ITVCFITB CHAPTER 11

 Chapter 11 – See You Tomorrow

After I Transmigrated, Four Big Shots Fought to Marry Me ran to over 800,000 words. Luo Shuyu only read it once. It brimmed with tiny details, and the system gave Shen Mingyun a whole cascade of tasks, big and small.

Those tasks came in two flavors: main quests and side quests.

Main quests were all triggered around the Fourth Prince. Side quests might affect or accelerate the main plot. Shen Mingyun never bothered to memorize anything as he relied on the system. As long as the system released a quest, he’d accept it, scarcely ever picky. In his words, the more mall points, the better; items were his strongest protection. Having a system and not milking it would just be wasteful.

He had never received a special hidden quest before; the system hadn’t even mentioned such a thing. This was the first time. He was surprised but then he thought of video games. Hidden quests existed there too, so it felt “normal.” It wouldn’t affect his life: if he succeeded, he’d earn 200 points; if he failed, no big deal. This system of his was very friendly and no punishments.

Shen Mingyun was even a little excited. Two hundred points could be exchanged for an item he’d wanted for ages.

His gaze on Luo Shuyu changed, this person was basically a walking NPC for him to farm. Too convenient.

Then he reconsidered: there was nothing special about Luo Shuyu himself. Why had a hidden quest popped now? Maybe the real key wasn’t Luo Shuyu at all but the Third Prince. Shen slightly regretted messing up that thread between the two back then. If he hadn’t handed over Luo Shuyu’s birth characters, would this quest have appeared? Breaking things up shouldn’t be hard; he only needed to complete the quest!

While Shen weighed the cost-benefit, Luo Shuyu had already inferred a few things from the mud spattered on their hems, he remembered what the book said the two were doing today.

This incident was tied to a waterworks project. Luo Shumo, who worked under the Eldest Prince, held a minor post in the Ministry of Works.

Today they were testing Shen Mingyun’s proposal to modify the dragon-bone waterwheel with blueprints courtesy of the system.

But the trial did not go smoothly. An accident left both of them soaked and muddy; hence their current state. After repeated tests, however, the modified waterwheel eventually worked.

That success won the Eldest Prince the emperor’s praise and rewards. Luo Shumo, having executed the task cleanly, was promoted. The Luo household beamed; even Lady Liu spoke with fresh confidence, lauded for bearing a “pillar of the clan.”

Luo Shumo would later become one of Shen Mingyun’s stepping stones. Though close to the Eldest Prince, once the Eldest fell, Luo Shumo neatly detached himself thanks to earlier help rendered to the Fourth Prince and escaped any blowback. In the book, after Shen became empress, Luo Shumo was promoted again for “meritorious protection of the throne”, a clear beneficiary of Shen’s line.

The rebuilt waterwheel could have been a boon to the people. But Shen Mingyun was not generous. Since the design came from him, he demanded a patent fee, he recommended the court levy a usage tax on the new waterwheels. A great many officials supported it. The emperor, heeding the Eldest and Fourth Princes, approved the tax.

That extra tax became a heavy burden. The years had been dry; thus, harvests were poor.

Back then, hearing of it, Luo Shuyu had felt it unsound but he was no courtier and seldom even entered Luo Renshou’s study. He only heard occasional complaints while out walking.

Later, once he was in the Third Prince’s household, the “waterwheel tax” flared into a real disturbance. Emperor Yuansheng sent Li Mingjin to suppress it; many died, the poor poorer still. Luo Shuyu learned the details by accident, overhearing Li Mingjin’s conversation with the official in charge. A mere waterwheel tax had grown into a “Waterwheel Incident,” and from it Li Mingjin earned the name of a brutal butcher of commoners. The court resented him; censors impeached him repeatedly. The aging emperor, irritated, ordered him to “reflect” at home for a month. Idle and bitter, Li Mingjin went drinking daily; someone slipped him a drug, and he and Luo Shuyu spent a night together. Their child came of that night.

This matter touched Li Mingjin deeply. Luo Shuyu forced himself to recall the book’s details. Eight hundred thousand words existed thanks to an author who loved precise minutiae, useful for a reader like Luo Shuyu. He had even lodged the blueprint description in his mind. If he concentrated now, the lines leapt back, word for word.

Luo Shumo took after Luo Renshou, impeccable on the surface, little actual friction with Luo Shuyu.

“We were just at a site,” he said with a smile. “I was about to consult Father.”

Their strained expressions and lack of joy told Luo Shuyu the wheel wasn’t working yet.

“I see. Then I won’t intrude,” Luo Shuyu said, an idea taking shape. “I’ll leave you to it.”

He stepped out of Luo Renshou’s study. Shen Mingyun hurried after him and grabbed his arm. Remembering Shen was originally a man, Luo Shuyu yanked away.

“If you’ve got business, speak plainly,” he said. “I don’t like people getting too familiar.” He slapped the hand aside. “Show some respect.”

Shen cursed inwardly. This Luo Shuyu, quiet and inconspicuous before, now that he was about to become Third Prince Consort, he had a temper? It was a touch of the hand, not a murder attempt. He’d been reeling from the new quest and had only wanted to mention the Third Prince. So ungrateful.

Forcing a smile, he said, “I just wanted to tell you something. No need to shut me out.”

“Then speak,” Luo Shuyu replied, cool as ice.

If not for the quest, Shen wouldn’t have bothered. “I came to warn you about the Third Prince’s reputation. Don’t mistake goodwill for donkey liver.”

“What goodwill,” Luo Shuyu sneered. “How kind of you.”

Shen was sure Luo Shuyu didn’t know he’d handed over those birth characters to a favored concubine. Yet that laugh nettled him.

“I am being kind. If you don’t want to marry him, I can help.”

A weasel paying New Year’s respects to the hen. Luo Shuyu didn’t know what scheme he was hatching, but he asked, “Oh? And why the sudden altruism?”

“I can help you run away.” In dramas, when the heroine dislikes the match, she always elopes.

Luo Shuyu actually laughed. He’d tolerated Shen’s crude mouth before; now he had to listen to this lunacy? “Help me defy an imperial edict? Do you know what crime that is? It implicates the entire clan. Lightest, my father loses his office; heavy, it’s executions, confiscation of property, even extermination of nine clans and you are one of them. You’d be first to lose your head.” He drew a finger across his throat; his gaze was an icicle through the heart.

Shen flinched back a step, chuckling weakly. “H-heh, I was just saying. If you don’t want to marry, we can think of other ways. Have the Third Prince withdraw.”

“How do you know I don’t want to marry him?” Luo Shuyu tugged one corner of his lips. “I plan to marry him in full splendor. Or… does cousin have feelings for the Third Prince?”

“How could I like that brute?” Shen snapped. Only a sucker like you would be happy to marry in.

If not for the points, he wouldn’t bother.

“Mind your tongue,” Luo Shuyu said, eyes hard. “You don’t get to speak of Li Mingjin that way.”

Shen prided himself on glibness, but to Luo Shuyu he looked full of holes.

“I’m warning you,” Shen said. “You’re being ungrateful.”

“Many thanks,” Luo Shuyu said dryly, and turned away, ignoring the mutters behind him, petty complaints, nothing more.

Back in Ruyi Courtyard, he cooled his head and sorted through Shen’s sudden “goodwill.”

In his past life, he’d rarely clashed with Shen face-to-face. Now Shen had brought up Li Mingjin on his own, slandered him, and even offered to “help” him flee. What did that mean? He wanted to wreck the wedding?

As far as Luo Shuyu knew, outside of quests, Shen never actively approached anyone.

He remembered a passage: once, Shen and the Fourth Prince fell off a cliff. Villagers rescued them; the Fourth was hurt, leaving Shen to forage. To live in that village, Shen grudgingly did quests to earn mall points for food. The tasks were all helping elders and teaching snot-nosed children to read. He played the saint with one hand, and with the other cursed them as dirty and slovenly.

Shen never showed a pleasant face to those he disliked. Sudden friendliness meant ulterior motives.

Luo Shuyu thought it through and wrote in his notebook: Shen’s quest must be to prevent the wedding.

He remembered clearly: the book had no quest concerning him and Li Mingjin. After he married, Shen and he had no further intersections. Whether Shen had Li-Mingjin-related quests afterward, he didn’t know.

Whatever the case, he had to watch this man carefully. That system of his was sinister. Not an “immortal artifact” of any righteous path.

For now, he’d write down the system’s waterwheel description and pass it to Li Mingjin. Tested in his last life, Feng Momo was trustworthy. He copied out the content late into the night, discovering that as long as he focused, the book’s text resurfaced vividly in his mind, and he could transcribe it verbatim.

All of this he would give to Li Mingjin. But how to explain how he knew? Would Li Mingjin think him a spy?

He stared at the freshly drawn schematics, a sliver of worry tightening his chest. Would Li Mingjin trust him fully?

“Master, it’s time to rest,” Qingwang reminded him.

Luo Shuyu decided to write a letter asking to meet. The schematics were too important to entrust to a messenger; intercepted, they’d be impossible to explain, and it would give tongues something to wag. His current reputation was no prize, but compared with the years to come, today’s stains were nothing.

If Li Mingjin hoped to fight for that seat, Luo Shuyu would put the best in his hands.

He handed the letter to Madam Feng to be delivered through the night.

—

Third Prince’s residence.

An Hei (Shadow Three) swung in through the study window again.

Li Mingjin, not yet retired, broke the sandalwood-scented seal. A faint smile touched his mouth.

Luo Shuyu invited him to meet at Fuman Tower at noon tomorrow.

So eager to see him again, after only a few days? Was his little consort being coquettish?

An Hei had turned to leave when he was stopped. “Shadow Three. What should I wear tomorrow?”

An Hei looked at the prince, finger rubbing the letter, calculations written all over his face. “…” This humble one has no sweetheart. How would I know?

---

Author’s Note:
Third Prince: Wife, see you tomorrow! [rubs hands.gif]

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Little note(s):
A weasel paying New Year’s respects to the hen: This idiom is used to mock or express deep suspicion about someone who suddenly shows kindness or concern, especially if they’ve been untrustworthy, harmful, or sneaky in the past. 

Why a weasel and a chicken? A weasel is a predator that eats chickens. So when it shows up at the chicken’s door on New Year’s (a time of peace and goodwill), you can bet it’s not for celebration, it’s probably there to eat. Thus, any kind gesture from someone suspicious is assumed to hide ulterior motives.