Chapter 10: Big Gulp of Shipping — “Right Prime Minister Su Xueyi has called in sick again, he…”
After returning from the Secret Archives, Ying Xi took a nap on the dragon chair in the study.
He was incredibly sleepy, only now profoundly feeling the huge side effect the “Return to Base” function had on his body.
Ying Xi nestled into the armchair, curling up, then folding his legs against his chest.
Although sleeping this way lacked majesty, it felt very safe. With no one around, he was going to do just that.
However, before long, he was still disturbed by Yu Jing standing outside the screen.
“Your Majesty,” Yu Jing called softly, accustomed to the Emperor not taking them along on his movements, as the Emperor could protect himself. “You have returned?”
Ying Xi didn’t open his eyes, didn’t move; his eyelids were heavy.
Looking at the hazy silhouette projected on the screen, Yu Jing reported, “You didn’t see the court officials today. According to Your Majesty’s instructions, all memorials were handed over to the Department of State Affairs.”
“Your Majesty has divine foresight. Today there were no major military matters; the Right Prime Minister handled everything, leaving no memorials on your desk.”
“Additionally,” Yu Jing paused before continuing, “The Qixia Gate tower in the southern city has reported for repairs year after year, costing nearly ten thousand taels each time.”
“The Right Prime Minister believes this is due to lax management of Qixia Gate, with vendors shouting and selling food along the street, causing traffic from all gates to converge there. Who would have thought the two were connected!”
Ying Xi adjusted his posture in the dragon chair, causing the sound of rustling clothes. He didn’t express an opinion.
Yu Jing tentatively commented, “The Right Prime Minister has great talent.”
Behind the screen, Ying Xi sighed coldly.
Yu Jing hurriedly changed the subject: “Your Majesty is weary. Shall this slave attend to you returning to the dragon bed to rest?”
“…” Once Ying Xi began to learn to relax and remove the moral shackles of being stuck in his ways, his own desires also began to increase.
Now he should get up and return to the sleeping palace.
Yet a thought flashed quickly through his mind, wishing someone could help move him from the study; he actually planned to be lazy for these few steps.
Ying Xi mocked himself, roused his spirits, returned to the sleeping palace, curled into a ball, and burrowed under the covers to sleep.
“Incompetent tyrant.”
“Incompetent tyrant, a calamity to the country and the people!”
What, that voice…
Before his eyes was that scene of interwoven blood and fire again.
After falling asleep, Ying Xi revisited the scene of Chang’an’s fall in his dream, seeing many surging human figures.
Most of these figures met him head-on, then hurriedly brushed past, wearing different faces.
They had betrayed him, hurt him, assassinated him, and then, using different voices but harboring the same malice, cursed him as an incompetent tyrant.
“Incompetent tyrant, why kill my father?”
“Incompetent tyrant, I won’t listen to your lectures! If this Great Qin falls, let it fall!”
“Incompetent tyrant, this teacher has long pledged loyalty to Li Yilong.”
“Incompetent tyrant…”
The piercing voices lingered constantly.
But now, Ying Xi no longer had the desire to explain.
He let those fleeting shadows pass, his gaze vacant, as if watching a long shadow puppetry show.
Among them, one fleeting shadow was encountering him.
Ying Xi looked at this person, pupils dilating slightly. The other party possessed a beauty that stunned Chang’an; the man was dressed in plain clothes whiter than snow, born with an air of arrogance. His gaze was cold when their eyes met, and he left without any lingering attachment.
Su Xueyi’s fleeting shadow pierced through Ying Xi—
Ying Xi’s heart pounded heavily in that instant!
Out of habit, he tried to make him stay, turning around abruptly.
But Su Xueyi grew further and further away, his back disappearing into a faint white dot, his lingering voice dropping a scornful remark: “Incompetent tyrant.”
“Su Xueyi…”
“Su Xueyi!!!”
Ying Xi shouted with all his might in the dream.
The agitation of his emotions caused him to open his eyes. Waking from the dream, he looked up; above the bed were the familiar carved wooden panels.
The thin morning light shone obliquely. Inside the dragon bed of Weiyang Palace, the satin quilt cover glowed with a soft luster. After rebirth, the eunuchs and palace maids had adapted; if he didn’t call for someone, no one would wake him.
Ying Xi silently wiped away a layer of sweat from his forehead.
The depressed feeling from the dream lingered for a long time, unable to dissipate. Ying Xi lay there in a daze.
“Hehe, Your Majesty!”
Sweet Tub appeared very early today. Its tone was rippling, unknown what it was shipping again. Its voice rang in Ying Xi’s ear:
—”You’ve got a situation~”
Ying Xi locked his brows, unaware of any situation, and looked outside the bed.
Sweet Tub teased sheepishly: “First time hearing you talk in your sleep, and even chanting someone else’s name. Your Majesty, who is Su Xueyi?”
After asking, Sweet Tub waited expectantly.
Ying Xi, however, changed his expression: “Quiet.”
“Tell me please~ Tell me please~”
“Tell me, tell me—”
“Is Su Xueyi Your Majesty’s sweetheart?”
After getting up, before working, Ying Xi still executed his walking regimen for health preservation.
Spring energy was gradually emerging. The spring willows in Weiyang Palace were sprouting; by rights, birds should be chirping on the branches.
But Ying Xi couldn’t hear the birds’ calls at all because the System’s voice was louder than the birds.
Today, Ying Xi’s command for it to be quiet didn’t work.
It wasn’t exactly defying the decree; it was acting shamelessly, figuring he wouldn’t hold it against it, imagining things that didn’t exist, and Ying Xi didn’t want to explain to it.
Ying Xi’s ears were getting calloused.
Originally, he wanted to say “Su Xueyi is someone I want to kill” to shut its mouth.
But Ying Xi predicted that Sweet Tub would definitely say “Love-hate relationships are so ship-able,” and then become even more enthusiastic, making conversation impossible.
He decided to divert the System’s attention.
Ying Xi changed the subject: “The Atmosphere Booster I experienced that day was very strange.”
“I can use it for you and Su Xueyi!”
Sweet Tub: “I can also increase the probability of triggering the Atmosphere Booster, or even designate scenes!”
“…”
Ying Xi sighed deeply in secret.
To drag the topic completely away from Su Xueyi, Ying Xi continued to stroll along the willow-lined path of Weiyang Palace while seemingly inadvertently throwing out a question.
Ying Xi said, “What is a designated scene?”
Several magnolia petals drifted before Ying Xi’s eyes.
Translucent white like snow. He opened his palm to gently catch them; the petals were soft in texture.
“Does Your Majesty remember being at the Secret Archives?”
“I remember.” It would be abnormal to forget that kind of embarrassing memory. “You mean to say, you can change the environment within a small range.”
Ying Xi pondered slowly, speaking as he thought, “For example, making petals float in this area too.”
Ying Xi walked under another willow tree.
Sure enough, several fresh petals fell from the gaps between the tender yellow-green branches of that willow tree.
Sweet Tub asked, “Is it romantic?”
Ying Xi hadn’t heard this term before but roughly understood: “Very elegant.”
He spoke again with that voice like ice striking jade.
In an instant, Sweet Tub felt dizzy, then its desire to perform surged, draping a layer of brilliant holy light over Ying Xi.
“This atmosphere is called ‘Highlight Moment.'” Sweet Tub demonstrated.
As the light faded, a small localized patch of dark clouds and thunderstorms appeared overhead. A drop of water hung from the tip of Ying Xi’s exquisite nose. Drip.
“This atmosphere set is called ‘Overcome with Grief.'”
“There’s also ‘Valiant and Heroic.'” A breeze billowed Ying Xi’s sleeves.
The wind grew a bit more fierce, revealing a sense of desolation, with withered leaves falling with the wind: “This set is called ‘Sorrowful and Depressed.'”
Sweet Tub was proud: “I have many more.”
Hair at his temples fluttering, Ying Xi casually brushed the withered leaves off his clothes.
The Atmosphere Booster function demonstrated by the System truly made Ying Xi look at it with new eyes.
In the process of his thoughts diverging, he had already arranged different usage methods for this function.
Ying Xi himself was pragmatic. Since he was bound to a system, he couldn’t waste it. Regardless of what system it was, he could try to tame it.
Therefore, starting from yesterday, Ying Xi had been calculating how to make the Dating System work for him.
Ying Xi’s ability needed no elaboration, and his capacity for action needed no further mention.
He quickly drew inferences and made connections, feeling that using the Dating System to change his fate and save the country wasn’t impossible.
First, since ancient times, the ruler and subjects were like husband and wife.
Qu Yuan’s Songs of Chu repeatedly used the King and Beauty to analogize the relationship between ruler and subject.
Of course, he wouldn’t date every subject, but indeed he should make his subjects and people maintain a favorable impression of him, so gaining Charm points by doing missions was crucial.
Thinking further, changing the environment, instantly returning to base, providing items (regardless of what items)…
As long as it was something the Dating System could provide, perhaps it would all come in handy at some moment in the future.
Didn’t this perfectly align with Xun Kuang’s philosophy: The nature of a gentleman is no different from others; he is just good at utilizing things?
Having figured everything out, Ying Xi felt his pores relax, and even his body felt better than before.
Looking up into the distance, the sky was clear and the air was fresh; the spring scenery was bright.
A sentence brewed in his chest. Ying Xi firmly told himself:
—Whatever the sun and moon shine upon can be used by Me.
Ying Xi hooked his lips.
Then the corners of his mouth quickly drooped.
Sweet Tub said excitedly, “So let me help you date Su Xueyi!!!”
“Cough… Cough cough cough, cough.” Ying Xi stopped, suddenly holding onto the bark of a willow tree and coughing violently.
His coughing this time wasn’t from being blown by the wind, but purely because he couldn’t participate in this kind of association.
Thinking of his interactions with Su Xueyi in his past life, Ying Xi gritted his teeth in secret.
Sweet Tub was a bit panicked, asking weakly, “Your, Your Majesty?”
He was coughing too severely.
Ying Xi was beautiful and fragile; Sweet Tub knew his physical condition didn’t match his personality at all.
Sweet Tub put down its shipping addiction and expressed concern: “Is Your Majesty okay?”
Mediocre, this body is useless.
Of course, he wouldn’t easily show weakness.
Ying Xi adjusted his breath, not answering the constitution question, and continued to lead the conversation: “Tell me about something else.”
“What?”
“What else can you do?”
“O-Okay.” After all, having provoked an overreaction from the host, although Sweet Tub knew there was gossip to be had, its curiosity had a limit.
Sweet Tub said, “I can also do Text Playback.”
Text Playback?
Ying Xi pondered in secret; the name spoke for itself.
Sweet Tub had already presented the text in a semi-transparent floating window before his eyes.
[Ying Xi: Tell me about something else.]
[Sweet Tub: What?]
[Ying Xi: Say what else you can do.]
Wasn’t that the exact conversation they just had?
Golden Clerical script text floated. Ying Xi’s dark grey pupils were filled with fragmented light as his eyelashes blinked slowly.
He was calculating again how to use the Dating System flexibly.
If an outsider were present at this moment, they would surely be attracted by this scene, captivated by his appearance.
But behind those beautiful eyes, his thoughts were on the most vast and authoritative matters in this world.
“Your Majesty?”
“Mn.”
“Let me talk about other functions then. Do you still want to hear?”
“Yes.”
Actually, whether it spoke or not didn’t matter to Ying Xi. Even if it didn’t speak, Ying Xi would probe later.
But Sweet Tub had finally forgotten the Su Xueyi segment for the time being, giving Ying Xi a small sense of relief.
Ying Xi said, “Speak.”
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”
The person chasing Ying Xi along the willow path wasn’t Yu Jing, but another young eunuch. Ying Xi had an impression; it was Yu Jing’s little apprentice.
The Grand Superintendent of Weiyang Palace had brilliant means of currying favor, but he wasn’t by the Emperor’s side every moment.
At this moment, Yu Jing was personally supervising the cleaning of Weiyang Palace so that when Ying Xi returned from his walk, the office area would be spotless.
Yu Jing wasn’t stingy about giving newcomers opportunities. If the newcomer didn’t do well, it would highlight his own importance even more.
Ying Xi didn’t analyze it that deeply, but seeing the young eunuch acting rashly, he was somewhat displeased.
“Why the panic?”
How could the young eunuch know His Majesty disliked reckless behavior? He was dutiful and indignant: “Right Prime Minister Su Xueyi has called in sick again; he is waiting for you to coax him to come on duty at the Department of State Affairs…”
Sweet Tub: “Quick, tell me how to coax him, ahhhhhhh!!!”
The Dating System suddenly screeched excitedly in Ying Xi’s mind.
Although no image was visible, Ying Xi could actually mentally fill in the picture of the System frantically shipping them. The topic that had just been suppressed was hooked up again by this little eunuch.
Ying Xi took a deep, long breath. The coolness transported from his throat to his lungs lowered his anger a bit.
Ying Xi strategically appeased: “It matters not.”
The little eunuch: “But the Department of State Affairs is currently leaderless. The Left Prime Minister can’t make up his mind at all. The lords have been scattered since morning; many important matters are waiting for someone to take the lead and make decisions.”
Some time ago, Ying Xi had just been reborn and took care of himself, giving himself a holiday and dumping government affairs on the Department of State Affairs.
Now that some time had passed, the Department of State Affairs must be tired too.
That Su Xueyi was reverting to his old ways, putting on airs; now was a good time to act pretentious.
Thinking of his interactions with Su Xueyi in his past life, Ying Xi frowned tightly.
There was still a magnolia petal in the palm of his sleeve. Accompanying his turbulent mood, his fingernails dug into the magnolia flower, juice seeping out, pinching his palm until it hurt.
Ying Xi suddenly sneered, raising his chin.
The eunuch, however, pandered naturally: “Will Your Majesty set out for the Prime Minister’s Residence?”
“No.”
The eunuch was stunned: “Are you going to walk there?”
“I am not going.”
The eunuch tried hard to suppress his astonishment.
Ying Xi noticed the eunuch’s expression, and inexplicably, a feeling of vengeful pleasure regarding the upcoming situation surfaced.
“I am not going. Let him lie at home.”
“Set out for the Department of State Affairs later. I will personally take a look.”
The little eunuch: “Yes, yes!”
The eunuch hurriedly went to prepare the imperial sedan chair, running off in a flash, disappearing into the Weiyang Palace willow path like a flustered chicken again.
Once the eunuch left.
Sweet Tub fully revived. Its tone seemed to instantly change from a dating system to a gossip system, waiting for the tea again:
—”Your Majesty, what exactly is going on between you and Su Xueyi?”
Ying Xi scoffed lightly.
Angry enough to want to kill this person—what way of expression could make the System not ship a “love-hate relationship”?
Ying Xi turned over a thousand thoughts in his mind.
Finally, he decided not to say kill or hate.
The Emperor intended to use clear and rigorous wording to solemnly express to the System his disappointment and anger as a monarch toward Prime Minister Su Xueyi.
Ying Xi: “He failed me.”
System: “—Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
Why was it screaming even harder?
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