Transmigration: The Straight-Man Prince Was Driven Crazy by My Overachieving - Chapter 8

The system responded quickly and even gave Shen Shangling a few more explanations.

“You mean to say,” Shen Shangling pondered while washing himself with the bath beans, “that since I have already been ‘spiritually transformed,’ as long as I focus my mind and try to recall things I have seen before, I can trigger a state of hyperthymesia?” He asked warily, “Are there any side effects?” Will my head hurt for half a day again?

The system whispered, “It is impossible to determine.”

Shen Shangling suppressed his anger and asked how long it would last and if he could finish writing it all down with a pen… After firing off a string of questions, the system bristled.

“It is impossible to determine… This is also my first time binding, and there is insufficient data for reference,” the system said in a milky, furious tone, sounding quite piqued. “If you ask again, I will crash, ooh~”

Shen Shangling: “…” Here we go again.

Unable to rely on the system for answers, Shen Shangling finished his bath at a leisurely pace and started fumbling to figure out how to put on his inner and outer robes. Fortunately, after careful thought, it went quite smoothly. Since his hair was wet, he left it loose and, shuffling in his shoes, walked over to the large table in front of the folding screen.

The table was covered with items brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, as well as several exquisite little ornaments. Looking at the stack of paper, Shen Shangling felt troubled: he wrote quite well, but his calligraphy with a brush wasn’t great. Pursing his lips, he picked up the brushes one by one from the brush rest to inspect them. After selecting the thinnest and smallest one, he looked at it and decided it would have to do.

He pulled out a sheet of paper, examined it, and pulled over the paperweight, which looked like it had been carved from mutton-fat jade, to press down on one corner. Shen Shangling sat down by the table and picked up the brush. Mm, it felt like he was starting to look the part.

However, he didn’t rush to test triggering the hyperthymesia. He planned to wait until late at night when everything was quiet. If he could truly use this to write out the production process for soap, it probably wouldn’t take a short amount of time. Writing it late at night would prevent it from being discovered by Yutao or others who might come in to report matters from time to time. Shen Shangling didn’t want anyone else to see the handwriting he produced. After all, compared to the original owner’s scholarly calligraphy, he feared the difference would be like heaven and earth.

Just then, knowing he had finished washing, Yutao responded to his call and entered. She called others to clean up the warming room, walked over carefully, and bowed, though there was some confusion in her eyes: She didn’t know what the Master wanted to ask her.

Shen Shangling was also afraid she would be suspicious and later report back to Lu Xiao, so he took a roundabout path and asked about a bunch of things, probing indirectly. Yutao’s eyes filled with wonder as she listened. Master Shen was actually asking about these things? He was asking about which places in the capital were bustling, what kind of merchants there were, and about various goods, food, and even matters of folk agriculture… All these matters were just trivialities.

Was this still that arrogant scholar who never spoke of mundane things?

Though she felt surprised, she answered everything truthfully one by one. Fortunately, she was quick-witted, and these were things the servants were most familiar with. As she spoke, she even grew enthusiastic, explaining things Shen Shangling hadn’t even asked about. Shen Shangling slowly steered the topic toward the general environment of the Great Yin Dynasty in a relaxed manner. At this point, there were some things Yutao couldn’t answer: for example, matters concerning geography or customs… Yutao was a servant born and raised in the Prince of Dingbei’s estate who had lived in the capital since she was a child; it was normal for her not to know much about the outside world.

The two of them talked for a long time, back and forth.

“You answered well,” feeling that he had asked about everything he wanted to know, Shen Shangling said in plain language, satisfied, “You are truly amazing; you know everything.”

Yutao’s face turned bright red instantly.

Just then, another maid entered with several plates of snacks and treats. Shen Shangling looked and saw they were similar to before—mostly melon seeds, fruits, and candied preserves, though they were nicely arranged, each piece glossy and fresh, coated in a crystalline honey shell and emitting a clear, sweet scent.

“Yutao, take these down and share them among yourselves.” Shen Shangling felt a bit guilty for troubling the little girl to talk to him for so long and wanted to reward her, but he didn’t know where the original owner kept his money, so he could only use “another person’s flowers to present to Buddha.” Having listened to Yutao talk for so long, he had already learned that in this Great Yin Dynasty, sweets and candied preserves were quite precious.

Yutao was stunned, hurriedly thanking him as if flattered. Her pretty face turned even redder: As a maid in the estate, she wasn’t greedy for these things, but… but… this was the first time Master Shen had ever rewarded them, the servants! Master Shen’s voice was so gentle, and he was so… so handsome that she could barely breathe.

After Yutao and the others retreated, Shen Shangling stood there in a daze and rubbed his face: Not for any other reason, but it really was a case of “if you don’t ask, you don’t know; once you ask…” only then did he realize that the Great Yin Dynasty was a bit backward.

Politically, it was somewhat similar to a low-spec version of the Sui and Tang Dynasties; the imperial examination system was very imperfect, and there were no achievements in the economy—there were no potatoes, no corn, no tomatoes, or any of the things that were mentioned with high frequency in transmigration books. There was trade, but it also belonged to a very primitive state, and many technologies hadn’t been unlocked. Culturally, there was Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, along with other messy things… it was a hodgepodge.

Based on his limited understanding, it wasn’t even comparable to the Tang or Song Dynasties. Furthermore, the world background in this book seemed to have taken a fork in the road after the Pre-Qin and Han Dynasties, which was completely different from the history he knew. However, according to Yutao, the Great Yin Dynasty had a history of nearly two hundred years; it had once been glorious in the middle, but then suffered a major rebellion similar to the “An Lushan Rebellion,” which caused the Great Yin Dynasty to decline abruptly. Right now, the situation was also not good, and various places were very unstable.

Shen Shangling silently summarized this information in his heart: it had both pros and cons. The upside was that if he could truly recall some things, they would likely be of great use in this era, perhaps even moving Lu Xiao and allowing him to suffer a little less torment. The downside was… for an old “salted fish,” it was truly uncomfortable to even lie flat; it was miserable.

“Master Shen?”

Just then, Yutao’s voice came from outside the door, sounding somewhat uneasy. “Reporting to Master, the young master from Wutong Courtyard wants to enter our Qiyu Courtyard.”

Shen Shangling was stunned. He seemed to remember the name “Wutong Courtyard”; the melodramatic book had mentioned that a quack doctor lived there, who had seemingly saved Lu Xiao’s life and was later invited into the estate by Lu Xiao. This quack doctor seemed to be somewhat important in the later plot… but he hadn’t read it in detail, so he didn’t know the exact progression.

A young master…

It seemed to be the quack doctor’s son? But he vaguely remembered that the child’s background was a bit mysterious and he wasn’t the quack doctor’s biological son. Later, he died of illness, which seemed to make Lu Xiao even darker… but he wasn’t clear on the specifics.

“What is going on?” Shen Shangling stood up and walked toward the door.

“The young master from Dr. Jiang’s family,” Yutao hurriedly whispered, “said he saw the Honey Rakshasa bees flying toward our courtyard and perhaps thought they were fun, so he insists on coming in to take a look. Master, should we哄 (coax) him away like we did last time?”

Last time, when the young master heard the sound of a qin, he wanted to come in and play, and Master Shen had ordered them to drive him out, even ordering them to wash the places where the young master had stood several times over. Who would have thought that a child wouldn’t understand; now he wanted to come in to look at the bees again. It would probably provoke the Master again.

Shen Shangling fell silent. By now, he could hear the buzzing sound, and when he looked up, he was startled: his little fat bug didn’t know where it had gotten so many bees; there was actually a huge lump of a nest already built by the corridor over there… Countless giant bees were buzzing and flying; looking over, it was like a dense, dark cloud.

Shen Shangling: “…”

He was going to die. It was a terminal case of trypophobia.

“Master… I fear that beehive will only get bigger and bigger…”

As Yutao spoke, her face turned pale. The few maids serving in this courtyard were truly terrified; they were genuinely afraid the insects would sting people. They had heard that someone in the mountains had encountered these Honey Rakshasa and had been stung to death. Who wouldn’t be afraid?

Oh, Master Shen wasn’t afraid. This man actually loved… these kinds of bees?

Thinking of this, Yutao looked up and saw Shen Shangling’s deathly pale face, and couldn’t help but be stunned for a moment.

“Master Shen?”

She was startled. Why didn’t he look like someone who loved them at all?

“No… nothing,” Shen Shangling endured the dizziness and nausea, almost gritting his teeth as he spoke the words. “Please, please invite the young master in to play.”

Since the child was the quack doctor’s son, and the quack doctor had saved Lu Xiao… he couldn’t offend just anyone in this Prince’s estate right now.

When Yutao and the others went to invite the child in, Shen Shangling hurriedly closed his eyes.

Perhaps because it had seen him, the little fat bug’s previously calm emotions suddenly erupted into a wave of excitement, joy, and pride. The meaning contained in those emotions was perceived clearly by Shen Shangling: this fellow was showing off to him and waiting for him to praise it!

Shen Shangling: “…”

He really wanted to press this little fat bug into a crack in the ground. Right now, he had no other way, so he could only send it a message first: No stinging anyone. Without my order, no one is allowed to sting.

The little fat bug immediately replied with a very obedient emotion. Between man and bee, the perception of emotions and intentions was extremely precise.

Just then, Yutao and another maid carefully held the hand of a small child, dodging the beehive, and turned over from the corridor.

Shen Shangling covered his mouth; the reaction from his trypophobia truly made him feel a bit unwell. However, his eyes fell on the child with great curiosity:

A little child only three or four years old. His face was also fat and round, and he was wearing red clothes; seen from afar, he looked like a doll in a New Year picture—he was… quite cute.

As soon as the little child walked to this side of the corridor and saw the bees buzzing and flying about, his short little legs seemed unable to move.

“Bug-bug, bug-bug”

As he shouted excitedly, he wanted to break free from Yutao and the others’ hands and run toward the beehive.

Shen Shangling: “…”

No, were there really children who actually liked bees?

Yutao was visibly startled and hurriedly grabbed the child’s hand tightly, saying repeatedly, “Young Master, don’t go there; those bees will sting!”

Shen Shangling saw that the two maids were both frightened out of their wits. After a moment of thought, he walked over and reached out to the child: “I’ll hold your hand; I’ll take you to look at the bugs.”

Yutao subconsciously wanted to block him, but seeing Shen Shangling’s calm expression, she didn’t dare to speak rashly.

The little child looked up at Shen Shangling, his two little eyes wide open, looking as if he couldn’t quite believe it. He still remembered that last time he had snuck into this courtyard, this man had been playing the qin under the bamboo over there, and as soon as he saw him, he had pulled a cold face and ordered people to drive him out.

Although he was small, he knew this person disliked him.