides...

Big Girl felt that First Mother, having just returned from the battlefield, seemed to be hitting slightly harder than usual.

That final slap...

Little Brother almost seemed to have suffered it unfairly.

But in truth...

“Oh? You’ve grown capable, haven’t you? Mother almost let you muddle through without noticing. While all of us were away at the front, you were actually wearing down the seal on your own body?”

Horror immediately appeared on Zheng Lin’s face.

He knew perfectly well that everything before this had only been the ordinary daily game of mother-and-son family affection.

But now that *this* had been discovered... things might actually become...

“Mother, the seal loosened by itself. I advanced another Grade not long ago, and it simply loosened.”

Bang!

Zheng Lin was slammed face-first into the ground.

His situation looked incomparably miserable.

Siniang turned and looked toward the paper man.

“We let you drag out your miserable existence until today. Only now do we discover you might still possess the tiniest bit of use. Do this next matter well, and we will find a way to rebuild a proper body for you. Fail... and you disappear completely.”

“Understood. Understood.”

The paper man agreed immediately.

Then...

Siniang carried Big Girl ahead.

Behind her, silk threads dragged her biological son along the ground.

When they crossed the temple threshold... her son even flipped over from the bump.

At the entrance, Siniang saw Sha Tuo Queshi standing there in black robes.

Her voice softened somewhat.

“You live alone. It must be lonely. Starting today, this boy can stay in your room with you and keep you company until his father and uncles return from the front.”

Sha Tuo Queshi raised one hand.

A mass of force condensed.

Zheng Lin rose from the ground, was drawn into his grasp, then tossed over one shoulder.

Sha Tuo Queshi turned.

And began walking toward the city gate.

They entered the city.

Entered Prince Pingxi Residence.

Went into the rear courtyard.

Then descended into the underground secret chamber.

Sha Tuo Queshi placed Zheng Lin atop the coffin.

Despite already being bruised and swollen all over...

Zheng Lin immediately sat upright.

His terrifying constitution was absolutely genuine.

“Grandpa, don’t worry. I’m very loyal. I will never tell Mother or the others that you were using baleful qi to help me wear down the seal. But you heard her just now. Mother has already noticed. When Uncle Ming and Blind Uncle come back, they’re definitely going to reinforce the seal again. So tonight, Grandpa, put in a little more effort. Help me grind the seal away completely. Then before they get back, I can—”

Sha Tuo Queshi stretched one hand backward.

Rumble!

The huge iron door of the secret chamber crashed down.

And under the pull of his qi... the lock dropped into place from the outside.

“Hrrh...”

A hoarse noise emerged from Sha Tuo Queshi’s throat.

Clearly... before this, Grandpa had merely been doting on his grandson.

Helping wear away the seal so the boy could enjoy a little more freedom to play?

No great problem.

But after hearing the paper man’s warning... and seeing Siniang’s reaction... the nature of the matter had changed completely.

The iron door had fallen.

Inside and outside were entirely cut off from one another.

Unless someone outside opened it with enormous strength, Zheng Lin had no ability to escape from within.

Even Sha Tuo Queshi himself could not open it.

Yes, this was where he lived.

But at the deepest level beneath them... someone else was still being suppressed.

Zheng Lin sighed.

He understood that Grandpa would no longer help him.

Still... he asked with concern:

“Grandpa, do you still have many offerings left in here?”

“Uh...”

Sha Tuo Queshi’s body froze.

He seemed to realize that he had forgotten something very important.

The people who normally came here most often to make offerings and speak with him... were Zheng Fan and Tian Tian.

But both father and son were at the front.

And this chamber was a forbidden area of Prince Pingxi Residence.

So no one had come to make offerings for a long time.

His Highness the Heir Prince, suddenly realizing something might be very wrong, immediately jumped down from the coffin.

He rummaged through a large pile of candles and incense burners.

At last... he found one plate of dried tofu that had already turned black with age.

“Grandpa... what am I supposed to eat?”

[End of Chapter 982]