Xiao Zhi watched Xiao Qian’s eyes roll nearly to the ceiling. He was long accustomed to this look of disdain.
Ever since he could remember, his older brother had never liked him. After their father became emperor, he appointed Xiao Qian as crown prince. From then on, his crown prince brother had grown increasingly arrogant.
Later, after Xiao Zhi was placed under house arrest, his crown prince brother was satisfied and lay low for several years.
Now, he was back.
Xiao Zhi shot him a glance. What did it matter that they were brothers born of the same mother? This man could not be allowed to live.
His mind drifted back to his childhood. His half-brothers and half-sisters had bullied and humiliated him. Now, thinking back, those noisy little brats deserved to die as well.
Seeing the murderous intent surge in the new emperor’s eyes, Xiao Qian—pinned down by the palace’s top guards, a blade pressed to his neck—showed not a trace of fear. Instead, he offered an affectionate smile: “Instead of thanking me, you want to kill me? Little brother, you’re ruthless.”
The blade tightened. Blood beaded on Xiao Qian’s skin, staining the sword red.
The emperor gave no order to stop. The idea of stuffing pillows into the dragon bed was surely Xiao Qian’s doing. Was it meant as a sign of contempt? Or a warning?
“You disappeared for three full days,” Xiao Qian said, meeting the emperor’s gaze. “If you’d stayed away any longer, the dragon throne would be mine by now.”
Three days? The emperor sneered. Who was he trying to fool?
“Don’t believe me? Ask him.” Xiao Qian jutted his chin toward the guard. The sword at his throat did not loosen. But the hesitation in the guard’s eyes was plain.
After the time it takes to burn one incense stick—
Xiao Zhi heard an utterly absurd version of events: Xiao Qian, feeling pity for the girl in the secret dungeon, had sent palace maids to bring her food and water. That was when they discovered she had vanished without a trace—along with the reigning emperor himself.
“Little brother, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Xiao Qian continued, utterly indifferent to the emperor’s increasingly dark expression. “You have feelings for a woman, you should take her into the palace as a consort. But instead, you lock a delicate, tender young lady in a secret dungeon.”
He paused and curled his lips slightly. “This kind of taste, brother, I truly cannot understand.”
Xiao Zhi was momentarily speechless. He had come to punish this deposed crown prince who coveted the throne and plotted treachery—not to listen to mad ramblings.
“I—” will kill you.
His words were cut off by Xiao Qian: “So once you become emperor, you stop cherishing women?”
The emperor had offended the young lady. She was angry. The emperor had lost all interest in state affairs and taken her somewhere unknown to appease her for three full days. Surely he must have succeeded by now?
Xiao Qian looked thoughtful. “Lucky I don’t have to be emperor anymore. Tch. You can have it.”
He had no desires, no ambitions. What was so appealing about being the supreme ruler compared to being a leisurely, carefree prince?
The emperor had been gone for three days. Xiao Qian, mindful of what little brotherly affection remained between them, spread word that the emperor was too grief-stricken over the late emperor’s death to attend to affairs. He had the palace attendants lie, saying His Majesty was unwell.
When the Empress Dowager came to the emperor’s bedchamber, the curling incense smoke obscured her view. The attendants said the emperor had finally managed to fall asleep, so the Empress Dowager could only take a distant glance.
And that was how they had lasted three days.
The last time Xiao Zhi had been so furious he literally jumped up and down was when he had fought with his brother at six years old. Years of house arrest had long since ground down that anger and resentment. He hadn’t expected that after ascending the dragon throne, the floodgates of his emotions would open wide, all of them rushing back at once.
“I didn’t sleep in your dragon bed, you know,” Xiao Qian said, raising both hands over his head. “I’ve been a clean freak since I was a child.”
When a gentleman meets a scoundrel—the emperor flicked his sleeves and stormed off.
Xiao Qian touched the blood streak on his neck and, seemingly unafraid of dying young, chased after him: “Hey, where’s my sister-in-law?”
Sister-in-law? Her? Xiao Zhi said with venom: “That sorceress is dead.”
She had stolen his imperial seal and returned a soft, squishy fake. Xiao Zhi only wished she would disappear far, far away, so that the immortal realm and the mortal world could go their separate ways in peace.
“Broke up? With that temper of yours, what respectable lady could stand you?”
“…”
“She really dumped you? Ha, haha! What a heroine!”
“I’LL KILL YOU!” Xiao Zhi lunged at Xiao Qian, and the two of them started brawling.
On the fourth day of his reign, the emperor appeared at the morning court.
Xiao Zhi sat high on the dragon throne. The flattery from the officials below was monotonous and grating, wearing his ears raw. Amid the chorus of sycophantic praise, the Minister of Justice, Cen Ni, wore a displeased expression, standing out like a sore thumb.
“I suppose I should remain bedridden for ten more days, just to win a smile from my beloved Minister Cen.”
Cen Ni dropped to his knees with a thud: “This old minister had no such intention! Your Majesty’s robust health is the fortune of all the realm!”
“Rise, Minister Cen.” You old relic. I’ll deal with you soon enough.
After court, Xiao Zhi returned to the imperial study and began handling the emperor’s daily duties.
He had gone to court before dawn, and now his eyelids were heavy with exhaustion.
Eunuchs spread out the memorials one by one on the imperial desk. Xiao Zhi read them, wrote his vermilion comments, and stamped each with the seal.
The eunuchs worked like assembly line laborers, while the emperor acted as the quality inspector.
A thankless job.
Before he knew it, Xiao Zhi had used the rubber stamp Yun Yi had given him to seal a dozen or so memorials.
By the time he realized what he had done, the old incense in the lion-face ear-handled censer had burned out, and a palace maid was adding fresh incense.
“Where is Wang Delan?”
The palace maid said that after being injured, Eunuch Wang had developed a high fever.
“Summon Imperial Physician Zhang to examine him.”
.
Yue Min and Cen Ni were sitting across from each other in a pavilion, drinking tea.
Ever since Xiao Zhi ascended the throne, these two sworn enemies had, against all odds, begun sitting together.
They had received the latest news from the palace: Imperial Physician Zhang had been called to diagnose the emperor’s personal eunuch.
Yue Min held a memorial that the emperor had approved. He stepped out of the pavilion into the daylight to examine the emperor’s seal closely.
Something felt off, though he couldn’t quite articulate it.
In all his years serving in the Censorate, he had seen the late emperor’s seal countless times.
But this seal on the memorial—the impression was similar, the size the same, yet the stamp was lighter, the imprint somewhat faint and uneven.
Cen Ni came over and glanced at the content of the memorial—it was Yue Min’s request to send his daughter into the palace to serve.
“The late emperor’s mourning period has not yet ended, Minister Yue. Rushing your daughter into the harem at this time is contrary to propriety.”
Yue Min’s train of thought was unconventional: “Are you suggesting that His Majesty might be…” incapable?
During the years of Xiao Zhi’s house arrest, he had never taken a primary consort, nor had he even had a serving maid by his side.
For a young, vigorous prince, this was highly abnormal.
Cen Ni: “Once the national mourning ends, the selection will begin. That will be the perfect opportunity for your daughter to enter the palace. Minister Yue, do not be hasty.”
Yue Min nodded outwardly, but inwardly he was consumed with anxiety.
Wait another four months? Let his precious pearl stand in the palace hall alongside a flock of coquettish show-offs, waiting to be chosen by the emperor?
Just imagining the scene made it hard for Yue Min to breathe. He had to find the perfect moment for his daughter to catch the emperor’s eye.
.
It was the selection season. The imperial garden burst with blooming flowers. Beauties stood in the hall, and the emperor, even younger than the beauties, was choosing his prospective consorts.
In the 4S shop, Yun Yi lay back in a massage chair, engrossed in a famous palace drama.
“Look at that—the emperor’s practically drooling on the floor.”
“Pfft. The female lead looks just like the late empress. It’s that ‘replacement’ trope.”
“Miss Yun, here is your repair estimate.” A staff member handed her the bill.
Seventy thousand yuan?! Yun Yi felt utterly defeated.
She called Yun Guoqiang: “Dad, drop everything right now. Go dig up the tomb of the second emperor of the Yan Dynasty—the dog emperor.” If she couldn’t beat the curses out of him, she’d write her name backwards.
Yun Guoqiang: “Let me correct you, sweetheart. There’s no Yan Dynasty in the history textbooks.”
Yun Yi: “Then go ask the village chief where the Xiao family ancestors are buried.” She would borrow the bed-and-breakfast owner’s dog, Dahuang, and make sure it sprayed dog pee all over Xiao Zhi’s grave.
“Yun Bao, are you feeling unwell? Should Dad come home to see you?” His precious daughter’s sudden personality change alarmed Yun Guoqiang. He had been too busy with work and had neglected her.
“No, it’s fine. Focus on your work.”
…
The life of a study content creator wasn’t easy—she’d worked hard for most of the year and made nothing. Yun Yi felt stifled, resentful, and truly wanted to scream and vent.
Unlike other “face” content creators who showed their looks, Yun Yi categorized herself as a “back-of-the-head” creator.
When she studied, her camera was positioned behind her. Her followers could only see her back.
Without relying on her appearance to attract attention, gaining followers was naturally very slow.
Yun Yi studied diligently, got certified in everything she could, and finally managed to accumulate five thousand followers. She then founded her own brand, selling journals and study supplies she designed herself.
And now, the man who had wrecked her car had quietly gone back to his own world, as gently as he had come, without taking a single cloud with him.
Yun Yi had mentioned this to her best friend. Her friend, while working overtime, replied: “Stop trying to start a business. Get a real job! Once you’re as tired as a dog, you won’t have the energy for wild thoughts.”
Her best friend was right. Maybe she was so exhausted from her entrepreneurial struggles that she had imagined this man into existence.
.
Hearing his daughter mention Xiao Family Village, Yun Guoqiang actually had something to say: “Your Uncle Yu and the other experts did a joint evaluation. The pattern really is a lion face. From the brushwork and texture, the craftsmanship isn’t very mature, but it’s full of childlike charm.”
“Childlike charm?” Yun Guoqiang’s words pulled her back to reality.
“Mm-hmm. That ear-handled censer from before—it was made by some child a thousand years ago.” Yun Guoqiang’s laugh was warm. “It’s our first time excavating a child’s work. Xiao Liu’s thesis finally has a topic.”
Yun Yi chimed in: “Thesis title: ‘A Study of Handmade Toys Made by Little Terrors a Thousand Years Ago’?”
“That’s the one.” Yun Guoqiang made the decision.
Xiao Liu: I’ll give myself a moment of silence.
At checkout, Yun Yi handed over her credit card. As she lowered her head, a black headband slipped out of her pocket.
A staff member picked it up and praised its beauty.
On the drive back, modern cityscapes flowed past the window. The thumping bass filled the car. The car stopped at a red light.
The taillights of the car ahead cast an unreal glow on the headband tied around her wrist.
Silk brocade. A coiled dragon climbed up the length of the band, about to soar into the sky.
By the time Yun Yi snapped back to reality, she had already parked the car and walked into a pharmacy.
“What seems to be the problem?”
“A wound on my hand.”
The pharmacy staff recommended adhesive bandages.
Yun Yi hesitated, then recalled: “The wound on my palm is a bit deep. Not deep enough for stitches, but do you have any anti-inflammatory medicine?”
The pharmacy was running a promotion: spend 100 yuan, get 10 yuan off. Yun Yi added some cold and fever medicine to bring the total up to 100 yuan.
Her credit card bill had another 90 yuan added to it.
Sigh. Just because someone drives a luxury car doesn’t mean they’re rich.
When Yun Yi got home, she wrote the expense in her notebook.
[October 22, 2026. Hilarious. I inexplicably bought medicine for a man who’s been dead for a thousand years. How do I give it to him? I beg the Jade Emperor to reveal the location of the Yan Dynasty tyrant’s tomb so I can burn it for him.]
.
“Village Chief, those people are here again.” The villagers looked at the archaeology team as if they were a plague.
The village chief’s attitude was poor: “I don’t care what research you’re doing. Do us a favor and go pluck wool from some other village.”
Yun Guoqiang: “Village Chief, the paperwork has come through.”
The authorities had approved the archaeology institute to conduct a small-scale test excavation for protective purposes.
Yun Guoqiang had come to discuss the excavation location with the village chief.
“There’s no ancient tomb in our Xiao Family Village!” The villagers were agitated.
“Professor Yun,” the village chief signaled everyone to be quiet, “the village is about to hold its annual ancestral rites. What you’re doing will seriously disrupt the villagers’ lives.”
Yun Guoqiang: “Village Chief, please take a look at the compensation plan. Our archaeology team is doing research. We’re not grave robbers. We won’t interfere with everyone’s normal lives.”
“It will interfere with our bed-and-breakfast business.” The B&B owner stepped forward.
It was almost peak tourist season. Room prices would go up, and tourists would flock to the area. She had no intention of renting to the archaeology team at a discounted internal rate.
Yun Guoqiang’s graduate student, Xiao Liu, said: “Everyone, don’t worry about our food and lodging. Our Professor Yun is an expert in this area. He’ll bring in a few shipping containers, and we’ll live in those.”
Everyone fell silent for a moment. The only reason they didn’t beat up the expert was because the law wouldn’t allow it.
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