That day, after soothing his wife, General Shu made up his mind: he was going to lock up this wayward son of his who had seduced the Crown Prince in the residence until he realized his mistake and corrected it, and only then would he let him out.
General Shu had always been a man of action. Once he thought of it, he would put it into practice. The next morning, he ordered the servants in the General’s Residence to keep a close watch on Shu Changyu’s courtyard and not allow him to step outside the courtyard gate.
Li-shi, who witnessed all of this, secretly sighed.
She had already used this method three years ago. It had not been of much use back then, and now that Jing Mu was the Crown Prince, it would be even less effective.
However, although she thought this, she did not say it aloud.
Sure enough, the next morning, before Shu Changyu had even finished breakfast, the imperial edict was delivered to the General’s Residence.
The Crown Prince was laboring over state affairs and had many matters he could not make up his mind about, and therefore requested that his former teacher, Shu Changyu, Assistant Minister Shu, enter the palace to see His Majesty.
—Although everyone in the Shu family knew that Jing Mu was unwilling to become the emperor, the imperial edict was right there. As long as Jing Mu did not abdicate for even one day, he was the emperor for that day.
General Shu had never done anything like resisting an imperial edict.
Thus, General Shu could not even be bothered to finish his breakfast. With a dark expression, he watched as his neatly dressed son boarded the carriage going to the imperial palace.
He watched the carriage disappear into the distance, and for a moment, he felt as though he had accidentally thrown a fine cabbage straight into a pigpen.
The old General Shu was so angry that he puffed his beard and glared, but there was nothing he could do. Hungry, he returned to the courtyard and practiced his sword.
Yet before he had even practiced for half an hour, another carriage from Huzhou stopped at the entrance of the General’s Residence.
Kong Qing brought Shu Xunzhi down from the carriage. Shu Xunzhi was wrapped in a soft pink cloak, which made her little face look even fairer, tenderer, and more adorable.
Kong Qing carried Shu Xunzhi down from the carriage. Standing on the bluestone ground in front of the General’s Residence, she raised her head and looked at the imposing gate and plaque of the General’s Residence. She was somewhat frightened and reached out to tug at Kong Qing’s clothing.
“After coming here, can I see Daddy?” Shu Xunzhi asked in a tiny voice.
Kong Qing smiled and stroked her hair. “Yes. Daddy lives here. Not only does Daddy live here, but Grandpa and Grandma are here too.”
Shu Xunzhi gave a tiny “Oh.”
After the servants behind them unloaded everything from the carriage, Kong Qing took Shu Xunzhi by the hand and entered the General’s Residence.
As soon as they entered the residence, they ran straight into General Shu, who was fully dressed and about to go to the Ministry of War with a gloomy expression.
The two sides encountered each other face-to-face, and both stopped.
Kong Qing hurriedly knelt down and saluted General Shu. “This servant pays his respects to Master!”
General Shu stopped walking. He had only glanced at Kong Qing when his gaze shifted to the little pink-clad girl beside him.
The little girl did not salute him either. She merely timidly sized him up with a pair of bright, crystal-clear black eyes. General Shu had spent many years fighting on the battlefield, and his entire body carried an intimidating majesty and frightening murderous aura. Seeing his iron-faced, fiendish appearance, Shu Xunzhi cautiously took one step backward, then another.
“Whose child is this?” General Shu asked with a frown.
Clearly, this was an unfamiliar little girl of unknown origin, but her appearance was truly endearing. The old General Shu immediately thought of what Shu Changlan had looked like when she was little, and his heart melted into a puddle.
Yet his face remained gloomy, and his eyes stayed fixed on Shu Xunzhi, unable to move away.
Kong Qing said carefully, “It’s… Young Master, he…”
“Shu Changyu’s child?!” the old General Shu immediately roared angrily.
“No… No, General! It’s just that Young Master…”
But the old General Shu could no longer hear what he was saying.
Back then, he had not returned to the capital for two whole years. By the time Emperor Qianning finally summoned him back to the capital, Shu Changyu had already gone to Huzhou.
Thinking about it, during the time he had been away, it had been long enough for this brat to have a child this big.
The angrier the old General Shu became, the more he thought about it. Originally, this brat Shu Changyu had been obedient since childhood. Unlike his two older brothers, who were so troublesome, he had even been quieter than his older sister, who had been a mischievous little rascal since childhood.
Who would have thought that this brat had been secretly up to no good?
He had… seduced Jing Mu so badly that Jing Mu did not even want to be emperor anymore, and on this side, he had even given birth to a son this big!
This… this could be tolerated?!
The old General Shu was solely focused on being angry, and the expression on his face became more and more frightening. He himself did not realize it. He was merely battling against the imaginary Shu Changyu in his mind, and had already made the boy suffer a vicious beating with military rods in his imagination.
Immediately afterward, he heard a thin and crisp sob.
Only then did he realize that he had somehow frightened Shu Xunzhi into crying.
That little girl, like a tiny little radish, short and round and so very small, stood there, raising her head to look at him. Her face was wet with tears. She was trembling from fright, yet did not dare to cry aloud, merely biting her lower lip and quietly sobbing.
—Shu Xunzhi had traveled thousands of miles, exhausted from the long journey, and had finally arrived in the capital, a place where she knew no one and nothing. She had finally reached this grand mansion belonging to a prestigious family.
Yet unexpectedly, instead of seeing her daddy after coming here, she had first encountered such a tall and fierce grandfather, carrying a weapon in his hand, meeting her for the first time with a cold face and a fierce glare.
Shu Xunzhi was terrified. Standing there, she began to sob and whimper, and while crying, she called for Daddy.
This immediately threw the old General Shu into complete panic. He hurriedly crouched down and raised his hand to wipe the tears from the little girl’s face.
That little girl’s chubby face was as tender as water. His hands were covered in calluses from wielding weapons, and when they touched her face, they were like sandpaper, scraping painfully against the little girl’s skin.
But the little girl timidly did not dare to dodge.
In an instant, all of the old General Shu’s resentment and anger toward Shu Changyu were washed away by a few tears from Shu Xunzhi.
He had only one grandson under his knees, the son left behind by Shu Changke. When that boy was little, he had been just like Shu Changke himself—an energetic little monkey who could never sit still and could not read even a single character.
Therefore, when he was a little over four years old, Shu Changche had taken him to Yumen Pass.
And now, there was also a little girl before him, as pink and tender as a snow doll. She was his granddaughter too, and at this moment, she was crying so pitifully.
The old General Shu could not worry about anything else. In a fluster, he let out a loud clang as he threw the spear in his hand onto the ground, crouched down, and scooped the little girl up into his arms. He carefully patted her and coaxed her.
Those bright tears and runny nose all ended up smeared across the robe of the first-rank military official, General Shu.
——
When Shu Changyu entered Yonghe Palace, Jing Mu was sitting behind the writing desk with his brows furrowed.
The desk before him was piled high with memorials and case documents that had accumulated over the past several days. At this moment, they had been stacked into several thick piles, filling the entire place.
When Jing Mu saw Shu Changyu arrive, his brows relaxed. His face took on the spoiled expression of a child doing heavy homework, as though complaining that he had too much schoolwork to do, and he stretched his arms toward Shu Changyu.
“Junior Preceptor, I missed you.” Once Shu Changyu came closer, Jing Mu whined.
Shu Changyu casually picked up a memorial that Jing Mu had just finished reviewing. Before he could even open it, Jing Mu wrapped his arms around his waist, pulled him down, and sat him on his lap.
“As soon as you come, you only care about looking at these things.” Jing Mu was dissatisfied. “I said I missed you. You heartless man, didn’t you hear me?”
Holding the memorial in one hand, Shu Changyu freed the other and pinched Jing Mu’s cheek hard. “It was only one night since we last saw each other. I was in the palace just yesterday.”
“It has already been a whole night since we saw each other. Don’t you miss me even a little?” Jing Mu whined.
Shu Changyu gave a snort of laughter and tapped Jing Mu’s head with the memorial. “All day long, when you’re doing proper work, is this all you can think about?”
Jing Mu shamelessly said, “Is there anything wrong with me thinking about you?”
Shu Changyu stroked his cheek.
The court had been in chaos for more than a month. Now that Jing Mu was presiding over matters, things had finally stabilized somewhat. Therefore, the various affairs that had accumulated over this past month were extremely numerous.
Shu Changyu lowered his head and could immediately see the heavy shadows beneath Jing Mu’s eyes. Clearly, in order to deal with all these matters, he had not gotten any rest throughout the night.
“Are you tired?” He touched the area beneath Jing Mu’s eyes.
Jing Mu raised his hand, took hold of Shu Changyu’s hand, and kissed it against his lips. “I’m exhausted to death. I don’t want to work even one day.” He held Shu Changyu’s hand and rubbed it against his own cheek. “But I deserve this bad luck. I fell in love with such a cold-hearted man who insists on becoming a great loyal minister. There’s nothing I can do. To win his favor, I can only become a wise emperor.”
“You…” Shu Changyu lowered his head and kissed his eyelid.
Jing Mu pouted. “Look, even my reward is so perfunctory.”
As he spoke, he raised one hand and pressed it against the back of Shu Changyu’s neck, pulling his head down a little. He raised his head and kissed his lips.
The two of them began kissing and tangling their lips and tongues back and forth right in front of the writing desk where the highest military and political affairs of the nation were handled.
Jing Mu still felt that it was not enough. As the kiss became more passionate, he wrapped Shu Changyu in his arms, and his hand had already slipped inside his clothing.
Shu Changyu had long since become accustomed to such intimacy. In his dizzy, dazed state, he did not feel that anything was wrong.
When Jing Mu, panting, pushed the memorials on the desk aside and lifted him up, pressing him against the desk, Shu Changyu hazily opened his eyes.
Behind him was the hard, cold sensation of the desk. Before his eyes was Jing Mu, stirred with desire, as well as the magnificent, golden dragon-carved ceiling of the hall.
Only then did he react.
He hurriedly pushed Jing Mu away, who had already pressed himself between his legs, and said, “Don’t fool around. Look at where we are!”
Jing Mu, however, was completely unconcerned. “Naturally, this is my place.”
“Stop fooling around. Get up!” Shu Changyu’s voice carried a hint of breathlessness and had not the slightest intimidating force.
Jing Mu whispered into his ear, “Junior Preceptor, I’ve been busy all night. At a time like this, I naturally have to get a little reward before I can have the energy to do proper work.”
At this moment, Lord Shu, whose heart had also been swayed, was unable to hold onto his principles and bottom line either, and ended up fooling around with His Highness the Crown Prince.
After they were done fooling around, Shu Changyu remained in the Crown Prince’s arms, supervising him as he handled the affairs of state, one memorial after another.
At the time, with the flush on his face not yet faded, Lord Shu watched the Crown Prince handle the affairs of court and thought to himself: Doing this should count as making amends for my crimes through merit, right?
…Otherwise, it really looked too much like he was a bewitching beauty who had thrown the court into chaos.
Author’s Note: Secretly advertising myself ←w←
I’m writing the outline for my new novel! It was originally going to be called I Really Don’t Want to Capture You, but after revising the outline, I ended up revising the synopsis too, and now it’s called When the Dragon-Aotian Protagonist Is Reborn as a White Lotus!
I think it’s especially interesting. If any little angels are interested, you can go add it to your collection. It’ll open in a week ↓ I’ll put the synopsis below!
That day, Ling Xiao, the Supreme Lord of the Ultimate Dao from the Xuan Zhu Continent, broke through the shackles of the Six Realms and ascended to become an immortal.
…Then, for some inexplicable reason, the ascended Lord Ling Xiao transmigrated into the… heroine of an otome game.
The kind of cross-dressing expert who would die if he didn’t wear women’s clothing.
——
On the day of the finale, Ling Xiao, the male protagonist of a power-fantasy novel, broke through the void and ascended. Halfway through, however, he was stopped by something called a “System,” which stuffed him into an otome game.
System: You can continue ascending, sure. Complete the mission first.
As the protagonist of a male-oriented novel, you actually managed to resist the temptation to build a harem. Therefore, in this world, you must also stop the “heroine”—that is, yourself—from building a harem.
Ling Xiao: ……
Thus, the cold, ruthless, domineering, and powerful Supreme Lord of the Ultimate Dao was forced to put on a little skirt and maneuver among all kinds of male leads.
Ling Xiao: With trash like you, if you were on my territory, none of you would survive three chapters, and you still dare to flirt with me 🙂
——
The villain in the otome game was the heroine’s kind-faced but black-hearted little disciple.
In his previous life, he saw through his master’s hypocrisy and schemes. She caused him to stray down the wrong path, and he ultimately fell into demonic cultivation and was killed by the combined forces of the Three Realms.
Reborn into a second life, he once again came to his master’s side, carrying twisted and dark hatred and intending to collect the debt from his past life.
Yet he never expected…
In this life, his White Lotus-like master would actually transform into a social big brother who was ruthless and not a man of many words.