Chapter 1 – His Majesty’s First Recovery From Serious Illness

On the 2nd lunar month in the capital city, the early spring weather was chilly.

Within the huge emperor’s resting place, the palace maids, who came and went with joy on their faces, flurriedly carried hot water and towels into the palace hall.

A white hand stretched out from the bright yellow dragon’s bed. The little palace eunuch waiting on the side was terrified to see His Majesty about to go down with bare feet. Tian Fusheng, the Chief Steward Eunuch, was warming shoes for His Majesty outside. At this moment, no one could stop it. The emperor, who had just recovered from his serious illness, was going to step on the ground barefoot!

The little eunuch didn’t have time to think. Quivering, he rushed to the bed and lay down on the ground. The feet of the most honorable person in the country stepped on the little eunuch’s back timely.

The little eunuch was sweating. He tried to relax his back muscles, for fear that the tautness would make His Majesty uncomfortable. He also reproached himself that his clothes were too rough, for fear of scuffing His Majesty’s feet.

The emperor laughed and derisively said, “Scram to the side.”

The little eunuch didn’t dare to disobey him, but neither did he dare to let him go to the ground like this. He bravely said, “Your Majesty can’t. The ground is cold. The cold air will seep into the dragon’s body from the sole of the feet.”

As soon as Tian Fusheng came in, he heard these words of the little eunuch. He hastily approached and fell to his knees with the dragon boots in his hands. He cried falsely, “Your Majesty, this little one is here to serve you. Don’t put your feet down. This little one’s heart is about to jump out of the throat.”

Gu Yuanbai broke into laughter, “Zhen1 thinks, yours can jump out for seventeen or eighteen times a day.”

Tian Fusheng mischievously laughed. He carefully held Gu Yuanbai’s feet and attentively put on the socks and boots for him.

Gu Yuanbai sighed in his heart as he sniffed the room full of incense and medicine.

He was not the true emperor but a positive and promising youth of the 21st century. In the instant when he passed through the clouds while skydiving, he woke up in this body as soon as he opened his eyes.

This dynasty was called Great Heng, which he recalled didn’t exist, so it should be unfounded. Its production degree had reached the standard of the Northern Song Dynasty.

This body of Gu Yuanbai that was raised by the power of the whole country was truly fragile. It was too sick. As the emperor, he didn’t even have much strength.

When Gu Yuanbai came, the eunuch dictatorship had already appeared. One should know that the emergence of eunuch dictatorship often indicated that a dynasty had entered the middle and late periods. With the swell of powerful ministers and local forces, eunuchs also wanted to control the military and political affairs. Gu Yuanbai dragged the sickly body and lived in seclusion for three whole years. In one fell swoop, the powerful ministers and eunuchs were collectively disarmed, and the previous dynasty and the inner court were thoroughly cleaned up, temporarily balancing the three forces and restoring the imperial power to its prime.

Just when he was ready to make an all-out effort eagerly, his body couldn’t withstand. At the end of winter, strong cold weather ushered in.

On the days of his serious illness, Gu Yuanbai incidentally heard a few very familiar names that eventually made him recall something. He did not transmigrate into an unfounded world, he transmigrated into a book.

The young emperor in the book would die within a few years. He would give up his throne to the famous Prince Regent, the gong2 male protagonist in the book. The shou3 male protagonist in the book was a capable minister that would assist the Prince Regent to rule, leaving behind a good name handed down from generation to generation.

Gu Yuanbai was a straight man – iron straight. He knew of this book because it was adapted into the court’s political battle of socialist brotherhood web drama.

After knowing that he could not live for a few years, Gu Yuanbai then accepted[his fate]. His previous ambitions were all thrown aside. He had not even smelled the braised duck in soy sauce4.

The throne was destined not to be his. No matter how much he did now, it would all let the future emperor pick up a bargain5.

During this illness, Gu Yuanbai thought a lot about it and finally decided to go with the flow. He took care of himself in the past few years and enjoyed the last period of his enthronement life. In passing, he would pick up soy sauce6 and watch the socialist brotherhood of the two male protagonists in the book.

Gu Yuanbai had never seen such a socialist brotherhood.

“Your Majesty, it’s done.” Tian Fusheng put down Gu Yuanbai’s feet cautiously, for fear of hurting the emperor.

When Gu Yuanbai finally stood on the ground, the palace maids came to dress Gu Yuanbai in his informal clothes that had been well-smoked with incense.

Before the clothes had been properly changed, a eunuch came to inform him, “Your Majesty, He Qinwang7 together with Minister of Revenue and his son are waiting outside the palace hall.”

“Let them in,” said Gu Yuanbai.

The eunuch led three people in. The three people performed the courtesies toward Gu Yuanbai. Gu Yuanbai faintly responded, “Rise.”

The son of the Minister of Revenue had not yet been capped8, exactly at the age of being fearless. He was told by his father ten to twenty times in the morning that he should not look directly at the emperor’s face. However, he wanted to do what he was not allowed to do. At present, standing behind He Qinwang and his father, he secretly raised his eyes through the hidden corner.

The Lord of the country, as Gu Yuanbai said, was the most delicate person raised by the power of the whole country.

When the young gongzi9 raised his eyes, he saw that the palace maid carefully arranged the emperor’s fine black hair behind him. Today, the emperor had recovered from his illness. To celebrate, he especially wore a red robe. A slight redness reflected on his jade face.

The young gongzi’s breath got caught and his heart pounded. At once, he lowered his head frantically and did not dare to look up again.

“This is Tang-Daren’s10 eldest son?”

Gu Yuanbai’s tone was kind. Tang-Daren was flattered. He bowed in respect and said, “Your Majesty said to your servant11 previously that there were fewer young people in the palace. My son’s aptitude is mediocre and his innate is imbecile, but he is better than his peers and usually quite noisy. If Your Majesty doesn’t dislike him, your servant will let him enter the palace often to accompany Your Majesty to relieve boredom.”

Gu Yuanbai wanted to sigh again.

A few days ago, he had just made a major political change. The purpose of this suggestion was to let these ministers send their children to the palace, which was not only to use as a rope to restrain these ministers but also to show imperial favor. It was both to beat and dote on the few divided scholar-bureaucrat cliques. Thirdly, he wanted to see if there were any promising talents to cultivate loyalty for his use as soon as possible.

However, right now, he didn’t have the heart.

“Come here, let Zhen has a good look,” Gu Yuanbai beckoned the young gongzi. “Don’t be modest, Tang-Daren. Zhen has heard of your reputation being skillful in teaching and able to provide guidance.”

The young gongzi held his breath as he walked to the front of the emperor. Tang-Daren’s back was slightly wet. Ever since the emperor cleaned up the Imperial Court in one stroke, he was always nervous when facing the emperor. The prestige of the emperor in the Imperial Court had become more and more profound. He was worried that his son would be discourteous in front of the emperor.

Fortunately, the emperor ought to be in a good mood today, his questioning was also very harmonious. The young gongzi answered them one by one, and his stuttering from the beginning gradually relaxed.

Gu Yuanbai was about to take a cup of tea, but his hand suddenly shook due to loss of strength. The cup fell to the ground with a piercing sound. Gu Yuanbai looked at the pieces on the ground only to feel a burst of anger attack his heart. His throat itched and he began to cough up.

The young gongzi was startled and subconsciously looked at the emperor. The emperor’s white transparent fingers touched his chest, his eyebrows creased slightly, and his previously pale lips were red as if dyed with rouge.

The emperor had a beautiful appearance of infinite spring breeze and endless autumn moon, similar to the rare unique celadon porcelain, a luxury that people would not dare to touch or near.

“Your Majesty.” The young gongzi mustered his courage. He reached out to support Gu Yuanbai and worriedly said, “Are (courteous) you alright?”

The broken teacup had been cleaned up. Gu Yuanbai stopped coughing and showed a smile, “Good boy, Zhen is fine.”

He Qinwang, who had not spoken since entering the palace hall, sneered and said cooly, “Your Majesty should take good care of the dragon’s body. When Father Emperor passed on the country to Your Majesty, Your Majesty was not as frail as now.”

Gu Yuanbai sighed, “He Qinwang is right.”

Gu Yuanbai quickly adjusted his mood. He got up to go outside the palace hall and looked up at the sky, “Today’s weather is really good.”

“Your Majesty is in good health, thus the sky is clear,” said the Minister of Revenue, following closely. “During the days when Your Majesty was ill, the people in the capital city were also grieving. Every day, they prayed for Your Majesty at home. Your Majesty governs the country by virtue, thus the people in the country willingly obey. The Heavens also cherish Your Majesty.”

The emperor laughed. The Minister of Revenue saw this and continued to exert himself, “These two days should be sunny. The spring rain is as precious as oil. With a little drizzle a few days ago, the grass and wildflowers in the countryside are in full bloom. My son even said that they will have a Cuju12 match tomorrow.”

“Oh?” Gu Yuanbai was interested, “Cuju match?”

Nowadays, the emperor was fond of Cuju, which was known to all. The young gongzi blushed and said as he gave a salute, “Tomorrow is a Cuju match that the students in the school have arranged for. There are four student teams and the match will last for three hours.”

Gu Yuanbai said, “Hearing it makes Zhen interested. When and where will the Cuju match be held tomorrow? Zhen is going to watch.”

The young gongzi responded with a trembling voice, “Yes, yes.”

Tian Fusheng sharply noticed the fatigue between the emperor’s eyebrows. He quickly stepped forward and asked the Minister of Revenue and his son to leave. He Qinwang, who stood aside like a block of wood, looked livid at this moment. He glared at Gu Yuanbai and left with a fling of his sleeve.

Looking at his ugly look, Gu Yuanbai laughed for a while and only stopped when his chest felt constricted. He said in a high spirit, “Tian Fusheng, go. Follow Zhen to take a stroll in the imperial garden.”

“Yes.”

*

As soon as Tang-Daren and his son left the palace, they hurriedly went separate way. One went to find the Minister of War to prepare for the emperor’s outing to watch the Cuju match tomorrow. The other returned to the school and went to talk about the emperor’s presence to the Headmaster.

As expected, this news caused a tempestuous storm in the National Academy. The Headmaster dallied before standing up and said, “The emperor comes in person?”

The teaching assistant and the Zhijiang13 gasped and supported each other. They looked at Tang Mian, the son of the Minister of Revenue, eagerly without their usual stern and reserved selves.

Tang Mian was equally excited, “The emperor said he’ll come to see the Cuju match of our school.”

The Headmaster was a fifth rank official and had only ever seen the emperor from afar. When he heard the news, he suddenly felt great joy in his chest. He walked around the room with a face shining with happiness, laughing from time to time, similar to being excited after drunk.

The teaching assistant and the Zhijiang had never seen the emperor’s face. One of them, the Zhijiang over 50 years old, involuntarily leaked two lines of tears and murmured to the person beside him, “I’d never thought that I could have a day to see His Majesty.”

The teaching assistant managed to calm down with great difficulty, “Headmaster, the four of Cuju teams in our school are recruited randomly. There are good and bad abilities. If they play like this, they will certainly spoil His Majesty’s mood to enjoy.”

The Headmaster’s footsteps paused before he nodded, “Right. Then, immediately re-assign the four teams playing Cuju with the amazing ones today. Hahaha. Those boys, I’m afraid that when they heard His Majesty is coming, all of them will swarm around.”

The Headmaster thought of something. He turned his head and asked Tang Mian, “Does His Majesty say it’s a private visit or with great fanfare?”

Tang Mian spoke falteringly, “His Majesty didn’t say that, but my father has gone to the Ministry of War.”

After mulling over it, the Headmaster stroked his beard and nodded. He no longer spoke much to Tang Mian, “You have to be on the field tomorrow, so have a good rest today. Win glory for our National Academy tomorrow.”

Tang Mian firmly said, “Student will!”

As long as he thought that the emperor would come to see him play Cuju tomorrow, he felt energized. How he wished today was tomorrow so that the emperor would know how amazing he was.