As darkness fell, the palace servants lit the eternal lamps lining the corridors that crisscrossed the imperial chambers. The continuous light drove away the deep night that had enveloped the palace.
The Emperor sat beside the imperial desk in the Xuan Chamber, his gaze fixed on the candlelight before him, his figure seemingly frozen in place.
Even now, he still couldn’t believe all that had transpired: after being killed by an arrow that pierced his throat, he had somehow been reborn, becoming his current self.
This “self” was indeed him, yet it was also a different, unfamiliar version of himself.
Apart from both being the founding Emperor of Great Yan, this current “self” had unified the realm earlier than his former self and became the Emperor of Great Yan. Moreover, everything else that had happened to this “self” was vastly different from his previous experiences.
From the moment his soul was thrust into this body with that thunderous clash, fragmented impressions of this life began to appear in his mind: it was now the second year of Taihe, and those who had once fought alongside him to conquer the realm were all still here, serving as his generals and ministers. His grandmother, Madam Xu, was still alive and had gone to Daming Temple these past few days, soon to return to the palace. And Su, the woman he had made Empress in his original world, had attempted to poison his grandmother!
…
Everything was in chaos. This world, including the Xuan Chamber he now occupied, was both familiar and strange to him!
He had been sitting alone for a long time, from when the sun’s shadow slanted westward and twilight gradually enveloped the Xuan Chamber, until night had completely swallowed it and the hours grew late. Yet he remained tightly gripped by the tumultuous feelings of astonishment in his heart. Suddenly, from outside the Xuan Chamber, the sound of approaching footsteps gradually became audible. Then, the soft voices of women and palace servants could be heard, gentle and clear, extremely pleasing to the ear. He immediately recognized it as belonging to the Empress he had met earlier that day, the other daughter from the Qiao family.
In his original world, the only impression this Qiao daughter had left on him was as a beautiful, cold corpse. However, here, she was the Empress of this other self, and not only that but the only woman he cherished.
As the woman’s footsteps drew nearer, memories of interactions with her from the body he had possessed flooded his mind like a tidal wave.
Earlier that day, that “self” and she had shared pillow talk, and vivid scenes flashed clearly through his mind, frame by frame…
If these were mere memories from that original “self,” then at the moment of his possession, when she instinctively shrank into his arms out of fear of thunder, it was a truly tangible sensation. Even now, he seemed to retain the feeling of holding soft jade in his arms.
He couldn’t possibly develop any unusual feelings for a woman from such a brief embrace. But for some inexplicable reason, as the woman’s footsteps drew ever closer, he suddenly felt nervous.
It had been a long time since he had experienced nervousness. The sudden, uncontrollable quickening of his heartbeat made him feel very uncomfortable.
She was the person most intimately connected to “himself.” If anyone were to discover something amiss with him, it would likely be her. This, the Emperor told himself, was the reason for the nervousness he felt when facing her.
Out of some subtle inclination that even he didn’t fully understand, he didn’t want others to know about everything that was happening to him. Anyone, including this bedfellow of his.
The Emperor took a quiet breath, trying his best to relax his body that had suddenly tensed up.
…
The cat seemed bewitched, fussing around Little Qiao all evening. When sent back to Jiade Palace, it would dart back on its own, with the palace servants unable to stop or catch it. This last time, it rushed towards Little Qiao, clinging to her and refusing to let go, rubbing against her feet, looking up at her, and meowing softly and incessantly.
The cat had always been aloof. In all the years of keeping it, Little Qiao had never encountered a situation like tonight’s. If she kept it, she feared Wei Shao would have an allergic reaction when he returned. But if she forcibly sent it away again, for some reason, when she looked into the cat’s beautiful eyes gazing at her pleadingly and heard its pitiful mewing at her feet, her heart softened.
She picked it up and personally took it to a side chamber next to the sleeping quarters. She called for palace servants to bring its bed, put it inside, then crouched down to pet it, coaxing, “The Grand Empress Dowager hasn’t returned, so you feel Jiade Palace is too quiet, is that it? It’s fine if you don’t go back. You can sleep here tonight, but you mustn’t run around anymore! If you misbehave again, I’ll get angry, understand?”
Wei Shao was so frustrated he wanted to bang his head against the wall, wishing he could knock himself out of this predicament. But after all this commotion for half a day and a night, he finally understood that it seemed he was temporarily unable to escape the embarrassing situation of being trapped in a cat’s body.
No one knew what had happened to him, not even Little Qiao. If he caused any more trouble and was caught and locked away, unable to approach her, that would be truly disastrous.
In his previous life, he had possessed the body of that short-lived fool. Everything else aside, what he feared most was that guy taking advantage of his Little Qiao.
Although it was still his own body, and strictly speaking, the Emperor whose body he had possessed wasn’t an outsider to him, his beautiful Empress could only belong to him, even his past self wasn’t allowed!
Wei Shao knew he could only accept this reality for now.
The most urgent matter at hand was to first gain the pity of his beautiful Empress and find a way to stay in this sleeping chamber. Only then could he seize every opportunity to prevent that unfortunate Emperor from having any improper designs on the Empress.
“Meow—” he called out pitifully and took the opportunity to stretch out his tongue and lick her palm.
The cat’s tongue was wet and warm, with soft barbs. Caught off guard by its lick on her palm, she felt a ticklish numbness.
Little Qiao let out a laugh, quickly withdrawing her hand. Instead, she patted its head before standing up.
…
Little Qiao instructed the palace servants to wait outside and enter the Xuan Chamber.
The Emperor sat with his head lowered behind the imperial desk, leafing through memorials in his hands.
Little Qiao walked towards him, smiling as she said, “Are today’s affairs still not finished? I saw you hadn’t returned yet. It’s late, and my husband must be tired too. If there’s nothing urgent, why don’t we retire first? The rest can wait until tomorrow.”
She approached him, took the memorial from his hands, and tidied it along with the books on the imperial desk, putting them in order. Then she looked at him with a smile.
The Emperor was surprised and felt somewhat uncomfortable.
In his previous life, no woman had ever dared to take things from his hands like this, let alone official memorials.
Nor had any woman addressed him as “husband” or acted with such playful freedom in his presence, yet with an air of intimacy that felt so natural.
Even Daqiao, whom he had married first, had addressed him respectfully as “Prince Consort.”
As she drew closer, the Emperor suddenly caught a whiff of a faint, intoxicating fragrance.
He involuntarily held his breath for a moment, collected himself, and mumbled, “We were just about to retire…” He stood up and stepped towards the exit.
…
In the sleeping chamber, fragrant candles burned brightly. Palace servants attended to the Emperor and Empress as they prepared for bed.
Little Qiao lay on the cloud pillow, her hair unbound, dark tresses cascading over her fragrant shoulders and jade-like arms.
From entering the sleeping chamber to ascending the dragon bed, the Emperor’s gaze had hardly rested on the Empress, as if deliberately avoiding looking at her.
“Husband…” she called to him softly.
“We are tired,” the Emperor said with his eyes closed. However, the scene from earlier that day flashed through his mind, of that “self” reluctantly agreeing to meet her tonight. His throat tightened, and he unconsciously tensed up again.
She seemed to fall silent.
After a moment, the Emperor finally couldn’t resist and opened his eyes. He saw her long lashes slightly lowered, her gaze resting on his face, as if deep in thought. His heart involuntarily began to race again.
“Is the Empress not going to sleep?” His voice was a bit hoarse.
Little Qiao smiled.
“My husband misunderstood,” she said gently. “I was just thinking that you seemed to have something on your mind. Whatever it is, if you’re willing, you can always talk to me about it.”
The Emperor slowly exhaled and said, “We have nothing on our mind. Let’s sleep early.”
“Alright. I’ll do as my husband says.”
Little Qiao smiled at him and indeed lay down to sleep, obediently closing her eyes.
The Emperor watched the faint shadows cast by her long lashes on her face in the lamplight. As he was lost in thought, he suddenly saw her open her eyes again. Unable to avoid her gaze in time, their eyes met.
“Husband, you usually call me Manman. What’s wrong today?” she asked softly, turning her face towards him, her expression showing a hint of disappointment.
The Emperor hesitated, not knowing how to respond. She smiled again and said, “Never mind, however, my husband calls me is fine. Manman likes it all the same.”
With this smile, her beautiful eyes sparkled, her face bloomed like spring flowers, enchantingly beautiful. The Emperor’s heart pounded like thunder, and he stared at her, unable to look away.
“Husband has early court tomorrow, you should rest,” Little Qiao said with a radiant smile, closing her eyes once more.
After a long while, the Emperor finally withdrew his gaze from her and slowly closed his eyes.
Manman, Manman, like the birds that fly wing to wing in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, is unable to fly if one is missing.
He repeated her pet name several times in his heart, suddenly finding it quite endearing.
…
At the deepest hour of the night, Wei Shao was still crouching in a corner of the sleeping chamber, hiding behind the curtains, ears pricked up, his cat eyes wide open, staring in the direction of the dragon bed.
Since becoming a cat, Wei Shao felt his hearing had become even more acute than before, and his night vision as well. No movement from the dragon bed could escape his eyes and ears.
He was ready to rush out and cause disruption at the slightest sign of anything amiss.
His Little Qiao, naive and unaware, was completely in the dark. Fortunately, that guy seemed to have some self-awareness and didn’t appear to be planning anything untoward towards the Empress yet.
As an Emperor, he had inexplicably been possessed by his past self and turned into a cat eavesdropping on conversations…
How infuriating! How tragic!
Wei Shao kept watch until nearly dawn. After an uneventful night, he finally dozed off. Suddenly, a golden-armored god appeared, riding on clouds, and came before him, calling out, “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, wake up, wake up!”
Wei Shao opened his eyes and saw the figure standing nine zhang tall, wearing a phoenix-winged helmet, cloud-treading shoes, golden armor, with ringed eyes and a lion-like nose. He looked somewhat familiar, as if seen him somewhere before, so Wei Shao asked, “Who are you?”
The visitor dispersed the auspicious clouds and respectfully said, “I am a golden-armored god from the Queen Mother of the West’s divine palace, come to see Your Majesty on her behalf.”
Wei Shao was startled. He looked the figure over and finally vaguely remembered that in the main hall of the Queen Mother’s temple in Yuyang, there indeed stood such a golden-armored god. He quickly said, “You’ve come at just the right time! I’ve been possessed and trapped in a cat’s body. Quickly help me escape! Once I regain my original form and return, I will surely have a golden statue remade for the Queen Mother… no, no, I’ll build another golden hall, to be worshipped daily…”
The golden-armored god smiled and said, “Your Majesty, to be frank, this tribulation of yours was ordained by the Queen Mother.”
Wei Shao was stunned and suddenly jumped up, a zhang and three chi high: “I am the true Son of Heaven! How dare the Queen Mother defy heaven and do this to me? How have I wronged her?”
The golden-armored god hurriedly said, “Please calm your anger, Your Majesty. Your Majesty is unaware, but you did indeed offend the Queen Mother in the past.”
Wei Shao angrily said, “How did I offend her? That grand temple of hers was only completed thanks to my grandmother’s financial support! She receives daily incense and fire from the mortal realm without doing good deeds, yet she harms me like this!”
The golden-armored god said, “Your Majesty, have you forgotten? The mural depicting the Queen Mother’s golden image in the main hall, who was it that destroyed it?”
Wei Shao finally remembered an incident from years ago.
Back then, the mural of the Queen Mother painted by Gao Bohai had attracted countless worshippers from all directions. Whenever people mentioned it, they always spoke of both painting and calligraphy together. When Gao Bohai was mentioned, it was inevitable that Little Qiao would also be brought up. Some gossipmongers even made up romantic stories about the talented scholar and beautiful lady having mutual admiration. When this eventually reached Wei Shao’s ears, he became intensely jealous. Finally unable to restrain himself, on a dark and windy night, he secretly sent someone to scrape off Little Qiao’s inscription. However, this accidentally damaged the Queen Mother’s divine image. In the end, Wei Shao, under the pretext of renovating the temple, had the entire mural wall torn down, finally venting his pent-up frustration.
This incident had happened several years ago, and he had long since forgotten about it.
He was dumbfounded.
“Your Majesty is unaware, but the Queen Mother was quite fond of that mural. One day in heaven is a year on earth. She had been touring the four seas and crossed to Mount Penglai for three days. When she returned and learned that Your Majesty had destroyed her divine image, the Queen Mother was angered by your disrespect. She summoned the Lord of the Netherworld and learned that Your Majesty had committed too many killings in your previous life. Although destined to be Emperor in this life, you were supposed to face one more tribulation. That’s why she imposed this minor punishment on Your Majesty.”
Wei Shao’s face fell, and he grabbed the golden-armored god: “The karma created by that guy in the previous life has nothing to do with me! How can it all be counted against me?”
“He is you, and you are him. How can you separate yourselves?”
“Isn’t it enough if I remake a golden statue for the Queen Mother… Just give me a straight answer, how can I resolve my predicament?”
“When Your Majesty’s spirit from the previous life dissipates its fierce energy, today’s predicament will naturally be resolved…”
As daylight gradually appeared, the golden-armored god’s golden form slowly faded away.