Yeay, a new arc XD be ready for bunch of side notes tho hehe, enjoy ~
Edited by
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The Cold Feeling Prince and The Proud Pampered Wife
At the height of the netizen"s fierce scolding, Zhang Xinran posted her goodbye letter and logged off from Weibo. A month later, she sold all of her a.s.sets and left the country by herself, vanishing without a trace.
One week after the protagonist"s disappearance, a large number of Liu Fei Fei"s scandalous photos were suddenly blown out onto the internet. At the time, Liu Fei Fei"s father had fallen off the platform due to committing a number of mistakes regarding topics such as policy - causing huge losses to the company. This time, no one could protect her.
Ye Zhizhou put down his cell phone with a huff.
"What"s wrong?" Ouyang Chun embraced him from behind, kissing the younger man"s earlobe. "Do you want the wedding to be held domestically, or abroad?"
"Don"t organise it yet." Ye Zhizhou looked up and gently b.u.mped the man with his head. "Did everything work out?"
"Yeah." Ouyang Chun directly ignored the other man"s refusal, and raised his hand to sort out the messy hair. "I let Qing Xiao book three VIP tickets. This time, Yao Er will also come with us - Lao Da is not. Rest a.s.sured, he will continue to stay in the country to mix with entertainment circle, preparing to let Ouyang Zhi switch to behind the scenes."
"It"s all good." Ye Zhizhou shook his head to dislodge the hand on top, turning around to embraces his lover"s waist. "In the future, we"ll always be together."
Ouyang Chun"s face was gentle, showing a happy and satisfied smile. Kissing back, he agreed. "En, always together."
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Three years later, the protagonist who had changed her ident.i.ty married a bookstore manager in R country. The last 5% chance of Ouyang Zhi loving the protagonist had finally decreased to zero, and the remaining soul flag was removed.
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Fifty years later, Ouyang Chun - who had been in a dying state of life - refused to leave the world. Ye Zhizhou resisted his tears, helping the man with his hair. Gently, he whispered in the other man"s ear. "Don"t hold on, I"ll be with you soon."
Ouyang Chun tightly held the younger man"s hand, and with a difficult gasp of breath, he said, "I"m sorry... the next life, and the next... "
"I know." Ye Zhizhou watched the man on the bed gradually lose breath, and it was only then that he let the tears fall. "You said that in the next life... you must remember to find me, and I will as well... you must come."
The system popped up in time. [Does Host desire to go to the next world?]
He climbed into the bed, and nestled into the cold arms of his lover. Zhizhou touched the lifeless face that was no longer young, and closed his eyes - determination in his heart.
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The first thing he saw after awakening was an exquisite screen decorated with patterns of flowers and birds. He moved, finding that he was sitting in a large, wooden bathtub full of warm water. There was an ornate wooden frame near the tub, and several silk robes hung on the shelves.
This time was an ancient world? He raised his hand, touching the long hair splayed across his shoulders, feeling somewhat strange at the length.
A simple hand mirror on a shelf suddenly moved, and a screen popped up. Large paragraphs of text appeared once again, seeming a little bit out of place in the ancient style room.
He picked up the small mirror, flipping it over. "By the way, you look more pleasing to the eye than the previous two versions - it also resembles the s.p.a.ce tattoo on my wrist a bit more."
The small mirror shook and flashing lights appeared, as if it was urging him to look at the data quickly.
"Really, really impatient." He put down the mirror and wiped away the water from his face, looking at the screen soon afterwards.
The protagonist of this world was An Chengjie, who was the b.a.s.t.a.r.d son of the town"s Zhen Guogong, An Wenhua. When the protagonist was abandoned by his mother, his life in Zhuangzi was very hard. At the age of eighteen, he unfortunately fell into the water and died; his body being taken over by a soul from the future.
[T/N: b.a.s.t.a.r.d son in this context refers to a son who was born from a concubine]
[T/N: (鎮國公) Zhen Guogong is something along the lines of a duke of the state, or a city lord]
[T/N: Zhuangzi refers to a city]
"...so cliché..."
The reborn An Chengjie exhibited an outstanding ability. He first cleaned up the evil servants who had bullied the original owner, and then rectified the political order of Zhuangzi, also raising the city"s harvests. By the end of the year, his name had reached the capital due to his increasingly large reputation in the poetry circle. An Wenhua, noticing his son"s incredible behaviour, brought him back to the capital regardless of his wife"s protests.
On An Chengjie"s way back, he coincidentally rescued one of the male leads from a gangster; Lei Baofei, the only son of the Great General Lei Xihong. They journeyed back to the capital together, talking joyously and soon becoming friends.
After that, it was simply going through the usual motions; arriving at the capital, the two separated. After An Chengjie entered the government office, he began to fight with his father"s first wife, his brothers, other concubines and other members of the second branch; fighting with all his family members. Then with much struggle, he opened a restaurant and a jewelry store, earning both status and money.
An Chengjie also did not forget to take part in several poetry conferences, brushing up his already extensive reputation. Eventually, his name finally reached the emperor, and was hand-picked as a study companion for the emperor"s eighth son.
Up to this point, there was nothing that surprised Ye Zhizhou - at least, except for the slash world. The plot was still normal, until he saw the ident.i.ty of the second male lead - the eldest son of the first wife, An Chengsheng.
[T/N: Slash world = BL world, man x man, boy x boy. The world for the rotten men and women XD]
Although the character description was very vague, An Chengsheng already had a wife and children - yet in the end, he threw away those feelings for the sake of his own brother. There was also the part about "collecting all of An Chengjie"s poems" and "constantly reminiscing and longing for his younger brother everyday" - a crazy brother complex...
But the most important thing was that this man also had a soul flag! An Chengsheng did not have an official relationship with the protagonist, but the intimacy between the two was ambiguous - and though the wall of love was not pierced through, he indeed had a soul flag!
Even a half-brother could be included in a harem... it was no wonder that this rotten world got destroyed!
Continuing to look down, Ye Zhizhou found that he was still very naive - the original world had more than two harem members, and besides the two that had destroyed his three views, there was a man who would eventually become the third emperor - The seventh prince, Yan Mingli.
[Ed. Note: The term "destroy the three views" is used to describe something that is incomprehensible. The "three views" are thought to refer to one"s perspective on life, the world, and values.]
Yan Mingli and An Chengjie met in a Royal Hunt. At the time, the second son of the first wife, An Chengle, felt jealous of the protagonist"s talent - devising a plan that would separate An Chengjie from his hunting group. When he was lost in the jungle, Chengjie met the seventh prince who was in the same situation. They soon became acquaintances, and after getting out of trouble, Yan Mingli felt that An Chengjie had similar experiences and lives as himself. Seeing the other"s quiet brilliance that enticed his heart, they became closer day by day.
At this point, all three male leads appeared, and the protagonist began his ultimate counter-attack.
On the surface, An Chengjie was still the study companion of the eighth prince. Behind closed doors, he had already taken refuge with the seventh prince.
The protagonist used gunpowder to develop weapons, and invested money in materials - whilst Yan Mingli gave An Chengjie love, care and funding. Later, the experienced Lei Baofei was also pulled to the seventh prince"s faction, more than doubling the power of the seventh prince.
In the end, the seventh prince, Yan Mingli, ascended the throne, and due to his feelings for An Chengjie, refused to officially settle down. Lei Baofei also became a prominent general and become a lifetime bachelor for An Chengjie. An Chengsheng helped the seventh prince, but continued to stay in the town government, getting married and having children. But in his heart, he always longed for another king, An Chengjie.
[Ed. Note: In the era this story takes place, having concubines or consorts were not considered official marriages - at least to my knowledge. An official marriage would be an official/first wife, or an empress - which two men refused to have]
Ye Zhizhou"s face numbed, and he slowly got out from the wooden tub, wiping his body and put on his inner clothes and outer robes - speechlessly gazing at the sky. This world was just too immoral! Not only was it a slash world, not only was the harem was increased by one, all the male leads technically had a wife! Even if there was no empress, wasn"t an imperial concubine still technically a wife! Wasn"t a concubine a wife! Wasn"t a secondary wife still a wife! Moreover, they even went to brothels several times together...
[Ed. Note: They are all technically wives as they had to be first "married" into the family to be given a t.i.tle]
Why did all of them have a wife? Ye Zhizhou asked himself why they were with the protagonist behind their wives" backs.
The wet hair stuck to his body, making him very uncomfortable. He sorted out his shattered three views and broken moral integrity, pulling out a towel from his storage s.p.a.ce and covering his hair with it. Sitting on a stool near the tub, he continued to read over the information.
The protagonist and the three men spent their whole lives together in this strange way. After several decades, the four men died one after another. Their descendants were doused in confusion, and the country was chaotic. Seeing an opportunity, other countries saw fit to invade, and a war began. The explosives produced by An Chengjie had begun to raise clouds around the world, and an increasingly large amount of countries joined the war for the chance to gain the powerful weapon. In just a few decades, the world would be blown up.
After finishing off the data, Ye Zizhou was silent for a moment, then remembered a desperate problem. "Heaven, whose body am I in now?"
[The second son of Zhen Guogong"s first wife, An Chengle]
...It really was a cannon fodder.
He slowly let out a breath, standing up and putting the towel back into his s.p.a.ce. Ye Zhizhou headed out the door with wet hair, reading An Chengle"s character data while walking.
An Chengle, Zhen Guogong"s second son, was two and a half years younger than An Chengjie. As a child, he was mischievous - and after growing up, he was ignorant, not learning anything nor having any skill; he could not do any poetry. He was only proficient in eating, drinking, and playing, but was sweet tongued and deceptive, so he was the family favorite. After the protagonist arrived, his limelight was taken away - so, he therefore hated the protagonist. An Chengle always wanted to hang the protagonist, but... he was stupid. All his plans could easily be seen through by the protagonist, and he was quickly splashed with dirty water. He was eventually abandoned by his father and brother - finally dying in the mouth of a beast at the Royal Hunt.
......so tragic. Why did all the original owners of the bodies he used have a hobby of confronting the protagonist? Was it that difficult to live a peaceful life?
After turning off the screen, a carved wooden door entered his line of sight, and a faint noise could be heard from outside.
"The young master hasn"t come out yet. It has already been half an hour, and the water should have turned cold by now."
"Hush, young master is trying to inflict himself with an illness so he can escape tomorrow"s palace entrance test. I heard Xiao Cui say that the emperor summoned all ministers" sons to enter the palace in order to select a study companion for the sickly eighth prince. Anyone knows that this is not a good life to lead, and are trying to avoid it."
"What sickly person are you talking about! Be careful with your words - after all, he is still a prince. If someone heard it, you could implicate the young master!"
The noises suddenly stopped, and the outside became quiet.
Ye Zhizhou also stopped, opening the data and starting overturn the plot and timeline.
Two days after An Chengjie entered the government office, the emperor began searching for a study companion for the barely 13 years old eighth prince. Among all the ministers" children, An Chengle"s age and status were the most suitable. However, An Chengle didn"t have a bright future as a companion to the eighth prince, and a day before the summons, he forcibly made himself sick. The emperor was very angry, but he couldn"t attack due to a number of factors. He took advantage of the atmosphere and chose An Chengjie as the reading companion. He also decreed and raised the protagonist"s position, allowing him to have the treatment and status equal to that of the first son of the first wife.
Turning off the screen, he looked at his youthful blurred image on the bronze mirror that was in the corner of the room - hating iron for not becoming steel. He glared at the distant sky; this fine specimen of a male, yet he got such a bad ending!
[T/N: To feel resentful toward someone for failing to meet expectations]
But now, An Chengle had become him, and he was just supposed to... die? No way! He wants to become a demon!
Pulling the mirror into his arms, he pushed aside his messy long hair and fixed his expression. He raised his chin and pushed the door open, looking arrogantly at the two little servants through the corners of his eyes. "Prepare a horse for this young master. I am going to go buy gifts for the eighth prince!"
Wasn"t it time to be a study companion for this 13 years old kid? What could a kid hide? All he had to be was a study companion!