Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty: A Fabricated Story

Huang Jingchen entered the palace during the end of Emperor Shenzong's reign. He worked his way up from a lowly sweeper to the second-in-command of the Inner Service Bureau. However, he offended Yang Jian and Cai Jing due to the empress's dethronement, and under the combined pressure inside and outside the palace, he made a mistake, allowing Yang Jian to gain the upper hand.

He had served three emperors, experienced the blood and storm of palace coups, and witnessed various conspiracies. His ability to judge people was naturally not lacking. After leaving the palace, he served the second prince, thinking he could avoid the dirty affairs of the palace. However, he never expected a series of incidents to occur, and the second prince managed to avoid them all. One time could be a coincidence, but two or three times were not simple matters. Today, the prince invited him for a meal and said these words, and he suddenly realized that if he connected these events, the result was shocking.

The prince had unknowingly used these incidents to cleanse the entire household, subduing the people around him. Close to him were the young eunuchs led by Jianxi, and over a dozen young servants were completely loyal. Even the maids and old women were on his side. The managers and guards in the outer courtyard were all sent by his maternal grandfather, absolutely following his lead. Even the four sumo wrestlers sent by Yang Jian were won over by the prince with over ten pounds of meat each day. As for himself, the chief steward, he was left isolated and alone.

The more Huang Jingchen thought, the more shocked he became. The wine he had just drunk turned into cold sweat. A child of seven or eight years old could do all these things right under his nose, and it wasn't until today that Shunzi pointed it out. He still didn't quite believe it. The prince's scheming and depth were too profound, and this meal today was probably not a simple matter.

Zhao Cheng held half a cucumber, dipped it in the sauce bowl, and chewed it with a 'crunch.' He glanced at Huang Jingchen beside him. His face seemed calm, but his temples were wet with sweat, and he was unaware. His palm was half-closed, and his fingers were constantly rubbing the palm of his hand, his feet lightly tapping the ground. He smiled and continued to chew the cucumber, not interrupting Huang Jingchen. He knew that at this moment, Huang Jingchen had suddenly figured it out, feeling uneasy and indecisive, but he believed that Huang Jingchen would soon make a decision.

"Your Highness, this old servant has a question to ask. Please be honest with me!" Huang Jingchen seemed to have figured it out, stood up, and bowed, his demeanor calm and composed as usual.

"Uncle Huang, just ask. No need to talk about 'consulting'!" Zhao Cheng smiled and personally poured wine into his cup.

"Alright, then this old servant will be bold!" Huang Jingchen drank the wine in one gulp and said, "Your Highness, the assassin in the garden wasn't killed by Jianxi, was it? There must be someone else. Please resolve this old servant's long-standing doubt."

"Hehe, just this matter, the assassin wasn't killed by Jianxi!" Zhao Cheng finished the last bite of cucumber, threw away the stem, and said with a light laugh. This question was indeed tricky, it seemed that Huang Jingchen suspected that someone else was giving him advice. If he didn't explain clearly, the 'old fox' wouldn't be reassured.

"Indeed, there must be someone else. I said, how could Jianxi, who is so timid, suddenly change and kill the assassin from the Night Hall? Who is this expert, Your Highness, can you tell this old servant?"

"The assassin wasn't killed by any expert. I killed the assassin, but Jianxi isn't timid. Although he was trembling with fear, he stood in front of me to protect me!"

"Hehe, Your Highness, don't fool this old servant. I had the assassin's body examined. He had multiple stab wounds, and the fatal wound was on his chest. Although the wound was torn, it was clear that it was hit by a hidden weapon. Your Highness probably doesn't have that much strength." Huang Jingchen shook his head and laughed.

"Uncle Huang, look at this." Zhao Cheng suddenly said. Huang Jingchen's eyes blurred; he felt that the prince's movements were very fast. Suddenly, an object appeared in the prince's hand, and then a flash of fire, 'bang,' a vase on the corner table was shattered.

"Ah?!" Huang Jingchen exclaimed in surprise. The prince's body didn't move, but the vase two yards away turned into a pile of porcelain shards. "Your Highness, what hidden weapon did you use? It's so powerful!"

"Just a minor skill. Not to mention a person, even a tiger would be killed on the spot!" Zhao Cheng said mysteriously and hid the gun in his chest.

At this moment, two young eunuchs in the courtyard rushed in and asked, "Your Highness, what happened?" Their eyes glanced at Huang Jingchen.

"Nothing, I accidentally broke the vase. Clean it up!" Zhao Cheng pointed to the corner. The two young eunuchs sighed with relief and quickly cleaned up and left, but this time they didn't go far, standing guard at the door.

"Your Highness, you've been very secretive. Even this old servant was kept in the dark!" Huang Jingchen sighed. The prince's shot just now dispelled his last bit of doubt. The prince indeed used the assassination to cleanse the entire household, and he himself had unknowingly become a pawn in the prince's hand.

"Uncle Huang, don't blame me for being cautious. In the palace, if it weren't for the fortunate encounter with a sage, I would have long been dead. Here, those people still wouldn't let me go. I had to be cautious, and I misunderstood Uncle Huang. Please forgive me!" Zhao Cheng bowed and said.

"Oh, Your Highness once met a sage, no wonder." Huang Jingchen's attention was immediately drawn to Zhao Cheng's words.

"Shh," Zhao Cheng raised his index finger to signal Huang Jingchen to be quiet. He pointed to the door and said in a 'nervous' whisper, "Uncle Huang, I've never told this to anyone, not even the Empress. Be careful, there might be ears on the wall!"

"Your Highness is right, I was too hasty and careless!" Huang Jingchen nodded, his expression not angry but rather understanding.

"You two stand further away. No one is to enter without my command!" Zhao Cheng shouted to the door. The two young eunuchs responded and stood over ten steps away.

"Uncle Huang, this matter, I always feel like it's a dream, half real and half fake, but those events always appear in my mind, as if I saw them with my own eyes!" Zhao Cheng took a sip of tea and said. Now that he saw Huang Jingchen had no ill intentions toward him, he couldn't tell him, "I come from a thousand years in the future, and I'm here for a trip." He thought for a long time and decided that a story about meeting a sage was more reliable, as his ancestors had a tradition of meeting sages. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, the Heavenly Books descended multiple times, and the current emperor, his father, often dreamed of the Three Pure Ones. He even claimed that when he was the Prince of Duan, he dreamed of Laozi sitting in the Hall of Supreme Purity, saying, "Heaven's will is for you to revitalize Daoism."

"Your Highness, tell me, I'll listen!" A lie repeated a hundred times becomes the truth, Hitler was indeed a genius, and this was also applicable at that time. Having witnessed and heard about it in the palace, Huang Jingchen was already a super fan of various deities. Now, there was a person in front of him who had met a deity, how could he let it go?

"Uncle Huang, two years ago, after I fell into the water, I was supposed to die. But suddenly, a golden light flashed, and a lame old beggar in a tattered robe and straw shoes snatched me from the hands of the Black and White Impermanence, and we flew away on a cloud. He said we had a connection, and he took me to travel the world, spanning a thousand years, and play in the human world!"

"Yes, that old beggar must be one of the Eight Immortals, Li Tieguai. He loves to meddle and travels the world!" Huang Jingchen hit the table excitedly. The Eight Immortals were the most famous deities in the Song Dynasty, and Li Tieguai was particularly renowned. Zhao Cheng didn't know this, but he fabricated the story based on the style of Zhou Xingchi, and it turned out to be a lucky hit.

"Uncle Huang, be quiet, don't let outsiders hear!"

"Yes, yes, that would be disrespectful to the Immortal. Your Highness, please continue, where did he take you?" Huang Jingchen lightly patted his face and lowered his voice.

"I followed him to a place, which is said to be a thousand years in the future. It was incredibly prosperous, with buildings hundreds of feet tall; iron birds flew in the sky, capable of traveling thousands of miles a day; huge ships floated in the sea, capable of carrying millions of stones, breaking through the waves without sails; cars ran on the roads faster than horses; farming was done with machines, and one person could manage hundreds of acres, with each acre producing a thousand pounds of grain. The vegetables grown in the fields were many that I had never seen or heard of." Zhao Cheng recounted as if recalling, speaking about the familiar things from his previous life, he felt a bit dazed and spoke more in detail.

"Your Highness, did you learn about farming from there?" Huang Jingchen was already captivated and couldn't help but ask.

"Exactly, I traveled in that era for a few years and saw many new things, but I was too stupid and didn't learn much."

"No wonder Your Highness has extraordinary knowledge, having been to a thousand years in the future. But Your Highness only slept for over ten days, how could it be several years?"

"I also find it hard to understand. Perhaps it's as they say, 'a day in heaven is a thousand years on earth.'"

"Then, did Your Highness see what our great Song Dynasty will be like in the future?" Huang Jingchen asked.

"No, our great Song Dynasty fell." Zhao Cheng shook his head and said 'painfully,' "I asked the Immortal Master to show me the future of our dynasty, but I saw treacherous ministers ruining the country, the people suffering, and in ten or twenty years, our great Song Dynasty was conquered by the northern barbarians. The capital was lost, and the emperor and all the officials were captured, and all the treasures were plundered. I was anxious and suddenly woke up. I don't know what happened after that!"

"Our great Song Dynasty is a mighty empire, revered by all, how could it be defeated by the barbarians of the Liao Kingdom? Your Highness must have seen it wrong!" Huang Jingchen stood up in surprise and said.

"The ones who conquered our great Song Dynasty were not the Liao Kingdom. Their state name was Jin. The Liao Kingdom was also conquered by them. I don't believe it either, but what I saw in the dream was indeed like that. So I don't know if this encounter with the Immortal was real or not!" Zhao Cheng said as if troubled.

"Oh, I've never heard of the Jin Kingdom, but what Your Highness said doesn't seem false!" Huang Jingchen was also at a loss, not knowing how to decide. He stood up and walked around for a while, then suddenly said, "Does Your Highness remember the events related to you in recent years?"

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