Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Ninth Prince thought my foster father earned too little money, so one day, he painted a picture and handed it to him.

I stared at the painting for a long while. I wanted to say it wasn’t pretty, but I was afraid I didn’t know good art when I saw it and would offend the Ninth Prince.

Still, the pig in the painting was awfully fat. If it were a real pig, it would definitely be delicious once slaughtered.

I swallowed. It had been so long since I’d had pork hock.

The Ninth Prince gave me a disdainful roll of his eyes, then said to my foster father, “Take it and sell it. When it’s sold, buy ten pork hocks and bring them back.”

My foster father nearly fell off his stool. “Your Highness, in this little town, there are only a handful of people who can read. I’m afraid no one here can appreciate such refined things.”

This place was very remote. There wasn’t even a proper private school in the whole town. When people had money, they bought meat to eat. No one would buy a painting that couldn’t keep them warm or fill their stomach.

I felt that the Ninth Prince was a little naive.

“If I say someone will buy it, then someone will buy it. Go,” the Ninth Prince said with great confidence, so my foster father had no choice but to tuck the painting away and leave.

After my foster father left, I was about to go into the mountains to hunt. The Ninth Prince demanded to come along. I said, “Your Highness, today I will definitely catch a wild rabbit and let you have some meat.”

“Oh. I don’t like eating rabbit.” The Ninth Prince walked with his hands clasped behind his back. Even though he was wearing old clothes, he still walked like a prince.

I thought to myself, how could someone like him rebel? So I asked him, “Your Highness, why did you rebel?”

The Ninth Prince rolled his eyes at me again. What was I supposed to do? I thought even the way he rolled his eyes looked good, so I stared a little longer.

“As if I would bother rebelling. Naturally, someone framed me,” he said, then patted my head. “Dachui, sooner or later, my name will be cleared. When that time comes, you will be the greatest contributor.”

My eyes lit up. I stopped and looked at him. “Then will Your Highness repay me?”

The Ninth Prince coughed and lifted his chin. “Mm. I can grant you one wish.”

I was very excited. “Any wish?”

The Ninth Prince swept me a glance. “Of course. But don’t go too far. If you want to be the Princess Consort of the Ninth Prince, I won’t agree.”

I cut him off. “What Princess Consort of the Ninth Prince or Princess Consort of the Eighth Prince? None of that matters.”

The Ninth Prince narrowed his eyes at me. “It doesn’t matter?”

“Your Highness.” I stopped and grabbed his arm. “Reward me with a butcher shop. A really, really big one.”

The Ninth Prince looked at me, and the smile on his face froze.

“So the Princess Consort of the Ninth Prince is less important than a butcher shop?” He poked my forehead. “Wang Dachui, I underestimated how stupid you are.”

I scratched my head. “Is that too much to ask? Then why don’t you restore my father’s official position and let me go back to his side? I promised I would take care of him in his old age and send him off properly.”

“He’s still far from dying.”

“Then I’ll wait until he dies.”

The Ninth Prince seemed unhappy. He stared at me coldly. “When the time comes, don’t regret it and come crying to beg me.”

“I won’t, Your Highness. I walk upright, sit straight, and never beg anyone.”

“Heh. What fine phrasing. You must have studied.”

The Ninth Prince flicked his sleeve and turned back. I asked if he was still going hunting. He said he was going to hit me on the head.

“Why are you suddenly cursing at people when everything was fine?” I could only call out to Erniu. “Brother Erniu, my Ninth Brother isn’t going into the mountains anymore. The two of us will go ourselves. We’ll be quick.”

Erniu shot out of his house, carrying his bow, and leaped out of the courtyard. “Let’s go, let’s go. Without the burden today, we’ll definitely catch lots of good stuff.”

I giggled. “I’m definitely going to catch a pheasant today.”

Erniu didn’t understand. “Didn’t you want to catch a rabbit?”

The Ninth Prince said he didn’t like eating rabbit, so I would catch a pheasant instead. If there was something tasty to eat, he surely wouldn’t be angry or curse at people anymore.

I was just about to leave when I suddenly felt a chill on the back of my head. I turned around and saw the Ninth Prince staring at me darkly.

I hoisted my bow and ran.

My harvest today was huge. I raided a pheasant nest. It was enough for His Highness to eat for half a month.

Erniu and I piled the game in my courtyard and divided it up. The Ninth Prince sat in the courtyard, drinking tea as he watched us.

“Dachui, a man has to be able to work, and good at working too. Only then can he support a woman, let her live well, and make her follow him willingly.”

As Erniu spoke, he glanced at the Ninth Prince.

“Unlike some men, who can’t carry anything on their shoulders or lift anything with their hands. They can’t earn money, and if they find a woman, they’re just harming her!”

The Ninth Prince leisurely drank his tea. Just then, my foster father came home. His hands were full of things, and he told me excitedly that the Ninth Prince’s painting had sold for one thousand taels.

I was stunned. I’d never seen one thousand taels in my life.

“That fat pig sold for one thousand taels? My heavens, even a real pig wouldn’t sell for one thousand taels,” I exclaimed.

Erniu stood frozen in place. He looked at the game on the ground, then at the money pouch in my foster father’s hand. His face turned bright red.

The Ninth Prince glanced at Erniu and said with a beaming smile, “It’s only one thousand taels. Someone would buy my paintings even for ten thousand.”

Erniu left dejectedly. He didn’t even want the game anymore. No matter how I called after him, he didn’t answer.

The Ninth Prince was very happy and ordered me to cook two chickens tonight.

I was very happy too. Not only did I cook chicken, I also made a big pork hock.

That night, I laid out the paper for the Ninth Prince and invited him to sit down. The Ninth Prince asked me what I was doing.

“The pig you painted is worth so much money. Why not paint some more tonight? Paint oxen this time. Sell each one for two thousand taels. Start with a hundred paintings.”

One hundred paintings, two thousand taels each… I couldn’t even do the math. I simply didn’t dare imagine it. If I had that much money, how happy would I be?

The Ninth Prince’s expression was very unfriendly, as if I had taken him for a fool.