AUBTN -Chapter 14 Ah! Still Have to Learn the Rules

Su Hewan put down her pen, analyzing calmly in her mind: 【According to Murphy’s Law, whenever I sneeze involuntarily, it usually means that perverted Shen is about to dump more work on me. Since I can’t resist, I might as well figure out how to squeeze some benefit out of it…】

In the backyard of the Northern Garrison Office, usually a hall of torment for interrogations and floggings, a bizarre, pig-like scream echoed today.

“Ah—ouch, ouch, ouch! Grandma, have mercy! My back is breaking! It’s really breaking!”

Yu Qing was standing against the wall in a horribly twisted posture, balancing a blue-and-white porcelain bowl full of water on her head.

A thin sheet of rice paper was clamped between her knees, while her hands had to hold two plates of pastries at shoulder height.

In front of her stood two instructor grandmas, like imposing door gods.

The one on the left, surnamed Zhang, had a face full of wrinkles sharp enough to crush a fly, gripping a black, shining ruler in her hand.

The one on the right, surnamed Li, had her mouth turned down permanently, a face full of bitter grievances, as if the whole world owed her a few taels of silver.

“Keep your back straight!” Nanny Zhang barked, slapping Yu Qing’s lower back with her ruler.

Yu Qing shivered in pain; the porcelain bowl wobbled atop her head, spilling a few drops that ran down her cheeks into her neck, chilling her to the bone.

“Legs together! If the paper drops, no dinner tonight!” Nanny Li followed immediately, her voice like nails on a blackboard, sending shivers down the spine.

The tiny figure inside Yu Qing’s mind was banging against the walls, crying frantically: 【Help! This isn’t learning manners—this is one of the Ten Great Tortures of the Qing dynasty! It’s a hundred times more perverse than those old art-exam physical training classes! My old back, my meniscus! Lu Yan, you inhuman fascist! You cold-blooded, emotionless poker face! When I get my hands on you, I’ll make you dance ballet in sky-high heels for twenty-four hours straight, and you’ll know the real meaning of toe-tip agony!】

Her eyes were brimming with tears, and this time she wasn’t acting—she really hurt.

“Nanny, I can’t do it anymore, I really can’t…” Yu Qing’s voice trembled with sobs; her peach blossom eyes instantly filled with tears, teetering on the brink, pitiful to the extreme.

“If I collapse from exhaustion, even Commander Lu can’t report properly…”

If it had been anyone else, seeing such a tearful beauty, they would have softened long ago.

But these two nannies had been specially brought from the palace by Lu Yan—they had weathered countless storms, their hearts harder than the blades of the Jinyiwei.

“Girl, save your strength,” Nanny Zhang sneered, tapping her palm lightly with her ruler.

“The Commander ordered that if you cry, you may cry as much as you like. But as long as you don’t learn these rules, you won’t get any food or sleep. And he also said, if you want to see your dear friend, you must show some real skill.”

Hearing the words “dear friend,” Yu Qing, who had been sinking like a puddle of mud, suddenly stiffened.

Wanwan!

That dog Lu Yan better keep his word—if she learned her rules properly, she could see Wanwan!

Yu Qing sniffed, and the tears in her eyes immediately stopped.

“Nanny, your lesson is well taken,” she said softly, without a trace of the previous tantrum.

“Just now Yu Qing was being childish, let’s continue.”

The two nannies exchanged a glance, a flicker of surprise in their eyes.

This girl flips her expression faster than turning a page?

At the same time, in the Eastern Depot’s library…

Su Hewan knelt at the desk, piles of files and palace regulations stacked like small mountains in front of her.

“Miss Su, this is Three Hundred Rules of the Imperial Palace, this is Hierarchy Record of the Imperial Consorts, this is Outline of the Empress Dowager’s Preferences and Taboos, this is Relationship Chart of the Palace Ladies…”

The sharp, piercing voice of Eunuch Xiao Li rang like a spell in her ears, each time he recited a title.

Su Hewan’s temples throbbed with each heartbeat.

“The supervisor has ordered that by sunset tomorrow, you must have these memorized thoroughly. One mistake, and you’ll be made to copy it ten times.”

Su Hewan looked at the dense rows of tiny characters, her heart completely unmoved—she even felt a little amused. 【Hah, rote memorization? As a history major who wins national awards every year, I’ve memorized more historical records in my life than Shen Jue has eaten grains of salt. Only…】

She rubbed her knees, numb from kneeling so long, when her stomach suddenly let out a loud, untimely “grumble.”

【The Eastern Depot’s food is terrible! Breakfast is plain porridge, lunch is steamed buns, and dinner is still plain porridge! That Shen Jue, such a skinflint, wants me to be the ultimate external brain, but he can’t even spare me a meal with meat! This is exploitation that would make capitalists weep!】

“Miss Su, have you remembered it all?”

A soft, languid voice drifted from the doorway.

Shen Jue had appeared there without her noticing.

His strikingly beautiful, slightly otherworldly face held a casual indifference. In his hand, the string of red agate beads still twirled, and his expression was somewhere between a smirk and a smile as he watched her.

Su Hewan put down the dossier and looked up.

“Reporting to the supervisor: these things that require rote memorization are no challenge for me,” she said lightly, her voice calm as still water.

“But I have one condition.”

Xiao Li gasped in shock.

In the Eastern Depot, no one dared to negotiate terms with the supervisor! Had Miss Su grown too confident in her lifespan?

Shen Jue raised an eyebrow, pausing the motion of his fingertips. “Oh? A condition? Your life is in my hands, and yet you dare talk about conditions?”

But the voice he heard in his mind was different: 【Hmph, making the horse run but not giving it grass. I want to eat meat!】

A trace of amusement flickered in Shen Jue’s eyes.

This woman… all she thinks about is food?

Su Hewan’s expression remained unchanged as her gaze swept over the seating chart for the Empress Dowager’s birthday banquet, which she had just organized.

“The Empress Dowager’s birthday, ostensibly a celebration, is in reality a reshuffling of power among various factions.”

She extended her slender finger, lightly tapping a few positions on the chart.

“Although Prince Ning claims illness, the Minister of Rites under his command is placed closest to His Majesty—this violates ritual protocol. And the Jinyiwei, normally the responsibility of the Eastern Depot, have been split, with half handed over to the Jinyiwei. If I’m correct, during this banquet someone will use auspicious omens as leverage to criticize the Eastern Depot for incompetence, and perhaps… the flames will even reach you, Supervisor.”

The smile on Shen Jue’s lips gradually stiffened, his gaze deepening into something unfathomable.

“Continue,” his voice darkened slightly.

“I can help you, Supervisor.” Su Hewan lifted her eyes, meeting his gaze steadily.

“I can analyze every move made by the various factions at the Empress Dowager’s birthday banquet, even predict the traps they might set. My brain is your best intelligence repository.”

“And my reward is…”

Su Hewan paused, swallowing, her gaze utterly sincere.

“A roast duck. A good one, with lotus leaf pancakes and shredded scallions.”

The air froze for a moment.

On Shen Jue’s perpetually sharp, sinister face, an extremely rare crack appeared.

He listened to the wild shouting in her mind: 【Say yes, say yes! Just give me meat, and I’ll be able to recite the Great Ming Code backward perfectly! My body is too weak—without protein, how can I do high-intensity mental labor? Shen Jue, you big pervert, your hands are ghostly pale too—you must be malnourished as well. Let’s supplement together, shall we!】