Volume One: The Youngest Among Three Hundred Chapter One: Beheading

"Gurgle, gurgle!"

"Gurgle..."

When Chen Chang'an's consciousness returned after dying from running ten laps naked around the playground to celebrate EDG's championship, someone was gripping his jaw tightly and forcing liquor down his throat.

He was kneeling, his hands bound behind his back with coarse hemp rope that bit painfully into his wrists with the slightest movement.

Around him rang a cacophony of noise—so chaotic that it was neither pure Mandarin nor the familiar accent of his northwestern hometown, making it hard to discern.

Terrified, his eyes widened. He could feel sunlight on his skin, yet his pupils saw nothing but pitch-blackness, devoid of even a hint of warmth. He shook his head, turned it this way and that, but his retinas captured no color at all.

In that instant, Chen Chang'an's heart plummeted. Was he blind? No, please, not that! There was a high-spec astronomical telescope aimed at the girls' dormitory on his balcony!

Seventeen or eighteen girls waiting for him to carry them in the jungle!

He still wanted to take the one he loved to gaze at stars and moon, discuss poetry and philosophy, and life's mysteries. Wait, who did he love? The class beauty Zhu Xiuxiu? The study committee member Wang Ping? Or the gap-toothed girl who always munched sunflower seeds in class?

No... none of that mattered now. What mattered was—how had he gone blind?

"Ah!"

His thoughts spun wildly, a sharp pain stabbed through his skull, as memories entirely foreign and independent forced themselves into his mind.

Chen Chang'an, born in the tenth year of the Great Qi Dynasty, nine years ago, the Qi Emperor Zhao Chong died, and Empress Bai Wan seized power, declaring herself ruler and changing the dynasty's name to Great Min. Now, it was the ninth year of Great Min.

He had been orphaned since childhood, blind since he saw something unclean on the streets of Chang'an at age three, later married into the Su family as a son-in-law by a written contract.

His father-in-law, Su Qingtang, was captain of the royal guard. Two days ago, he escorted Princess Changning to Mount Daheng outside the city to pray, but on the way back, the princess mysteriously vanished.

The female emperor Bai Wan was enraged, ordered the Three Offices to investigate, and implicated the entire Su clan. Su Qingtang was sentenced to beheading; the men were castrated to serve as eunuchs, the women sent to the front as camp prostitutes.

Technically, Chen Chang'an should have been among the former, but as a blind man, he was rejected by the palace chief Wang Liansi and sent back, instead joining his father-in-law for beheading at the noon gate.

Chaos and thunderous revelations flashed through his mind, spelling out just one truth: He had transmigrated!

So, he was at the noon gate, about to be beheaded? The liquor just forced down his throat was the "parting wine"? It was said the condemned were often intoxicated to spare them pain.

What kind of transmigration was this? Others went back to the Ming dynasty as princes, while he, Chen, was here to offer up his head.

"Su Qingtang can't possibly defend himself this time, no matter how many excuses he makes."

"I heard the princess's disappearance was strange—vanished without a trace. Some say demons were involved."

"Shh, officials are here. Don't speak recklessly, just watch. Otherwise, you'll bring trouble on yourself."

"Didn't they say all Su clan men except Su Qingtang were sent to the palace as eunuchs? Why is Chen Chang'an, the son-in-law, on the execution platform?"

"You don't know? They sent him to the palace, but the chief Wang Liansi rejected him because he's blind, so he was sent back."

"Useless waste, can't even be a eunuch. I can't understand—how did the third Miss Wang, a peerless beauty, marry someone like him? Hahaha."

After merging with the memories, Chen Chang'an gained the ability to understand the local dialect. The earlier cacophony became clearer, and his hearing grew unnaturally sharp—within fifty meters, nothing escaped his ears.

Aside from the onlookers' chatter, he heard his father-in-law Su Qingtang, similarly bound and kneeling beside him, trembling and muttering under his breath.

Half a meter away, two executioners in red, burly with thick brows and leopard eyes, stood holding their blades, maintaining their posture in silence.

Ten meters ahead, the execution supervisor sat under a canopy, drinking tea and fanning himself impatiently, waiting for the moment to drop the command token at the appointed hour.

Enhanced hearing? What kind of cheat was this? Everyone had system sign-ins these days! Drawing on years of reading novels, Chen Chang'an concluded he must have a super noon gate system, or perhaps a "Starting From Noon Gate Beheading, I Dominate Great Min," or maybe "In Great Min, Beheading Made Me Invincible"...

"System daddy, system daddy, can you hear me? Answer me!" Chen Chang'an probed tentatively.

"Shut up, be quiet! Can't you stop making noise?" The response came from Su Qingtang, kneeling beside him, equally bound.

I'm calling my system daddy—what's it to you? Chen Chang'an pouted in defiance: "You shut your mouth!"

Su Qingtang, already trembling in terror, could barely contain his dread of execution, but Chen Chang'an's shouting sent him over the edge, his emotions erupting: "Ah, you blind fool! The Su family ended up like this probably because of you! Calamity!"

"...Ah! Ah! Ah! Beast!"

"If Wanqiu had married Young Lord Yuan years ago, I would never have suffered like this—heaven is blind!"

Su Qingtang cursed ceaselessly, chewing out his fear as a substitute for silence.

Chen Chang'an snorted in contempt, ignoring him and silently continued praying to his system daddy—sadly, there was no response.

"Bang!"

"Whoosh!"

"Swish!"

At that moment, the sound of objects whistling through the air reached him. Just as he wondered what was happening, a rotten egg smashed against his face, its nauseating stench trickling down his nose.

Next came vegetable leaves, rags, wood scraps, smelly socks, women's underwear unwashed for days—every kind of filth imaginable.

"I thought the condemned would be some notorious villain, so I came prepared," someone said.

"Su Qingtang isn't really a villain, but as royal guard captain, he's bullied us enough. Throw it!"

"Throw!"

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

"I've got some dog shit—I'm throwing it at the blind guy!"

Hearing the pancake vendor declare this, Chen Chang'an leaned left, hiding behind his father-in-law, grabbing his waistband with his bound hands.

This forced Su Qingtang to stay still—if he moved, his pants would drop. The next moment, a flying lump of dog excrement splattered right onto Su Qingtang's mouth.

Rotten vegetable leaves, smelly socks, broken insoles, and more kept pelting his face. He wanted to dodge but his pants were firmly held—moving would expose him.

"Chen Chang'an, let go! How dare you disrespect your father-in-law! Disrespect is punishable by flogging under Great Min law!" Su Qingtang roared.

Chen Chang'an calmly hid behind him, back-to-back but not embracing.

"Silence, silence!"

Soon, the execution supervisor at the front hammered his table, loudly calling for order. With a sweeping gesture, he dropped the command token.

"The hour has come—execute!"

The two executioners in red raised their shining steel blades, which flashed with a chilling glare under the scorching June sun.

Su Qingtang gritted his gold teeth, the smell of urine leaking from his pant legs, despairing: "Next life, let me be a rotten egg!"

Chen Chang'an drooped his eyelids, his face twisted in grief: System daddy, please come, I really don't want to die!

Just as he finished muttering, a gentle voice whispered in his ear: "If Young Master Chen wishes to escape this ordeal, come to Fragrant Courtyard."

"If Young Master Chen wishes to escape this ordeal, come to Fragrant Courtyard!"

"Will you come, sir?"

"Will you come?"