Becoming Puppet Emperor of a Paranoid Eunuch - Chapter 1

Clear porridge, Chinese cabbage,

A bowl of coarse tea.

This was the lunch of the Great Zhou Emperor.

A palace maid held a worn-out wooden tray, slammed it on the table, and said, “Time to eat.” The young man in front of her remained oblivious, still sleeping soundly on the ground.

She looked a bit impatient and called out, “Wake up.”

The young man remained motionless.

The palace maid reached out and gave him a push, “Your Majesty?”

Still not awake.

Seeing this, she reluctantly called out again, “Little fool?”

No response.

The palace maid could only shake her head and leave, with a creak, the palace door closed again.

Although the palace was grand with spacious rooms and magnificent decorations, the furnishings were sparse and old-fashioned. Looking around, it was quite empty.

The person referred to as “Your Majesty” wore no distinctive colors, just a drab, grey robe. The hem was even torn, and the young man draped it over himself, giving a loose and ill-fitting appearance.

After a while, he was awakened by the aroma of food in front of him.

Stretching a thin arm from the wide sleeves, his pale skin revealed a hint of unhealthy whiteness. He propped his face up with a sleepy expression, looking left and right, before finally glancing at the food on the wooden tray.

His starving stomach instantly ceased its protests.

Lacking any appetite.

This ancient emperor seemed to live a miserable life. Wu Jing inwardly complained, lying back on the table, wanting to sleep a bit more to endure the hunger.

However, his stomach, now burning with hunger, didn’t allow him to sleep peacefully. He tossed and turned, but neither lying on one side nor the other helped him fall back asleep.

Yet, when he raised his eyes and saw the food in front of him, he felt nauseated and wanted to vomit. Anyone, after eating the same plain porridge and vegetables for five days straight, would probably feel the same as him.

Wu Jing sighed deeply.

He had been here for five days, becoming the emperor above tens of thousands, as rumored. Unfortunately, the treatment was not as good as rumored.

Because the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty was merely a figurehead with no real power. Anyone could kick him, and all his other brothers who could have taken the throne were dead.

Leaving him, the forgotten prince in the cold palace.

He overheard palace maids saying that the current powerful figure, Lord Ninth Thousand Years, who once held a blood-soaked sword and helped him ascend the dragon throne, now controlled everything. Everyone, inside and outside the palace, including him, depended on this man’s every move.

Could this be considered the eunuch’s monopoly as written in history books?

Wu Jing felt annoyed.

He hadn’t inherited the memories of the original owner. After these days of figuring out his current situation, he had completely lost interest in things that challenged his worldview. He just wanted to eat well, dress warmly, and sleep comfortably as if he were at home.

“Gurgle—”

His stomach growled again.

Wu Jing took a deep breath, poured the broken vegetable leaves into the white porridge, closed his eyes, and picked up the chopsticks. With a few “swoosh” sounds, he managed to get everything into his mouth and struggled to swallow it down, suppressing the nausea in his throat.

In the end, he couldn’t resist the physiological response. He found an unused chamber pot and vomited what he had just forced down.

Too unappetizing.

Wu Jing wiped his mouth with a cloth, rinsed his mouth with the bowl of strong tea, and after his stomach growled again on its own, he slammed the table.

No, he had to find something to eat.

Even if they withheld his provisions, they couldn’t stop him from going out, right? Nobody dared to stop him openly.

Wu Jing put on a thin white outer robe, tied up his hair casually, poked his head out, looked around carefully, and sneaked out.

Unexpectedly, just two steps away, a hesitant voice came from behind, “Your Majesty?”

Wu Jing froze for a moment, as if he hadn’t heard, and continued walking forward, head down, murmuring something incomprehensible.

The person behind ran over and grabbed his sleeve, “Your Majesty?!”

It was the palace maid who had delivered lunch earlier.

She lowered her voice, “Little fool, don’t pretend you can’t hear me!”

The young man turned around and looked at her with a bewildered expression, tilting his head, “Sister, who are you?”

“There is no ‘Your Majesty’ here, and no little fool.”

“Only Wu Wu.”

That’s right.

The emperor of Great Zhou was still a fool.

Wu Jing pretended to be annoyed, pulled his sleeve back, and frowned, “Don’t pull me; I want to go play.”

He acted quite convincingly.

The palace maid looked somewhat nervous. Without waiting for her to say anything more, the young man, impatient, turned and ran out, his robe fluttering in the wind.

Yan He watched him go and followed, warning in a low voice, “Your Majesty! Today, Lord Jiuqian Sui is coming to the palace. Please don’t run around anymore.”

But because she didn’t dare to raise her voice, fearing that she would be overheard and her life endangered, and because the young man ran too fast, the two were far apart. So Yan He could only hear the increasingly anxious “Your Majesty” from behind.

He paid no attention.

Wu Jing was familiar with the surroundings. He had been here for several days, wandering around once or twice when he was bored. When he was bored, he sat down and listened to the palace maids gossiping. The first sentence was always regretting being assigned to the fool, and the second sentence was cursing the eunuchs outside.

No one cared about him, and the kitchen deliberately withheld his food, but even the palace maids in the palace had been affected.

He couldn’t go to the kitchen, couldn’t steal food, so he had to do it himself. He was thinking of steaming or roasting; he had no idea where to start a fire, but the palace people must know. Wu Jing took out the tone he used to please his elders and said, “Sister, do you know how to make a fire? I want to eat fish.”

The palace maid, seeing his innocent look, agreed reluctantly, “Okay.”

On the evening meal that day, his meal box had a crudely steamed mandarin fish, with no other ingredients, not even seasoning, just a little coarse salt.

He was left with only half of it,

the other half was taken by Yan He.

But Wu Jing, biting into the remaining fish, felt satisfied. It was so good; he wanted to go again tomorrow!

Yan He watched him finish, tidied up the meal tray and left. When she left, she warned him in a low voice, “Don’t run around tomorrow. The pool has been filled overnight according to Lord Jiuqian Sui’ order. It’s one of a kind. Don’t clash with him again; you might as well die. Don’t implicate me.”

Seeing Wu Jing looking at her with a blank expression, not understanding anything, Yan He left.

When there was only him left in the hall, Wu Jing suddenly stood up, angry. In the middle of the night, he lay on the couch, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Suddenly sitting up, he muttered in a low voice:

“Is he sick?”