Prince and His Fool

By late noon, they had reached the imperial palace with Rong Zian's head still upside down. His face was red with bulging veins as all the blood rushed to his face. He couldn't even take time to admire the majestic palace though it was his first time crossing to the other side of the gigantic Iron Gate. He heard the eunuch say something before they proceeded to enter a building but he couldn't make out what he had said.

"Why did you have to carry that way?" asked the emperor as the eunuch walked into the emperor's hall.

The eunuch bowed before him and said, "Your Majesty, he resisted," and gestured for the scary man to put Rong Zian down. The man was in no way gentle, he just carelessly dropped him to the ground.

"Aah…..that hurts shithead! Do you want to break my buttocks," he yelled at the man who had been carrying him but he was obviously talking to himself because the man was gone.

The eunuch loudly cleared his throat grasping Rong Zian's attention and when he saw the person in front of him, he kowtowed before him in fright. He might not have paid attention in history class but he was well aware of how emperors were obsessed with beheading. "Why did you resist?" the emperor said in a cool nonchalant voice.

In an unsteady voice, he replied, "Anything short of death, there is nothing positive that would drive the emperor to request my audience. So I foolishly chose to run for my life, may his majesty overlook my transgression?"

The emperor leaned back into his chair and handed the eunuch a piece of paper, "well you are wrong Rong Zian, I heard through the grapevine that you are a man of many talents. You solve cases, find lost things in a matter of days and even your beauty products have wreaked havoc in my harem. So I called you here today because I need you to find the goddess Guāng's amulet," said the emperor flattering a naïve Rong Zian.

His eyes lit up at the sound of praise from the emperor but frowned slightly when he realized that evil woman, Da Niu, had been selling his stash to the harem and obviously at a higher price.

"Of course, I can find the amulet for you but doing such a tedious job on a hungry stomach would make it difficult to handle such a task," he said trying to speak in riddles. He had learned his lesson from the previous encounter with those two men so compensation in money was a must.

"Don't worry, your emperor is sensitive to such matters. How about the amount I put down on that contract, would that be enough to feed you for the rest of your life?" said the emperor as his eunuch handed to him the piece of paper.

Rong Zian's mathematic skills took over as he calculated the equivalent to the currency in his own world, his jaw dropped as he stammered, "20.....20 billion RMB?"

The emperor seemed puzzled by his question, he had no idea what he was yammering about but Rong Zian's shock meant he was happy with the deal, In addition, I will give you your own private mansion, you won't have to live with your parents ever again."

He read through the contract and the emperor had indeed written it down with trembling hands. Thrilled out of his mind, he could only think, 'I am rich!' trying to contain his excitement, 'for 20 billion yuan I can even strip and call you daddy.'

The eunuch taking advantage of his moment of weakness pricked Rong Zian's thumb with a needle legitimizing the contract with his bloody print. With the signing of the contract complete and Rong Zian still freaking out, he asked, "Can I get a copy of that?"

"Sure…... I can make necessary arrangements but there is a catch," said the emperor with a satisfied grin which made Rong Zian feel very uncomfortable. He had carefully checked the contract and noticed that he had to accept whomever the emperor had appointed for this task so he saw it coming. "You have to work with the eighth prince, Wu Yange alias the powerful prince," continued the emperor his eyes fixed beyond Rong Zian as though looking at someone.

Assuming his partner was behind him, Rong Zian turned his head to look back and all the blood drained from his face. He had read plenty of manga before were one's soul temporally left the body in shock and never believed it possible but today he had experienced it first hand. The egoistic manic from yesterday was not only a prince but he was also compelled to work with him, only a few words ran around his mind, 'fuck, fuck, fuck, I am fucked!'

The dark expression worn by the prince spoke volumes and in an attempt to save his own life he begged the emperor, "Your majesty, I will accept malicious prince, mischievous prince or even shameless prince anyone but the powerful prince. Making me work with him is the same as just killing me. I beg you to look at your son….. Murder is already written on his face,"

The emperor shrugged his shoulders and said, "I have to apologize but you boys just have to get along." The prince excused himself and grabbed Rong Zian's arm dragging him out of the main hall. Rong Zian, on the other end, was not accepting of his current situation so he threw a tantrum like a toddler flinging his arms around. His tantrum worked because he drew the attention of a handful of servants who with no delay began to gossip.

Frustrated and enraged, the prince pulled him closer in an intimidating stance and said, "Keep this up and I will kill you right now!" His eyes were grim and terrifying that Rong Zian piped down and willingly got dragged along the corridors. They reached a relatively deserted mansion and the prince kicked open one of the doors startling Ying Tie who was seated waiting for him. He tried to say something to the prince but noticing the state he was in, he swallowed his words.

Wu Yange grasped Rong Zian's neck with his strong hands and raised him off the ground, "My brothers are dying and you act as though it's a joke. You have one shot at finding that amulet and I give you two days, if you fail, I will burn you to ashes," he threatened Rong Zian whose face was already turning blue. He flung him to the ground in anger and watched as the young man coughed violently trying to catch his breath. Seeing how he seemed so helpless, he thought the argument was over but Rong Zian stood up and retaliated.

"What the fuck?" he said and coughed supporting himself against the wall, "You think you are the only one who can get angry? Well, guess what, I am pretty pissed off too. I lost all my product because you two idiots chased me around the city and didn't even compensate me. So yes, I get that your brothers are dying and you are mad but don't be mad at me because I am here to help you!" yelled Rong Zian as he supported his aching neck. He had recently survived a hanging and now he was being subjected to strangulation.

The prince watched Rong Zian support his neck and only remembered then that he had just survived a hanging and it was most likely that his neck hadn't healed. Ridden with guilt, he tried to say something but Rong Zian kept on talking, "I will get it done in two days but I never want to see either of you ever again. Ever since I met you dickheads my life has been going downhill so get the fuck out so I can work."

Wu Yange had to bury his anger deep down before he could finally say, "the records of all mysterious events are on the bookshelf and the history books are on the table." He held on to his sword and walked out but Ying Tie didn't follow his master. He was stunned speechless, he had never met anyone talks back to Wu Yange and survived, yet he had just witnessed Rong Zian getting away with it without even a scratch.

"Why the fuck are you still here? Are you waiting for me to beg you?" yelled Rong Zian when he realized Ying Tie was not moving.

Ying Tie walked towards him and whispered in an intimidating tone, "don't ever say the word fuck again to either of us or I will skin you alive," and walked out slamming the door behind him.