Chapter 1#

Transmigrated into a Vicious Cannon Fodder#

“Young master, it was this Chu Tan who shattered your favorite glazed lamp, and now he won’t even admit his guilt. You cannot let him off lightly.”

“That’s right, this brat has always been arrogant and insolent, refusing to do the work assigned by his superiors. He’s always been lazy and cunning!”

“He did something wrong and won’t admit it—he’s bullying his master now. Young master, you should teach him a good lesson!”

…

Men and women alike, chattering and jabbering, a cacophony of voices all crammed into his ears at once, making Rong Yu’s head ache terribly.

He opened his eyes, only to find himself in a completely unfamiliar place, surrounded by a circle of people—both men and women, all dressed in ancient styles.

Even he himself was wearing brocade robes and a cotton-padded gown, draped in a fur cloak, sitting in a wheelchair.

Before him, a thin, lean youth knelt in the snow with his head lowered. It was the depths of winter, yet he wore only a set of thin, tattered clothes, with patches sewn onto the sleeves and trouser legs.

Were they filming a movie?

The moment this thought appeared, a huge flood of memories that didn’t belong to him surged into his mind.

In just an instant, Rong Yu sorted through it all.

So he had transmigrated into an ancient danmei NP novel. His identity was the third son of the Vice Minister of Rites, Rong Yu—a young master sharing the exact same name as him, and likewise a cripple with disabled legs.

And the youth kneeling before him was none other than the novel’s gong #1, the most scheming, highest-IQ big boss, who would eventually assassinate Emperor Yuanjing and become the youngest new emperor.

The youth’s original name was Wei Jingtan, the legitimate son of the Prince of Wei, a prince of a different surname. The Prince of Wei was originally a military man who had followed the founding emperor in expanding the territory, fighting desperately in battle, saving the founding emperor from danger several times.

After the founding emperor ascended the throne, moved by his virtue and contributions, he enfeoffed the Prince of Wei as the dynasty’s only prince of a different surname, granting him title and stipend, enfeoffing him with land and revenues, while also having him guard the border.

However, after the founding emperor’s death, Emperor Yuanjing took the throne. Emperor Yuanjing was suspicious by nature, wary that the Prince of Wei held heavy military power, and constantly suspected the Prince of Wei would rebel. In the end, he found some excuse and had the Prince of Wei’s household raided.

When the Prince of Wei caught wind of Emperor Yuanjing’s movements, he became alert first and secretly sent his only legitimate son, Wei Jingtan, into the capital. Emperor Yuanjing’s troops turned the Prince of Wei’s fiefdom upside down, finally finding the “legitimate son” in hiding and beheading him along with the rest—never suspecting a thing.

Meanwhile, Wei Jingtan, under the alias Chu Tan, survived right under the emperor’s nose. He sold himself into servitude, entered the Rong estate, and hid his identity, all to find an opportunity for revenge.

And Rong Yu, as the vicious cannon fodder in the novel, had a twisted, gloomy personality due to his disabled legs. He would beat and berate Chu Tan, humiliating him at will.

On scorching summer days, he made him squat in horse stance under the blazing sun as punishment. In the dead of winter, he made him strip off his clothes and catch fish in the freezing lake… whipping him whenever he was displeased—that was routine.

Rong Yu tormenting Wei Jingtan like this naturally led to a most miserable end.

Once Wei Jingtan gained power, the first thing he did was to strip Rong Yu’s tendons and skin him alive, gouge out his eyes, and make him endure eighty-one lashes while keeping him alive with ginseng soup, refusing to let him die. Finally, he dug out his kneecaps, bound his hands, and had him dragged to death by horses.

Seeing such a horrifying fate awaiting him in the future, Rong Yu not only felt no fear, but was instead thoroughly intrigued, his hands trembling slightly with excitement.

This was… far too interesting!

“Young master, this Chu Tan is the son of a criminal. He’s only been in our estate for a little over a month, yet he’s already broken several vases and lamps. You, in your great kindness, have forgiven him several times, yet he shows not a hint of repentance. In this servant’s opinion, you should report him to the master and chase him out as soon as possible.” A maidservant walked up beside Rong Yu, speaking in a sweet, coquettish voice close to his ear.

The other servants wore roughly woven hemp clothes, but she alone was dressed in fine brocade, seeming to hold a high status.

Rong Yu propped his chin on his hand and looked at her, his half-lidded peach blossom eyes scanning the maidservant up and down. The corners of his lips curved slightly, but he said nothing. He stared until the maidservant’s scalp went numb, her heart in a state of turmoil. She lowered her head and looked at herself, not knowing where the problem lay.

She touched her face and asked nervously, “Young master, is there something dirty on this servant’s face?”

Rong Yu shifted his position, drawing the hand warmer in his arms closer with his left hand. The heat brought some comfort to his cold body. He looked at the maidservant and said slowly, “You say he broke my vase?”

Lü E immediately said, “Indeed! Never mind the ones from before—this morning, what he broke was the gold-wired glazed lamp you purchased from Duobao Pavilion last month, worth ten thousand gold!”

Rong Yu lowered his eyes slightly. “And in your opinion, what should I do?”

Lü E’s face lit up with joy. She bent into a bow. “In this servant’s opinion, you should punish him severely.”

“Very well.” Rong Yu nodded. “Then punish him I shall.”

As he spoke, he spread open his right hand, and a page boy beside him immediately handed him a horsewhip. The whip was long and thick, with considerable weight in the hand. Rong Yu bounced it a couple times, then, without a second thought, lashed it at the youth at his feet.

“Crack—”

The youth’s thin clothing split open at once, revealing lean flesh beneath. Yet his body remained unmoved, and he didn’t utter a single sound.

Rong Yu looked at Lü E. “In your opinion, is this punishment enough?”

Lü E saw that Chu Tan hadn’t let out so much as a grunt, and irritation surfaced in her eyes. “In this servant’s opinion, it’s not enough. He should be punished further.”

“Very well, then punish further.”

A smile hung at the corners of Rong Yu’s lips. He didn’t hesitate for a moment as he sent another lash across. The exposed flesh on Chu Tan’s back immediately seeped with streaks of blood.

Rong Yu looked at Lü E again. He no longer needed to ask—Lü E said of her own accord, “Not enough. He should be punished severely.”

And so the third lash came down. Each time Rong Yu struck, the smile at the corners of his lips deepened, as though treating this cruel torture as a game for his own amusement, with no thought whatsoever of showing mercy because Wei Jingtan was the novel’s big boss.

By the fifth lash, Chu Tan’s back was split open and bleeding. He couldn’t hold back a muffled grunt, collapsing to kneel prostrate in the snow, revealing half of a pale, handsome face.

The surrounding servants trembled in fear. Even though they were accustomed to watching their master whip people, they still felt utterly terrified. This was a horsewhip—an ordinary man who took five lashes would have to lie in bed for at least a month. Twenty lashes, and a person could be snapped clean in two.

It was only because their master had little strength, but even so, after these five lashes, Chu Tan’s back was already a bloody mess, and he was collapsed in the snow, breathing in ragged gasps.

A hint of smug satisfaction glimmered in Lü E’s eyes. When Chu Tan had first entered the estate, she had taken a liking to his face. After Chu Tan was assigned to their Biying Pavilion, she had shown him kindness again and again—yet this Chu Tan refused to appreciate it, growing ever colder toward her, even sneering at her with cutting words.

She was the third young master’s personal maidservant, the highest-status person in this courtyard besides the young master himself and his wet nurse. She was nobler than a lowly water-sprinkling servant boy by countless degrees—and Chu Tan had the audacity to be so ungrateful. How could that not turn her affection into hatred?

Besides, she was doing this on someone’s orders… Once she completed the task, that person would surely reward her handsomely.

At the thought of the wealth that would soon be in her hands, Lü E was elated, her eyes practically gleaming—only to discover that Rong Yu had stopped. Displeased, she said, “Young master Rong, that’s still not enough. You must continue punishing him.”

She looked into the distance, her gaze drifting to a group of finely dressed young men approaching slowly from afar, and her eyes lit up. That person had said they needed to see Rong Yu whipping a servant with their own eyes. Besides, Chu Tan wasn’t injured badly enough—it was best if he were in agonizing pain.

Lü E’s expression turned anxious. “Young master, this Chu Tan must be beaten. He’s insolent, defies discipline, and makes mistakes again and again. You must strike hard—beat him until he learns his lesson.”

Seeing that Rong Yu wasn’t moving, and the group was drawing closer and closer, Lü E began to speak recklessly. “Young master, you can’t show him mercy! Chu Tan—Chu Tan has even insulted you!”

“Oh?” Rong Yu became interested, a curving smile on his thin, crimson lips. “What did he call me?”

“He called you a crippled wretch!”

The moment those words left her mouth, the entire scene fell into dead silence.

Everyone throughout the entire Rong estate knew that Rong Yu hated being called a crippled wretch more than anything—because three years ago, he had encountered bandits and lost the use of both legs, and since then, he could only move about in a wheelchair.

Rong Yu’s face immediately turned grim. His peach blossom eyes, which had been smiling just moments ago, now churned with cruelty and storm. He looked down at Chu Tan, kneeling in the snow, and parted his crimson lips, spitting out words as sharp and sinister as a blade. “Did you say that?”

Chu Tan propped himself up on his hands and straightened his body, still keeping his head lowered. His voice was hoarse from pain. “I never did.”

Rong Yu tapped two fingers on the armrest of his wheelchair, as if convinced. After a moment, he turned his head to look at Lü E. “He says he never said it. So that means it was you who said it.”

The color drained completely from Lü E’s face. She dropped to her knees with a thud. “Injustice, young master! This servant would never dare say such a thing!”

But Rong Yu only stared at her, his gloomy gaze roaming over the top of her head.

Lü E inwardly regretted having used such a pretext more than anything. She knew that her master was always unpredictable, with a gloomy, erratic temperament—he didn’t listen to reason and had no logic. If he made up his mind about something, he would never listen to anyone’s explanations.

“Young master, this servant has served you since childhood and cares for you the most. How would I dare say something that cuts so deep into your heart? It was Chu Tan spouting nonsense—he committed wrong and won’t admit it, and now he wants to smear this servant’s name. Please see clearly, young master, and have him beaten out of the estate with a big stick to clear this servant’s name!”

Lü E burst into tears as she spoke, her palm-sized face pale, the rims of her eyes red, pitiful and delicate.

If it had been the Rong Yu of the past, perhaps he would have felt sympathy for her and let the matter slide. But the current Rong Yu only looked down at her coldly, his gaze like a venomous snake that made her scalp crawl.

“Lü E, when you tell me to hit, I hit. When you tell me to punish, I punish. I didn’t realize—when did you become the one calling the shots for me?”

Rong Yu’s tone was low and slow, like a basin of cold water splashing over Lü E, terrifying her until she trembled like a sieve.

Just then, a clear, resonant male voice came from beyond the crowd.

“Third brother, what is going on here?”

【Author’s Note:】

Hehehe, starting a new story again—many pits doesn’t weigh a body down~