I Was Supposed to Simp for the Female Lead for Three Years to Earn an Armory, but She Took It Seriously - Chapter 11:
Chapter 11: Misunderstanding
So this was the reason Zhou Cheng emptied out the entire General’s residence and humbled himself to please Miss Lin Jiaoyun!
To preserve military command.
To obtain the rations.
To secure those weapons capable of leveling mountains and shifting seas… Her younger brother had been bearing such immense pressure and pain all along?
Second Sister could no longer hold back. She choked up and began sobbing bitterly.
The disappointment and helplessness she had once felt toward Zhou Cheng had now turned into deep guilt and heartache. She had thought that Zhou Cheng only had Lin Jiaoyun in his heart and would abandon everything for her—even his own family.
“Fourth Brother, it was all a misunderstanding… sob sob… These three years, you must have endured so much injustice and pain. I even thought you refused to run away because you couldn’t let go of Miss Lin Jiaoyun.”
“Mother never imagined you had suffered so much. Fortunately, the clouds have cleared and the moon shines through. With these compressed dry biscuits, there is hope again. The Zhou family’s fate is not yet doomed!”
“As your father, I will go to the palace and seek audience with the Emperor! With food and weapons, what does the Zhou family fear? What kind of nonsense is this about ‘If the Emperor wants a minister dead, the minister must die’? If I can’t even protect my wife and children, what use is loyalty and righteousness?”
“When the birds are gone, the bow is put away; when the rabbit dies, the hound is slaughtered. They call upon the Zhou family to sacrifice blood and heads in times of crisis, only to turn their backs when the deed is done. That title of Grand General of the Empire—who cares!”
Having seen the food and weapons with his own eyes, the General no longer hesitated.
The despair on his face vanished completely. His entire being radiated with vitality again. The bloodthirsty determination to protect his family with his life reignited.
He narrowed his sharp, dignified tiger-like eyes, filled with fury and indignation.
With a confirming nod from Zhou Cheng, he leapt onto his horse and galloped straight toward the palace.
…
Meanwhile, Zhou Cheng and the others returned to the General’s residence in a carriage.
“Ahhh!!!”
A series of heart-wrenching screams rang out from a mansion somewhere in the Capital.
“Fourth Prince, please hang in there… the imperial physician is on his way.”
“Why isn’t the physician here yet?! If anything happens to His Highness because of this delay, Her Ladyship will have the entire Imperial Medical Bureau buried with him!”
“Ahhh!!”
“Your Highness! Report to Her Ladyship immediately—last night, the Fourth Prince was ambushed! His tendons were severed, his tongue was cut out! The attacker was a martial expert…”
On a golden-threaded nanmu wood bed, the Fourth Prince’s bloodshot eyes widened in horror. His twisted face contorted in pain and fear. He let out hoarse, guttural cries.
At the hour of the Dog last night, the Fourth Prince was attacked on his way home.
The assailant was lean, but ruthless and highly skilled.
The guards protecting him were killed in an instant, their throats slit before they could react. If the attacker hadn’t deliberately spared his life, the prince would already be with King Yama.
Even now, the Fourth Prince had no idea who he had offended!
Who dared ambush a prince at night?
Who hated him so much as to use such cruel methods—severing tendons and cutting out his tongue?
His eyes burned with overwhelming hatred and rage. As his emotions spiraled out of control, his qi and blood surged. His vision turned black, and he suddenly coughed up blood and passed out.
The servants were thrown into chaos.
Back in the carriage, Zhou Cheng, having heard the news, clapped his hands and laughed, “Hahaha! Retribution, that’s what it is. Isn’t this exactly what he said yesterday? Blackened palms, blood surging to the sky!”
“I don’t know who did it, but they did great!”
Madam Zhou glanced at Zhou Cheng with both affection and helplessness. She put her finger to her lips and whispered, “Your father’s meeting with the Emperor may not be over yet. Be careful what you say.”
“Cheng’er, if our Zhou family no longer pledges loyalty to Emperor Yan, do we truly have enough weapons to resist the court?”
“And enough food to support 300,000 troops through the winter…?”
Once the initial excitement settled, Madam Zhou began thinking more clearly about the future strategy.
Such a large amount of food was no small matter. One slip, and tens of thousands of soldiers could die.
In this era of material scarcity, starvation was commonplace.
Zhou Cheng had only said a mysterious expert gave him food and weapons, but how much exactly? Could they truly rival the court? Neither Madam Zhou nor the General had full confidence.
Still, despite the unease, both chose to trust their son wholeheartedly.
“Mother, as long as you give me a little time, I will have both the food and the weapons,” Zhou Cheng said with conviction. His composed and fearless gaze was something Madam Zhou had never seen before. “Just one month!”
“One month, and I can produce 1,000 Basic Hand Grenades.”
“Enough food to feed a great army through half a year of winter.”
“Five hundred pistols and nearly 200,000 bullets.”
“Mother, the longer you give me, the more I can deliver. Once the month is up, our Zhou family will no longer need to bow to Emperor Yan or fear the court’s threats!”
“Really?” Madam Zhou and Second Sister were genuinely shocked.
Their beautiful eyes widened as they asked joyfully through tears, “Cheng’er, you can really produce that much in just one month?”
“That treasure basin the expert gave you in the dream is really this powerful!”
On the way back to the residence, Zhou Cheng had already explained the origin of the weapons and silently calculated resource allocation.
The materials required would cost nearly 2 million points. That sounded like a huge number, but broken down, it was only about 66,000 points a day.
Given how deeply Cheng Xianyi loved him, as long as he stayed close, whispered a few sweet words, and occasionally reached for her hand before sleep, it shouldn’t be a problem.
After all, touching her hand earned just 1 point per second.
But kissing…
That brought 100 points per second.
And going even deeper… Stop!
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Zhou Cheng couldn’t sit still anymore.
Time waited for no one, and right now, it was a race between the Zhou family and death. He had to get to the Cheng residence quickly.
“Mother, Second Sister, leave the rest to me.”
“I have matters to handle—I’m going to the Cheng residence now.”
Zhou Cheng jumped off the carriage, mounted a horse, and headed straight for Cheng Xianyi’s home.
On the way, he was blocked by a crowd in front of Zhai Medicine Pavilion. Word had it that a century-old lingzhi mushroom had just surfaced—something rarely encountered in a hundred years. Many pharmacies and merchants were scrambling to get it.
Lingzhi was so rare because its effects were nearly miraculous!
It could fight cancer, protect the liver, detoxify, strengthen blood vessels, and nourish both nerves and qi-blood. Even the Emperor adored such divine medicine.
“I remember Father Cheng’s liver hasn’t been in great shape these years. If I want to spend time alone with Cheng Xianyi, I’d better win some favor with her father first,” Zhou Cheng thought, dismounting and walking into Zhai Medicine Pavilion.
Strangely enough, though the place was packed with merchants trying to buy the lingzhi, the shopkeeper refused to meet anyone, let alone sell.
But when Zhou Cheng entered, the shopkeeper not only came out but even took him upstairs personally.
Just one incense stick later, Zhou Cheng easily bought the lingzhi for only 60% of the asking price.
Carrying the lingzhi on horseback toward the Cheng residence, Zhou Cheng mumbled to himself, “That shopkeeper really doesn’t know quality. Years ago, a lingzhi went for 1,300 taels at the Pawn Pavilion auction, and it probably wasn’t even as good as mine. And yet that guy only charged me 800 taels?”
However, Zhou Cheng didn’t know.
Back at Zhai Medicine Pavilion, the elderly shopkeeper was clutching the 800 taels of silver, sighing and shaking his head in distress, “Miss, oh Miss, why put yourself through this!”
“You showed up at midnight asking what kind of tonic would help because you heard Young Master Zhou sweats in his palms while sleeping?”
“So strange! You haven’t even seen it yourself, just heard a rumor—and that was enough for you to come here in the middle of the night?!”
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Johnson
Oh 😳. She is the hidden boss 😂