Chapter 37: The Cruel Truth
Page 1 of 3
Zhu Shuang’s eyes were bloodshot, murderous intent radiating from him. His fist, carrying the force of a storm, came crashing straight down toward the head of the overseer sprawled on the ground!
Among Zhu Yuanzhang’s sons, Zhu Shuang was the most formidable fighter. He was tall and powerfully built, born with extraordinary strength.
He was somewhat rigid by nature, and compared with ordinary people, not especially quick-witted.
But when it came to martial skill, few could stand against him.
In a real fight, even his third and fourth brothers—both outstanding martial artists—would have difficulty subduing him together, even if they resorted to underhanded tactics.
Now this man had not only struck him but also insulted the mother he cherished most. Zhu Shuang’s fury erupted, and the force behind his attack could well be imagined!
Even with nothing in his hand, a punch from him would leave anyone in agony.
Even if it did not kill the man, it would certainly cost him half his life!
The craftsmen nearby were stunned when they witnessed the scene.
No one had expected the burly man to have such a fiery temper—or such courage!
He actually dared to attack an overseer directly!
They were shocked, impressed, and secretly delighted, feeling that these damned overseers deserved to die. At the same time, however, they could not help feeling sorry for the giant.
That man was finished. He would certainly lose his life next!
No matter how well he could fight, how many people could he possibly defeat?
Could he kill one? Ten?
But how many overseers, constables, and soldiers were there in Zhongdu City? Hundreds? Thousands?
And beyond them, Fengyang was garrisoned by the Four Guards, more than twenty thousand elite troops in all.
Those soldiers had followed Emperor Zhu through the chaos of the age, fighting their way out across mountains of corpses and seas of blood. They were terrifyingly capable fighters.
“Second Brother, stop!”
“Stop, Second Brother!”
At this perilous moment, Zhu Gang and Zhu Di—who knew their second brother’s temper and, after seeing him beaten, had already been on full alert—came flying over.
Together, they seized Zhu Shuang and held him back, preventing his fist from striking the overseer, whose eyes were filled with horror.
“What are you doing?”
“Do you want to die?!”
Two more voices rang out in quick succession, and two figures rushed over to help restrain Zhu Shuang.
One was Old Miao, the leader of their work team.
The other was a man who had not spoken a single word until now.
Zhu Shuang was completely consumed by rage. How could he be willing to stop so easily?
His immense strength surged forth, and even four men could barely hold him back.
“Second Brother, do not forget where we are!”
Only after Zhu Di said this did Zhu Shuang finally stop struggling.
Seeing this, Zhu Di released him and hurried to help the overseer up from the ground.
He bowed and scraped, apologizing repeatedly. He explained that his second brother was not right in the head and begged the man, as a gentleman, to show mercy and not hold the matter against him.
The overseer, who moments earlier had nearly been scared out of his wits by Zhu Shuang, immediately recovered his swagger once he saw that Zhu Shuang had been restrained.
His expression twisted with viciousness.
He felt that he had suffered a tremendous humiliation!
A worthless cur whom he could summon, beat, curse, and command at will had actually dared bare his teeth at him?
“You filthy bastard! Who do you think you are? How dare you resist your superior? I’ll kill you today!”
He roared abuse and reached for the saber at his waist.
“What are you doing? Apologize to Master Bao at once!”
At that moment, Old Miao, covered in stone dust, stepped in front of Zhu Shuang. He struck Zhu Shuang twice across the head, kicked him several times in the legs, and shouted at him loudly.
At the same time, he desperately winked at Zhu Shuang.
After beating him, Old Miao hurriedly turned toward the overseer with an ingratiating smile.
“Master Bao, this new fellow is a raw recruit who does not know any better. It is my fault for failing to teach him properly and for assigning him the wrong kind of work.
Page 1 of 3
Page 2 of 3
“Please, sir, be magnanimous and give him another chance. This fellow is built like an ox, and when it comes to hard labor, one man can do the work of three!
“They are pressing us so hard these days. It would be a terrible waste to kill such a strong fool. Why not let him stay and continue working? I guarantee I will teach him properly and make sure he does not do anything stupid again!”
Zhu Di hurried to join in, apologizing profusely.
He repeatedly promised that he would keep a close eye on his second brother and that nothing like this would ever happen again.
Only after quite some time did Master Bao manage to suppress his anger.
“Out of respect for Old Miao, I’ll let you off today! Otherwise, I would have killed you!”
He continued cursing as he spat directly into Zhu Shuang’s face.
Murderous intent surged through Zhu Di’s heart, but outwardly he continued bowing and scraping, thanking the man again and again on behalf of his second brother.
When it came to acting—and to the suppleness of his bearing—even Prince Qin and Prince Jin were inferior to him.
“Uncle Miao, thank you for saving us. We will certainly repay you generously in the future.”
After Master Bao, the overseer, moved away, Zhu Di thanked Old Miao.
“I’ll even make you an official someday!” Prince Jin, Zhu Gang, added.
“Ah…”
Old Miao sighed and waved a hand.
“We are all wretched people, merely trying to survive. There is no need to thank me. If I can live to see Zhongdu City completed, that will be enough.”
As for Zhu Gang’s promise to make him an official, Old Miao did not take it seriously in the slightest.
He merely thought that two of the three Wu brothers were half-wits.
Only the youngest, Wu Jian, seemed to have any sense.
And now they were promising to make him an official in the future?
Did they think they were county magistrates? Or that their father was one?
Could they simply appoint people to office with a word?
If their father really were a county magistrate, would the three of them have been forced to relocate and sent to Zhongdu City as laborers?
Even if their family had once possessed some influence, now that things had come to this, they were most likely the descendants of disgraced officials.
Was it not ridiculous for them to speak like that now?
After making his promise to appoint Old Miao, Prince Jin had waited for him to thank him.
Instead, he was completely ignored.
This made Zhu Gang feel deeply uncomfortable. He wanted to argue and prove his status.
But when the words reached his lips, he forcibly swallowed them.
In circumstances like these, even if he claimed to be the emperor’s own son, people would only take it for the ravings of a madman.
He could do nothing but endure it all, his belly filled with pent-up frustration…
“Brother, thank you for earlier. May I ask your name?”
As Zhu Di picked up his tools and began working, he moved beside a man who looked to be in his twenties and asked the question, his gratitude sincere and measured.
This was the other man who had stepped forward to help restrain Zhu Shuang.
“My surname is Shen. There is no need to thank me.”
The man glanced at Zhu Di, then continued working with his hammer and chisel.
He looked as though he had no desire to say another word.
He was like a completely different person from the man who had boldly stepped forward to stop Zhu Shuang moments earlier.
Zhu Di, however, took no offense. He remained sincerely grateful.
To extend a helping hand to the brothers under such circumstances was truly rare.
A person ought to know who deserved gratitude and who did not.
“Thank you, Brother Shen.”
Page 2 of 3
Page 3 of 3
Zhu Di thanked him solemnly, then said nothing more and began working in earnest.
Old Miao assigned Zhu Shuang a simpler task—one that nevertheless required considerable strength.
He was put in charge of carrying stone and other materials.
Such work was clearly better suited to him…
After they had labored with their heads down for some time, a commotion arose in the distance.
It turned out that Commander Ding Bin had arrived with men to conduct a spot check on the progress of the construction.
That team had failed to meet the required standard for the second time.
This time, Ding Bin did not even bother with the whip. He simply ordered his men to force the overseer in charge and all twenty-six members of the team to their knees, then had every one of them beheaded.
Afterward, he carried their blood-soaked heads with him and continued inspecting the progress of the other teams.
The twenty-seven headless corpses were left sprawled haphazardly on the ground.
Their steaming blood slowly cooled, and the bodies gradually stiffened.
Nearby, countless laborers continued working desperately without pause.
Here, human life was worthless. The boundary between the living and the dead was almost nonexistent.
The sight shook Zhu Shuang, Zhu Gang, Zhu Di, and the two other newcomers to their very core…
…
It was deep into the night before the three brothers finally heard the order to stop work.
It sounded like music from heaven.
“Is there no food?”
“Where would there be any? Stop dreaming.”
Dragging their exhausted bodies, they followed Old Miao and the others back to their team’s filthy, drafty shack.
Many people had already collapsed straight into sleep. Zhu Shuang, ravenous beyond endurance, froze for a moment before asking the question.
They had begun working that afternoon. Only at dusk had each man been given two coarse corn buns and a bowl of hot soup containing a few scraps of vegetable leaves. Apart from that, they had received no food at all.
They had not been full to begin with. After eating, they had worked at heavy labor for more than two hours. By now, their stomachs were pressed against their backs with hunger.
They had been counting on being given something to eat after working so hard. Even a single coarse bun would have been welcome.
Instead, this was the answer they received.
Damn that Li Shanchang!
This was treating people worse than animals!
Even livestock was not worked this way!
The three brothers cursed him furiously in their hearts.
But they had no other choice. They could only endure their hunger, squeeze in among the crowd, and fall asleep beneath a single tattered quilt that had probably not been washed in years and had covered who knew how many people.
They had only been given such a decent quilt because they were broad-shouldered and powerfully built—and because others were wary of provoking them after seeing their second brother attempt to attack the overseer that day.
Otherwise, things would have been even more miserable.
Surrounded by waves of snoring, the three brothers lay awake, their stomachs growling.
Hunger was not even the worst of it.
More important was the fact that their brief experience of life in Zhongdu City had completely overturned everything they had previously believed.
When they accepted their father’s assignment and learned that they were to enter Zhongdu City disguised as ordinary people, they had already prepared themselves for the possibility that they would have to perform labor there.
But only after experiencing it firsthand did they realize how shallow their understanding of the city’s suffering had been.
This magnificent, splendid, and majestic Zhongdu City—one they had once admired and eagerly anticipated—was actually being built in this manner!
What kept them awake, what struck them hardest and weighed most heavily upon their hearts, was the discovery that once the identity bestowed upon them by their father—the identity of imperial sons—was stripped away, they were so weak and powerless.
They could do nothing. They could only drift with the current, at the mercy of others!
For men who had always believed they could summon wind and rain, men who had always thought themselves different from ordinary people, this was unbearable…
After a long silence, a dark figure slowly approached the three brothers inside the shack filled with resounding snores…
Page 3 of 3