Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A sudden chill against his chest prompted Gao Zhen to reach out. His fingers closed around a small white jade bottle, inscribed with the words "Made by Divine Physician," as if to loudly proclaim its status as a "Miracle Cure."

Gao Zhen curled his lip in disdain. After much shaking, only a single, pea-sized white pill emerged. To carve a white jade bottle for just one tiny pill—what extravagance! It must be something truly special, he concluded, and without a second thought, swallowed it. Immediately, a refreshing coolness spread from his heart and lungs, gradually permeating his entire being.

'Ding—'

"Detected consumption of the white pill from Divine Physician's Product. Life Battery increased by 1%."

Oh right, he had almost forgotten—he hadn't checked his stats since waking up.

Gao Zhen closed his eyes briefly, gritting his teeth as he muttered, "After putting me through all that last night, if the stats aren't up to par, the system better self-destruct by tomorrow."

Whether the system heard him or not, he couldn't tell, but when he pulled up the panel, he looked somewhat satisfied.

Name: Gao Zhen

Life Battery: 22%

Karma Points: 10

Favorability: 500

Note 1: Low battery detected. Please consume Karma Points promptly to increase battery level and avoid sudden death.

Note 2: A nearby story node detected. Participate in the extended plot [Warming His Heart] to earn Karma Points or Favorability.

A pop-up appeared: "Consume 10 Karma Points to accept the extended plot [Warming His Heart]?"

With only 10 Karma Points left, Gao Zhen wasn't sure if using them all would be risky, so he didn't rush to accept the mission. Instead, his attention shifted to the Favorability points.

500 points?

He distinctly remembered it being zero yesterday. It seemed last night's events had indeed been… impactful. Otherwise, how could he have earned so much Favorability at once? The thought of who contributed those points—and that torn clothing—flashed through his mind.

Gao Zhen’s mouth twitched, caught between amusement and exasperation, his face burning with a mix of embarrassment and awkwardness.

But with 500 Favorability points, he could finally convert them into Karma Points.

Seeing he had 10 Karma Points left, he thought, *Let's round it out.* So he mentally commanded, "Convert 90 Favorability into Karma Points."

He expected the Karma Points to jump to 100, but instead, it changed to 19.

Gao Zhen: …

You're messing with me?!

Only 9 points?

He had assumed Favorability and Karma Points exchanged at a 1:1 ratio, but it turned out to be a ten-to-one ratio. In other words, 10 Karma Points increased battery by 1%, 10 Favorability converted to 1 Karma Point, and 100 Favorability only raised battery by 1%! So 500 Favorability would only boost battery by 5%?

This is unbearable.

At that moment, Gao Zhen felt like throwing in the towel entirely. Fuming, he bolted upright, took two deep breaths to calm down, and regained his composure.

"System buddy, you’re something else. You really know how to put your stinginess on full display," Gao Zhen grumbled before flopping back down. "Keep this up, and I might just slack off. Let’s see who’s tougher, huh?"

A pop-up appeared: "Increasing Life Battery level simultaneously raises the probability of gaining Karma Points and Favorability."

Gao Zhen rolled his eyes. It seemed the system was afraid its host might actually throw in the towel—it still gave hints when it mattered.

But as he pondered the hint, the penny slowly dropped for Gao Zhen. The root of the problem was his current low battery. Well, that was easily fixed—

Convert 410 Favorability into Karma Points.

Consume 40 Karma Points to increase Life Battery.

Consume 10 Karma Points to accept the extended plot [Warming His Heart] task.

After making these changes, his stats updated:

Name: Gao Zhen

Life Battery: 26%

Karma Points: 10

Favorability: 0

Note 1: Low battery detected. Please consume Karma Points promptly to increase battery level and avoid sudden death.

Note 2: "Complete plot [First Encounter Night] progress 99.9%"; "Extended plot [Warming His Heart] progress 0%"

Note 3: Pending task rewards will spoil after 12 hours and automatically be destroyed without replenishment.

Gao Zhen: !

This time, his Life Battery had jumped by 4%. He distinctly felt a gentle warmth flow from his heart, spreading through his limbs and body, leaving him more relaxed than ever, as if he’d received a full, deep-body treatment.

Gao Zhen closed his eyes blissfully for a moment before checking the time-limited reward that would spoil in 12 hours.

"Delicacies from the Four Seas"—the name sounded impressive, but he wondered if it lived up to its name. He hoped it wasn’t some cheap counterfeit to fool him.

Gao Zhen now had a very deep understanding of the system's limitless stinginess.

The thought of food made his stomach growl. He was genuinely hungry.

*Maybe—I should take it out and eat it now?*

Gao Zhen’s appetite was whetted, but then he reconsidered. *No!*

Everything the system provided appeared out of thin air. He needed to eat it somewhere private. If Ninth Prince saw delicacies materializing from nowhere, he’d have a hard time explaining.

He wasn’t sure if Ninth Prince would be responsible for feeding him either. Rubbing his stomach, Gao Zhen lay back on the pillow, drowsily thinking, *A real man never lets his wife go hungry!* Wait, based on the book’s context, maybe she’s already carrying a child… so it should be, *A real man would never let his wife and child go hungry…*

Distracting himself with random thoughts, Gao Zhen soon forgot his hunger and drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

Perhaps because he was so preoccupied with Ninth Prince, he dreamed of him.

In the dream, he was happily working alongside Ninth Prince in the west chamber, laughing joyfully.

When he woke again, the sun was high in the sky. Gao Zhen hurried to the window and looked out—a pile of scattered lumber lay outside the west chamber door, and the courtyard was dead quiet.

Where had Ninth Prince gone?

"Ninth Prince?" Gao Zhen called out as he stepped outside.

The courtyard was empty, and the gate stood open. Without a second thought, Gao Zhen walked out.

However, the moment he stepped forward, his entire body froze.

"You—you—you—you—you—" Gao Zhen was so frightened he nearly bit his tongue. "Stop glaring at me like that! It's broad daylight—don't think I'll be scared of you!" His eyes quickly darted to the ground, and only after seeing the person's shadow did he sigh in relief.

Standing at the entrance of the opposite courtyard was a woman, holding a red pillow in her arms, leaning forward slightly as if she might pounce at any second. Her eyes were glazed, fixed on Gao Zhen, and her body was as rigid as a statue.

Gao Zhen went rigid all over, eyeing warily the disheveled woman across from him, fully on guard.

What's going on? Her eyes were moving, so why was her body as stiff as a statue? How could she look at someone by only moving her eyeballs without turning her neck?

This is so creepy!

Gao Zhen felt every hair on his body stand on end.

Thinking of Ninth Prince, he worked up his nerve and took two steps forward. "I'm talking to you, did you hear me? Answer me, will you?"

The woman's face was grim, her eyes fixed intently on him, yet she remained in that same posture—holding the pillow, planted in the doorway, didn't budge. She didn't seem inclined to open her mouth to speak.

Gao Zhen couldn't take it anymore; his scalp prickled with fear. Summoning all his courage, he bolted forward like a shot, rushing past the woman and sprinting for several hundred meters before finally stopping, doubled over with hands on his knees. He looked back and, seeing no one chasing him, let out a sigh of relief.

That was terrifying. If the royal cold palace was this frightening in broad daylight, he didn't even want to imagine what it would be like at night.

Up ahead was a corner.

Gao Zhen wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked on, shaking off his hand. But as soon as he turned the corner, a dark figure rushed at him. With a "thud," Gao Zhen was sent stumbling and hurriedly steadied himself against the wall. At the same time, someone latched onto his leg. He heard the person holding his leg speak in an excessively gentle yet falsely panicked voice: "Your Majesty, forgive me! Your Majesty, forgive me! This consort heard that Your Majesty had come down with heatstroke and, in a moment of panic—"

Gao Zhen glanced up at the early spring midday sun. Heatstroke? This level of warmth wasn't even hot enough to dry laundry. This person was clearly delusional.

Just another lunatic.

"I am not Your Majesty. You have the wrong person. Let go!" As he spoke, he tried to free his leg, but to his surprise, this madwoman had a stronger grip than him. Once she grabbed hold, she wouldn't let go.

Gao Zhen was helpless. In frustration, he yelled, "Help! Somebody, help! This is a robbery!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Several sounds of doors bursting open.

The courtyard gates on both sides of the palace pathway were flung open one after another, and several disheveled women rushed out, holding sticks and brooms.

Both Gao Zhen and the woman clutching his leg went pale immediately. Without another thought, they took off running. Gao Zhen darted through any gap he could find, turning at every path. The benefit of his adrenaline rush was that he put all his energy into running and actually outpaced the woman who'd been clinging to his leg. In the end, since she couldn't run as fast as Gao Zhen, she was overtaken by the angry mob with brooms.

He didn't know how long he ran, but only when the sounds of hitting and shouting faded from earshot did Gao Zhen's racing heart slowly calm down.

The cold palace was terrifying.

Who would come save him?

Gao Zhen didn't dare stop, stumbling forward unsteadily.

The road ahead grew wider, and Gao Zhen rushed out of the alleyway in one breath. Finally, he caught sight of a familiar figure and was so overcome with emotion he nearly cried.

Ninth Prince!

Was that Ninth Prince? Though his back was turned to the alley, and he was staring at a small one-foot-square window on the outer door as if waiting for something, Gao Zhen recognized him instantly from his silhouette. It had to be Ninth Prince—no mistake. After all, no one else could exude such a profound sense of security from just their back like Zhou Yunning.

Ninth Prince had an enormous frame—tall but extremely thin. As Gao Zhen watched his back, his frantically pounding heart quickly steadied. He walked over.

When he drew near, Gao Zhen noticed that Ninth Prince's hands, hanging at his sides, were clenched tightly into fists, trembling slightly. Clearly, he was suppressing rage.

What was outside that small window?

Gao Zhen adjusted his angle, retreating into the shadows by the wall and half-crouching.

Lewd laughter and crude remarks drifted through the open small window into Gao Zhen's ears. Just from the voices, he could tell it was those wretched eunuchs. Through the open window, Gao Zhen saw the ground outside the cold palace gate littered with food boxes. Two young eunuchs were sitting on the ground eating heartily, chatting as they ate: "If you ask me, the Empress Dowager is too kind. She actually uses such fine imperial cuisine to feed dogs."

"What dogs? They're nothing but ungrateful wolves. Dogs can be tamed eventually, but ungrateful wolves? You can never tame them—they turn on you faster than flipping a page."

"Eunuch Dan, you speak wisely. I toast to you."

They clinked cups, and Little Danzi laughed. "Eunuch Zhu, you flatter me. We're just speaking the truth. Back then, Dowager Consort Ning ruined her own son's face to frame the Empress Dowager. Did she ever imagine she'd end up in the cold—"

Crack! Crack!

The wine bowls in the eunuchs' hands suddenly shattered. The two were so startled they jumped to their feet, standing back-to-back while wiping grease from their mouths, fully alert. "Who's there? Who is it?"

Gao Zhen saw clearly—Ninth Prince had flicked two gravel stones, cutting off the eunuchs' words. Regardless of Ninth Prince's skill, the two eunuchs were terrified by the inexplicably shattered bowls. They only wanted to leave quickly. Hastily gathering the food boxes on the ground, they shoved them through the open small window and immediately fled like their heels were on fire.

Weaklings.

Gao Zhen rolled his eyes and was about to walk over when he saw Ninth Prince pick up the food boxes and walk off in another direction.

That way led only to an alley overgrown with weeds and moss. It wasn't deep—just three doors, all locked. It seemed completely uninhabited. What was Ninth Prince going there for? Curious, Gao Zhen followed.

Gao Zhen crouched behind a clump of tall, dried weeds. The withered grass concealed his figure, and through the gaps in the leaves, he saw Ninth Prince sit down in front of the door at the very end of the alley.

He opened the food box, first setting aside an empty plate, then taking out a half-eaten chicken leg. Using a small knife the length of a finger, he carefully cut off the untouched meat and placed it into the empty plate. As for the leftover meat and bones, he unhesitatingly put them into his own mouth, chewing and swallowing with a crunch.

Gao Zhen: ...

Ninth Prince was so heartbreaking.

He couldn't bear to watch anymore and turned to leave. Just then, a bamboo basket with a rope attached was suddenly thrown over the wall behind Ninth Prince. Startled, Gao Zhen shrank back into the grass, not daring to move.

Good grief, this cold palace was full of secrets and dangers at every turn. He'd better wait and go back with Ninth Prince later—otherwise, he wouldn't feel safe.

"Ning'er?"

A gentle call, and Ninth Prince's eyes instantly reddened. Struggling to suppress his turbulent emotions, he picked up the plate of carefully selected clean food and placed it into the rope-tied bamboo basket, saying softly, "Mother Consort, please enjoy your meal. This child takes his leave."

"Wait!" Dowager Consort Ning sounded urgent, speaking quickly. "I heard Zhou Yundu sent someone to your room? You must be wary of him! Don't forget how he and that old shrew Zhao Chenglan harmed us mother and son back then! And your unborn younger brother... This blood feud is irreconcilable. You must not—must not let wine and women cloud your judgment. Do you hear me?"

"..."

The air was thick with Zhou Yunning's silence. No one knew what he was thinking at that moment. Dowager Consort Ning was tense, Gao Zhen was tense—they were both waiting for Zhou Yunning's response.

After what felt like an eternity, Zhou Yunning finally spoke, slowly saying, "I heed Mother Consort's teachings. This child takes his leave."

"Good." Dowager Consort Ning visibly relaxed, a smile evident in her voice. "Good child, you always put your mother's mind at ease."

Gao Zhen crouched in the grass, his feelings indescribable.

Dowager Consort Ning was pleased, but he was left feeling awkward.

He had originally planned to go back with Ninth Prince, but now it didn't seem appropriate to show himself.

Gao Zhen decided to play dead in the grass and wait for Ninth Prince to leave before finding his way back.

However, the sound of footsteps on the bluestone pavement grew closer and closer. Gao Zhen held his breath, trying to minimize his presence. But the tall figure stopped right in front of the grass where he was crouching.

Gao Zhen: !

He looked up in surprise and saw a face half-covered with jagged scars, along with a single raised finger from Ninth Prince. The finger finally pressed against his lips, signaling for Gao Zhen to stay quiet.

Gao Zhen: !!

His heart sank with inexplicable panic. He quickly lowered his head, not daring to look at that face again.

Yet, the next moment, a shadow fell over him. Gao Zhen’s wrist was seized by a hand, and in an instant, he was yanked upright by a strong pull—

Ninth Prince dragged him out and started walking off immediately.

Holding his wrist, Ninth Prince strode forward without looking back.

Gao Zhen’s pupils dilated suddenly, and a bright red number flashed in his mind: Affection Points +1.

His heart began to beat wildly and uncontrollably again, and this time, it seemed nothing would slow it.