Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 124: The Prince's Transformation, the New Year is Approaching [Subscription Request]

Zhu Biao sighed.

He didn't expect that Zhu Chong also had resentment towards him.

"It's cold, so Mother asked me to bring you two thick quilts and some cotton-padded clothes. I also brought two jars of fermented glutinous rice and some cakes from Chunhe Palace."

Zhu Biao said this and signaled his followers to bring the things in.

Zhu Chong was brought here this morning and learned about Zhu Yuanzhang's treatment of him.

However, he was angry and not only did he not go to the dock to carry bags to earn money, he even did not cook lunch or dinner.

Of course, the reason for not cooking is not just because he is angry, but also because he has never cooked since he was a child and has never practiced making a fire.

If he hadn't been hungry for most of the day, he, a man in his twenties who had practiced martial arts since childhood, would not have been frozen into the state that Zhu Biao had just seen.

Seeing the pastries brought by Zhu Biao, Zhu Chong immediately got up from the bed, stood at the table, tore open the paper package, grabbed the pastries and gobbled them up.

Then he choked.

"Cough cough."

He wanted to cough out the cake in his throat, but he couldn't bear to do so, so he hurriedly tried to untie the red rope net on the jar of fermented glutinous rice wine. However, he was anxious and couldn't untie it. The rope was very strong and couldn't be torn apart.

Feeling more and more suffocated, Zhu Chong suddenly felt a great fear in his heart, and thought to himself: Could it be that big brother came here to kill me?
Just as he was thinking this, he saw Zhu Biao take the water bag from the guard and hand it to him.

Zhu Chong took the water bag and gulped down a few big gulps, then he felt better - he hadn't had any water for most of the day.

Then he continued to swallow the cakes and drink water.

Seeing him like this, Zhu Biao felt distressed and couldn't help shaking his head.

"You already know how the emperor will punish you. Why don't you go to the docks during the day to earn some money? We have rice, noodles, eggs, and vegetables here. We also have piles of firewood and honeycomb coal. Why don't you light a fire and cook?"

Zhu Chong stopped eating and drinking and asked with a sneer, "Why don't you go to the docks to help with the work? Why don't you live here and make your own fire and cook?"

Zhu Biao frowned, "I didn't make the same mistake as you."

Zhu Chong added sarcastically, "Some people are born to sit on the throne, so they won't make mistakes."

"Second brother, what are you talking about?!" Zhu Biao was furious. "If you were the elder brother and I were the younger brother, I wouldn't do such a bastard thing as you!"

"What if?" Zhu Chong sneered again, "What ifs exist in this world? If there really were an "what if," I would have raised an army in Xi'an and rebelled! I would never come back to let you treat me like this!"

"What nonsense!" Zhu Biao slammed the table, nearly knocking over the already unstable piece of wood. "Even now, you still have no intention of repenting. If you continue like this, how can the emperor restore your title?!"

"If I can't recover, isn't that just what you want?"

"you!"

Zhu Biao was so angry that he was shaking. He felt that Zhu Chong had become more "naughty" than before and it was completely impossible to communicate with him.

He also felt that whatever he said at this moment would be heard by Zhu Chong as having ulterior motives.

So he took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and said, "One last word—the emperor has sent people to Xi'an to pick up Guanyinnu, Deng, and Shang Bing. Now think about how you will live after they arrive in the capital."

Zhu Chong was stunned for a moment.

Zhu Biao flicked his sleeves and left with his entourage.

When the footsteps of Zhu Biao and the others could no longer be heard, Zhu Chong seemed to come back to his senses and continued to eat his cakes, mumbling vaguely, "Come on, come on, I'm in a very difficult situation now, how can I care about them?"

Zhu Biao didn't bring many cakes and pastries, and Zhu Chong just wasn't hungry after eating them, so he reached for the jar of fermented glutinous rice.

"Laozao, why don't you bring any wine? Do you think I'm a hero?"

After muttering something with a sneer, Zhu Chong wanted to find something to untie the rope.

He was not stupid. He thought of getting a kitchen knife, but it was dark. He searched for a long time but couldn't find it. He was so angry that he almost dropped the jar of fermented glutinous rice wine, but fortunately he held himself back.

I can only grope and patiently untie the knot.

He found that the knot was not difficult to untie, but he was just too impatient before.

After opening the mud seal and smelling the aroma of fermented glutinous rice, Zhu Chong dipped his finger in it and tasted it.

I feel that this raw fermented glutinous rice is a bit sour but also sweet, and most importantly, it has a rich aroma.

"Is this fermented glutinous rice supposed to be boiled in water before drinking?"

Zhu Chong had eaten fermented glutinous rice before, but he didn't know if it was cooked this way.

He carried the jar of fermented glutinous rice wine to the kitchen again and fumbled with how to light a fire in the stove. Although he had never lit a fire before, he had occasionally glimpsed it when he was marching and fighting.

But when he actually operated it himself, he found that the firewood in the stove only smoked but would not burn.

After struggling for a while, Zhu Chong got so angry that he kicked the firewood pile hard, but he hurt his foot and fell to the ground.

Suddenly two dark shadows appeared at the kitchen door.

The black shadows didn't seem to be affected much by the darkness. After looking at each other, one of them said, "His Majesty said that if there is anything the Second Prince doesn't know, he can let us teach him."

"Teach your mother!"

The two black shadows looked at each other, then retreated silently, and no one knew where they were hiding.

Zhu Chong got up and limped back to the main room. Without taking off his clothes, he pulled out a thick quilt that Zhu Biao had brought and fell into bed and fell into a deep sleep.

next morning.

Zhu Chong woke up from hunger.

He wanted to get something to eat, but as soon as he poked his head out from under the quilt, he shrank back in.

"It's too cold. Lie down for a while."

Thinking this in his heart, Zhu Chong tried to sleep again, but because he was hungry, he tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep.

He tried to get up many times, but gave up many times.

I don’t know how long it took, but suddenly two people rushed in, both wearing masks.

Zhu Chong was startled, but when he saw that they were wearing the regular uniforms of palace guards, he felt a little relieved.

Just as I was about to ask what the two men were doing, I heard one of them say, "Your Majesty has ordered that the quilts be taken away during the day."

After saying that, he pulled off the thick quilt on the bed and took away the other bed as well.

Zhu Chong was stunned at first, then shivered with cold before coming to his senses. He was filled with grief and anger. Finally, he looked towards the Forbidden City and cried, "How can you be so cruel! I am your son too!"

After crying for a while, Zhu Chong stopped - he was really too hungry, and howling was tiring.

He got up trembling and went out, only to find that the world outside was covered in snow overnight.

In previous years when it snowed so heavily, he would either stay in the warm tent and play with Deng, or sit by the fire in the pavilion, brew wine and enjoy the snow.

But now?

Comparing this with his life in previous years, Zhu Chong felt like crying again. He went to the kitchen and tried to light a fire again. After all, he was an adult, had some knowledge, and could think. After a few attempts, he found some velvet from the firewood pile, blew on the flint, and actually started a fire.

I was so excited that I laughed and cried.

He hurriedly added firewood to make the fire in the stove burn brighter. Zhu Chong suddenly thought of something and ran to look around the courtyard. Sure enough, he saw several guards standing in an inconspicuous corner outside the fence.

So he shouted, "Come and see! Come and see! I don't need you to teach me, I can make a fire!"

What he didn't know was that the guards watching over him outside had changed shifts early in the morning and were unaware of what had happened last night.

Seeing him like this, the two guards were a little confused and couldn't help but discuss in a low voice.

The young guard was surprised and asked, "Prince Qin... Is the Second Prince crazy? It's just a fire, why are you so excited?"

The older guard seemed to be lost in thought. "For us, making a fire is a piece of cake, but this guy might be making a fire for the first time. It must be like the first time we made a fire as children."

"Is that so?" The young guard seemed to understand.

The older guard sighed and said, "Your Majesty is asking the Second Prince to start anew. This is truly well-intentioned."

Zhu Chong was disappointed when he saw that the guards outside the courtyard were motionless.

He returned to the kitchen, broke the thin ice in the water tank, scooped up a ladle of water, and poured the fermented glutinous rice into the pot. Not long after he poured in much, he saw the white glutinous rice reflecting some gray-black things in the water.

He was stunned for a moment before realizing that the pot was dirty. Seeing that a layer of fermented glutinous rice was missing from the jar, he quickly put the jar down, feeling a little distressed.

"What bitch cleans the house but doesn't know how to wash the pot?!"

With a curse, Zhu Chong had no choice but to do it himself. He scooped out the fermented glutinous rice and water that had just been put into the pot, and then scooped a few scoops of clean water to wash the pot.

After adding a ladle of water and fermented glutinous rice back into the pot, Zhu Chong went to light the fire again, but found that the fire had gone out.

Seeing that there were still some sparks, he added more firewood, which soon caused thick smoke to rise, forcing him to run out of the kitchen.

The guards originally thought there was a fire and were about to come to check, but they stopped when they saw him come out.

Zhu Chong waited until the smoke in the kitchen had dissipated a little, then went back in. After a lot of hard work, he finally cooked the fermented glutinous rice wine until he was covered in dust.

When he filled a bowl of fermented glutinous rice and brought it into the house, he took a sip despite the heat and felt a warm current flowing through his mouth into his stomach, gradually warming his body.

This bowl of fermented glutinous rice had no sugar added, and the sweetness was much less than what he remembered, but for some reason, he thought it tasted very good, even better than many delicacies he had eaten.

He blew on it repeatedly, putting his lips against the edge of the bowl and taking small sips.

His body was getting warmer and warmer, but he couldn't help but shed tears.

He slapped himself and said, "You're so happy just by eating a bowl of fermented glutinous rice. Zhu Chong, you're such a loser!"

After scolding himself, he continued eating.

Finally, all the fermented glutinous rice in the pot was scooped up and eaten up.

After lying on the broken bed in the main room for a while, he wanted to urinate, but found that there was no toilet in the house. When he went out, he saw a toilet covered by snow in the corner of the yard.

So that's how I urinated.

Maybe I slept too much last night. Even though I had a full meal and drank enough water, I couldn’t fall asleep in bed.

The first thing he thought about was what to eat for lunch.

Suddenly, his eyes rolled and he came up with a good idea.

So he went to the kitchen, found a bag of rice, picked it up and left.

Unexpectedly, he was stopped by two guards as soon as he left the yard.

"What is your Highness going to do?"

Zhu Ying glared and said, "What do you think of what I do?"

The guard said, "We are under the Emperor's order to look after His Highness. We have the responsibility to protect His Highness and to ensure that He does not do anything His Majesty does not allow—for example, selling the rice and flour in the house for money."

Zhu Chong gasped in anger after hearing this.

He thought he had come up with a good idea to solve the problem of food, but he didn't expect that Zhu Yuanzhang had already anticipated it and had given instructions!

When he came to his senses, he said arrogantly: "What if I insist on selling it?"

The guard laughed and said, "Your Highness, you can go and try and see if anyone dares to buy your rice."

Zhu Chong put the rice bag on the ground and roared angrily, shaking: "This is too much! This is too much!"

The guard continued, "If Second Prince wants to be rich, it's actually very simple. Just go to the docks and work as a porter. With your strength, it's easy for you to support yourself."

Zhu Chong said angrily: "I am a prince, not a strong man!"

The two guards looked at each other and disappeared again around the courtyard.

Zhu Chong calmed down and thought about it, then took the rice bag back, put on the ugly coarse cotton coat and went out.

He decided to go to the dock and try to resist the bulge.

For one thing, he really didn't want to cook by himself - cooking fermented glutinous rice wine had already been exhausting enough for him, and he didn't want to do it again.

Secondly, after discovering that throwing a tantrum, getting angry, and crying were all useless, he realized that if he wanted to restore his title, he could only accept the life of a "commoner", or even live a good life.

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Crackling!

The sound of firecrackers rang out in the Forbidden City and the streets and alleys of the capital.

But time flies and it is already the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month.

Liu Mansion.

In order to have a festive occasion, Liu Kuan lit a string of firecrackers with his own hands - the New Year atmosphere here was much stronger than in later times. It was only the 24th day of the New Year, but the mansion was already busy preparing for the New Year like other families in the capital.

Some important government offices of the imperial court are still in operation, but most of the less important government offices have been closed and the officials have been given holidays, such as the Science and Technology Department.

That's why Liu Kuan has the leisure today to celebrate the Little New Year and worship the Kitchen God with Zhu Huilan and others in the mansion.

After setting off firecrackers and worshiping the Kitchen God, Liu Kuan returned to the side hall in the central courtyard and sat down with Zhu Huilan to chat while waiting for dinner.

"My mother said that since my husband's elders are not at home and we don't have any children yet, we should go to the palace to celebrate the New Year together."

"He also said that his brothers and sisters were looking forward to seeing new movies and asked me if I had any. If so, he would prepare one or two and show them on New Year's Eve."

In fact, Zhu Huilan had watched most of the movies, TV shows and music on Liu Kuan’s computer and mobile phone, and knew what was in them.

But she did not interfere - since the things belonged to Liu Kuan, it was Liu Kuan's turn to decide.

　Second update.

　　I will add another update before 12 o'clock tonight to thank you for your subscription support.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)