A moment later, Ning Chen looked at his “work of art”. I’m such a genius.
Under the dim light, the beautiful lady from before disappeared and was replaced by an unkempt eunuch.
The girl definitely did not appreciate his “work of art”. Seeing the expressionless face and a conspicuous lack of praise, he became slightly irritated but decided to let it go. Good men don’t pick on ladies.
Ning Chen hid the old eunuch’s corpse under the bed and laid down on top. Turning towards the girl, he hesitantly instructed her, “ When the palace guards enter, you just have to drive the blade down. Make sure you aim properly! “
She understood what he planned. She nodded her head and proceeded to undress his pants, with her blade in hand.
“Hey what’s going on, why aren’t the lamps lit.”
It didn’t take long for the palace guards to visit this room. Their armored clinked loudly as the patrol stopped outside. Rows of shiny armor came into view as the guards surveyed the room.
*shua*
Just as his final word left his mouth, the girl drove her blade down. Blood spurted out, drenching the girl’s face. The blood slowly dripped down her face, further blurring her features.
“A gust of wind extinguished the lamps, it’s fine, once you get used to this kind of work, you can gauge the location of the target even without any illumination.”
The girl replied in a raspy voice. Her previously clean blade was now soaked with blood, which under the dim lighting, made it even eerier. A chill ran down the spine of the palace guards as they saw the eunuch.
Looking at the teenager’s blood soaked pants, a few guards subconsciously shivered. The purification room was known as an ominous room. If it wasn’t for the order, no one would willingly visit this room.
“Let’s go. There’s other places to inspect.”
Not noticing any abnormalities, the patrol left this ominous room in a hurry, bringing the guards with him.
Ning Chen couldn’t take it any longer and sat up, taking a deep painful breath. He ground his teeth as he said :
“Woman, you did that on purpose!”
That blade had barely missed his manhood. If it even veered half an inch to the right, he would have to say goodbye to being a man. Furthermore, with the depth of this cut, even if he didn’t become a eunuch, he might just die from blood loss.
“Yup.”
The girl honestly admitted to it, nearly causing Ning Chen to faint from anger. Even bullying has its limits!
“What’s the next step?” The girl asked.
She knew this was only the beginning. The palace would be in a state of emergency for a long time. It was only a matter of time before she got caught if she did not escape now.
“By the way, you haven’t told me what you did to cause such a ruckus.” Ning Chen was really curious, when he had woken up, the palace was already in an uproar. Good old heaven must’ve been looking out for him.
“Assassinate the emperor. I failed though.”
The girl was very calm, so was Ning Chen. “What the F***?!” A short moment later, he shouted.
Noticing the girl’s sharp gaze, he awkwardly smiled and apologized, “My bad, My bad.”
He subconsciously backed away from her. This girl is definitely a cold blooded killer. Please don’t kill me in a fit of murderous rage.
“You haven’t answered the question. What’s next?”
The girl asked once more.
“Wait.”
Ning Chen began to talk about his plan, “Soon, the younger eunuchs will come to carry me off. This place has just been inspected so it should be safe for a night. Just stay and do not try to escape on your own!”
She stared at him for a long time before finally nodding her head, expressing her compliance.
As expected, a pair of eunuchs came back and silently carried Ning Chen off.
The girl quietly saw him off, her beautiful eyes sparkling in the dark. The blood could do nothing to eclipse their beauty.
A short while later, the eunuchs entered a large building and offloaded Ning Chen onto a bed. The room was filled with a row of beds ,each occupied by a freshly minted eunuch. Some were unconscious while others were crying. It wasn’t clear if it was due to the pain or something else.
Hemostatic medicines were placed beside the bed, each bed had one. This building was clearly a temporary residence. They should be allocated elsewhere tomorrow. The lucky ones could be assigned to a concubine or a prince, enjoying a life of luxury and wealth beside their new master. The unlucky ones could be assigned to places like the laundry room, doomed to a life of menial chores.
After settling down, Ning Chen began contemplating his next move. There’s no way he could remain in the palace for long. The palace walls had eyes. It wouldn’t take long for someone to notice that he was a fake eunuch. At that moment, execution would be the least of his worries.
That woman’s actions were just as troublesome as her looks. A woman who even dared to assassinate the emperor wasn’t a person Ning Chen wanted to deal with nor offend. Right now, it was imperative he sent off this lady or she might one day decide to kill him. He would have no one to run to if that happened.
Perhaps it was the fatigue from the “castration” or perhaps he was truly tired, Ning Chen dozed off in the middle of his contemplations. Only the soft cries and the rain lasted through the entire night.
———————————————
Happiness was always short lived. Just as he began to fall into a deep slumber, the sun mercilessly rose and brought an end to the night. The break of dawn wasn’t a pretty sight, it signified the start of his life as a eunuch.
The rain had finally subsided and the sky was as clear as day as the rain clouds gave way to the bright sunlight. Ning Chen limped out of the room with the support of the wall. He took a small stroll, taking in the crisp morning air, his mood visibly better. The Shakespeare in him was awakened once more as he tried to the express his heartfelt praise for the scene in front of him.
However, this was interrupted by a voice that sounded like a male duck echoing in the air, instantly dampening his mood.
“Whose brat is this? Don’t block this Gong Gong’s way.” [1]
It was a man wearing a jewelry studded long robe, carrying a horsetail whisk and a jewelry studded hat that had a peacock feather stuck in it. He had a pasty skin complexion and a face that was neither masculine nor feminine but a horrible mixture of both. A Dong Fang Bu Bai through and through! [2]
He suppressed his desire to puke and tried to back away but his wounds opened up as it did so. It was as if lightning had struck him as the wound acted up.
“This one greets Gong Gong, may you live a prosperous and healthy life.”
“Hmm?”
Zhao Jin stopped and stared at the teenager with a curious look on his face.
“May you live a prosperous and healthy life? That’s an interesting greeting, who did you learn it from?”
“Crap!”
The moment he heard this, he knew he had messed up. He had just arrived in this place, there’s no way he would know the proper greetings. At this point, he could only make it up as he went along.
“Gong Gong may you prosper, this one was taken aback by your aura and momentarily forgot his decorum and unwittingly used a customary greeting from his hometown. It’s this one’s blunder. This one begs for Gong Gong’s forgiveness.”
As he said this, he couldn’t help but be disgusted with his boot-licking. The eunuch’s pungent cologne did not help either. He sorely wanted to give this old bat a beating.
“What a clever kid, you can work for me from now on.”
Zhao Jin appraised him as he said this. Satisfied with what he saw, he nodded. Not a bad seed, given proper nurturing, he would be a big help to him.
“Follow you my arse!”
Ning Chen mentally cursed at him but maintained his winning smile. “This one is grateful for Gong Gong’s praise, this one just entered the palace and does not know much. If Gong Gong does not mind this, this one would gladly accept.”
“Hm, not bad. From now on you may address me as Zhao Gong Gong, what’s your name?”
“Ning Chen.”
“Hm, from now I’ll call you Little Ning.” Zhao Jin Han said in a satisfied tone.
“Screw you!”
As he said this, he couldn’t help but blurt out his inner feelings.
“Hm? What did you say?”
Zhao Jin furrowed his brows. He didn’t understand what that phrase meant but from the kid’s tone, he could tell he was dissatisfied. This made him angry.
“Nothing, It’s nothing! This one was just overjoyed to receive a name from Zhao Gong Gong!” Ning Chen glowered as he said this. His grin stretched as wide as he could. Little Ning?! Your whole family is a Little Ning!
“I have business to attend to, so I’ll be going. Little Ning, the palace rules are many, make sure to learn them well.” As he finished, he flicked his horsetail whisk and turned around to leave.
“Phew!”
After seeing off Zhao Gong Gong, he breathed a sigh of relief as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. As expected, the most difficult people to deal with aren’t woman but those who are neither here nor there.
“Whose servant is this? The nerve of this servant, daring to block this road.” A piercing voice rang out behind him, scaring him out of his mind.
“Damnit, here we go again.”
Ning Chen was truly exasperated. How am I blocking the road by just standing here. Just as he was about to flare up, he noticed the phoenix embroidery of the marquee. His anger was immediately extinguished and replaced by icy cold fear.
“Holy cow, who is it this time!”
Surrounded by four beautiful palace maids, a woman of unparalleled beauty stood in the middle of them.
She wore a luxurious formal dress and sported an elaborate hairstyle reminiscent of the royal concubines you see in ancient dramas.
She had a pair of light sweeping eyebrows and bewitching eyes. Her skin was as smooth and silky as an egg. Her appearance could be described as 7 parts beautiful, 3 parts bewitching. Her beauty could only be described as captivating.
Ning Chen did not recognize this lady however as the saying goes, just because you have never eaten bacon, doesn’t mean you can’t recognize a pig. The number of people who received such treatment could be counted on one hand. He was going to leave sooner or later so offending this lady was not smart, being low-key was the most important thing right now.
He backed up one step, then another and bowed, his head lowered, mentally chanting, I’m invisible, please ignore me.
Seeing Ning Chen step aside, the attending eunuch harrumphed lightly before ignoring him. As a servant, it was inappropriate of him to act in an overbearing fashion in front of his master.
“Hold on.”
Wan Yun Shang took two steps towards him and stared at him.
“Why aren’t you kneeling?”
The four palace maids and the eunuch finally realized that up till now, this eunuch hadn’t kneeled. If it wasn’t for Concubine Wan pointing this out, it would have gone unnoticed.
“This one is new to the palace and is not aware of the palace rules, I beg for your lady’s forgiveness.” Knowing that he can’t con his way through this predicament, he replied in a respectful tone while mentally sighing.
“Now do you now know of it!?”
“Yes.”
“Then why aren’t you kneeling!”
“This one had just been purified and is still injured. I beg for your lady’s understanding.”
Wan Yun Shang didn’t want to release him. Ning Chen didn’t want to kneel either. After a tense period of silence, she smiled and looked at the teenager in front of her.
“Is that so? Then I guess it’s alright.”
“Thank you my lady.”
Ning Chen lowered his head as he said this, hiding the complacency in his eyes while maintaining the same respectful tone.
Credits:
Special thanks to 7STARDARK BLADE! The first ever patron of Catato Patch Translations.
Footnotes:
[1] – Gong Gong – a way of saying ‘Honorable Eunuch’ in this instance and future instances.
[2] – What is a Dong Fang Bu Bai? Refer to the picture below. That is essentially what a Dong Fang Bu Bai is.
The origins of this character is from Jin Yong’s Xiao Ao Jiang Hu (Smiling, Proud Wanderer). He was a evil
man who castrated himself to learn the Sunflower Manual (some ultimate martial arts). In this context, it
just means a douchebag tranny who resembles the picture below
