HBBMAWH Chapter 51

Ignoring Yan Cai's questioning, Jiang Manyue only said, "He's too foolish. He should focus on his studies."

"Oh..." Yan Cai dragged out the sound, looking at Jiang Manyue with distrust. Then he suffered the assault of a large hand, messing up his hair!

The forest-white teeth clamped onto his palm and wouldn't let go. Jiang Manyue didn't shake it off; he just let Yan Cai grind his teeth alone.

"When do you think he will take the initiative to come to us?" Jiang Manyue took a sip of tea. Yan Cai also brought a box of snacks. Probably catering to Jiang Manyue's taste, it was all meat-filled. Biting into one, the thin golden pastry enclosed fragrant mushroom dices and fresh meat. Even Jiang Manyue, who wasn't fond of eating, found it delicious.

"I think he'll come soon," Yan Cai let go of Jiang Manyue and wiped the baby's drool. Both fathers were naughty, eating in front of him and not giving him any. "I can feel him coming."

"Oh?" Jiang Manyue's voice had just fallen when a knocking sound came, revealing half a dark head.

"Caicai is getting smarter, more accurate than I guessed."

Yan Cai's expression remained indifferent, a mysterious smile playing on his lips as he put away the box of belongings.

"You're wrong. He probably isn't coming to ask for help. He's just like me..." Yan Cai pondered whether comparing himself was appropriate, but Jiang Manyue looked at him, seemingly waiting for the rest of the sentence. "I mean, like Lin Shu, a big foodie. Look at him, his face has gotten much rounder since he came to our house." When he first arrived at their house, he looked like a skinny chicken.

Sure enough, Xia Jue came just to find something to eat. He smelled the aroma from outside and hesitated a few steps before approaching. Xia Jue didn't want to get close to Jiang Manyue. He was a devil who could eat people.

Maybe he had been hungry many times as a child, leading to his peculiar obsession with food. Despite forcing himself to adopt refined table manners, he couldn't fake his appetite.

At first, when he lived in their house, you couldn't tell at all that this guy had such a good appetite. Yan Cai also kind of understood Xia Jue's peculiar eating habits.

Because he had been hungry before. The worst time was when he had just left the laboratory. He encountered an earthquake and was alone in a cement pit, so dark he couldn't see a finger in front of him.

Concrete floors couldn't grow plants, so after he finished the food he brought with him, he could only wait. Later, he started digging into the cracks in the concrete to find bamboo shoots.

Growing bamboo can break through hard cement blocks! Bamboo roots penetrated everywhere. He used his abilities to stimulate the bamboo there until the hard cement blocks were finally cracked open, and the cracks became bigger and bigger.

Yan Cai was out. Outside the cement cave, where there had only been a few bamboo shoots, now stood a dense bamboo forest. Yan Cai, who was starving, ate a lot of bamboo shoots. There was a period of time when he felt nauseous at the mere smell of bamboo shoots, a trait he had developed during that time.

Humans aren't like pandas; eating bamboo shoots raw isn't delicious, they're dry and bitter, that was his assessment of bamboo shoots. Yan Cai, who had just left the laboratory to explore the outside world, for a long time considered bamboo shoots one of the least appetizing foods.

It wasn't until he later tried bamboo shoots stir-fried with meat that he realized bamboo shoots weren't so bad. Of course, Yan Cai still believed that was mainly thanks to the meat.

In contrast, Jiang Manyue liked eating bamboo shoots. Many of his habits were actually completely opposite to Yan Cai's.

Although Jiang Manyue's biological mother died young, as the eldest son of the Jiang family, he never lacked for anything. Even later, when his legs were disabled and he fell out of favor, the dowry left by his mother ensured he was never mistreated.

So, he ended up nurturing a young master's cat-like stomach instead.

In the brain circuits of foodies, the young master's cat-like stomach couldn't handle it. Xia Jue successfully located a plate of meat patties.

Under Jiang Manyue's gaze, Xia Jue ate uneasily. Feeling a cXierli down his spine, he wanted to flee as soon as he put down the plate.

"Don't you have anything to say?" Jiang Manyue leisurely changed his sitting posture, still holding a baby doll in his arms. Originally, because of his domineering posture, it added a touch of absurdity.

The dominance wasn't quite there anymore. Yan Cai had casually thrown his son on top of Jiang Manyue before hiding his belongings.

"Say, say what?" Xia Jue's breath was short.

Jiang Manyue chuckled twice, saying indifferently, "You don't have to say anything. You've been staying in our house long enough."

"Wait a minute. You can't just kick me out. I mean—can you help me?" Xia Jue suddenly changed his expression, finally not looking like a fool anymore. "You guys are very capable. Especially, he can make..."

Jiang Manyue interrupted, knowing what Xia Jue wanted to say. Yan Cai was very capable, and frighteningly so. Few could heal such severe injuries. Xia Jue had long had questions in his mind, but he had been holding back. Even if he asked, Jiang Manyue wouldn't tell him.

"Why should I help you? Merchants don't rise early without profit, I won't do anything without benefit," Jiang Manyue stated.

"No, I can..." Xia Jue just kept repeating one sentence emphatically, "I can, I can. I am..."

"What are you?"

"Aren't you supposed to know already?" Xia Jue quieted down and threw the question back at Jiang Manyue. "I've recognized you. You're Secretary Jiang's son."

Jiang Manyue sneered: "I thought you knew it a long time ago." Who in Qingqu County didn't know his identity? As long as this guy wasn't locked up indoors day and night, how could he not know?

Xia Jue murmured, "I..."

"Wait. Let's wait until my wife comes back." Jiang Manyue interrupted. Being alone with this guy, he didn't want to engage in any private conversation.

When Yan Cai returned, Xia Jue's eyes shifted, then he spoke, "Can we start now?"

"Let's get started." Jiang Manyue made a gesture of invitation.

"I suppose you both already know that I am Xia Jue, the Third Prince of the current dynasty. Someone is hunting me down, and I've been fleeing until I arrived here..." Xia Jue paused. "I want to go back. But someone doesn't want me to return."

The more deaths, the better. With so many princes, the more they die, the better. Surely, many people thought like that, and...

Neither of the two opposite him showed any particular reaction to his prince status. It made sense. A prince like him was worse off than an ordinary person.

"Someone like you, without any backing, is the most likely to be eliminated first."

"Yes," Xia Jue didn't want to admit it, but it was the truth.

"Both the sixth and second princes, like me, without a mother's favor or maternal family power, are already dead. The second prince died in infancy, ironically, they said he froze to death in the palace. The sixth prince was once favored but died last year. He fell off his horse when it got spooked and was trampled to death. Ironically, that horse was a gift from the Emperor to the sixth prince."

Jiang Manyue mentioned a person. 

"Do you know Wang Xie?"

​Xia Jue was suspicious: "The royal censor of the capital. I know him. Why are you mentioning him?"

"Wang Xie is a rare neutral figure in the court. He doesn't favor any prince; his stance is the Emperor's stance. The Emperor doesn't want to see his own kin fighting, although it's inevitable. I believe it should be safe for you to return to the capital with him."

"Isn't the royal censor in the capital?"

"No," he knew that Wang Xie had left Beijing, and very few knew that Wang Xie and Zhu Yuchuan's father, Zhu Zheng, were old friends. "He's here. This requires my wife to step in."

"Huh?" Yan Cai, who had found cultivating here uninteresting after a while, opened his eyes and looked at Jiang Manyue in confusion. It took him a moment to register Zhu Yuchuan's name.

"Oh, right, I can help. I've even saved him before." Yan Cai put aside his cultivation, finally paying attention. Although not very interested.

Actually, he hadn't seen Zhu Yuchuan in a while; he was still recuperating at home. Although the wound had healed long ago, to avoid suspicion, they all had to "recuperate" at home.

Chen Yi was arrested and brought to justice. As for County Magistrate Xu—rumor had it that he had been ill since that day and had been resting at home. Sometimes people are strange like that; when you don't know you're seriously ill, you can still live normally.

Once you know you're seriously ill, you start to slowly  weaken. Your subconscious tells you that you're sick.

"Once you return to the capital, it's all up to you. Remember Lady Huayang." 

When Jiang Manyue said this, Xia Jue nodded, suddenly enlightened.

"I understand."

Ying Yiren spent many years as a hostage in the state of Zhao, not being the favored prince, but eventually ascended to the throne because Lady Huayang acknowledged him as her son.

"The empress has been childless for many years..." Perhaps there was still hope for a late-born son, but now that the Emperor's health was failing, it was almost impossible for the empress to have another biological son.

"You're very fortunate. If the sixth prince hadn't passed away, the empress wouldn't have considered you. The sixth prince was highly favored by the Emperor; he was the best candidate. The empress's birthday is coming soon, it's a great opportunity to give gifts. "

"Ying Yiren brought a gift for Lady Huayang, what should I give the empress?"

While Xia Jue was contemplating, Yan Cai was also deep in thought. He hadn't received compulsory education, so his historical knowledge was somewhat lacking, but such a famous story was still clear to him.

After a year here, he had almost figured out the timeline of this world, which diverged significantly from his original timeline after the Han dynasty, but the historical progress was almost similar.

At this moment, it was akin to the Ming dynasty, with frequent exchanges at the customs and relatively developed commerce and industry.

"What should I give as a gift?" Xia Jue was troubled again. The empress lacked nothing.

"Caicai, what do you think should be the gift?" Jiang Manyue turned to ask Yan Cai.

Yan Cai rolled his eyes. "Giving gifts is simple. Just give them something they like," he replied sarcastically. Jiang Manyue deliberately asked him. Hmph, was he implying that he wasn't smart?

Jiang Manyue chuckled, "My wife is very clever."

Hmm, that didn't quite sound like praising his intelligence.

"The Queen is very filial to Duke Cheng, but Duke Cheng is quite old and has never been in good health. The imperial physician says the older the ginseng, the better it is. Father bestowed him a hundred-year-old ginseng for this year's Lantern Festival. Originally, there was also a three-hundred-year-old one, but it was given to the imperial concubine..." Xia Jue's eyes lit up. "I understand."

"But where can we get several hundred-year-old ginseng? That's difficult. Father's ginseng has been preserved for a very long time."

"Cai Cai, do we have any at home?"

Yan Cai nodded. Yes, they did, as long as he spent some time and some spirit jade.

Xia Jue stared at him.

Yan Cai stepped back. "What? Have you forgotten? Manyue said, 'Merchants don't rise early without profit,' and we are merchants. You need money to buy. But you look like you don't have any money. If you don't have money, I won't sell it."

Yan Cai was right. Although Xia Jue was a prince, he was the most destitute kind of prince, probably not as wealthy as an ordinary merchant.

"Write an IOU. I hope you can give us a good return." Yan Cai yawned, "Manyue, sell him one..." before he could finish his sentence, Jiang Manyue said it first.

"Ten thousand taels."

Yan Cai's drowsiness vanished in an instant. Ten thousand taels? Isn't this just taking advantage of the situation? That stuff can't even be eaten, just spend some jade and it's done. Only a fool would buy it!

Xia Jue gritted his teeth. "Fine. I agree."

Well, fools are everywhere. Yan Cai shrugged.

The author has something to say:

Only a fool would buy it—The concentration of fools seems a bit high.

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