In the Imperial Palace.
Ju’an Hall.
This was traditionally where princesses of the Great Zhou Dynasty resided before their marriages. However, as the only princess of the current dynasty was still too young and lived with a consort in the inner palace, Ju’an Palace had been left vacant.
That is, until just over two years ago, when a newborn prince moved in.
It was the dead of winter.
The central chamber of Ju’an Hall was cold enough to form ice, with only a pitifully small brazier for warmth. A frail, cat-like child not yet three years old lay listlessly on the bed, sipping medicine from the hands of a young eunuch.
“Your Highness, is it bitter? This servant has some sugar here.”
The sugar that eunuch Ye Xiaoyuan pulled from his pocket was only the size of a fingernail. It was very cheap even by ancient standards, let alone modern ones. Yet for them now, it was a rare treasure.
The medicine was unbearably bitter.
Qu Dubian shook his head, “After I finish, then I’ll eat it.”
Ye Xiaoyuan’s eyes reddened again, “Your Highness, they’re just bullying you. If you weren’t so seriously ill, they wouldn’t even send medicine.” Let alone this sugar.
Qu Dubian silently finished the medicine, then opened his mouth to eat the sugar. He curled up in the barely warm blankets as the sweet taste melted in his mouth. Inwardly, he let out a long sigh.
The pronunciation differences between modern and ancient languages are no joke. Even though he had inherited the original body’s memories and physical instincts, he still wasn’t quite used to it.
He wasn’t from this era.
In his previous life, for certain reasons, he had entered a popular talent show and successfully debuted in the C-position.
During the show, he had taken advantage of scheming contestants and mentors who had been paid to use underhanded tactics against him. This allowed him to create an image of a green-tea. Their hatred and the fans’ love paved a starry road for him.
But as a result, his fans’ filter of him became increasingly distorted from the talent show onwards. After his debut, they even believed he was being bullied and exploited by his company to the point of near death.
The more he explained that the company treated him well, the more his fans believed he was being forced by the unscrupulous company.
Qu Dubian: I’m the company’s cash cow. If the company mistreated me, it would be like throwing money away. I’m really doing fine.
Fans: Look how they’ve broken him! Forced to defend that evil company—don’t cash cows work the hardest?! Stop talking, gege, we understand!
Qu Dubian: …Fine, do as you please.
As he teetered on becoming the entertainment industry’s top star, his fans—brainwashed by veteran stans—also came to see him as a “century’s rarest tragic cinnamon roll.” The more his fame grew, the thicker the delusion of “our gege is so abused!” became.
Finally, one day, while Qu Dubian stood baffled, a crowd of fans screaming “Gege only has us now!” stormed his agency’s headquarters.
He truly loved acting during the survival show, but he also genuinely cherished his fans.
He didn’t feel guilty about his schemes and never neglected any sincere affection after his debut. Those who loved him, loved him deeply; those who hated him, hated him intensely.
That day, after patiently comforting his extremely indignant fans, he was on his way to work when an extreme anti-fan drove a truck and crashed into his car.
At just nineteen, he died young.
When he opened his eyes again, he had become this little prince with the same name, unloved by his father and motherless, and bound to something called a [Disease Simulator].
Sigh.
Qu Dubian wondered if his freshly pacified fans had spiraled into madness after his death, or if his agency had contained the fallout. After a brief melancholy, he focused on studying the simulator.
After a brief exploration, he found that this simulator seemed to lack an intelligent system and could only answer some simple basic questions.
The simulator’s interface was extremely rudimentary, with three main sections:
[Ways to Increase Lifespan:
1. Daily martial arts check-in: +1 day (15-day streak = lottery draw).
Submit a qualified “disease experience essay”: +90 days.
Earn ≥60 goodwill from a non-relative: +1 year.
[Remaining Lifespan: 3 days]
[Simulator Inventory: Empty]
Qu Dubian was on the verge of tears seeing the “3 days” of remaining lifespan. Why must I transmigrate into a body with one foot in the grave?!
With no choice but to survive, he could only look at those three ways to increase lifespan.
After mentally clicking into them, there were general introductions.
For example, for the first martial arts check-in, the only available option was Tai Chi.
He had only seen old people practicing Tai Chi in parks, so it was familiar but he was at a loss when trying it himself. The third option about favorability was even more difficult, as getting someone’s favorability to 60 wasn’t something that could be done quickly.
So he focused his attention on the second option.
[Submit Disease Experience]
Status: 0 submissions
Currently available simulated diseases: Fever [Level 1, Level 2, Level 3]
Note:
1. Simulation duration can be customized, but not less than 24 hours.
2. Submitting 100% authentic disease experiences adds 90 days of life per submission. If authenticity is below 100%, lifespan gain will be discounted proportionally.
This meant he had to write about the feeling of being sick while simulating a sick state, for at least one day.
The authenticity of the sickness could be adjusted, but if lowered, the gained lifespan would also be reduced.
For example, if set to 80% authenticity, the discomfort would be less, but the final lifespan gain would be 90 * 0.8 = 72 days.
Qu Dubian cautiously chose [Fever · Level 1], set the duration to the minimum of one day, with 100% simulation authenticity.
Having seen enough vanity and dying young in his previous life, he now only obsessed about living well. A little suffering was acceptable.
However, it turned out that the damn disease experience wasn’t to be written mentally, but by hand, and it had to be in the Great Zhou Dynasty’s script, despite displaying modern Chinese text!
But—
In this godforsaken Ju’an Hall, there wasn’t even enough food to eat, let alone writing materials!
So why wasn’t this important information provided earlier, instead of popping up only after his body started burning up?
After cursing inwardly for a bit, he flopped down again listlessly.
Ju’an Hall was so desolate that even rats disdained it. The only one willing to care for the little prince was a eunuch named Ye Xiaoyuan.
Ye Xiaoyuan was about fifteen or sixteen, and had once received kindness from the little prince’s mother. He was grateful, and if not for him, the little prince wouldn’t have lived to see two years, let alone survive until Qu Dubian’s arrival.
Ye Xiaoyuan was very attentive and noticed the abnormal state almost as soon as the fever started.
In the palace, young children often died from fevers. With trembling hands, he wrapped Qu Dubian in thick blankets and ran out pale-faced to beg for medicine.
After bustling about for a while and feeding the medicine, he still wasn’t at ease and kept watch.
Qu Dubian, knowing he couldn’t write the experience, had adjusted the simulation authenticity to zero. So although his body was hot and weak, he personally felt no discomfort.
Oh, except for being very sleepy, mainly because this young body was too frail.
With 18 hours and 36 minutes left on the [Fever · Level 1] simulation countdown, his small, weak body made it difficult to do much else during this time.
Qu Dubian sucked on the sugar in his mouth to remove the bitter taste, staring at the canopy with unfocused eyes, thinking why can’t this simulator stream dramas.
To Ye Xiaoyuan, who was watching nearby, it looked like he was delirious with fever. He gently approached, patting the blanket as usual, and said softly, “Little Highness is tired, sleep now. Do you want this servant to sing for you?”
Qu Dubian weakly asked, “Ye Banban[mfn]Affectionate term used by young royals for trusted eunuch caretakers.[/mfn], what’s for lunch…”
Ye Xiaoyuan: “This servant will go check the imperial kitchen later. Is Little Highness hungry?”
“A little,” in this body’s limited memories, he had never eaten anything good. Compared to hunger, he was more concerned about his life.
If he didn’t find a way soon, his lifespan would be exhausted in two days, and he would still perish.
So Ye Xiaoyuan heard his little prince mumble, “When you go out, ask if there are any palace maids or eunuchs who know Tai Chi.”
Ye Xiaoyuan paused for a moment, thinking that the young prince must be delirious from the fever and talking nonsense. He anxiously comforted him, “Alright.”
Then he kept watch until Qu Dubian fell asleep.
–
Ye Xiaoyuan walked with his head down, wrapping his tattered eunuch robe tightly against the cold wind, hurrying towards the Imperial Kitchen.
The Imperial Kitchen was quite far from Ju’an Hall.
Typically, if a prince or princess did not reside with their concubine mother, their three daily meals would be delivered by staff from the Imperial Kitchen. However, in the palace, these expected services became ‘presumptuous demands’ once one fell out of favor.
The Imperial Kitchen was responsible for preparing meals for the main occupants of various palaces, while the emperor’s food was handled separately by the Imperial Dining Hall.
It was now time for various palaces to collect their lunches. Ye Xiaoyuan arrived early. The distributing eunuch, Fu Gonggong, looked at him with disdain and said in a shrill voice, “Early today, aren’t we? Never seen such eagerness before!”
Ye Xiaoyuan bowed and smiled apologetically: “How can you say that, Fu Gonggong? Usually, I don’t come this early. Don’t I always wait until after all the other palaces have collected their meals? But the young prince is very ill, so I thought I’d come early to get him something hot to eat.”
“He’s ill?”
Ye Xiaoyuan replied, “Probably caught a chill from the cold weather.”
Fu Gonggong naturally knew about the young prince living in Ju’an Hall. In the palace, whether concubines, princes, or princesses, life wasn’t easy without the emperor’s favor.
“It must be hard for you too. But perhaps this is a good thing. Children in the palace rarely survive. If… you might be freed from your duties, right?” He spoke vaguely. “Anywhere would be better than Ju’an Hall in the future.”
Ye Xiaoyuan responded, “Thank you for your advice, Gong Gong. I don’t have your foresight. But as servants, aren’t we all at the mercy of others?”
Fu Gonggong, flattered by the compliment, was in a good mood and empathized with the latter half of Ye Xiaoyuan’s statement. For once, he didn’t make things difficult for him.
“Alright, I’ll be busy soon. Go collect today’s dinner, and take a sweet cake while you’re at it.”
Ye Xiaoyuan expressed his gratitude profusely, showering him with flattering words.
After carefully packing the food and the hard-earned sweet cake into the food box, he left the Imperial Kitchen. Walking quite far and turning a corner, in a secluded spot, his expression suddenly changed.
Turning back towards the Imperial Kitchen, his fawning and humble smile completely vanished, replaced by an icy cold expression. He spat in that direction.
“You despicable creature! Even if you die, the young prince won’t. The young prince is blessed with good fortune and will live a long life!”
Still not satisfied, he spat again, but accidentally choked on the cold wind, coughing violently. Cursing his bad luck, he continued on his way back, protecting the food box.
The cold wind made it difficult to keep his eyes open. At a corner, Ye Xiaoyuan suddenly tripped over something. Before he could cry out, an ice-cold hand gripped his ankle tightly. “Save me…”
Ye Xiaoyuan’s hair stood on end. He stiffly looked down.
It was just a dying young eunuch.
He let out a huge sigh of relief, thinking it had been a ghost.
Every winter, there were frozen bodies of young palace maids and eunuchs in the palace; it wasn’t uncommon. Ye Xiaoyuan shook himself free and muttered, “I can’t save you. May you have a better life in your next incarnation.”
After walking a few steps, he inexplicably remembered the young prince’s instructions. He couldn’t help but look back, hesitating before returning. “Do you know Tai Chi?”
“Yes… I do.”
The young eunuch, as if grasping at a lifeline, raised his head slightly with a strong will to survive, his pitch-black eyes seeming to burn with fire.
Ye Xiaoyuan was startled by this gaze.
“Alright, consider yourself lucky.”
He hung the food box on his arm, freeing both hands to grab the collar of the young eunuch on the ground, pulling hard.
Ye Xiaoyuan was only in his teens, with a thin build, unable to carry someone on his back. He could only drag the young eunuch by his collar along the ground, panting with exertion, as if dragging a corpse.
“Whether you ultimately live or not depends on the prince’s decision. I can only take you there for now.”
The young eunuch was hanging on by a thread, barely maintaining consciousness. Several times he almost fainted, but he bit his tongue until it was nearly mangled, swallowing his own blood to stay awake with the pain.
He didn’t want to die.
The young eunuch struggled to breathe, trying to alleviate the suffocating feeling from being dragged by his collar. He hoped that the residence of the ‘young prince’ this eunuch mentioned was close, or he might truly die on the way.
Finally, they arrived at Ju’an Hall.
Ye Xiaoyuan tossed the rescued young eunuch into a sheltered corner, then hurriedly took the food box inside.
To him, this nearly dead servant he had picked up was less important than the young prince’s meal.
The young eunuch coughed a few times, slowly curling up, carefully wiping the dirt off his face with his sleeve, afraid of offending the noble’s eyes.
T/N: Went on a whole expedition to get the protagonist’s name right but if its still not correct… let’s just pretend it’s an alternate universe. Feel free to roast me in the comments. (ᵕ ´ ∇ ˋ ˶)
Hmm… well it seems to be an interesting start?