The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 342 Idle Affairs
Half a day had passed since Gu Feixuan left.

As darkness fell, the maid lit the candles, and the light shining through the windows of the passenger boat faintly illuminated the river surface, allowing it to move slowly forward with the current.

Voices could be heard in the cabin.

"Whether it's 'taking something out of a bag,' 'pulling out a man and removing a wedge,' or 'killing the goose that lays the golden eggs,' all of these have existed, only they have changed with the changing dynasties."

Li Miao gestured with one hand with great interest. Gao Anyu was sitting in front of him, her hands neatly placed on her knees, her eyes wide open, staring intently at Li Miao.

“In our Dashuo, the main problem is ‘killing the goose that lays the golden eggs’.”

"Before purification, you need to prepare half a bag of rice, sesame stalks, wood ash, a roll of oil paper, and a pot of foul-smelling hemp water. After fasting and abstaining from water for a day, wash your lower body, and you can basically begin."

"In late spring and early summer, the person being castrated is given foul-smelling hemp water. When he is delirious, he is placed on a door panel. Open the two sides of his lower body and put a hard-boiled egg in his mouth. He will be in pain but will not be able to scream. He can only use his lower body to squeeze out those two things by himself."

"After that, use a small axe or a hook knife to trim the branches, and a handsome eunuch will be born."

Gao Anyu shivered.

"Eek!"

"Uncle, that hurts so much!"

Li Miao waved his hand.

"A short pain is worse than a long one; the real torment comes later."

"After these procedures are completed, the eunuch will insert straw into the person's lower body and then leave, leaving the person in the room to endure the ordeal for half a month."

"Think about it, your lower body is covered in blood and flesh, but people still need to drink water and eat, right? Once you eat, you need to defecate and urinate. Those filthy things stick to the wounds, and the person being cleaned has to endure the pain to open the wounds and clean them, otherwise the wounds will fester and they will surely die."

"For the past two weeks, the person undergoing castration has been in this dimly lit room, chewing raw rice and enduring excruciating pain, tearing open their wounds and cleaning away the filth while not knowing whether they would survive."

Li Miao squinted at Gao Anyu.

“I once knew an old eunuch who told me that when he was castrated, he heard the wailing coming from next door and thought it would be better to die.”

"But after a few days, he began to look forward to the wailing again, because it meant that there were others suffering with him, as if his pain was being shared, as if he had a companion."

"But in the days leading up to his release, the wailing from next door stopped."

"He was almost driven mad. Despite the excruciating pain, he climbed down from the door and pounded on the wall next door, shouting hoarsely, hoping that his companion, whom he had never even met, would let out another wail and let him know that he was not alone."

"But in the end, he was the only one who walked out of the room."

Gao Anyu lowered his head.

"Uncle, they are a bit pitiful."

In Da Shuo, whether in the martial arts world or the imperial court, almost everyone thinks that eunuchs are born villains, and no one will genuinely respect a eunuch.

Gao Anyu thought the same thing. He asked Li Miao this question with a hint of teasing and sarcasm. But after Li Miao's explanation, he felt pity for him instead.

Li Miao spoke calmly.

"It is indeed pitiful. But if all you hear is pitifulness, then I have wasted my breath talking to you."

After saying that, Li Miao turned to the side, raised his hand to stop Gao Anyu from speaking, listened intently for a moment, and frowned slightly.

"Walk."

Suddenly, Li Miao stood up, grabbed Gao Anyu, and walked out of the cabin.

"What's wrong, Uncle?"

Gao Anyu didn't struggle. Anyway, whatever Li Miao did was right. He was just held in Li Miao's hand and turned to look at him.

"To save people, and incidentally, to finish the lesson I didn't finish teaching you."

Li Miao paused for a moment, then suddenly leaped several meters into the air, carrying Gao Anyu as they gracefully disappeared into the night.

--------

"Ha ha--"

Gu Feixuan gasped for breath, then suddenly gritted his teeth, used his remaining left hand to rub his body a few times to stop the bleeding, and collapsed to the ground in despair.

The child, who had been tucked under his arm, tumbled off and rolled on the ground, his face bleeding from the impact. Tears welled up involuntarily, but he bit his lip to hold them back.

She rushed to Gu Feixuan's side, grabbed his left hand, and tried to help him up.

But he was only five or six years old at most, and his height only reached Gu Feixuan's waist. His little face turned red from holding his breath, but he couldn't lift an inch.

In just half a day, Gu Feixuan's appearance had changed drastically from what Gao Anyu had seen during the day.

His right arm was severed at the root, and a huge gash stretched across his back from his left shoulder to his right rib. The longbow was gone, but the quiver was still there, with only three broken arrows remaining.

His face was pale, and even with pressure points applied, blood was still trickling from his wounds; he was at his last gasp. If left unattended, he would bleed to death within a short time.

Gu Feixuan barely opened his eyes and flung the child away.

"Walk."

The child opened his mouth and made a few "ah ah ah" sounds, but couldn't utter any words; he was mute.

He stood there for a moment, then suddenly ran to the ground beside him, pounced on it, and used his little hands to grab a bunch of dry grass. He then ran to Gu Feixuan and covered him with it.

"Ah."

Gu Feixuan gave a bitter smile.

He knew that the child wanted to "hide" him with the withered grass.

Although this method was destined to fail, for a five or six-year-old child to not cry or make a fuss, but instead to find a way to hide his tracks, showed a rare level of resilience.

But the more the child acted this way, the more unwilling Gu Feixuan felt.

No... I, Gu Feixuan, can die...

But at the very least, we have to find a way for him to survive!
Gu Feixuan gritted his teeth, squeezed out a bit of strength from his body, and stood up while holding onto the tree trunk.

"Ah, ah."

When the child saw him stand up, he rushed over to help him walk.

Gu Feixuan smiled, took a signal arrow from his quiver, and handed it to him. "Listen to me."

"You don't need to worry about me. Taking you with me will only make it harder for me to escape."

"Take this arrow and run along the river. See if you can catch up with a luxurious-looking passenger ship. Throw the arrow over there, and when you hear the sound, the people on board will come looking for you."

"Tell him that Gu Feixuan sent you to find him, remember that?"

The child, still with tears streaming down his face, gripped Gu Feixuan's left hand tightly, as if he couldn't hear what he was saying.

Gu Feixuan's eyebrows stood on end.

"Get out of here!"

"If you want me to live, then leave! Go and ask for help!"

"You're staying here to get me killed!"

The child shuddered in fright and slowly raised his head to look at Gu Feixuan.

Gu Feixuan gritted his teeth, hardened his heart, and shoved him to the ground.

"roll!"

The child then got up, turned around and looked at him with tears in his eyes, before scrambling and crawling into the reeds by the river.

Gu Feixuan let out a long breath, his strength dissipated, his vision went black, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

But he mustered his last bit of strength and managed to hold onto the tree trunk to avoid falling.

He knew that if he collapsed now, the child would still surely die. He needed to buy at least the time it takes for an incense stick to burn to allow the child to run as far away as possible.

And his pursuers should be arriving soon.

Sure enough, a shrill voice came from his side.

"Young Master Gu is indeed remarkable. Among the heroes who have been fighting bandits recently, Young Master Gu is the most difficult to deal with."

"To be so badly injured and still manage to escape so far, I admire you, I admire you."

Gu Feixuan turned his head and saw a pale-faced, beardless, and awkwardly poised middle-aged man leap to the ground and look at him with a smug expression.

"Young Master Gu, do you still have the strength?"

Gu Feixuan sneered.

"A hermaphrodite, a dead eunuch."

"Even if I have the strength, I'll use it on women, not on you."

The middle-aged man wasn't annoyed. He flicked his fingernails and said with a smile.

"Young Master Gu, what's the point of arguing? You're already on your last legs. If you anger us now, you'll only suffer more."

"Oh~"

The middle-aged man made a fake look of sudden realization.

"Are you trying to stall us with your words so that the child can run away?"

“I advise you not to waste your time. I can still hear his footsteps. I just want to play with you. Once he gets to the limit of my hearing, I will kill you and then chase after him to kill him.”

"Young Master Gu, you can't save anyone with just words."

Gu Feixuan had lost his weapon, his dominant hand was useless, his true energy was almost depleted, and he was almost bleeding dry. He was completely exhausted.

The middle-aged man already disliked this meddlesome kid who had inexplicably appeared out of nowhere. Now that he felt victory was in his grasp, he was naturally happy to mock him a few times, hoping to make him die with his eyes wide open in dismay, so that he could vent his hatred.

Unexpectedly, after he uttered these persuasive words, a cold smile suddenly appeared on Gu Feixuan's face.

When did I ever say I would keep you here with my words?

Do you know why my nickname in the martial arts world is "The Arrow-Bearing Gentleman"?

Gu Feixuan forced himself to catch his breath, and shakily stretched out his left hand to grasp the two remaining arrows in the quiver.

The middle-aged eunuch frowned.

With two arrows clutched in his hands, Gu Feixuan's aura changed.

The aura that had been gradually fading away like embers was now becoming sharper.

"Everyone in the martial arts world knows that I love to meddle in other people's business. As long as there is injustice in the world, I, Gu Feixuan, will intervene if I can't stand it."

“When I first started out, I meddled in a matter that no one else dared to touch, and I got my bow broken and my hand broken... At that time, there were people like you who thought I deserved to die.”

"But in the end... it wasn't me who died."

Even now, I'm still meddling in other people's business.

Gu Feixuan raised his hand, bit one arrow into his mouth, and gripped the other arrow tightly with his remaining left hand. He suddenly looked up at the middle-aged eunuch.

The middle-aged eunuch was so intimidated by that sharp gaze that his hair stood on end, and he involuntarily raised his hand to defend himself.

"hehe."

Gu Feixuan bit down on the arrow shaft, blood dripping slowly from his mouth as he mumbled incoherently.

"Everyone in the martial arts world knows that the Fourth Young Master is obsessed with wine, women, wealth, and anger. Do you know why I was born with the 'anger' in my name?"

He took a step forward, stumbled and almost fell, but stood up shakily, his smile becoming even more ferocious.

"I just can't stand anything. I'd rather die than not bite the wicked. I just can't swallow this rage."

“That child will definitely live, I’m telling you.”

Gu Feixuan dragged his mangled body slowly toward the middle-aged eunuch.

"I, Gu Feixuan, am determined to meddle in this matter!"

(End of this chapter)