Gao Lin also advised, "Your Highness, the Crown Princess must at least come from a respectable family; His Majesty and Her Majesty would never agree to it."
Zhu Ci looked completely bewildered. "Who said anything about appointing a Crown Princess? The Crown Princess will, of course, be chosen by Father Emperor and Mother Empress. I was simply thinking of letting Qiulu become a select lady; if that isn't possible, she should at least be a lady of virtue or a lady of talent."
Ma Tai breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I see, then that should be easy."
Gao Lin was somewhat puzzled: "A lady-in-waiting might not be easy, but for ladies of grace or talented ladies.. their identities shouldn't need to be faked, right?"
“It is easy to arrange for Qiulu, but the main issue is her brother, Chunsheng.” Zhu Ci cleared his throat. “Chunsheng has served with great devotion, I do not wish for him to become a eunuch. Besides, if Qiulu has a child in the future, it wouldn't sound good to say the child's uncle is a eunuch.”
Ma Tai was somewhat curious: "Then how do you plan to arrange them?"
Zhu Ci said in a low voice, "Don't tell anyone about this yet. It's just an idea I have. I want Fu Chunsheng to join the Jinyi Guard first, then come to the Eastern Palace to serve as a guard."
Gao Lin nodded. "That is one way to do it. Fine, this won't be difficult to arrange."
Zhu Ci pressed for an answer, "Can it be finished before I leave?"
Ma Tai was somewhat surprised. "In such a hurry?"
Zhu Ci said, "That way, when the time comes, I can say he is a good man brought back from the south. Oh, it would be even better to change his surname and add an elder brother to his name."
Gao Lin and Ma Tai nodded. Although the matter was somewhat urgent, it was not impossible to handle.
Thus, Zhu Ci received three freshly issued sets of identity documents, including household registration slips and travel permits.
Zhu Ci felt the household registration slip; in the head of household column on the cyan paper, a name he had used for a long time was written: Zhu Xinghuo.
Author's Note:
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Zhu Ci: Here comes the fake identity then. *Cat sits upright for ID photo. jpg*
Next update tomorrow at 12:00 PM
Chapter 17
Zhu Xinghuo was the pseudonym he used while working undercover. When he first came up with it, it was very simple; he just took the last character of his name, which also echoed the meaning that a single spark can start a prairie fire.
Unfortunately, after transmigrating, he felt that this tiny spark of his could be extinguished at any moment amidst the raging wind and rain.
Zhu Ci glanced at the other information on the household register again and found that it was written in great detail, even specifying how many acres of land he owned, how many rooms he had, even the exact number of livestock like oxen and horses, as well as the amount of farm tools.
He knew that these things must truly exist, meaning that if he went to the address listed on the household registration, there should indeed be houses and livestock there.
Based on the information in this household registration, Zhu Ci glanced at the listed assets and estimated that this identity likely belonged to an upper-class household.
The so-called registered households were already part of the wealthy class, owning not just land, but even some shops and servants.
Before Zhu Ci departed, Zhu Yousong specially summoned him to Wenhua Hall. At this time, Wenhua Hall was rarely peaceful, lacking musicians, dancers, or any other chaotic mix of men and women.
Zhu Yousong spoke with rare gentleness, "You have worked hard this time, my son."
Zhu Ci lowered his head and said, "To share the burdens of my Imperial Father and to stabilize the court and the people is my duty."
Zhu Yousong said, "Sun Hongji, you speak."
Sun Hongji responded with an acknowledgment and said with lowered eyes, "Your Highness, the 'assassins' have all been arranged, separately in Huzhou Prefecture and Guangde Prefecture."
Zhu Ci asked, "Two locations?"
Sun Hongji gave an affirmative response: "Yes, the Donglin Party will certainly strive to protect the fake Crown Prince; we must make more arrangements to ensure there are no mistakes."
Zhu Ci thought to himself, *I see, you're afraid I won't die, so you've come up with a backup plan.*
However, on the surface, he maintained an innocent expression and said, "Commander Sun is so meticulous. Where exactly will it be? That way, I can make preparations in advance."
Sun Hongji directly ordered his servants to open the map to show Zhu Ci the location, then said, "Your Highness, the assassination will require your cooperation; it would be best if the guards could be sent away at that time."
Good heavens, with all these layers upon layers of buffs, he really won't rest until he has killed him.
As for Zhu Ci, if one truly wanted to kill Zhu Ci, there would be no need for all this trouble. As long as chaos broke out, Zhu Ci could easily arrange for someone to take him out during the confusion, then simply claim he was killed by bandits.
If there was a worry about a counterattack by the Donglin Party, then all the people arranged by Gao Hongtu should also be killed.
Now, by dismantling the guard forces layer by layer, the ultimate target is still him.
Fortunately, although Zhu Ci had been constantly playing along with Zhu Yousong, he had never invested much emotion in him, so he felt no sense of disappointment.
After communicating with Sun Hongji, Zhu Ci said to Zhu Yousong, "Rest assured, Imperial Father, your son will certainly do his utmost."
Zhu Yousong nodded and said, "Good, go with peace of mind. When you return, I shall surely reward you well."
Heh, still making empty promises at a time like this. Otherwise, why don't you just reward me with your throne instead?
Zhu Ci happened to come out of Wenhua Hall at the same time as Sun Hongji. As they walked across the plaza, he asked softly, "Does Commander Sun know the identities of the Fu siblings by my side?"
Sun Hongji asked with an expressionless face, "The Fu siblings? Is there something suspicious about the two of them?"
Zhu Ci waved his hand and said, "Not at all. I only heard that the two of them sold themselves to pay for their parents' burials. I want to find their contracts of indenture so I can arrange a proper background for them later; after all, they are to remain by my side, their contracts shouldn't be in anyone else's hands."
Sun Hongji said, "Rest assured, Your Highness. I shall send someone to investigate immediately, if they are found, I will have them sent to Your Highness."
Zhu Ci nodded; he wasn't worried that Sun Hongji wouldn't provide it.
To put it bluntly, the Fu siblings were nothing more than two small characters. If they truly came from the Jinyi Guard, they wouldn't be bribable with just two contracts of indenture, let alone.. who knows if the names of these siblings are real or fake.
Just as he had thought, on the day of departure, Sun Hongji sent someone to deliver the indentured contracts.
In addition to Sun Hongji, someone also sent him something from the Empress.
The Empress had actually sent a box of snacks.
Zhu Ci felt suspicious, but he still accepted the food box with a smile and said, "My mother was afraid I might get hungry on the road."
After finishing speaking, he turned to Gao Lin and Ma Tai, patted their shoulders, said, "Alright, go back now. I'll leave everything in the Eastern Palace to you."
Gao Lin and Ma Tai were somewhat reluctant to see him go; once the Crown Prince left, they would no longer have a legitimate excuse to go out and have fun.
The Crown Prince's procession slowly began to move. Zhu Ci sat back inside the carriage and looked out through the window.
Sigh, ever since arriving in this era, I haven't even properly toured Nanjing before I have to leave. It's uncertain when I'll be able to return in the future.
Of course, he was not just looking at the scenery, but was also taking a moment to observe the composition of the guards surrounding him.
Surrounding his carriage were the captains of the Tenth Division of the Jinyi Guard, with a conservative estimate of at least eight men.
On the surface, these people were certainly here to protect him, but once the assassination attempt began, they might become "assassins."
Zhu Ci withdrew his gaze, his heart feeling somewhat heavy.
Inside, the Fu siblings were monitoring him, outside, the Jinyi Guard maintained strict vigilance; besides the Jinyi Guard, there should be others responsible for surveillance.
The layers of security inside and out were all there to ensure that he would die outside.
At this time, it was actually the Donglin Party that could be relied upon.
After all, the Donglin Party would definitely protect Zhu Ci. If he could not find a particularly good opportunity to leave, he would have to team up with Zhu Ci to ensure a bit more safety.
Of course, he was also thinking of finding an opportunity to leave after meeting Zhu Ci.
He needed to judge from Zhu Ci whether he was in a book or in real history.
If it were a book, he would know the general outline to some extent and could act more freely.
If it were real history.. then he would have to be more careful.
Zhu Ci turned his head, intending to take another look at the maps, but as he turned, he saw the food box sent by the Empress.
He looked at the food box, feeling somewhat bewildered; to him, the Empress's action seemed a bit sudden.
When he was in the palace before, the Empress never paid him any attention; she had never even sent someone to check on him or offer his greetings. Why had she suddenly sent someone with a food box now?
This.. was it really sent by the Empress?
Because he hadn't left anyone to attend to him in the carriage, he opened the food box without hesitation once doubts arose. Inside were various pastries, truly a feast for the eyes, smell, taste.
He didn't dare touch these pastries at all; if all else failed, he would find an opportunity to throw them away.
Zhu Ci took the food box apart layer by layer, when he reached the final layer, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.
There was still a thick layer at the bottom of the food box. This layer looked like a solid piece of wood, but it lacked the weight that should have accompanied it.
Zhu Ci tapped it lightly, a slight echo reached his ears; there was.. a hollow space inside!
He immediately picked it up and shook it gently, indeed, he heard faint sounds coming from within.
There's something in it!
Zhu Ci's curiosity was instantly piqued. He searched carefully all around and finally spotted a very inconspicuous gap along the edge.
He took out the dagger he had previously asked Ge Xudong to prepare and used it to pry open the gap bit by bit.
Although the food box was sealed, it clearly had some space left for an opening; at least Zhu Ci didn't have much trouble prying open the thin top wooden lid.
And once he lifted it, there was indeed something inside—it was a belt.
Zhu Ci froze for a moment, somewhat confused as to why the Empress would give him a belt.
However, once he picked up the belt, he realized something was wrong; there were small pockets inside the belt!
This was not just a belt, but a shoulder guard.
Zhu Ci opened the small pocket on his belt and took out the folded paper from within.
After opening the papers, he couldn't help but be stunned; they were actually two land deeds, one for farmland and the other for a house.
The land deed listed the location, name, area, boundaries, fish-scale register number of the land, while the house deed specified the location, structure, area, auxiliary facilities of the building.
The farmland spans nearly a hundred mu, the house is a typical courtyard residence, consisting of three main rooms, two east and west wing rooms each, three southern rooms.
Based on Zhu Ci's current understanding, these assets would be considered a wealthy household in the Great Ming, these assets are located in Xialiang, Jiading, Suzhou Prefecture.
The head of the household was Xi Hua.
Xi.. Zhu Ci thought carefully and remembered that Xi seemed to be the maiden name of the Empress.
Zhu Ci continued reading further and discovered that, in addition to the land deeds and property deeds, there were also household registers and travel permits among the identification documents below.
The owners were all Xi Hua.
Besides these, there were also two notes from Ju Lai Money Exchange, each worth a thousand taels of silver.
And the last one was a piece of paper, on which there was only one word: Escape.