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0.45% Sovereign of the Three Realms / Chapter 6: Steward Jiang Zheng’s worries

Chapitre 6: Steward Jiang Zheng’s worries

Éditeur: AtlasStudios

The Jiang duke’s household was in dire straits in the face of such brutal competition.

There was only half a year left until the Hidden Dragon Trials, and the previous Jiang Chen’s performance could only be summed up with one word, “disastrous”. There were numerous examinations that needed to be completed prior to the trials, but quite a few hadn’t even been started.

Even without the incident at the Rites of Heavenly Worship, Jiang Chen only had a thirty to forty percent chance of passing the trials. He was one of the hot contenders for family demotion.

However, the Jiang Chen now was not disheartened at all. In fact, he was rather excited.

“The strong reign supreme. It seems that this rule of survival applies from those in higher positions to the common masses down below with no exception. I could not train in my past life and thus did not have the opportunity to experience this, but now that I’m living in the most glorious years of life, I cannot miss this!”

In his past life, he held the exalted position of the son of the Celestial Emperor. No one dared offend him. However, his yin constitution prevented him from training. It was impossible to even consider concealing his identity and engaging others in combat incognito.

In this life, he could finally train to his heart’s content and relish in the glories of ascending to the peak of the martial way. This was the stage he enjoyed!

“Since I’ve promised Eastern Lu that I will enter the palace in three days to diagnose the princess, I need to make good use of these three days, not to mention my current identity as one of the candidates for the Hidden Dragon Trials. There’s still six months until the final examinations for the Trials. As the heir to Jiang Han dukedom, even though the position of duke doesn’t mean much, I should at least gain some face for that ‘cute’ old dad of mine, shouldn’t I? I can’t let old dad lose something like the dukedom.”

As he organized his thoughts, Jiang Chen realized that time was of the essence.

One had to give it to them, the people who had carried out the caning sure knew their stuff. Forget about the past Jiang Chen, even practitioners who were twice as strong would be hard pressed to survive that ordeal.

His misfortune was this Jiang Chen’s good fortune and new body, but this body was quite severely injured. If he didn’t get a grip on his injuries, forget about entering the palace in three days to cure the princess, he would miss even the Trials’ small test at the end of the month.

The Hidden Dragon Trials held a small test every month and all the scores were cumulative. A lot of homework would descend if one missed the test in one month.

The prior Jiang Chen already owed a ton of homework. If this continued, he would probably be failed out of the Trials before the final examinations.

This was exactly what Jiang Chen didn’t want to happen.

In his past life, as the son of the Celestial Emperor, he had spent millions of years researching and refining dao of alchemy. Although he was utterly worthless for martial cultivation, he was a renowned alchemy master in the world of alchemy. Many alchemy masters had solicited his teachings in the dao of alchemy. If this was his past life, any random pill would enable him to fully recover and be roaring with vitality.

But that was his past life, there was no way that this life could measure up to that.

It was a good thing that Jiang Chen had been in charge of the Tianlang Library for millions of years and read countless scrolls and books. His knowledge knew no bounds, spanning from common sense to the ways of the gods themselves.

Handling these types of injuries was a small thing.

After a night of rest, Jiang Chen thought briefly the next morning, took out his brush and ink, and wrote out a list.

“Jiang Zheng!” He yelled towards the door.

The duke of Jiang Hang had appointed Jiang Zheng to be Jiang Chen’s personal steward, in charge of taking care of Jiang Chen’s day to day life and fulfilling his daily needs. Jiang Zheng had received his due share of tongue lashings for the incident at the Autumn Crane.

He had been on tenterhooks all night long. They said that a servant would rather die than see his master humiliated, so by all accounts, Jiang Zheng should have died for neglecting his duties.

But he just couldn’t bring himself to accept that fact. He had been quite diligent in serving this young master, but the young duke just really wouldn’t shape up.

The servants and butlers of other dukedoms lived a good life whilst serving their masters, eating and drinking only the best and being feted wherever they went. But Jiang Zheng’s master was an odd one, alternating between whiling the time away one day and throwing out crazy ideas the next.

To top it off, this young master always told Jiang Zheng to take the blame if anything went south.

Therefore, he had put out his fair share of fires and taken quite a bit of blame in the days that he had served Jiang Chen. Not only did Jiang Zheng feel a decided lack of increased status with his awarded position, but he rather felt that he was being worked to death.

Say for instance, money. This young master spent money as easily as breathing. If a friend were to get into a sticky situation today, he’d make it right with money. If another brother stirred up troubled tomorrow, he would again put it to rest with money.

Although the duke of Jiang Han was generous with his money, he could not keep up with the pace of the young master’s spending. It was only mid month, yet the entire month’s allowance had already been spent!

Thus, Jiang Zheng now only wanted to be left alone and count his blessings if it was peaceful and quiet. His head started to hurt as soon as he heard Jiang Chen’s voice.

But he couldn’t refuse his master’s call.

“Young duke, your servant is incompetent and did not take care of you. Please punish your servant severely. Even if you withdrew your servant’s job, your servant would not breath a single ill world.” Jiang Zheng immediately fell to the floor in a bow as soon as he entered.

The fluff of “incompetence” and “please punish severely” were just empty words. The duke of Jiang Han was not pursuing the matter further, which meant Jiang Zheng had successfully absolved all responsibility.

Even though this young duke was a good for naught and had no desire to advance in life, he didn’t have the bad habit of being cruel towards his underlings.

If it was the previous Jiang Chen, he most likely would not have discerned the true meaning behind Jiang Zheng’s words. But the Jiang Chen of today had experienced millions of years, had a good grasp of most matters, and was well versed in social dynamics.

A song’s meaning could be gleaned from its melody. One could tell that steward Jiang Zheng had suffered too much at the hands of the previous Jiang Chen, and wanted to throw it all down and quit.

Jiang Chen didn’t reveal the steward’s intention and chuckled, “Jiang Zheng ah, my father had meant to award you riches and honor when he appointed you to me. Alas, you enjoyed no riches and honor during this time and have toiled ceaselessly to clean up after me and put out fires. I have noted your loyal service.”

Jiang Zheng stared dazedly, what direction was the wind blowing in from today? Where did the young duke learn these words of comfort and warmth?

“Jiang Zheng, we’ve already run out of this month’s allowance, right?” Jiang Chen did not wait for Jiang Zheng to respond and asked with a smile that, at the same time didn’t seem to be a smile.

“Eh… um…” Jiang Zheng had never enjoyed such a thoughtful conversation and didn’t know how to respond. He almost wanted to beat his chest and promise, don’t worry about this young duke! I, Jiang Zheng, will find a way.

But a thought struck him, wait a second! If I make this promise, where on earth am I going to find money to fill this hole? The young duke’s mouth is as sweet as sugar today, is this a new prank he’s playing on me?

Jiang Zheng’s guard came up in the span of a second and his wariness increased tenfold.

Jiang Chen gave a loud laugh upon seeing Jiang Zheng hesitate with lingering fear, “Jiang Zheng, this is the situation. I have a list here with some medicinal ingredients on it. Go obtain a dosage for me from the Hall of Healing according to the amounts listed.”

Jiang Zheng dumbly accepted the list but didn’t move. He had the list alright, but what about the money? The ingredients at the Hall of Healing weren’t free now, were they?

It’s not like your family owned the Hall of Healing.

“Jiang Zheng, pretend that we aren’t master and servant, but just two friends casually chatting. As a steward yourself, at what level of experience and accomplishment would you say makes for an ideal steward? Or how about, what makes someone the best steward to you?”

Best steward?

Forget about being the best, Jiang Zheng wanted to cry. Out of all the body servants to the 108 dukes, Jiang Zheng would be enormously happy if he wasn’t ranked last.

“Why the long face, tell me what you’re thinking,” Jiang Chen encouraged.

Jiang Zheng paused, swallowed and gathered his courage. “Do you really want me to say?”

“Speak. You will be rewarded if you speak well!”

Having been rewarded with too many bounced checks before, Jiang Zheng didn’t dare put any stock in the thought of a reward. Jiang Chen actually handed out rewards quite often, but even more frequently did something like rewarding you with a thousand silver one second, but borrowing two thousand off you the next.

But the mention of the best, the most admired and the most ideal stewards caused Jiang Zheng’s thoughts to race.

Frankly speaking, even though followers of the noble and powerful were not themselves noble or powerful, they still had dreams and career aspirations.

Some had even written it into a limerick…

Jiang Zheng drew courage from who knew where upon seeing Jiang Chen’s serious expression and said, “Young duke, some limericks are quite popular in the capital. They describe people in jobs like mine.”

“Oh? Tell me about it.” Jiang Chen grew curious.

“The limerick goes — Delicacies from land and sea, dressed in fine attire and riding well groomed horses, a manor and surrounding lands, home filled with gold and silver.

Conversing with the powerful, befriending the noble, wives coexisting in harmony, doting on sons and grandchildren.

Regulars at the Autumn Crane, financier of the Garden of Returning Spring, whoring with dukes and princes, drinking at the same table with esteemed officials…”

Jiang Chen applauded in hearty laughter as Jiang Zheng recited around four stanzas in one go. “Not bad, not bad. Quite interesting. Garden of the Returning Spring, that must be a land of temptation?”

Jiang Zheng joined his master in laughter but was secretly full of disdain. It’s not like you haven’t been to those places, what are you acting all innocent for!

“Jiang Zheng, I have observed you for a period of time and have confidence in your abilities. Now, if you can complete this mission, and it won’t take long, I will fulfill the dreams of wealth and honor you’ve had during this time. At that time, you will surely feel you are the most successful, most successful steward!”

“Mission? What mission?” Jiang Zheng gave a start. His first thought was that he had to be on his guard as this young master had something up his sleeve again.

“Why, the list in your hand of course. Take good care of it, it’s a treasure that money can’t buy. Take it to the Hall of Healing and ask to speak to the person in charge.”

“What do I want with the person in charge? I can ask anyone in the Hall to grab these ingredients for me. The person in charge of the Hall of Healing is an arrogant, stuck up type. It’s not easy to get a meeting with him.” Jiang Zheng growled in a low, muffled voice.

“Heh heh, just do as I say. If the person in charge won’t see you, just tell them that they’ll surely regret it later. Even if they cling to your legs and beg you in the future, they will only taste the bitterness of regret.”

Jiang Zheng almost wanted to feel the young duke’s forehead. Was the young duke burning up with a fever of idiocy because of his caning? Was he sleep talking?

Jiang Zheng was well acquainted with how high the minimum requirements were and how arrogant those at the Hall of Healing were. He was reminded every time he went to obtain medicine for his master. The people there simply didn’t have the time to waste in idle chatter.

“Jiang Zheng, you must be inwardly cursing my name, thinking that I’m talking nonsense. You must think that I’m sending you on a fool’s errand by telling you to fetch medicine ingredients without giving you the silver to do so. Let me tell you something, the list you hold in your hands is no ordinary list. It’s a pill recipe that has been lost since ancient times. Even ten million silver would not be enough to purchase this recipe at an auction house.”

“Pill recipe?” Jiang Zheng’s face morphed into a smile that was uglier than crying. “Young duke, please don’t laugh at your humble servant’s expense. Since when did our Jiang family possess an ancient pill remedy? Do you feel that your humble servant has not yet reached the limits of his emotional capacity and wish for him to know how it feels to be driven into a corner?”

Jiang Zheng laughed until his eyes were red. He really was about to cry.


Chapitre 7: Jiang Zheng’s Stage, Pride and Elation

Éditeur: AtlasStudios

Jiang Zheng seriously wanted to break down when faced with such a master.

This month’s allowance had already run out, and the ingredients on this list were impossible to obtain without ten thousand silver. To use this single list and demand ten million silver in exchange — was this not a sign of sheer insanity?

“Go ahead, cry! A man crying is not a crime!” Jiang Chen chuckled, “But what if I were to tell you that this list came from the gods? Would you still that I was crazy?”

“I’m treating the princess’ sickness? Do you also think I’m crazy?”

“Even if I were crazy, would I drag my father, my entire family into this? I may be a good for nothing, but I’m not that completely brainless, am I?”

Jiang Zheng was dumbfounded by the questions that flew like a hail of arrows. It was true, although this master had committed his fair share of ridiculous acts, he wouldn’t go so far as to bring down the entire Jiang family, would he now?

Was it possible that the bit about a message from the gods was actually true?

“Jiang Zheng, I can truthfully tell you that we will not sell the list in your hand for all the silver in the world. You tell the person in charge of the Hall of Healing that they aren’t the only pharmacy in the Eastern Kingdom. If they don’t want it, then the Temple of the Farmer God or the Pill King Garden would break their heads to obtain it. They’ll drown in their own regret when the Hall of Healing is surpassed by others. As soon as pill goes into production, all the medicines out on the market will be taken off the shelves and dumped into the trash. They’ll be worthless!”

Jiang Chen gestured as he said this firmly with utmost confidence.

He wasn’t simply sprouting hogwash. Jiang Chen had already filtered through all the pill recipes in his mind an endless number of times, eliminated all the holy and divine level pill recipes and finally settled on one that wasn’t too out of the ordinary, but definitely quite rare.

And the most important thing was, given Eastern Kingdom’s level of medicine, the ingredients that this recipe needed weren’t outside their tolerance range.

Seeing as Jiang Zheng still wore a skeptical expression, Jiang Chen really wanted to storm over and stomp the man a few times. Like it was that easy for the wonderful me to select such a recipe!

One had to know that in his past life, Jiang Chen couldn’t train because of his yin constitution. Therefore, in the millions of years as caretaker of the Tianlang Library, his greatest hobby was to pursue the dao of alchemy.

One could say that those millions of years had seen him ascend to the pinnacle of the dao of alchemy, on the same standing as those undying alchemy legends who were renowned throughout the lands.

For the past Jiang Chen, finding a pill recipe was as easy as eating and drinking.

But —

For a small place like the Eastern Kingdom, a pill recipe that was too sophisticated might as well have been written in archaic hieroglyphics; no one would be able to understand it.

He didn’t even want to waste brainpower on recipes that were too basic or pointless.

He had expended a considerable amount of thought and effort into picking this particular one out of a list of common pill recipes. But Jiang Chen firmly believed that if dropped into a place like the Eastern Kingdom, the recipe would still shock people to the core.

At the end of the day, Jiang Zheng still set on his way.

It wasn’t like he had been convinced by Jiang Chen, he earnestly told himself along the way. As much of a layabout the young master was, he wouldn’t make a joke out of the princess’ illness or gamble with the lives of the entire family.

So, he resolutely tried to convince himself that maybe the gods did look upon the young master with favor, and maybe he did obtain a priceless pill recipe as a result.

Although he was still quite skeptical, especially after recalling the crazy antics that Jiang Chen would normally engage in, Jiang Zheng really had no choice.

Even though he knew this was ridiculous beyond belief, he still had to gird up his loins and give it a try.

Otherwise, although he could manage, by the skin of his teeth, to scrape enough money together and buy all the listed ingredients, he would go home to a different kind of disaster when he faced his wife.

“Ai, they say that to be a young duke’s steward is something to crow and strut around about, but why do I feel that my days have been so aggrieved?” He tragically wiped away at the corners of his eyes and walked listlessly to the Hall of Healing.

“If it really comes down to it, I’ll just let them mock and jeer at me for a while. It wouldn’t be the first time anyways.” Jiang Zheng felt a bit better after this thought struck him.

The Hall of Healing was a famed, influential power in the imperial city. Its very buildings were picturesque boardwalk.

When Jiang Zheng made it to the front steps of the Hall of Healing, he felt that both his legs were going numb. A sense of fear started growing in his heart as he thought about the haughty attitude and disdaining tones of the associates at the Hall of Healing.

“Uh… that… um… I need some medicine ingredients!”

Jiang Zheng gathered up his courage multiple times before finally making it through the front door and to the counter.

The associates at the Hall of Healing were all professionally trained before starting work. The first skill that was trained was the ability to remember faces. Which faces needed to be fawned on, which needed to be flattered, which faces were enough with a normal attitude, and which the associates could be a dick to.

Jiang Zheng’s face was an unfamiliar one, and thus was naturally someone who the associates could be a dick to.

“Ahem. Sir, buying medicine ingredients is fine. But let’s talk about the rules first. The Hall does not do business on credit, ingredients and money need to both be fully paid out.”

Jiang Zheng hurriedly said, “Cash, I have cash.”

The associate glanced at the list and flicked some beads on an abacus. “Eight types of spirit level ingredients in total, 9,800 silver according to the ingredients weight. Same as usual, pay first, then you get the ingredients.”

Jiang Zheng flushed and coughed fakely twice. He lightly knocked on the counter and say, “Eh, erm, uh, I want to speak to the person in charge.”

“What?” The associate’s face darkened. “No money? How dare you ask for ingredients with no money?”

“You want to speak to the person in charge? Do you know how busy the head of the Hall is? Each of his minutes is worth tens of thousands of silver, how would he have time for you? Can you bear the responsibility and costs of wasting their time?”

“Go out the door and take a right. Read the Hall’s rules. Is is that easy to speak to the head? Are you a prince or minister, or an esteemed duke?

“If you want your ingredients then pay up, if not then get out of my way and don’t disturb us from doing business.”

The associate flapped his hands with an impatient expression on his face, his spittle almost spraying Jiang Zheng’s face. The level of apparent distaste was the same as if the associate was shooing away an annoying fly.

It wasn’t as if Jiang Zheng hadn’t received his fair share of contempt and derision at the Hall of Healing before. It wasn’t as if he was someone who couldn’t take that kind of treatment. The truth was, he had endured far too much during this time!

Did they really have to be such snobs? Really have to be such dicks?

Jiang Zheng could bear it no longer, this associate’s particular attitude was the straw that broke the camel’s back, he erupted —

A metallic token of sorts was slapped hard onto the counter.

Jiang Zheng gave the associate a resounding slap across the face, “Open your worthless eyes and take a good look at what this is!”

“The person in charge is worth ten thousand silver is a minute? Would I have deigned to let you know that I’m worth several million silver a minute?”

“How dare you delay my business, I can make your Hall of Healing close up shop! Do your parents know how you’re such a wonderful, such an all powerful employee? Does your head know?”

The associate was seeing stars from the force of that slap. He held his face, disbelief writ plain in his eyes.

This was the Hall of Healing! One of the most prominent places in the entire imperial capital!

In an ordinary day of work, even noble and powerful families had to be restrained, polite and accommodating when they came here.

But today, he had been hit!

And by someone who was dressed very plainly, someone who was obviously not the servant of a noble and powerful family!

Was the sky caving in?

He immediately screamed like a pig being slaughtered, “Someone’s come to cause trouble in the Hall, he’s beating people up!”

A crowd of fully armored warriors bristling with weaponry rushed out immediately as soon as the scream like a pig being slaughtered sounded out. Someone who seemed to hold a position of authority also walked out from the back.

He was about to thunder into a rage at the sight of the plainly dressed, ordinary looking instigator when the shiny engraved dragon medallion on the counter caught his eye. His expression immediately changed drastically.

“Administrator He, that’s the dog of a slave who dared to hit me. This wasn’t a beating just for me, but also one aimed towards the hallowed name of the Hall of Healing!” The associate who had been beaten immediately tattled like a child seeing their parents when he saw a familiar face.

As soon as he’d finished —

A cleaner, crueler slap landed nicely on his cheek. That slap flung him a few meters away from the counter.

But this time, it was administrator He who had slapped the associate.

“You worthless thing, did your eyes grow on your butt? How dare you retort against an esteemed guest? It was a well deserved slap, you’d deserve it if you were beaten to death!”

Having rebuked the associate, administrator He’s menacing expression morphed into a face wreathed with smiles, as if spring had returned to the earth.

“Sir, my underlings were blind and have offended your noble self.”

He turned his head to yell gruffly at the warriors, “What the hell are you all doing? Sitting around watching the paint peel? Scram!”

These warriors were plainly under the command of administrator He as they about faced and marched away after receiving their orders.

Jiang Zheng hadn’t expected this turn of events. He’d actually briefly lost his rationality just now and had erupted under the strain and goading.

To be honest, the young master had given him this gold medallion. He didn’t even know what it was, just that the young master had said it may come in handy.

He had nothing to lose and everything to gain when he tried it.

Who knew, it really did come in handy! It was curiously useful!

…no shit it would come in handy! The king’s engraved dragon medallion was the highest level token that could be awarded. How could it not be useful? One could behave with impunity in the Eastern Kingdom with this in hand!

“May I learn your noble name? Please, come this way. My underlings were idiots, please allow your humble servant to express his apologies.”

Jiang Zheng hadn’t lived under a rock his whole life. He knew that it was due to the gold medallion that the person in front of him was falling over himself to please Jiang Zheng. Damn, it felt good!

Good feelings aside, Jiang Zheng didn’t lose his composure. He had fully grasped the situation by now. “It was originally just a small thing, but your associate… sigh. I will speak no more. Since the Hall of Healing does not welcome me, then I shall try my luck at the Temple of the Farmer God or the Pill King Garden. Perhaps the people there will treat me like a human being?”

Administrator He shuddered inwardly upon hearing those words. It was obvious that this esteemed guest was still seething. He surreptitiously checked out Jiang Zheng, but couldn’t find any clues.

He was dressed plainly and didn’t look like a preeminent noble.

Unless, this esteemed guest had changed his attire on purpose? What a strategy, he is quite a character indeed. Administrator He was at a loss as he couldn’t get a read on the situation.

Administrator He’s thoughts drifted to the medallion upon seeing Jiang Zheng really preparing to leave. How would he dare let Jiang Zheng leave? The mysterious all powerful medallion holder was sure to make trouble for the Hall of Healing!

Although the Hall didn’t fear trouble knocking on its doors, it wished to avoid offending this level of character if possible!

“Please sir, hold your steps. My hall’s third hallmaster and several elders happen to be in residence. You are a noble and esteemed guest, I shall immediately notify the hallmaster and elders. Even if you have later appointments, please allow my hall to serve you a cup of tea in apology.”

Unlike ordinary associates, Deacon He was a man experienced in the ways of life. He was flexible and adaptable, and had a knack of handling things properly.

Jiang Zheng’s motion of leaving was actually a fake move. To be honest, he felt beyond damn good. This was the first time he had felt this way since he had become the young duke’s steward.

Pride and elation!

During previous times, even mere associates in the Hall of Healing were high and mighty dicks, not to mention leader type folks. None of them had a civil word for him.

But today, this administrator He had to call himself “little He” before him, Jiang Zheng!

Regardless of whether or not he could become the best steward in the future, at least he felt really damn good and really strong today!

Suddenly, Jiang Zheng felt an unexpected bit of confidence in his household’s young duke.


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