Eunuch Su’s Letter

Eunuch Su sighed. The emperor had never liked to take Chinese medicine since he was young, so he always took good care of his body and didn’t fall sick easily. However, the recent weather had turned cold too abruptly and he might have fallen sick unknowingly.

Hearing the coughs coming from the room, Eunuch Su’s eyes lit up. He suddenly thought of something. Since the emperor didn’t like medicine, he would definitely be receptive to that thing!

“You wish to borrow my autumn pear syrup? For my father?”

Eunuch Su thought for a moment. He couldn’t recall mentioning the word “borrow”—in fact, he was asking for a bottle…

“But I don’t have much to begin with…”

Xiaoyi held his cheeks in distress, his small eyes kept fleeting around.

Eunuch Su looked at Xiaoyi, who was putting on a show. He didn’t have a lot of the syrup? Why had he heard from Aunt Zhixia that there were many bottles in the boy’s bag when he came back?

As he thought about the childlike nature of the emperor, Eunuch Su tried all ways to coax the prince. He had no choice, as the autumn pear syrup was sweet and easy to consume. The crown prince eventually relented.

Xiaoyi held a small jar of autumn pear syrup in his arms. He was reluctant to give it away. “Then what about me leaving the palace to look for Zhuang Zhuang?”

At this moment, Xiaoyi was actually trying to negotiate terms. Eunuch Su was stunned when he heard this. Then, he said without batting an eyelid, “I will definitely plead on your behalf when I see the emperor.”

If one were to read between the lines, one could tell that Eunuch Su would be just interceding on his behalf. There was no guarantee that it would work. Only the smart-looking but naive Xiaoyi believed his words.

As expected, Xiaoyi was delighted when he heard Eunuch Su’s promise. With mixed feelings,he handed over the syrup reluctantly and reminded him, “Don’t forget about your promise.”

“Don’t worry, Crown Prince.”

Eunuch Su took the syrup and coaxed Xiaoyi for a while before leaving.

Before leaving, he apologized to Wen Xiaoyi in his heart. “I’m sorry, little crown prince. I don’t think you can go out and play as you wish anymore.”

Unaware of all this, Xiaoyi jumped up happily after Eunuch Su left. It seemed that his day of leaving the palace was just around the corner!

He couldn’t wait to pack his bags and leave. However, he didn’t manage to leave the palace after waiting for a long time. Instead, the grandmaster came after many days of waiting. And so begins his journey of hard and bitter learning.

—-

“Xiaoguo, you’re back?”

“Yes, I’m back…” Xiaoguo nodded in confusion. She didn’t usually talk much to the villagers. This was the first time someone had taken the initiative to talk to her. This was completely new to her.

After Xiaoguo drove the donkey cart away, the women at the village entrance started chattering.

“Why do you think she keeps going to the county?”

“Who knows?”

“Sigh, I heard from my girl that her husband, Jiang Danhe, is a general.”

At the mention of the general, she deliberately lowered her voice, as if she was afraid of being overheard.

“Huh?!”

“Are you serious?!”

Her words frightened the other two women.

“Yes! My girl heard from Xiaohu. Their families are close.”

“Oh my God! Then why didn’t he bring them with him?”

“I don’t know. In any case, Jiang Danhe is a general. My intel is definitely correct!”

“Aiyo, I was still wondering why her situation had gotten so much better. I passed by their house before and I could smell the meat cooking in their house.”

“Were you just passing by? Or were you going past on purpose to smell the meat?”

As soon as she finished speaking, the two women looked at each other and laughed.

“Oh please! Is there any family that could not afford meat these days?”

The woman’s face darkened at the joke and she retorted.

“Yours!”

One of the women was not on good terms with her, said it out loud deliberately. The woman was about to rebut her words when she was stopped by another woman.

“Alright, alright. You two are really becoming quite an embarrassment. We’re talking about someone else. Why are you two getting yourselves involved?”

The two women who had been lectured were feeling indignant, but they didn’t say anything else. They snorted at each other to express their dissatisfaction.

“Speaking of which, don’t you think that Li Zhaodi’s matter is too much of a coincidence?”

“Why do you say that?”

“Think about what happened to her. Two days ago, when I went to the county to look for my brother, I happened to see Li Zhaodi and Chou Louzi in prison. When I saw what they looked like, it was so frightening. There were wounds all over their bodies!”

The woman who spoke had a younger brother who was working in the county office. When she went to visit him that day, she happened to see the couple in the dungeon. She was scared out of her wits.

As soon as Li Zhaodi’s name was mentioned, the other two women were stunned. They seemed to have forgotten about this person. After a while, they recalled who it was and sighed.

The few of them did not speak for a moment. Everyone in the village knew about Li Zhaodi’s matter at that time. The two of them totally deserved it.

They couldn’t help but think about what had happened back then. Why was everything so coincidental?

It was impossible for Xiaoguo to do all of that alone, but there was still Jiang Danhe. Besides, he was a general. He could do whatever he wanted to anyone.

The three women pursed their lips and did not speak. They were all thinking about the scene that day. As they recalled the details, it was indeed a little scary.

“Hey, look! Another carriage is coming!”

One of the women, who was standing at the entrance of the village, saw the carriage immediately. It was rare to see any carriages in their village, and this was the second one today.

“Who do you think they are looking for?”

None of the three of them spoke until the carriage had moved away from them. One of the women said, “Who else could it be? It must be going the same way as the last carriage.”

…

On the other side, Xiaoguo was driving the donkey cart. Before she reached the house, she saw the carriage parked outside.

The driver was someone she had met once before. Xiaoguo stopped the donkey cart and the man spotted her too.

“Another letter?”

Xiaoguo saw him taking out something from his arms and asked subconsciously, It was the same man who delivered the letter and charcoal the last time.

“Yes.” The man smiled at that, then he took out the letter and handed it to her. “I’ll take my leave now.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” Xiaoguo called out to him. In fact, she had been curious about something for a long time. “How did you get the letter? Is there a messenger who is solely in-charge of handling this?”

It seemed a bit much if someone had to make a trip just to deliver one letter in this cold weather.

“Yes, I’m the courier.”

Courier? Xiaoguo nodded and looked down at the thick envelope. If she was not mistaken, Jiang Danhe must have written this letter.

“What if I want to write a letter and send it to the capital?”

Xiaoguo had been curious about this for a long time. Whenever she received Jiang Danhe’s letters, it seemed inappropriate for her not to reply. But even if she wished to reply, she didn’t know where to post the letters. She was wondering if she had to make a trip to the capital herself.

When the courier heard this, he smiled and said, “There’s a post station in the county city that specializes in delivering letters. You can go there. I can’t say for others, but if you go, you will definitely not be charged. Moreover, you can be assured of the privacy of the letters and that they will be delivered safely!”

After the courier finished speaking, Xiaoguo shook her head and laughed. So everyone knew that she was Jiang Danhe’s wife? So she was entitled to such privileges?

After getting the address, Xiaoguo carefully memorized it. After the courier was done speaking with her, he got ready to leave for his next stop.

Xiaoguo was about to enter the house when she was stopped by a voice behind her.

“Yes?”

Xiaoguo looked at the stranger and was a little puzzled.

“I was sent by Eunuch Su from the capital. Are you Mrs. Jiang?”

Mrs. Jiang? Xiaoguo nodded. She had almost forgotten the title. “I am.”

“There’s a letter for you.”

Eunuch Su’s letter? Xiaoguo subconsciously stuffed the previous letter into her pocket before reaching out to take Eunuch Su’s letter.

Seeing that the man had no intention of leaving, Xiaoguo knew that he might need her to do something. She opened the letter in front of him.

She read the letter quickly and realized what was going on.