Dimensional Supermarket - Chapter 106

In this declining monarchy, the country is poor—but the people are free.

Women who have given birth are more sought-after in the marriage market than virgins. Girls can date—or even have children—before marriage. In fact, if a girl has a child and the father can’t provide for them, her future husband might even take in the child.

What is inherited is not blood, but the surname. As long as the surname is given to a child, the child becomes part of the family and serves the family.

In this way, a child who is not related by blood might even become more loyal to the family after learning the truth of their origins.

Of course, there are also men who are unwilling to accept a wife’s child born before marriage—but this is easily resolved by simply sending the child away.

The child can be left with the wife’s family or given to someone else to raise.

Noblewomen have fewer restrictions. They can afford to support children and lovers, so nearly all the princesses of Chen State and the sisters of the Marquis have four or five lovers.

Only Marquis Chen is an exception. Despite being the ruler of a nation, he has only one wife.

It isn’t because of any deep affection—after all, they barely meet before the wedding—but because the Marquis’s wife comes from the most powerful family in Chen State apart from the royal family.

The Zhang family controls 36 cities in Chen State, while the Jiang family—his wife’s family—controls 58.

Although those cities aren’t large, controlling even four or five of them allows a family to stand above all other nobles.

Marquis Chen marries his wife to increase his political weight. His wife is also a capable woman. After their marriage, their relationship is more like that of political partners than husband and wife.

Marquis Chen summons his guards and instructs them to bring Zhou Yuanhe over.

When Zhou Yuanhe arrives, Marquis Chen bows to him and says, “I leave my wife in your care.”

Zhou Yuanhe walks up to the Marchioness. She looks at the young man before her, a little dazed—he is tall and thin, with a sickly complexion. He looks more like a patient than a physician. And his clothes…

Short hair, a shirt that bares his arms, pants that show his calves—he looks strange in every way.

But the fabric of his clothes is excellent, the stitching fine and even. He doesn’t look like someone too poor to afford proper clothing.

Zhou Yuanhe examines him and says, “It’s not serious, just needs rest.”

The Marquis breathes a sigh of relief and says to his wife, “Brother Yan and I will head to the palace first. You take Rui’er and rest here.”

Time is tight, and he doesn’t have time to explain recent events to her.

He leaves a personal guard to look after her and to answer any questions she might have.

Marquis Chen enters the palace, but Ye Zhou does not go in with him.

The biggest obstacle has already been removed. If the Marquis still fails to turn things around, then maybe he isn’t fit to be king—he might as well switch careers while he still can.

The troops Chen Shou brings rebel on the spot after the general’s departure. Chen Yan absorbs them into his own forces and leads them straight to the southern gate.

Ye Zhou is amazed, stunned by the soldiers’ quick adaptability.

The arrow in the Marchioness’s shoulder still hasn’t been removed, so Zhou Yuanhe asks Ye Zhou for a tent. The surrounding civilian homes probably aren’t even as clean as a tent, and Zhou Yuanhe, though reluctant, is still frowning as he makes the request.

Ye Zhou gives him the tent and asks curiously, “Why are you always frowning?”

Zhou Yuanhe sighs, “I’m so busy.”

Ye Zhou replies, “…Sure, this world is a little busier than the last few planes, but you don’t work every day.”

Zhou Yuanhe sighs again. “Exactly. It’s because I don’t have to work every day that I came here. Otherwise, I would’ve stayed in my original dimension.”

“You were a doctor there too?” Ye Zhou asks.

Zhou Yuanhe nods and sighs again. “Worked overtime every day, constantly had to deal with difficult patients and their families. What was I thinking, choosing medicine? I just wanted a stable job and peaceful life.”

Ye Zhou says, “You really have it rough.”

Zhou Yuanhe nods repeatedly, truly feeling sorry for himself.

Ye Zhou: “…”

Though Zhou Yuanhe constantly complains about work, he never shirks responsibility when there’s work to be done. As long as he isn’t slacking off, Ye Zhou, as his boss, figures he can tolerate a little whining.

Madam Hou holds the child in her arms. She has never seen people like these before—their clothes and appearances are unfamiliar. They don’t look like they’re from Chen State, or any nation she knows. These men and women seem to form a group entirely their own, wholly different from everyone else.

Still, she isn’t too worried. She believes her husband wouldn’t entrust her to someone unreliable.

Especially since she is holding their only son.

Over the years, the Marchioness bears only one child with the Marquis. There is another once, but that child dies before his first birthday.

Now, both she and the Marquis are aging, and it’s unlikely they can have another child. So they protect this boy like he’s their very lifeblood.

“Madam, please don’t worry,” the personal guard whispers. “The one on horseback is the sovereign’s immortal. He has great divine power. With his help, both you and the Marquis will escape danger.”

Before the Marchioness can respond, the crown prince perks up in her arms and asks the guard, “Is he the immortal Father met by the Luo River?”

The guard quickly says, “No, the immortal His Majesty met was just a man.”

The crown prince nods. “Mother, I’m going to thank the immortal.”

The Marchioness looks at the guard, who whispers, “The prince is young but clever. He speaks from the heart—surely the immortal will like him.”

She nods. Slowly, she stands up, takes her child by the hand, and approaches the ‘immortal’ on horseback. She looks up—this young man doesn’t seem like an immortal.

No beard, handsome, but lacking the ethereal presence one would expect. He looks more like a romantic noble youth than a celestial being.

The Marquis’s wife bows slightly and says, “Immortal…”

The crown prince looks up and says clearly, “Immortal, I am the Crown Prince of Chen. You helped my father return to the nation. Your great kindness, Rui shall never forget!”

Ye Zhou looks at the little boy, suddenly feeling interested in him.

Judging by his size, he isn’t even five years old, but he speaks like an adult.

Ye Zhou dismounts and says to the Marchioness, “You need not be so formal. Please rise.”

Then he turns to the crown prince and asks with a smile, “Are you afraid?”

Chen Rui shakes his head. “No. My father and mother say I am the future king of Chen State. I must not be afraid.”

His voice is soft and childish, but his words are clear and steady. He either understands what he’s saying, or the belief is already deeply etched into his young heart.

Ye Zhou smiles. “How did the prince live in the palace before?”

Chen Rui replies, “Zuotu locks me in my room and drives away the maids and wet nurses. Only eunuchs I’ve never seen before are allowed near. No one can see me—not even my mother.”

Ye Zhou crouches down slowly, looking him in the eye. “Were you not afraid?”

Chen Rui shakes his head. “No.”

Ye Zhou can’t help rubbing the boy’s head. “You’re a good child. You’ll go far.”

A child like this—so long as he isn’t raised wrong—will surely make a better monarch than his father.

That is—if he lives long enough.

Chen Rui suddenly asks, “Immortal, are you here to help my father?”

Ye Zhou replies, “No.”

Chen Rui tilts his head, thoughtful. Then he asks, “Then will you help me?”

“Rui’er!” Madam Hou scolds, frowning.

Ye Zhou smiles. “Madam, don’t be angry. There’s nothing wrong with a child being precocious. Whether I assist you depends on whether you can grow up to be a good ruler.”

Chen Rui nods slightly. “Then… is my father a good ruler?”

The Marchioness nearly rushes to cover her son’s mouth.

Ye Zhou looks into his eyes. Not wanting to damage the boy’s view of his father, he pauses for a moment before saying, “Your father is a good man.”

Chen Rui says “Oh,” calmly. “That’s what everyone says.”

Ye Zhou asks, “What kind of person do you want to become?”

Chen Rui answers, “I want to be like Marquis Wu—expand our territory, strengthen the nation, bring peace and prosperity. If the country is strong, the people will be safe.”

The Marquis’s wife turns pale, whether from pain or fear of her child’s words is unclear.

Ye Zhou laughs. “Good boy.”

She quickly says, “He’s just a child speaking nonsense. Immortal, please don’t take offense.”

Ye Zhou waves a hand. “Madam, you flatter me. Sometimes children have clearer minds than adults.”

Chen Hou rules with benevolence and becomes a weak monarch, but his son shows signs of ambition even at a young age.

If the Chen State can survive until the boy grows up, then maybe…

Though still a child, he already understands that truth lies within the range of a cannon.

Ye Zhou says to the Marchioness, “You’ve raised your son very well.”

Parents are always the child’s first teachers. Since Marquis Chen isn’t one to favor military might, it must be Madam Hou who teaches the prince.

She smiles faintly.

Ye Zhou calls out, “Zhou Yuanhe, is the tent ready?”

Zhou Yuanhe replies, “It’s ready. Madam Hou, come—I’ll remove the arrow and treat your wound.”

Madam Hou is about to leave, but the prince bows deeply to Ye Zhou and says, “Immortal, as a son, I must first stay with my mother while she’s treated. After her wounds are healed, I will come thank you again.”

Ye Zhou gives a gentle smile. “Go on.”

As he watches mother and son enter the tent, he says to Zou Ming, “We came too early. If that child were the current ruler of Chen, we might’ve struck gold.”

Perhaps this child will be the greatest achievement of Marquis Chen’s life.