Chapter 31: Terminal Stage of Love-Brained? Beyond Saving—Prepare for the End

Qin Ye, as usual, first checked his task rating.

Still the golden special effect—very good. Qin Ye was satisfied.

He lounged in the throne, chin propped in his hand, admiring the two golden evaluations he’d received, seeking a sense of approval.

“Third, tell me, am I not the chosen one destined to be the leader of the ‘I Am Your Father’ faction?”

[No, you’re the chosen wild father.]

Ah, even Third was getting cheeky now, learning the art of flattery.

What’s that?

The one Third is flattering is him?

Oh, well, that’s fine then.

Qin Ye suddenly grinned wide, giving the unsettling impression that his mouth might split open the next second and swallow a child whole.

Fortunately, Qin Ye didn’t mutate in the end, but simply grinned and said, “Let’s start the next task, then.”

He could truly feel the joys of raising children.

Third responded with a brief hum, wasting not a single word nor a moment, and instantly whisked Qin Ye away from the spot.

…

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”

Before Qin Ye even opened his eyes, his ears were already assaulted.

Who was bawling so loudly? Nearly deafened him!

“His Majesty has passed!”

Another wail.

This time, Qin Ye startled awake, eyes snapping open.

Yang Lao, whose mouth was wide open and tears streaming in torrents, whose grief seemed deep enough to follow the emperor even in death, was suddenly choked into silence.

The surrounding attendants, who had been trembling and weeping with sorrow after checking the emperor’s breath, also paused at Yang Lao’s abrupt silence.

Good old Eunuch Yang. When the emperor was alive, he put on the act of utmost loyalty. The moment the emperor passed, he didn’t even bother to keep up appearances.

Was this because the crown prince was too young, the empress just a woman unversed in statecraft, and all reliant on him, the trusted chief eunuch of the former emperor, so there was no need for pretense anymore?

For a moment, the thoughts of everyone present twisted in different directions.

At that moment, the senior officials whom Yang Lao had hastily summoned when he saw the emperor’s condition worsening arrived in a hurry.

There were three: the current Grand Chancellor Wen Ding’an, the late emperor’s younger brother and current emperor’s royal uncle, Prince Yue, and the newly risen scholar-official Ji Cheng.

Wen Ding’an, hair white and age advanced, was still valued by the emperor for his capable governance.

The youngest was Ji Cheng, who looked to be only in his twenties.

The three rushed in, eyes brimming with tears. The emperor’s illness had struck so suddenly that he had not left any edict. The crown prince was merely thirteen.

Seeing the emperor on the brink, they feared he would die without leaving final words, giving the princely clans an opportunity and plunging the world into chaos and misery.

But the three had still arrived too late; the emperor was already gone.

The deceased emperor was now locked in a staring contest with Yang Lao.

Yang Lao snapped out of it, overjoyed. “Imperial Physician Wang, His Majesty is awake! His Majesty has awakened again!”

The physician, still kneeling nearby, scrambled over to take the emperor’s pulse.

And upon examination…

Hmm, mysterious—too mysterious. Moments ago, the pulse had been so weak as to be almost undetectable, and the emperor had inexplicably vomited blood, which was why the senior ministers had been urgently summoned.

But now, the pulse throbbed with the vigor of a dragon, as if nothing could possibly be wrong.

Unable to judge, the physician frowned, his expression grave as he checked again.

Qin Ye said nothing, letting him take his pulse.

The others, meanwhile, were all stunned.

Wait, wasn’t the emperor dead?

The emperor was alive again?

What was going on?

Since when did Eunuch Yang get so bold as to pronounce the emperor dead?

Was this eunuch scheming for power?

Everyone’s expressions shifted, until Wen Ding’an stepped forward and knelt. “Your minister, Wen Ding’an, greets Your Majesty. Long live the emperor!”

Qin Ye waved his hand weakly. “Rise, all of you. Bring seats. Seats for everyone.”

After granting seats, the three sat down cautiously. The physicians continued to take his pulse. Nearly the whole Imperial Medical Bureau was present.

Meanwhile, the empress, upon hearing the news, arrived in haste with her son and daughter.

Other consorts flooded in as well, but Qin Ye, annoyed, had them all driven out.

As the physician continued his diagnosis, a white silk scroll drifted down in Qin Ye’s mind.

Xie Fanghua was the unloved legitimate daughter of the Xie family. Though of noble birth, not even the servants treated her with respect.

Cautious since childhood, she only hoped to escape the Xie household’s prison through marriage.

But the marriage her birth mother had arranged for her was stolen by her half-sister.

That sister wasn’t satisfied with stealing her betrothal, but also schemed to frame her for an illicit affair with the hostage prince from Yun, forcing her to marry the Yun kingdom’s crown prince, Yun Loutai, who lived as a dependent in a foreign land.

Xie Fanghua had only wanted to leave the Xie family behind. Yet, when everything that belonged to her was taken, and she was driven to desperation, she decided to take her revenge on the Xie family and on the state of An.

She faked her death, disguised herself as a man, obtained scholarly honors, and became a court official.

In court, she advised Yun Loutai, helping him win the Grand Princess’s favor. With the princess’s backing, his status soared.

She even coaxed the Grand Princess to disregard his status as a hostage and insist on marrying him.

Smitten, the Grand Princess willingly surrendered her military command for love.

Meanwhile, the young emperor inexplicably showed Xie Fanghua repeated favor.

Under the alias Xie Hua, she became a close minister, toppled the Xie family, and convinced the court to petition for the return of the Yun hostage prince.

When Yun Loutai departed, he grasped her hand and asked her to wait.

Xie Fanghua, unwilling to let her fate rest with anyone else, nonetheless held hope.

Fortunately, Yun Loutai did not disappoint her. He returned to his homeland, ascended the throne, and led an army of a hundred thousand straight to the capital of An.

An’s border troops were as good as air—this was all because Grand Princess Huayang had handed Yun Loutai the military seal.

At An’s end, the young emperor led Xie Fanghua up the Tower of Ascension.

He confessed that he had always known she was a woman, and had long harbored feelings for her, but did not wish to force her, so he had kept his desires hidden.

Moved by the young emperor’s affection, Xie Fanghua stood alone to face Yun’s invading army, meeting Yun Loutai’s gaze and declaring coldly, “You want me? Spare An, and I will go with you.”

Though she had wanted to destroy An, in the end her heart softened and she could not do it. She sacrificed herself, leaving home to become empress of Yun.

She thought her future would be bleak and her fate uncertain, but Yun Loutai cherished her to the core, even dismissing his entire harem for her.

The people of An, grateful for her sacrifice, petitioned for her sake, and the young emperor honored her as Princess Protector, to commemorate her contributions to An.

Pampered as if she were soaking in a vat of honey, Xie Fanghua looked back on all she had done and thought, in the end, her efforts had been remembered, not forgotten. That was enough for her life.

This time, the information from the white scroll was rather lengthy.

Having read it all, Qin Ye felt as though he’d just heard an absurdly funny joke and couldn’t help but share it with Third.

“Is everyone in An just a joke? They fought Yun so hard they forced the crown prince over as a hostage—so why did they leave Yun alone? Did they think Yun’s land was cursed?”

“Oh, and this Xie Fanghua—she became a close minister to the emperor, yet instead of becoming a power behind the throne, she goes off to be an empress. Is that position really so alluring?”

“And finally, the young emperor of An and his good elder sister, the Grand Princess—what a pair, truly masters at burying their own kingdom.”

“If their ancestors could see this, wouldn’t the princes and nobles be furious, knowing such fools could become emperor?”

After venting his complaints, Qin Ye heard Third’s icy mechanical voice: [You are the great father of these siblings. Also, you are now the emperor of An.]

Qin Ye: …

The smile on Qin Ye’s face froze. His expression darkened, twisted, and he seemed on the verge of a breakdown…

“Y-y-your Majesty…”

Right before him, the physician taking his pulse began sweating profusely, quickly soaking his robe.

He dared not even breathe, terrified the emperor’s contorted expression would fall upon him and he’d be dragged out and executed on a whim.

But in the end, the physician had to speak, trembling and stammering, convinced his end was near.

Yet his voice snapped Qin Ye back to himself.

“Speak.”

Qin Ye was in a thoroughly foul mood.

He hadn’t yet recovered from the blow of being the emperor of a nation of fools, when suddenly he was hit by the original host’s lingering wishes.

The original host’s wish was to destroy Yun, raise his only two children well, and bring peace and prosperity to An.

Although An was not destroyed, after being invaded to the capital, there was little difference between surviving and perishing.

This world had three major kingdoms, plus a common enemy shared by all—the nomadic tribes of the grasslands, or “barbarians of the steppe.”

Yun had once been the weakest; An was the richest, and in the north was a poor kingdom.

Its proper name was Rong, but it was so impoverished that the nobles of An privately called it “the Pauper Kingdom.”

Most of Rong bordered the grasslands, so their main concern was fending off steppe invasions; they were always at war and had little time to bother with the other two states.

One winter, when Rong was busy fighting the nomads, the emperor of An seized the chance to strike the weakest Yun, fought all the way to its capital, and nearly wiped out its royal family.

Yun was on the brink of being declared extinct, but the original emperor suddenly fell gravely ill and had to withdraw the army.

To prevent Yun’s revenge, he left his elite Qinglong Guard in Yun, sealing off all external communications.

Afterward, his health deteriorated by the day, and he had few heirs.

Despite a harem of three thousand, not one bore him a child; only his crown princess, before he’d ascended the throne, had given him a son and a daughter.

Because of this, he cherished his only children even more.

The son was Qin Yun, the daughter Princess Huayang.

As the sole heir, Qin Yun was made crown prince early on, once it was clear no other consort would bear a child.