The Butcher Girl and Her Hapless Crown Prince - Chapter 4

After breakfast, I picked up my butcher’s knife and prepared to leave.

Shen Lang stepped swiftly into my path.

“Where are you going?”

“To slaughter pigs.”

What else?

Shen Linglong covered her mouth with her handkerchief in surprise.

“Sister, you’re a marquis’s daughter now. How can you still slaughter pigs? What will people say?”

“If I don’t slaughter them, what am I supposed to do about my orders?”

I took out my little order book.

“I’ve got deliveries to plenty of households today.”

Shen Lang snatched it from me, unconcerned.

“I’ll pay the compensation for you!”

My eyes lit up.

“Really? The contracts say ten times the price for a broken agreement. That comes to ten thousand taels of silver.”

He sucked in a breath and nearly dropped the book, then coughed twice.

“Well, I just remembered some urgent business at the Ministry of War!”

With that, he made himself scarce.

I pursed my lips and strolled out, knife in hand.

On the way, I passed my godfather’s butcher shop and tossed him the bundle I’d packed the night before.

“What’s this?”

He shook it open. The gold hairpins and jade bracelets clinked together, startling him so badly he almost threw the bundle away.

“Girl, you haven’t robbed a money house, have you?”

“Got it from the marquis’s!”

“Sell it and buy yourself something nice to eat.”

His eyes reddened as he rubbed my head.

“Good girl. Have they been treating you badly over there?”

“No! I eat well and sleep soundly. It’s even more comfortable than home.”

I grinned.

Once the pigs were slaughtered, I hurried to make my deliveries.

My last stop was the crown prince’s residence.

The cook was already waiting at the door. She smiled and handed me the silver.

“Miss Shen, His Highness loves your pork. He says no one else’s tastes the same. Here’s today’s payment. Please bring some more tomorrow.”

I wiped my hands and accepted it, delighted.

A marquis’s daughter? That was nothing compared with earning real money slaughtering pigs.

Just as I was about to leave, a jumble of footsteps sounded nearby.

A man came charging from the far end of the covered walkway. His hair was loose, his feet bare, and he wore only a thin inner robe. His eyes were bloodshot.

“Meat! I want meat!”

His voice was hoarse. He snatched the remaining half-carcass of pork from my basket and bit into it.

“Hey! Where did you come from? Have you paid for that?”

I hurried to grab it back.

“Miss Shen! You mustn’t!”

The cook pulled me back, her face white.

“That’s His Highness the Crown Prince!”

I froze and took a closer look. For all his dishevelment and madness, there was something noble about his features.

This was the crown prince, Song Yujing?

In that brief moment of hesitation, he’d already gnawed several mouthfuls from the raw meat. Bloody froth coated his mouth. He looked horrifying.

A crowd of guards and imperial physicians came rushing after him. None dared approach; they could only hover anxiously around him.

“His Highness is having another episode.”

“Hold him down!”

“We can’t! He injured three guards last time.”

I narrowed my eyes. A blurry black shadow crouched on the prince’s back, like a mass of thick fog, with faintly discernible, hideous features.

It seemed to notice my gaze and opened a huge, bloody mouth at me.

Comments erupted before my eyes again.

[Holy shit! The crown prince’s possessed again!]

[His body’s like an empty house. Every passing ghost drops in for a visit!]

[Once the heroine builds up enough merit, ghosts won’t be able to touch her. The prince will be drawn to her without realizing it and come to depend on her.]

[That’s how their romance starts!]

[But she hasn’t built up any merit yet. Why is he going mad already?]

It all made sense.

So that was how the crown prince and Shen Linglong were a match made in heaven!

One attracted ghosts; the other was easily possessed. Once Shen Linglong had accumulated enough merit, she’d make him the perfect walking talisman.

I was still thinking about this when the prince suddenly threw down the pork. His red eyes fixed on me, and he lunged!