The storybook, in just a few strokes, told of the Fifth Prince Xiao Li raising troops to surround the hall, and the imperial father-in-law Yue Minye protecting the Emperor and saving his life.
Yun Yi closed her eyes and could still see the tension of that moment.
Yue Minye was advanced in years. How could he be Xiao Li’s match? Xiao Li flung him aside, and he crashed straight into the coiled dragon golden pillar.
Xiao Li pointed his sword at the Emperor, ordering him to hand over the imperial seal in exchange for the imperial father-in-law’s life.
Xiao Qian handed over the imperial seal.
But Xiao Li turned on him on the spot and shoved the imperial seal into Xiao Qian’s mouth.
Uh, this style—why did it seem off?
Yun Yi and Xiao Zhi exchanged a glance.
“Could it be the rubber stamp I carved?”
“It’s the fake imperial seal you made.”
They spoke simultaneously.
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.
Xiao Li was a madman. When mad, he recognized no kin. Yun Yi’s heart pounded wildly.
The historical records clearly stated the third monarch was Xiao Qian’s nephew.
Absolutely not the Fifth Prince.
Yun Yi sat close beside the single sofa. The two pressed tightly together, their gazes entirely on Yue Ying’s storybook.
[The Fifth Prince kicked aside the guards, lunged at the imperial desk, and reached for the true imperial seal. The eunuch grabbed his leg, about to restrain him, when a palace maid flashed out from the side and snatched the imperial seal away.]
Guards, eunuch, palace maid.
Though unnamed, the faces of He Su, Wang Delan, and Yu Lian’er already surfaced before Yun Yi’s eyes.
Looking at the storybook again, every word was a blade’s flash, every line a sword’s shadow.
Her gaze moved word by word, finally reaching the ending.
[The palace maid guarded the seal without retreating. The Fifth Prince drew his blade and stabbed! In an instant, the imperial study blazed bright as day. When the imperial guards arrived, the Fifth Prince had already fallen to the ground. The imperial seal was split in two. The others were nowhere to be found.]
Yun Yi turned her eyes, questioning: “Where did they go?”
Seeing him silent, seemingly pondering.
Yun Yi thrust her face before Xiao Zhi. “Quick, look at my left eye.”
Her face was inches away. Her eyelashes fluttered like butterflies sipping dew.
Xiao Zhi pressed his lips together, his voice hoarse: “What’s wrong with your eye?”
“Do you know that a twitching left eye means disaster?”
“Now I know.” Xiao Zhi’s tone shifted. “I have a bad feeling.”
Yun Yi: “…”
Actually, she had one too.
“Could the three of them have—”
The phone ring blared.
The screen flashed with Qingxuan’s incoming call.
Xiao Zhi answered with extreme reluctance.
“Hello?”
“Emper—Benefactor Xiao.” Qingxuan lowered his voice. “Quick, say something to your people.”
The background noise was unusually chaotic.
Shouts, smashing sounds, crying… like the set of a TV drama.
“—Definitely used an illusion!”
The person scolding spoke in a pinched voice. The voice made Yun Yi’s spirit jolt!
Wang Delan!
“Give the phone to Wang Delan.” Xiao Zhi pressed Yun Yi’s hand, his coarse fingertip brushing the delicate back of her hand.
Qingxuan trembled: “Eunuch Wang… your master wishes to speak with you.”
He’d even used an honorific—showing how urgent the situation was.
“Fie, demon Daoist!”
The phone seemed knocked from Wang Delan’s hand. A muffled sound came through the receiver.
The call wasn’t disconnected. It was still “live-streaming” the commotion in the temple.
“Stop hitting him! Our master is old—he can’t take it!” The speaker was probably Qingxuan’s disciple.
Xiao Zhi gripped the phone with one hand and covered Yun Yi’s ear with the other.
He raised his volume, carrying innate authority: “Wang Delan, do not be rude to the temple master!”
The other end suddenly went quiet.
Yun Yi desperately leaned close to the receiver.
Inches apart, Xiao Zhi caught the white tea fragrance on her.
“…Your Majesty?” The voice came from far to near, full of doubt.
Of course. Wang Delan had attended the imperial presence for years, loyal to his master, always suspicious of others, fearing someone might harm the Emperor.
Xiao Zhi said concisely: “It’s me.”
A wail burst through: “Emper—”
Xiao Zhi was prepared. He immediately held the phone away.
Yun Yi drawled: “Well, well, Wang Delan. You smashed Daoist Priest Qingxuan’s thousand-li sound transmitter.”
“…”
Silence spread.
It was followed by a series of thud thud thud knocking sounds.
Yun Yi turned to Xiao Zhi, exasperated: “He’s not kowtowing to the thousand-li sound transmitter, is he?”
It was tourist season. The road was jammed at the foot of the mountain.
Yun Yi had to park far away. The two walked up the mountain road.
They passed many tourists heading down.
People kept shouting “bad luck,” “ran into three lunatics,” “escaped from a mental hospital.”
Yun Yi’s temple throbbed.
“What’s wrong?” Xiao Zhi looked at her. This girl didn’t hide things—everything showed on her face.
“Headache…” She huffed and puffed up the mountain, her whole being in a low-energy state. “The three of them are here. Where will they stay?”
Although Yunzhu Villa was a villa, it only had two guest rooms.
One was occupied by Xiao Zhi.
The other guest room had been given to Yu Lian’er temporarily. How to arrange the remaining two?
“Let’s see them first and decide.”
In a corner of her vision was Yun Yi’s hand, swinging with nowhere to rest.
Sunlight filtered through the forest gaps, branding spots of light on her fair hand.
Xiao Zhi quietly edged closer and reached for her—
There was a winding mountain road ahead. The girl beside him quickly ran up.
—A certain someone’s hand grasped only air.
The view suddenly opened. The sun blazed. Daylight abruptly gained warmth.
Yun Yi complained: “So sunny.”
Tired and hot.
The next second, the man’s low laugh came.
Yun Yi turned her head. Her vision suddenly darkened. Something landed on her head.
A soft touch, accompanied by white tea fragrance.
She curved her lips, recognizing the scent. In the darkness she identified Xiao Zhi’s jacket—the house had recently switched laundry scent beads. Even he had taken on the same smell.
With the jacket draped over her, blocking the sunlight overhead, the man beside her crouched and said: “Get on. I’ll carry you.”
“Hurry up.” He seemed impatient, urging her. “Crouching is tiring.”
Laughable—wasn’t carrying someone even more tiring?
Yun Yi stepped back a few paces, accelerated, and leaped onto his back.
The impact was so great that Xiao Zhi, a martial artist, staggered forward. He barely stabilized with inner force.
“You really are…” rude. Xiao Zhi silently swallowed the complaint.
The mountain wind blew open the hair hanging at Xiao Zhi’s neck. That strand was dyed chestnut-gold by the sunlight—a girl’s distinctive fluffy long hair.
The two wandered along and arrived at Fuyun Temple, when a voice rang out across the flat ground: “They’re here! They’ve come!”
As they looked up, a dark mass of people poured out from the gate.
The imperial guard commander was dazed for a moment, then recognized Xiao Zhi. “Emper—”
Wang Delan’s eyes were full of tears.
Yu Lian’er, without a word, knelt.
The three kowtowed with loud thuds. No one could stop them.
The joy of reunion overwhelmed them, especially Wang Delan.
When he first entered the palace, by chance, he had met the house-arrested Second Prince.
Both were young, yet their fates were ill-starred.
Wang Delan had been sent into the palace by cruel parents. Xiao Zhi had been confined here by a cruel imperial father.
Perhaps out of pity, Wang Delan began quietly looking after him.
In the end, it was nothing but shared misery.
“Your Majesty, this servant—this servant… misses you so much!” Wang Delan’s eyes streamed with tears.
A hiker who had wandered into the temple gate saw this and stood frozen: “Filming a short drama?”
Xiao Zhi felt the stranger’s gaze and quickly said to the three: “Get up.”
“Your—Your Majesty…”
Yun Yi slid off his back and elbowed his arm: “The Qing dynasty’s been gone for how many years? Quick, make him change what he calls you.”
Xiao Zhi calmly looked at his former grand palace steward and said something that shocked him deeply: “Wang Delan, call me by my name.”
Wang Delan’s pupils contracted sharply.
Xiao Zhi’s gaze shifted levelly, landing on the imperial guard commander and the palace maid.
“He Su, you’re the boldest. You go first.”
The imperial guard’s expression was like an overturned paint palette. After a long silence, he squeezed out: “Master.”
Xiao Zhi narrowed his eyes, not entirely satisfied. The tactful Wang Delan quickly pulled He Su to his feet.
“Master, you can’t make things difficult for your servants.”
“…”
Ideological reform failed.
In the eyes of these ancient people, their master had been gone for several years.
At the reunion, the former supreme ruler had become a completely different person.
His way of speaking had changed. The once rigid, stern emperor now spoke with Yun Yi in a tender, relaxed manner.
The shell was the same shell, but inside he seemed washed clean and reborn, a brand-new Xiao Zhi.
“In that case,” Xiao Zhi looked at Yu Lian’er, “how does that saying go? Lady…?”
His current English level was stuck at third grade.
Yun Yi couldn’t resist rubbing his hair. “Student Xiao, you’re the best class Teacher Yun has ever taught!”
“Lady first.” Yun Yi’s lips curved. “Sister Lian’er, you say it. The Emperor is human too—like cats and dogs, everyone has a name.”
Xiao Zhi: “…” Who’s a cat or dog!
He caught the troublemaking hand and squeezed it hard as punishment.
Several gazes fell on their clasped hands.
Yun Yi’s face was about to be stared through. In public, he just held hands like that?
Her hand couldn’t break free. He gripped it in his palm and wouldn’t let go.
“Sister Lian’er?” Yun Yi said, red-faced, forcibly redirecting attention. “Quick, say it.”
Yu Lian’er caught her breath: “Xiao…”
“Xiao…”
She staggered two steps. He Su caught her swiftly.
Yu Lian’er’s eyes rolled back. She fainted.
Xiao Zhi fell into thought. Was his name really that terrifying?
Yun Yi called an ambulance.
Wang Delan and He Su had never seen such a massive thing. Their legs went weak, nearly fainting.
Xiao Zhi pulled Yun Yi into the car.
Wang and He were left in Daoist Priest Qingxuan’s care.
Yu Lian’er’s vital signs were stable. Only then did the two “family members” relax.
Xiao Zhi commented on his eunuch and guard: “Transmigration syndrome.”
Yun Yi tucked in Yu Lian’er’s blanket, then studied Xiao Zhi. “You know a lot now.”
After getting a phone, out of curiosity, Xiao Zhi had downloaded a novel app and read several transmigration novels.
He had arrived first, so he was the boss. He had to help his people smoothly get through “transmigration syndrome.”
For example, just now when he saw the paramedics giving Yu Lian’er oxygen and hooking up ECG monitoring, his heart pounded violently.
It was also his first time seeing these instruments. Nervousness was inevitable.
Seeing the patient’s family ask such detailed questions, the paramedic was puzzled. A fine young man—how did he not even understand oxygen?
“Sorry, doctor.” Yun Yi explained. “He’s from abroad. Curious about our country’s high-end equipment.”
The paramedic didn’t believe it. “Foreign countries have ambulances too. Basic emergency equipment is standard.”
Yun Yi blinked at Xiao Zhi. “Ahem ahem.” SOS!
Overseas Chinese, ABC, second-generation immigrant.
Since his full transmigration, this was what Yun Yi told outsiders most.
The cover would eventually be exposed—like now.
Xiao Zhi leaned lazily against the ambulance wall, watching her with leisure.
Yun Yi’s face gradually reddened. She was angered by Xiao Zhi’s bystander attitude.
She kicked him in revenge, then smiled at the paramedic: “He’s Congolese.”
“Democratic Republic of Congo, ah, sigh…” The paramedic sighed, revealing a pitying expression.
Xiao Zhi sat up straight: Congo? What was that?
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