"Wife, I want to eat meat” 《娘子，我要吃肉》Chapter 57
It was
raining again.
Xia Fen
lifted his head, quite angrily poking the ground with the long pole in his
hand, the rainstorm had emerged suddenly, drenching his entire body dripping
wet, entirely like a drowned rat.
The
imperial bodyguards very quickly put up a simple rain shelter, the crown prince
minding his own business took off his outer garment, entering the shelter he
threw his head down and slept.
No one paid
attention to the tiny, discontent Xia Fen.
This
journey was honestly so troublesome. Xia Fen couldn’t help jabbing the pole
into the mud, a group of ants ‘xixisuosuo’
climbed out up the pole. He had accidently poked an ant nest. Maybe interested,
Xia Fen with a kick was on the tree trunk, the downpour of rain hanging on the
tree leaves fell, wrapping the ants up. Black and small insects struggled and
rolled in the rain and dew, they looked extremely pitiful.
Finally an
imperial bodyguard noticed him, yelling: “Young son of an official stop
playing, you’ll get typhoid from being soaked, at that time it will cause
delay.”
Qi, he wasn’t concerned about him falling ill, rather he
was afraid if he fell ill he would burden their journey.
He didn’t
want to follow the crown prince.
He
remembered at that time he had secretly hidden himself in the beam of the east
palace’s roof, watching His Highness the crown prince who he usually beat up
badly be held in the emperor’s arms forcing him to learn things by heart. In
his memory, his cheap father Wang Yun Feng had also forced him like that, and
even torn apart his trousers. When he thought about it, the little elephant
between his legs itched again. Xia Fen scratched it, watching the crown prince
shake his head learning by heart things like the four common characters of
classical Chinese, both envious and despising.
The emperor
was even more fierce than the cheap father! Not allowing anyone to oppose his
words, if he was not please he would punish someone by beating, how was he like
the cheap father, who would only chase after him with worry, unable to catch
him. Too yielding! Certainly, he has never seen Wang Yun Feng beat and scold anyone,
Xia Fen sort of knew, the cheap father was very scared of him. Hehe, don’t ask
him how he knew, anyway he just had a feeling.
The emperor
however wasn’t scared of the crown prince, when the crown prince made an error,
the emperor will pull down his trousers and use all his strength to spank his
bottom, bright red, Xia Fen was so invigorated watching this. So happy, he
laughed out loud, the emperor and the crown prince discovered him at the same
time.
As a
result, Xia Fen was trussed up, his trousers pulled down by the crown prince,
hitting him viciously with a bamboo for some time. He was so humiliated, but
moreover in front of the crown prince.
Xia Fen
decided he and the crown prince could not exist together!
Afterwards,
every time he would think of all the methods to mount a sneak attack on the
crown prince. The crown prince was as cunning as the emperor, after that one
time he would remain alert anytime and anywhere, when he discovered his trail
he would think of all the ways he could pull down his trousers. Xia Fen was not
scared of being beaten with a bamboo, he was scared of his trousers being
pulled off, at those times the older girls in the palace would hide in the
shadows secretly laughing at him.
Once he
asked the crown prince, if the older girls at the palace had seen him get
thrashed?
The crown prince exploded, the tips of his ears were red. Yes, it
seems the crown prince were fellow suffers who emphasised slightly with each
other.
Xia Fen
decided to secretly forgive the crown prince a little, as tiny as a fingernail.
The crown
prince’s life was actually very depressing, he couldn’t make a tiny mistake.
The emperor
took him to court every day. Sometimes the morning court only lasted two hours,
sometimes it lasted four hours. Anyway by the second quarter of chenshi,[1]
the crown prince would have to leave for Bailu academy. At noon, Xia Fen
would find the crown prince to compete in martial art, of course, other people
who also wanted to pick a fight would take advantage of this time. Xia Fen was
tired from fighting, he would find a tree to sprawl on to sleep. The crown
prince still had to take a bath and burn incense, then not resting again. After
finishing lessons in the afternoon, the two of them would leave the city to
find the expert amongst the people to compete in martial art, for the most part
they were beaten up together, Xia Fen again pitied the crown prince a little.
The crown prince’s body wasn’t as firm as his, those people also did not the
crown prince’s identity, in every case the crown prince would be injured a bit.
When he
returned at night to the palace that was the most painful, because the empress
demanded to do a spot check on his schoolwork on that day. The crown prince and
Xia Fen needed to recite their studies in front of the empress, if Xia Fen made
a mistake, the crown prince will loudly correct him. That chubby dragon, wanted
to humiliate him, so spiteful.
The empress
with an ice-cold expression, that expression was even more indifferent than
that cheap father of his. That wild intuition of Xia Fen’s told him, the
empress was not to be trifled with. This was the Wang residence, and wasn’t the
Xia residence, there was no one here who truly cared for him, cherish him,
pamper and spoil him. He only has to make the slightest mistake, at any time he
would suffer a beating, the crown prince would laugh at him at the side; if he
couldn’t recite a book he would be starved, the crown prince would place
delicate light refreshments beside him, while eating he would hypocritically
study.
The most
important was, there was no one here to shelter him.
Regardless
if he was angry, or if he was happy, or wanted to find someone to vent his
anger, the people around him had a matter of no concern to them expression.
When he was hurt, no one bandaged him; he laughed, no one was happy with him;
when he cried, also no one comforted him…
There were
many children in the palace, some were the emperor’s sons, there were plenty of
sons of princes, and companions sent by the chancellors, also imperial
bodyguards specially chosen for the crown prince, were also more or less the
same age as him, they were all very clever and quick-witted, moreover they knew
how to secretly plot, on one hand praising him, on the other setting him up,
putting him in an extremely difficult position.
At that
time, the crown prince he hated, very, very, very much would arrive like some
kind of god, supporting him, help him think of a plan, secretly taking revenge
with him.
The crown
prince wasn’t that bad. Yes, if he didn’t tell on him in front of the empress,
it’ll be fine if he didn’t loudly correct him when he made a mistake reciting.
Other
people thought his relationship with the crown prince was very bad, therefore
they bullied him. But there were also some people who gradually noticed the
crown prince protected him, slowly they were also willing to speak to him, for
the most part it was you can’t do this, you can’t do that.
There were
too many people around his age, Xia Fen discovered apart from his martial arts
being slightly better, he didn’t have anything he was good at. He depended on
the Xia family’s status arrogantly, here it simply meant nothing. His fists
also weren’t the most vicious in the palace, his clumsiness in speaking instead
became the joke of everyone’s ridicule.
When the
crown prince felt wronged he would run to the empress’ arms acting like a
spoiled child, even though the empress wouldn’t stick up for him, but would
gently caress and stroke the top of his head, silently reassuring him. When Xia
Fen was set up, he could only stay in the side chamber of the east palace,
waiting for the day his mother would enter the palace.
When he
couldn’t see his mother, every day he would sneakily wake up early, follow the
crown prince to the court. Afterwards he would stand high up, he would watch
that man slowly walk over at the break of dawn.
That was
his cheap father.
Without his
mother’s love, he could receive a little comfort looking at his father from
afar.
Sometimes
his cheap father would be kept back deliberately until very late by the
emperor, up until he came back to the palace from outside. Afterwards his
father would explain the laws and decrees to the crown prince in the east
palace, he would sprawl out on the roof beam, falling asleep listening to the
other person’s voice.
He thought,
he was a bit homesick. No matter which home, so long as there was someone who
genuinely cared about him, pampered and spoiled him, took his side, will be
fine.
But that
devious, cunning, crown prince who lied without blinking, deceived him to go
outside, saying the palace wasn’t fun, his home was too restrictive, the vast
outside made people feel refreshed travelling around.
Xia Fen was
fed a bunch of lies the entire day, afterwards he was unwittingly dragged out
of Beiding city by the crown prince, walking towards brambles and an unknown
journey.
The most,
most hateful thing was, the crown prince only brought along three imperial
bodyguards, and the three tall and strong guys only knew to take care of the
sweet crown prince, and ignored the fact he was also a child. This whole
journey, Xia Fen simply had no choice but to suffer in silence, itching to rip
these three social climbing scoundrels apart.
The crown
prince turned over, opening his eyes in a daze, beckoning Xia Fen who was still
standing in the rain: “Why are you staying in the rain, why haven’t you come
in.”
Xia Fen sat
on his bottom beside him, taking off his clothes he dried them on the frame
above the fire. Even though he was young, he was actually more knowledgeable
than the crown prince in surviving in the wild. And he knew if he really caught
typhoid, the people with him wouldn’t take care of him with all their heart, no
matter what he could only rely on himself.
The crown
prince didn’t know he was having these thoughts, his clothes had long ago been
dried by the imperial bodyguards, after putting them on he picked up a hare,
following the imperial bodyguards manner he slowly roasted it.
Xia Fen
finished drying his clothes, again taking off his trousers, his bare bottom
completely exposed he sat to the side, shaking out his clothes every now and
then, again brushing off the dust on his legs, completely deserving of a
spanking.
The crown
prince also did not mind, he used a knife to cut the hare in half giving it to
Xia Fen: “Help yourself to food and clothes.”
Xia Fen was
just roasting his own little bird[2], lifting his head to look
at the half dried trousers, again looking at his gradually warming `little
bird`, then his line of sight stopped on the hare, before finally running
outside to wash his hand in the rain, picking up the roasted hare. They had
been on this journey for many days, when they were in the desolated
countryside, he still really was responsible for roasting his own food, of
course, if there were pheasants, the fowl’s bottom unconditionally belonged to
him.
The
rainstorm continued day and night, the weather also turned colder and colder.
Xia Fen didn’t know where the crown prince was going, after asking a few times
with no answer he could only follow along. By himself, he didn’t dare to run
off, in any case the crown prince wouldn’t hurt him, following him his life no
matter what would be safeguarded. Like this they continued for more than ten
days, Unexpectedly they went around a mountain forest, going along a river
bank.
At first
the bustling travel boats could still be seen, the more north they went, the
river water
gradually overflowed the banks, on the way they saw many large
crowds of victims pass by.
The crown
prince carefully avoided everyone, only when they were near to a town did he
buy some rations and steamed buns, when they arrived at a remote place he would
ask the imperial bodyguards to distribute them to the victims. Xia Fen had seen
fishermen along the coast, and had seen the strangest people in the Jianghu, he
also knew quite a few children of influential families and relatives of the
emperor, this was still the first time he realised people could actually be so
impoverished to this extent, and not all children had their parents to protect
them, not all parents treated their children with love.
He
personally saw parents in order to survive, selling their small and weak
daughter to a person’s child, or a passing stranger. A girl not of five years
old could be sold for a few silvers, the least only several hundred coppers. A
very young boy was worth even more, they would be sold to merchants or
influential families as servants. Even more children were bought by women and
men who had deliberately come dressed charmingly.
The
imperial bodyguards said, those were the female brothel keepers of pleasure
quarters, the men were male prostitutes from courtesan houses, those children
weren’t sold into the labour force, rather for their life.
When they
said this, a male prostitute happened to glance at Xia Fen, only thinking this
child had some sort of beautiful wildness, when those black eyes looked at
people, it would make timid children shiver to the bottom of their bones. Xia
Fen’s intuition made all the hairs on his body stand up, tagging along behind
that male prostitute, turning into a place with no one around, without the
slightest hesitation he knocked the slave by the male prostitute’s side to the
ground, snatching away those children who had been sold, returning them to
their parents.
That male
prostitute without any special intention lightly laughed agitating his
eardrums, he was certain he was in a nightmare, shaking from the bottom of his
feet.
The second
day when they set off, he once again passed by that place, finding those
parents once again without an expression selling their own son.
Xia Fen
could not understand, why they didn’t protect their child well? Could those
children not be their own flesh and blood? Do they not care for their child?
Why do those children whose lives are being sold not cry or complain? Do they
perhaps not know how to rebel?
They headed
north, there were even more fertile lands submerged by flood water, more and
more towns destroyed, people dying could be seen anytime and anywhere. Before
they could even take out the rations to give up, they were completely looted by
the surrounding people. The imperial bodyguards were worried about the crown
prince’s safety, afterwards they meticulously hid themselves, placing the
rations beside the disaster relief giant wok at the temple doorway, let the
Buddhist monks distribute them in an orderly manner.
The soil
beneath their feet became softer and softer, when there were more and more
victims, Xia Fen gradually heard a person’s name, passed along the mouths of
victims every few days.
“Lord
Wang…”
Xia Fen is getting a lesson in reality.He will have something to measure his own life experiences by. He will get to see what his "weak" father does for a living to protect him and his mother.
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