Chapter 1 Imperial Edict
In the third year of Hongwu, Fengyang.

There was a clang of a gong.

"The Emperor, by the Mandate of Heaven, declares: I sent my two sons Zhu Chong and Zhu Gang to Fengyang, Zhongdu, to farm and study, so that they would know the sufferings of the people and how hard it is to get food. But the two sons were so ignorant and naughty. If they are not properly disciplined, they will become trouble in the future. I will order the officials in Zhongdu to take the two sons to the outside of Chengtian Gate and give them twenty lashes in public. They must be beaten thoroughly. I accuse you!"

After this burst of Mandarin with a Fengyang accent was finished, the sound of whipping and wailing were heard.

This is the Chengtian Gate of the Fengyang Imperial City. On normal days, there are some idle people coming in and out, but after hearing the noise, many people hurried away.

There were only dozens of royal soldiers wearing shiny armor, a few eunuchs with extremely embarrassed expressions, and occasionally a few brave guards who were curious, but they just stood on tiptoe and watched from a distance, shrinking their necks but not daring to face them directly, but just turning their faces to the side with their eyes slanted upwards.

After a burst of wailing, the eunuchs pounced on the two tortured teenagers with heartache.

One of these two young men was the second son of Emperor Hongwu, Prince of Qin Zhu Chong, and the other was the third son of Emperor Hongwu, Prince of Jin Zhu Gang.

At this time, Zhu Chong was grimacing in pain.

Zhu Gang, who was standing aside, had tears in his eyes, but in the blink of an eye, he saw his second brother with his neck tilted and a pitiful look as if he was about to die, and he immediately grinned and laughed.

He pointed at his second brother Zhu Chong and said, "Second brother is so weak and has no future!"

Zhu Xi: "..."

It seemed that Zhu Gang didn't feel that much pain anymore, so much so that even when the eunuch was kneeling behind him and carefully pulling up his breeches, he didn't feel the pain at all.

Then he stood up, with his hands behind his back, like a triumphant rooster, looking around with a serious look, and said, "Only twenty lashes, my father looks down on me!"

After hearing this, the eunuchs and the guards' faces suddenly changed.

Qin Wang Zhu Chong was pretending to be dead. He was smarter than Zhu Gang and knew that his father was "educating" them two brothers and was extremely concerned about the "effectiveness" of the treatment. In fact, the eunuchs who were carrying out the execution did not dare to really beat them. It was just a lot of noise but little action. It hurt a little, but no bones were broken.

So, he gnashed his teeth and continued to lie on the bench for execution, cursing: "Just say less, or you will send someone to report to my father..."

When Zhu Gang heard this, his eyes widened as big as copper bells: "Secret report...Secret report? That's right, second brother, there are spies around us. Otherwise, why does our father, who is far away in Nanjing, know everything about our actions?"

After saying this, he looked around suspiciously at the eunuchs and bodyguards one by one. Wherever his eyes fell, everyone was so frightened that they dared not breathe. They all lowered their heads at the same time, not daring to look directly at him.

Zhu Gang's gaze finally fixed on a certain place, but suddenly stopped moving. He narrowed his eyes and looked at that place seriously.

At this time, hiding not far away was a young man wearing waist-length armor. The boy was young, only about twelve or thirteen years old, with delicate features and a pair of twinkling eyes, but he seemed at a loss.

Zhu Gang raised his hand, pointed at the young man, and shouted, "This man looks unfamiliar. Where is he on duty?"

juvenile:"……"

Seeing that the young man was still standing there without any response, Zhu Gang became furious and said in a bossy tone, "I asked you a question, why don't you answer? Are you guilty? Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The young man still looked confused. He hesitated for a while before answering under Zhu Gang's gaze: "I... I don't know..."

After a pause, the young man continued, "I saw music and music, and a lot of people gathered here. I also saw that everyone was wearing colorful clothes, so I thought... I thought someone was having a banquet, and I came here to join in the feast."

"..."

Outside Chengtian Gate, there was deathly silence.

In fact, this handsome young man is named Deng Qianqiu. To be precise, he has only been in this world for less than half a month.

As for the previous owner of this body, he seemed to be a frail and sickly person who had depended on his father since childhood.

Originally, the father and son were displaced, but who would have thought that just three years ago, Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, named it Ming, and ascended the throne to become emperor.

What followed was an imperial decree that changed the fate of the father and son.

The new emperor Zhu Yuanzhang actually sent people to find Deng Qianqiu's father, granted him some land, and ordered Deng Qianqiu to serve in the imperial city of Zhongdu in Fengyang, and gave him the status of a personal soldier.

It can be said that this father and son had two or three years of good life and finally settled down.

However, for Deng Qianqiu now, this raises too many doubts.

First of all, how could his father recognize Zhu Yuanzhang, so that after Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he still thought of sending someone to deliver rewards?
But if his father really made some contributions in the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, why was he only granted a hundred acres of land, and neither any title nor any official position?

The most suspicious thing is that his father seems to be tight-lipped about these things. No matter how Deng Qianqiu tried to hint at them, whenever Deng Qianqiu talked about the emperor, he just frowned and said nothing.

In fact, Deng Qianqiu was only twelve years old at that time, so the so-called duty in the imperial army was just to receive a share of rations. Their duty was just to guard the imperial city of Fengyang. However, Deng Qianqiu was too young and weak, so the centurion was too lazy to let him stand guard. He only distributed a set of ill-fitting waist armor to him and asked him to run errands inside and outside the palace on weekdays.

On weekdays, although the imperial city of Fengyang Zhongdu is called the imperial palace, in fact, there are no nobles coming. In addition, Deng Qianqiu is young, and no one will make things difficult for him as long as he does not enter the inner courtyard.

The reason why he was thinking about feasts all the time was that after coming to this world, although his family was relatively well-off, in reality, even if a family had a hundred acres of land, the yield was very low. In a month, being able to eat meat a few times was already beyond the vast majority of people in this era.

The food we eat on a daily basis is mostly vegetables, and the rice is mostly brown rice.

Of course, Deng Qianqiu also loved to eat vegetables in his previous life, but when he came to this world, not only was there little oil in his stomach, but even the vegetables were very different from the vegetables that had undergone countless improvements in later generations.

In Deng Qianqiu's opinion, the so-called vegetables in this world are more like wild vegetables. It is okay to eat them once or twice, but eating too much is unbearable.

He is now at the peak of his energy. Whenever he thinks of food, he can't help but feel wet at the corners of his mouth, even though he has been a human for two lifetimes. Sometimes his mind is filled with crayfish, spicy hot pot and fatty pork.

At this time, Jin Wang Zhu Gang was suffocating. Looking at the young man in front of him who was about his age, he was a little caught off guard. He didn't expect that someone would be bold enough to eat at his head during the banquet.

Zhu Gang was furious. Zhu Yuanzhang was no joke when he denounced the King of Qin and the King of Jin for their stubbornness in the imperial edict. These two guys were not honest when they were in Nanjing, and no one could subdue them except Zhu Yuanzhang and his elder brother Zhu Biao.

"How dare you, you ignorant fellow! I think this man is a bad guy. Someone, come here..."

Deng Qianqiu already knew that he was in trouble. Looking at the execution scene and then at Jin Wang Zhu Gang, who was grimacing in pain, he realized that something was wrong and that this guy wanted to take his anger out on him.

It’s not fun to mess with such a little devil.

If it were the Deng Qianqiu from the past, he would have probably wet his pants out of fear.

But at this time, Deng Qianqiu, after all, had the experience of living in two lifetimes, and knew that when dealing with such a villain, he must not be too tough and thus anger the other party.

But you must never beg for mercy in a panic, because the louder you shout, the more excited they will be.

At this time, an eunuch standing next to Zhu Gang was looking at Deng Qianqiu with a gloating look, probably thinking that Deng Qianqiu had run into trouble and was about to be in big trouble.

In his previous life, Deng Qianqiu was deeply influenced by office politics in the workplace. Under the PUA of his superiors over the years, he had already mastered the highest realm of the workplace...pretending to be stupid!
In the workplace, only stupidity can’t stop you!
At this moment, the eunuch who was hiding beside Zhu Gang and was gloating over his misfortune looked a little surprised.

Because at this time, Deng Qianqiu did not cry and beg for mercy, but still stood there with a dazed look on his face, and his clear eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of mist.

He looked like a dumb chicken, his eyes looking into the void, as if at this moment... he was thinking.

eunuch:"……"

Zhu Gang was also a little confused. He couldn't understand and couldn't help muttering in his heart, is this guy a fool?

With this thought in mind, Zhu Gang suddenly felt a little bored, so he curled his lips, crossed his hands, turned his head, and said in a cocky manner: "Let's go!"

After saying this, he no longer paid attention to Deng Qianqiu, who was still staring into the void and was "unaware" of the outside world. He led his followers and the limping Qin Wang Zhu Chong into Chengtian Gate and headed towards the inner courtyard.

On the way, Zhu Gang squinted his eyes, looked at Zhu Chong who was still limping, and said: "Second brother, stop pretending."

Zhu Chong, however, seemed to have received a disability certificate, with tears about to fall, saying: "Oh, oh, I was beaten up, and I broke my bones this time. I must rest for a year or so. I'm afraid I won't be able to study in the future..."

Zhu Gang's body trembled when he heard this. He subconsciously began to limp and said, "Oh no, oh no, I seem to be disabled. I won't be able to recover in three to five years."

Qin Wang Zhu Chong: "..."

After a lot of effort, the two of them finally made it to the middle hall to rest. Zhu Gang thought of the young man again and couldn't help but say, "Why would they let such a fool be on duty in this forbidden palace..."

"Your Highness..." At this time, there were only two princes and an elderly eunuch in the palace.

This old eunuch had been following the two princes, without saying a word from beginning to end. There was no expression on his face and his eyes were cloudy. But when he spoke, even Zhu Chong and Zhu Gang put away their playful smiles, and seemed to respect this old eunuch very much.

The old eunuch continued, "If I remember correctly, this man's name is Deng Qianqiu."

Zhu Gang was completely confused.

The old eunuch continued, "His father...is named Deng Jian."

"Deng Jian..." Zhu Gang muttered, and subconsciously said: "This name sounds familiar, I seem to have heard of it somewhere..."

(End of this chapter)