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Chapter 287. Chang Yingxue (1)

After the words faded away, a long silence descended upon my vision.

It was visually absolute darkness, but the experience was entirely different in the depths of the senses.

The power of omniscience flowed silently, and in this inky darkness, Jiang Jianxin clearly sensed a subtle change taking place.

It is indescribable, like drifting clouds or dried-up ponds, subtly changing in every minute detail, bringing a feeling of oscillating between a dead end and a sudden enlightenment.

"Om-"

A deep, resonant sound broke the silence.

The thick darkness before her eyes suddenly dissipated, and Jiang Jianxin felt an invisible force pull her back into the water.

She thought she would see the underwater perspective again, but unexpectedly, a figure thrashing about in the river swam by, and she was like a drop of water that crashed into the gap in the hemp clothing, entered her body, and was fixed as a first-person viewer.

"Help! Help..."

Jiang Jianxin saw the girl's cries for help abruptly interrupted by a mouthful of murky water.

Just as her small body was about to sink from exhaustion, a withered but exceptionally strong hand suddenly grabbed the back of her collar and roughly pulled her out of the water.

"Cough! Cough-cough-cough!"

The violent coughing felt like it was going to rupture her lungs. Through her water-blurred vision, Jiang Jianxin saw an old man with a pale face, dressed in dark eunuch robes.

His eyes held a complex mix of pity, scrutiny, and a shrewd calculation.

Jiang Jianxin felt that he looked somewhat familiar. It wasn't that he had seen him in real life, but rather that a face that looked extremely similar to his had been printed in his high school history textbook.

—Chang Jingzhong, a famous eunuch of the Da Ning Dynasty.

He dragged her ashore and roughly slapped her back to help her vomit the sewage.

"Little one, what's your name? Where are your family?"

His voice was high-pitched, with a tone unique to palace servants.

“Yang… Yingxue.” She trembled, her teeth chattering.

"It's all gone...it's all gone..."

Overwhelmed with grief and the cold, she became incoherent.

Jiang Jianxin was attached to her, but he felt something was very strange.

—Yang Yingxue?

She had a subordinate named Chang Yingxue in the Foolish Society, which was quite a coincidence.

Chang Jingzhong squinted, carefully examining her delicate features that remained even in her disheveled state, especially her eyes. Though filled with fear, they held an unyielding tenacity deep within, much like a young wolf baring its teeth in a desperate situation.

"A girl? That's alright..."

Jiang Jianxin heard him mutter something very softly, and the calculation in his eyes became even deeper. It was no longer the original thought, but a different kind of more secretive and audacious delusion.

Without asking any further questions, he simply wrapped her in a dry old garment and led her away from the riverbank.

Jiang Jianxin thought the girl was saved, but unexpectedly Chang Jingzhong took her into a secluded room that smelled strange medicine and mildew, changed her into an ill-fitting coarse cloth eunuch outfit, and forcibly cut her hair short and tied it into a boy's hairstyle.

Xiao Yingxue regained her senses slightly, and her eyes regained some life, but they were still filled with confusion and unease.

Chang Jingzhong squatted down, his withered fingers pinching her chin with such force that it brought tears to her eyes.

His gaze was sharp as a needle, piercing straight into her heart.

“Listen, child.”

His voice was extremely low, carrying an undeniable ruthlessness:
"From today onwards, your name is Chang Yingxue, and you are our 'son' adopted from a distant relative. Remember, you are a boy, a little eunuch. If there is the slightest mistake, if you show even a hint of femininity, you and I will both be subjected to slow slicing and the extermination of our entire families! Do you understand?"

A tremendous fear gripped her.

She didn't understand what slow slicing or the extermination of nine generations of a family meant, but the chilling tone and the ferocious expression of the person in front of her made her realize that this was an abyss more terrifying than the river.

She nodded instinctively, her small body trembling like a leaf in the wind.

"Okay." A hint of satisfaction appeared on Chang Jingzhong's face.

"You have to learn to walk, talk, and bow like a man. Our family will teach you manners, teach you to read, teach you to read people, teach you... how to survive and climb up in this cannibalistic place."

After that day, Chang Jingzhong did not immediately take her into the depths of the palace. Instead, he placed her in a secluded courtyard outside the imperial city, which belonged to his private property, thus isolating her from all possibilities as a girl.

Jiang Jianxin was attached to her body and could clearly feel her constantly tense nerves.

By day, she is "Chang Gonggong's distant nephew," a quiet, excessively thin eunuch apprentice.

She learned court etiquette, and every kowtow, every bow, and every response had to be precise and flawless, carrying the humility and submissiveness unique to eunuchs.

Chang Jingzhong personally supervised the process, his eyes sharp and piercing. Any hesitation or lack of decisiveness would result in a cold rebuke or even being pinched or twisted in the shadows.

"Lower your waist! Lower your voice! Where are your eyes looking? Look down!"

Chang Jingzhong's shrill voice was like a whip, lashing at her young soul.

At night, the training became even more severe. Chang Jingzhong somehow obtained many old files, mostly records of palace secrets, official infighting, and even local cases from previous years. He forced her to read them, forced her to take notes, and then asked her questions.

"What did the Governor of Zhejiang offer as a tribute to Eunuch Li last year? And through whose connections did he do it?"

Why was Wang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, demoted last month? Who was behind it?

"What is the most taboo thing that old aunt in Cining Palace is to say to her subordinates?"

If Chang Yingxue couldn't answer, she wouldn't be allowed to eat, or she would be punished by kneeling in the cold courtyard until midnight.

Jiang Jianxin could feel the throbbing pain in her head, the extreme exhaustion from remembering those intricate relationships and tedious information, and the pain of hunger and cold.

But even stronger was the fear. Chang Jingzhong was telling her in the most direct way that this palace was built with secrets, relationships, and blood—

If you don't understand these things, you're doomed.

She learns very quickly.

Amazingly fast.

Jiang Jianxin could sense how the will to survive, driven by hatred and fear, was pushing her brain to work overtime, forcing it to gnaw through all the filthy and chaotic information.

Chang Yingxue not only remembered it, but even began to apply it to other situations.

"Father."

On one occasion, she spoke in a low, hoarse voice, already carrying a hint of the tone unique to eunuchs.

"The file says that Steward Zhang likes to collect snuff bottles, especially amber ones. It seems that Eunuch Li... acquired a new one the other day?"

Chang Jingzhong stared at her intently, a look of extreme surprise flashing in his cloudy old eyes, which then turned into a deeper, almost scorching light.

He said nothing, but the next day, she had an extra piece of meat in her meal.

The days passed by under this high-pressure training.

She walks with her shoulders slightly hunched inward, habitually keeping her head down, never making eye contact with anyone, and always speaking in a lower tone.

She was becoming more and more like a real eunuch. Only when she was alone at night, curled up on the cold wooden bed, did the occasional suppressed sobs that leaked out reminded Jiang Jianxin that inside this shell was a girl who should have had a completely different life.

Jiang Jianxin, as the consciousness attached to it, was forced to experience all of this.

She felt suffocated, both by this cruel shaping and by Chang Yingxue's life, which had been forcibly distorted.

At the same time, a tremendous sense of absurdity and chill enveloped her—Chang Jingzhong, a name from history books, was now vividly directing this conspiracy.

Chang Yingxue, this strange girl with the same name as her real-life subordinate, is being pushed step by step onto the road to the pinnacle of power.

Finally, on a snowy morning, Chang Jingzhong carefully examined her appearance, tightened her overly baggy eunuch robes, and said in a deep voice:
"Let's go, it's time to go to the palace."

The palace gates opened before us, like the gaping mouth of a giant beast.

Chang Yingxue took a deep breath, suppressing the last bit of timidity that belonged to "Yang Yingxue" deep into the depths of her eyes, and took the first step.

Jiang Jianxin felt her heart pounding wildly in her chest, but her small body remained remarkably steady.

The shadow of the Forbidden City completely engulfed them.