I want to die!

Chapter 15 Double Pupils

"You want me to listen to you?" Zhou Chen, the hostage, hesitated for a moment, a hint of suspicion on his face:

"You were hiding naked in my bed, how can I trust you?"

The timing of Zhou Xing's appearance was too mysterious.

She appeared on his bed as a naked corpse, then woke up and talked to him... Zhou Chen, the hostage, was naturally suspicious.

after all.

Both the envoys and guards outside the door, and the eunuch inside, were from the Great Mang Dynasty.

Knock knock knock.

The knocking on Zhou Chen's door started again, this time more urgent.

"Your Highness, tonight's torchlight inspection, Your Majesty Zhang Kui," the guard outside the door said in a deep voice.

"Is Your Highness well? If not, I shall take my leave... If so, Your Highness, please speak."

In the room separated by a door, the hostage Zhou Chen and "Little Li" Zhou Xing, dressed as a eunuch, stared at each other.

"I'm ready to go to bed," Zhou Chen, the hostage, replied.

Go check elsewhere.

The voice outside the door remained silent: "Your Highness, this small post station has been in disrepair for many years. If the stove inside is not properly inspected, there may be danger."

"Are you deaf? I said I'm going to bed." Zhou Chen raised his voice.

"According to tomorrow's itinerary, we need to get up early to enter Qingshui County. Can you afford to take responsibility for delaying us?"

There was a moment of silence in the voice outside the door: "...Your subject takes his leave."

The footsteps faded into the distance, and silence returned outside the door.

Zhou Chen, the proton, glanced at Zhou Xing with a hint of smugness:

That settles it.

"After all, I am a prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Even though I am now a hostage in the Mang Kingdom, I am not someone who can be easily manipulated."

"Does a mere guard dare to barge into my room?"

Zhou Xing remained silent for a while, then sighed:

"Does Your Highness really think it's that simple?"

His current status is that of a eunuch serving a hostage prince; the two are of vastly different statuses, so his words carry little weight.

"What else?" Zhou Chen, the hostage, merely sneered.

"What are you plotting, hiding naked on my bed? Tell me the truth!"

"Otherwise, I will call for guards immediately."

Zhou Xing raised his hand to his forehead, but did not answer.

At that moment, the guard's voice suddenly came from outside the door again:

"Your Highness, it's so late. Who are you talking to in your room so late?"

Zhou Chen felt a chill run down his spine. Judging from the location of the sound, the guards outside the door hadn't left at all; Chun Chun had just been pretending to be him.

"Your Highness, there are strange noises coming from inside the house. It seems an outsider has broken in. To ensure Your Highness's safety, I have no choice but to apologize."

boom!

After saying that, the guard slammed his body heavily against the door, causing the wooden door to shake violently and groan, the bolt almost breaking off.

Prince Zhou Chen's eyes widened; he truly couldn't believe the guards of the Great Mang delegation dared to be so disrespectful...

boom!boom!

In no time, the door was smashed down, and a group of guards with swords squeezed in.

Zhang Kui, the tall and imposing commander of the guards, glanced at the empty bed immediately, a fleeting look of surprise on his face.

Then he turned his head to look at the other side of the room.

But then they saw Prince Zhou Chen sitting at his desk, with the eunuch Xiao Li standing behind him, massaging his shoulders.

"You... Little Li?" The voice of Zhang Kui, the commander of the guards, was filled with barely concealed astonishment.

"Your Highness is about to retire for the night. I'm giving you a shoulder massage; you must be tired from your long journey from Nanzhou." Zhou Xing glanced sideways at Zhang Kui, the commander of the guards.

"But you barged in, broke down the door, and disturbed His Highness. Aren't you afraid of His Highness's wrath?"

After saying that, he squeezed Zhou Chen's shoulder a little harder.

Only then did Zhou Chen, the hostage, turn around, his face showing obvious panic, and point at the guards:

"You...you dare to..."

"...Your Highness was only concerned about your safety. Since there is nothing else, I will take my leave." Guard Zhang Kui bowed apologetically, instructed the guards to replace the door with a new one, and then took his leave.

Meanwhile, Zhou Chen, the hostage, was still in shock and didn't seem to be acting at all.

He truly hadn't expected that a mere guard would dare to force his way into his room; he hadn't yet mentally processed the change in status from prince to hostage.

What terrified him even more was that what Zhou Xing said was true.

The guards clearly came in with the intention of "catching him in the act," their first glance upon entering being at his bed, genuinely prepared to witness his "rape and murder of the eunuch."

The thought of dying before even entering the capital caused Zhou Chen's anger to subside, replaced by an unconcealable fear.

"I have a plan, Your Highness, would you like to hear it?" Zhou Xing said at the opportune moment.

"There are clearly treacherous individuals within the delegation plotting to harm Your Highness, and they're resorting to despicable means, framing Your Highness for the rape and murder of a eunuch, aiming to ruin your reputation!"

"...Tell me, tell me," Zhou Chen said blankly.

You can't learn something just by being taught it; you can learn something by being taught it in a short time.

With the help of his guards, Zhou Xing has initially gained the trust of Prince Zhou Chen of Southern Zhou.

"Although the thieves' aim was to assassinate His Highness, I was merely caught in the crossfire and became a victim," Zhou Xing said in a deep voice.

"But I had practiced a miraculous skill called 'Turtle Breathing Technique,' which allowed me to fake my death and escape their murderous plot."

"The thief will surely be surprised to see that I am still alive."

"Once we enter Qingshui County tomorrow, I request Your Highness's permission to take leave to return home and visit my family. This will naturally lure the enemy out of their hole."

"Of course, of course. It's good to lure the snake out of its hole. If we really catch the thief, I will naturally report to Emperor Taichang of the Great Mang." Zhou Chen said hurriedly.

Zhou Xing was speechless; he was still thinking about submitting the report...

A hostage prince from a country was framed for "raping and murdering a eunuch" during his mission, and it's hard to say what the root cause of this incident was.

Is it a high-ranking official of the Great Mang Dynasty who wants to sabotage the diplomatic relations between the two countries, or is there some other backer...? It's hard to say what the consequences would be if we rashly confronted him.

According to the original owner's memories, although Prince Zhou Chen of Southern Zhou was born into a noble family, rumors in the streets said that he was all show and no substance, a cowardly and timid good-for-nothing.

"I think Your Highness could inform someone you trust first before making any plans," Zhou Xing suggested.

"Alright then, I'll do as you say," Zhou Chen said.

As we spoke, the night grew deeper.

Zhou Xing naturally couldn't stay overnight in the Southern Zhou prince's room, and quickly took his leave.

But as he walked out the door, he always vaguely felt a gaze watching him from behind.

The subtle feeling of being watched only disappeared when I returned to the servants' room downstairs.

"Li Yingcai, the eunuch who has been away from home for ten years?" The identity of the person he transmigrated into this time made Zhou Xing exclaim that it was mysterious.

Character: Li Yingcai (Elite)

Ability: [Chrysanthemum Manual (Second Level)] A secret court martial art known for its speed, said to have been created by a eunuch from the previous dynasty, the Great Zhou. To practice this skill, one must first castrate oneself.

Inherent Abilities: [Exhibitionist (Blue)], [Unyielding (Blue)]

Last wish: [A true man]

In my youth, I dreamed of traveling the world with a sword, but unfortunately, in middle age I entered the palace as a eunuch to practice the "Chrysanthemum Manual," which can be considered as fulfilling my dream of becoming a knight-errant.

I don't want to be a father who runs away from home anymore; I want to be a real man in front of my family.

Pursuits: Family, a chivalrous dream

Yangshou: 7 days

......................

Unlike a clear and explicit will, the original owner's pursuit only represents a vague behavioral tendency.

Performing behaviors that align with this behavioral tendency can be seen as another indicator of improving the completion rate of the evaluation.

But what made Zhou Xing even more uneasy was that, in Li Xuanqing's memory, Li's father, who abandoned his wife and children, was actually an elite.

It is said that Li Yingcai also dreamed of being a chivalrous knight-errant when he was young, but he failed in martial arts and was even shot as a drummer at the archery range; he also failed in literature, while his second brother Li Yingjie was at least a scholar, but Li Yingcai had no official rank at all.

He was inept at both literary and martial arts, so he went into business and successfully squandered his entire fortune.

If I had to pick the only successful thing I did in my life, it would be successfully entering the palace and becoming a eunuch.

Logically speaking, when the poor really can't make ends meet, they have to sell their sons and daughters; selling their sons to become eunuchs, and selling their daughters to go to brothels.

Li Yingcai neither sold his daughter nor his son.

He sold himself.

It was indeed very rare for someone in his late thirties to have a castrated man undergo castration before entering the palace... because most adults who underwent castration couldn't withstand it and would die.

The eunuchs purchased by the palace were mostly children from the common people.

But Li Yingcai survived and did not die.

This seems to be the only thing he accomplished.

After entering the palace, he started as a low-level eunuch, cleaning toilets, emptying chamber pots, serving tea and water to old eunuchs, and kowtowing to them. He got by like this year after year.

Now, in its tenth year, the monthly allowance has reached a full nine taels of silver.

But Li Yingcai doesn't spend money; he loves to save it.

They live and eat in the palace, and now they can save seven taels of silver every month to send home.

Of the seventy taels of debt owed by Zhao Shanren, his eldest son, Li Xuanqing, paid off twenty taels, and he had long since paid off the rest over the years.

But he never went home again.

He was afraid to see the pot in Li Yingjie's house, and he was also afraid to see his only daughter's bright, dark eyes.

And so it dragged on and on, for ten years now.

I heard that the prince of Southern Zhou is going north to the capital as a hostage. Calculating the route he must take, he must pass through his hometown, Qingshui County, in Jiangnan Province.

So Li Yingcai had the idea of ​​returning to his hometown to visit relatives.

Through his efforts, he finally secured the opportunity to join the hostage delegation and serve Prince Zhou Chen of Southern Zhou.

Upon arriving at Anping Post Station, only twenty li from the county seat, a place just a stone's throw from my hometown...

he died.

She was stripped naked and thrown onto Prince Zhou Chen's bed, about to be caught in the act of adultery.

His dying wish, which he couldn't close his eyes in peace, was naturally to go home to visit his family, to regain his virility in front of his wife and daughters, and to be a real man.

..............

"This guy deserves a terrible death... But then again, only someone who died with such unfulfilled grievances could leave behind such a tragic last wish."

During these ten years, the Li family should have fared much better than during the famine ten years ago; at least they were debt-free and no longer had to resort to self-harm as beggars.

Zhou Xing was actually thinking about a more important question.

What does it mean to have a dying wish? It means wanting to be a real man in front of your wife and daughters.

Otherwise, try going back and beating the mother and daughter. A domestic abuser has the spirit of a man who abuses others; he's a true man.

Nothing happened that night, but Zhou Xing got up early the next morning.

Now that he is a servant, he has to get up early to prepare for the mission's departure in the morning.

It was winter again, and the wind was strong outside, making the old trees in the yard creak. Several servants were already busy, some sweeping snow, others feeding the horses.

Zhou Xing carried a wooden bucket to the well to fetch water, not forgetting to ask the servants at the nearby post station about the current situation.

"Magistrate Wei? You mean the magistrate from ten years ago? He only served for five years before leaving."

"The current county magistrate, surnamed Zhao, comes from a prominent family."

In the present-day Great Mang Dynasty, Zhao is a large surname with a large population. It is also a prestigious family that has stood for hundreds of years, spanning the Zhou and Mang dynasties and even to this day.

Zhao Dashanren, the philanthropist from the Li family in Baxiang Town who was in debt, was just an ordinary local gentry, far from being able to climb the social ladder of a prominent family.

While chatting idly with the servants, he overheard a courier shouting at the main entrance of the post station in the distance:

"Are you leaving or not? If not, we'll chase you away with a stick!"

"Please, sir, have mercy..."

The handyman next to him shook his head:

"Although our post station is small, it is still on the main road, so it is not uncommon for beggars to come here."

"Speaking of rare things, there was a rare little beggar in our Qingshui County ten years ago. Coincidentally, he also had the same surname as you, Li." The servant recounted the events of ten years ago with great relish.

You're the rare one, your whole family is rare... Zhou Xing didn't want to listen to his nonsense, so he turned around and went to the main entrance of the post station.

When he transmigrated into Li Xuanqing's body, he was a well-known martial arts beggar in the beggar's quarters in the south of the city. Now, Zhou Xing has improved; he is no longer a beggar but a palace eunuch who eats the emperor's food.

Out of boredom, he decided to check the beggars' pedigree in the county town ten years from now to see if they had made any progress.

At the entrance of the post station, a courier was waving a wooden stick and shouting at a group of beggars.

There were about seven or eight beggars, men, women, and children. They were all thin and sallow, wrapped in tattered cotton-padded jackets of indeterminate color, shivering in the wind. They stared longingly at the steaming hot food coming out of the pot in the direction of the kitchen, and were repeatedly chanting auspicious words.

"Only literary beggars, no martial beggars? Have we lost the livelihood passed down from the older generation?"

Zhou Xing was just sitting idly at the entrance, looking around, when he suddenly spotted a figure behind the group of beggars.

She was a young woman, who looked to be only eighteen or nineteen years old. Her face was dusty and she was wearing a dusty old cotton-padded jacket. The elbows of the jacket were worn white, and the cuffs were covered in mud. She was hiding in the back of the crowd with her head down, and she looked no different from other beggars.

But Zhou Xing was a professional after all, and upon closer inspection, he noticed something unusual.

Other beggars would rush to beg for food, but she would intentionally or unintentionally stand behind others, not because she was pushed to the back, but because she did it on purpose.

Either she's a shy, respectable young woman just starting out in the industry, or... she's not a beggar.

Zhou Xing stared intently at her, his gaze shifting upwards.

She seemed to sense something, and turned her head slightly to glance at Zhou Xing by the door.

Their eyes met briefly.

Zhou Xing was startled.

The face was thinner and the chin was sharper than she remembered. The childishness in her eyes had long since faded, replaced by the features of an adult woman. Even though she was now covered in dust and dirt, the original owner still remembered her very clearly.

Those strange and deep eyes were the same ones that made Li Yingcai flee in panic ten years ago, never daring to return home again.

Those were rather strange eyes, with two pupils in each eye, dark and deep, like a silent yet turbulent and vast sea under the night sky.

This is Li Ziqing.

Li Xuanqing's younger sister, Li Yingcai's youngest daughter.

The moment their eyes met, Li Ziqing quickly lowered her head, like a shy young girl who dared not look directly at him.

"My daughter Ziqing has the bearing of an emperor..." What else could Zhou Xing say?

An ordinary older brother, an "elite" father, and this only surviving daughter of the Li family, is she perhaps the legendary golden-pupiled child?