Chapter 7: Walking alone in the rain

After returning to his sleeping palace, the Emperor found a faint anger unexpectedly rising within him.

Not because of the Crown Prince’s overstepping—

But because…

He looked down at his own hand.

The lingering sensation at his fingertips…

Eunuch Zhang Shu repeatedly brought fresh basins of warm water, serving the Emperor as he washed his hands over and over again.

They had been washed so long the skin had already wrinkled slightly, yet since the Emperor had not ordered him to stop, Zhang Shu could only continue changing the water and washing them.

At last Xiao Juan calmed down.

“You may leave.”

Just a pretty ornament, nothing more.

Not worthy of him personally playing with it.

Yet earlier that evening, in a moment of clouded judgment, he had even picked food for him.

Ridiculous.

Zhang Shu hesitated before asking carefully,

“Your Majesty, shall I summon someone to attend your bedchamber tonight?”

Xiao Juan had intended to casually choose someone.

But as his fingertips rubbed lightly together, the wrinkled sensation from excessive washing left his heart strangely calm.

“No need.”

After finishing his service, Zhang Shu withdrew uneasily.

This Young Lord Lin…

He abruptly cut off the thought before it could continue.

When it came to the affairs of nobles, servants survived longest by pretending to have neither eyes nor mouths—only ears to listen for orders.

Late summer arrived.

After drinking medicine for quite some time, Lin Xiaoque had finally almost recovered.

Shan Xiu brought over one last bowl, announcing happily that after this one, his master would no longer need medicine.

Lin Xiaoque felt numb at the sight of it.

“I’m already better,” he tried protesting weakly.

Shan Xiu shook his head disapprovingly.

“Master, those who travel a hundred li are only halfway there at ninety. This is the final bowl. We cannot fail at the last step.”

Ever since beginning to serve Lin Xiaoque, Shan Xiu had secretly spent his free time studying so he could tell better stories and quote historical classics with ease.

Now he immediately launched into two lengthy historical examples about famous figures who had failed because they gave up halfway.

By the end of it, Lin Xiaoque’s head hurt more than before.

“Alright, alright—I’ll drink it.”

Only then did Shan Xiu finally stop talking, secretly grinning as he handed over the medicine bowl.

Lin Xiaoque drank it in one breath, frowning deeply.

Shan Xiu immediately offered rinse tea.

The moment Lin Xiaoque finished rinsing, heavy rain suddenly began pouring outside the window.

Violent rain swept in with strong winds.

Cool air brushed against Lin Xiaoque’s face, instantly lifting his mood.

Shan Xiu moved to close the window, but Lin Xiaoque stopped him.

“Why close it? Let it blow.”

Shan Xiu insisted he would catch cold again.

Lin Xiaoque replied helplessly,

“I’m not some porcelain doll. You act like I can’t even feel wind all day long. Am I going to shatter from a little breeze?”

Unable to win the argument, Shan Xiu somehow ended up holding an umbrella in front of Lin Xiaoque instead.

Caught between laughter and tears, Lin Xiaoque scolded lightly:

“Shan Xiu!”

“Master, you just finished your medicine. You absolutely cannot repeat the same mistake.”

Lin Xiaoque pushed the umbrella away.

“I’m a person, not a vase. You don’t need to take care of me so delicately. Wind and rain are wonderful—cool and beautiful. Look at it, transparent and endless. If the rain flooded the entire palace, I could even go swimming.”

Shan Xiu sighed helplessly.

“You don’t even know how to swim. At that point, this servant would have to carry Master out of the palace.”

Then he added mournfully,

“But there are no golden houses outside the palace. Master wouldn’t be able to rest properly and recover from illness. Better not go out.”

Lin Xiaoque immediately protested:

“Why would I need a golden house? Shan Xiu, the way you treat me, it’s like I’m some omega pregnant with a baby. This isn’t allowed, that isn’t allowed.”

At those words, Shan Xiu suddenly fell silent.

Lin Xiaoque blinked.

“What’s wrong? Did that offend you somehow?”

But Shan Xiu had only heard the mention of babies, and a strange pain rose inside him.

Would his master someday marry?

Did his master want children?

Before he could stop himself, the thoughts in his heart slipped out through his mouth.

“Having babies is exhausting. It’s good that Master isn’t an omega. If this servant were one… then this servant would give Master a child.”

Lin Xiaoque burst into laughter and collapsed onto the bed.

Even the corners of his eyes grew damp from laughing too hard.

Now that the words had already escaped, Shan Xiu could not take them back.

Face red, he hurriedly explained:

“This servant just spoke casually. If Master takes it seriously, this servant really can’t produce a child out of thin air.”

How could Lin Xiaoque possibly take it seriously?

He was merely a cannon-fodder gong completing a mission. How could he leave behind children?

Still laughing, he sat up again.

“I don’t want children, and I won’t marry either. With a body like mine, I’d only burden someone else.”

“Master!”

Unexpectedly, Shan Xiu became unhappy.

“What’s wrong with your body? You’re no worse than anyone else. Why can’t you marry and have children?”

Lin Xiaoque smiled lightly.

“Being able to live peacefully is already enough. If I can’t properly take responsibility for a wife and child, then I’d rather not drag anyone else into it.”

Looking out toward the rain outside, he smiled again.

“Don’t keep defending me, Shan Xiu. Look how heavy the rain is.”

The rain truly was heavy.

Heavy enough that even Xie Zhichi inside the dungeon could sense it.

From his corner, he slowly lifted his head toward the narrow window.

Beyond it, everything looked blurred beneath sheets of water.

Listening to the roaring rain, Xie Zhichi suddenly raised his hand as though trying to catch it.

He was thirsty.

There had been much rain this year.

Perhaps autumn would bring a great harvest.

The rice Brother Yun planted would surely grow into endless grain.

If he returned home and became a village teacher, he could at least earn a livelihood and repay Brother Yun’s kindness.

Instead—

He was trapped here waiting for death.

Waiting for endless dark nights to brighten without hope.

Nineteen-year-old Xie Zhichi wanted to go home.

At this moment, all his ambitions and hatred faded away.

He only missed home.

Missed his family.

Missed eating a meal peacefully beside Brother Yun.

Missed helping him with everyday tasks.

Back then, Yun Muhe never allowed Xie Zhichi to do hard labor.

He was forbidden from chopping wood in the mountains or working in the fields.

All Yun Muhe wanted was for him to study.

To keep studying.

To change the fate of poverty.

But Xie Zhichi had failed to change his destiny.

His fate had become a swamp of mud.

The deeper he sank, the deeper he fell—

Until finally, when it reached above his head, the only thing left was to end himself.

Looking at the rain outside the narrow window, Xie Zhichi remembered his younger self.

On stormy days, with straw sandals soaked in mud, he would laugh and run all the way home through the rain.

Back then, the rain still poured.

And he still ran.

Ran until completely soaked.

Brother Yun would scold him lightly:

“You forgot your umbrella again!”

Then urge him to hurry and bathe before he caught cold—because they had no money for medicine.

After bathing, Xie Zhichi would laugh noisily and promise:

“Next time I’ll definitely remember my umbrella. I absolutely won’t forget again.”

It was raining now too.

But where was his umbrella?

Xie Zhichi could no longer find it.

Meanwhile, out in the storm, Lin Xiaoque suddenly dashed into the rain holding an umbrella.

Shan Xiu shouted for him not to run, but Lin Xiaoque only laughed.

“The room felt too stuffy.”

After only a few steps, he became breathless and slowed down.

“Shan Xiu, you’re always restraining me. This time don’t follow me. I want to walk around by myself.”

Naturally Shan Xiu refused.

So Lin Xiaoque smilingly ordered the other eunuchs to hold Shan Xiu back.

“You should rest properly. I’m really not a porcelain doll. I’ll just take a short walk and come back.”

Holding the umbrella, Lin Xiaoque wandered through the rain in a cheerful mood.

Rain splashed noisily around him.

Gradually his shoes became soaked.

Smiling, he told 233:

【My shoes are wet.】

【Oh, Host’s shoes are wet,】233 replied.

Lin Xiaoque laughed softly.

【I can still walk around alive. I can still soak my own shoes. 233… being alive feels wonderful.】

【Of course,】233 answered. 【Once you die, everything disappears. Only while alive can stories exist. Death leaves behind only emptiness.】

Then suddenly, 233 made a promise.

【Host, you’ll live through many, many worlds. You’ll keep living, experiencing different lives and seeing different scenery. Spring, summer, autumn, winter—wind, frost, rain, dew. I can’t promise your future path will always be smooth, but Host… as long as the system exists, you’ll exist too.】

Lin Xiaoque laughed beneath the umbrella.

【System, the things you say sound way too much like a confession. So cheesy.】

【I have indeed downloaded many books about human relationships,】233 answered proudly. 【Including topics like how employees should present themselves, how bosses should encourage subordinates, how to speak in ways that make family members happy… and naturally, how boyfriends should talk to cheer up their girlfriends.】

【As a system,】233 declared proudly, 【constant learning is the stairway to improvement.】

Lin Xiaoque laughed and chatted playfully with 233 while the rain continued pouring around him.

Then suddenly—

He walked directly into someone.

His umbrella even flew from his hand and landed on the ground.

Nearly losing balance, Lin Xiaoque was steadied by the other person grabbing his arm.

It was an exceptionally tall man.

Once stable again, Lin Xiaoque realized how careless he had been and hurriedly apologized.

“Did I hurt you? I’m sorry, I got distracted just now.”

Qin Min stared at the beautiful young man before him and froze briefly.

The character “Min” meant annihilation.

When Qin Min was born, he had nearly died young. The name was chosen as a symbolic gesture—survival through death.

Since childhood he had practiced martial arts relentlessly.

Gradually his health improved.

He grew taller and broader, entirely shedding the weak appearance of his youth.

Later, on the battlefield, he earned countless military achievements—defeating northern invaders and suppressing southern rebellions. He became one of the Emperor’s most trusted generals.

Unlike many military commanders, Qin Min did not cling to military authority.

After returning to the capital, he immediately surrendered command of his troops.

Generals who delayed returning to court or refused to relinquish power often ended badly.

Qin Min understood clearly that the Emperor was not paranoid by nature—

He simply refused to allow any official to possess power capable of threatening imperial authority.

Qin Min understood the situation well.

He even declined being granted a marquis title, claiming he wished only to remain Da Ye’s general for life and serve humbly beneath the Emperor.

This attitude of exalting the ruler while lowering ministers fit perfectly with Xiao Juan’s preferences.

In the end, Xiao Juan still granted him the title.

Refusing once was acceptable.

Refusing repeatedly would only arouse suspicion.

Qin Min had entered the palace today to discuss official business.

Being suddenly collided with had been entirely unexpected.

After years of martial training, naturally he would not be injured.

Yet he still stood stunned for several moments before recovering himself.

Rain continued pouring.

Lin Xiaoque’s umbrella had fallen into muddy water.

Raindrops slid across his hair, nose, and lips, dampening them softly.

He apologized awkwardly again, but the man before him still failed to react.

Standing there uneasily with wet eyelashes trembling beneath the rain, Lin Xiaoque suddenly saw the man hand over his own umbrella.

“Take it.”

The man’s voice was low and powerful, like the silence after clashing blades on a battlefield.

Lin Xiaoque froze.

The man directly shoved the umbrella into his hands before turning and walking alone into the rain.

Only after the figure nearly vanished did Lin Xiaoque finally react.

“Your umbrella!”

But within the heavy storm, the man was already nowhere to be seen.

Holding the umbrella tightly, Lin Xiaoque thought helplessly:

I don’t even know his name now. There’s no way to return it.

Lowering his head, he looked at his own umbrella lying ruined in the mud, one rib snapped cleanly.

Unable to stop himself, Lin Xiaoque felt slightly envious of that stranger.

Tall.

Powerful.

Steady as a mountain.

The kind of strength he had never possessed in either this life or his previous one.

Even the man’s skin tone differed from his own pale sickliness.

He looked like the vast desert beneath yellow sands—grand and imposing.

Rooted in the earth itself.

Like a sword capable of splitting the heavens.

At that moment, all the youthful dreams Lin Xiaoque once held about wandering swordsmen and heroic generals came flooding back like the endless storm around him.

He stretched out a hand beneath the umbrella’s edge to catch the rainwater.

Soon it overflowed his palm and slipped through his fingers.

At that moment Shan Xiu finally found him.

Originally, he had come because of the top scholar’s matter.

Ever since learning his master liked Xie Zhichi, Shan Xiu had secretly kept people monitoring him.

A new punishment hall had recently been established in the palace, and Xie Zhichi had been dragged there.

But after finding his master, Shan Xiu gradually calmed down.

Even if Master learned the truth, what could he do?

Fight against the Emperor again?

Last time he had already suffered terribly.

If he interfered again afterward, who knew what would happen.

Besides, Shan Xiu had long investigated Xie Zhichi thoroughly.

Not only did he already have a child bride back in the countryside, but he was also entangled with the prime minister’s omega son.

Forget that he was a man—

Even if he were an omega, he still would not be suitable for his master.

Walking over, Shan Xiu transformed the truth into a lie before it could leave his mouth.

“Master, the top scholar was stripped of his title and driven out of the capital as a commoner.”

“Would you like to see him one last time?” Shan Xiu asked softly. “If we leave now, perhaps we can still catch him.”

Lin Xiaoque turned beneath the umbrella and looked at Shan Xiu.

Seeing through the lie immediately, his feelings became complicated.

But outwardly he only responded with quiet melancholy:

“Alright.”

Lin Xiaoque was actually free to leave the palace whenever he wished.

But because of his poor health, he rarely ever went out.

Shan Xiu hurried back to retrieve travel tokens for leaving the palace.

At the same time, he sternly warned all the palace servants not to mention a single word about the top scholar in front of the master.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiaoque waited along the palace road.

Rain dripped from the eaves.

Looking toward the sky, he watched distant green mountains blur beneath gray weather.

In his hand he held the umbrella given by the stranger.

Simple and plain, lacking the elegant painted bamboo patterns of his own umbrella—

Yet larger and sturdier.

The palace road stood empty.

Lin Xiaoque casually spun the umbrella handle in his palm, sending droplets scattering like strings of pearls.

The distant mountains seemed to draw closer.

Green reflected faintly in his eyes.

He gazed far away—or perhaps nowhere at all—simply allowing his thoughts to drift freely through the rainy world.

When Shan Xiu returned, they left the palace in a carriage and headed toward the eastern gate of Yejing.

If Xie Zhichi truly returned home, he would leave through that direction.

Along the way, Shan Xiu said quietly:

“Once the top scholar returns home, marries his child bride, and lives an ordinary peaceful life… perhaps that’s not so bad. Don’t you think so, Master?”

Lin Xiaoque merely hummed softly in agreement, clearly low in spirits.

Shan Xiu watched him and said nothing more.

When they reached the eastern gate—

There was no top scholar there at all.

Holding the umbrella, Lin Xiaoque stood outside Yejing City for nearly half an hour before quietly saying:

“Let’s return to the palace.”

“Master?”

Lin Xiaoque replied softly,

“We were strangers to begin with. Even if he saw me, he wouldn’t recognize me.”

“To escort someone a thousand li still ends in farewell eventually. Let him go.”

Closing the umbrella, he stepped back into the carriage.

233 spoke up:

【Another plot point completed.】

Still wearing a melancholic expression, Lin Xiaoque asked inwardly:

【When the protagonist shou gets physically and emotionally abused… what exactly happens to him?】

【The proud son of heaven falls into becoming a palace s*ave,】233 answered. 【Other palace slaves despise him. He’s forced to do filthy exhausting labor.】

Lin Xiaoque frowned.

【Why must palace slaves torment other palace slaves?】

【Because the plot requires it.】233 sounded impatient. 【Host shouldn’t worry about it. Just appear when the plot requires your appearance.】

Lin Xiaoque noticed the faint impatience in 233’s tone and stopped asking further questions.

After all, he was still a newcomer unfamiliar with many things.

Constantly asking questions probably annoyed systems quite a bit.

Sensing Lin Xiaoque’s mood, 233’s internal program became slightly irritable.

He did not want his host growing attached to characters within the plot.

Nor did he want to constantly lie to him.

But Lin Xiaoque was still new, not an experienced veteran.

Having sympathy was perfectly natural.

To 233, the Quick Transmigration Bureau did not care about the fates of individual novel characters.

What mattered was the world itself—the independent small world created after the text evolved.

Once born, those worlds would continue producing more living beings and civilizations.

Those civilizations themselves were treasures of the universe.

The main characters of novels were merely firewood.

Tools meant to ignite world evolution.

Burn them, complete the world, leave behind ashes—

That was the destiny of novel characters.

Sacrifice one person to fulfill countless others.

The Quick Transmigration Department always chose the latter.

Besides, without taskers entering, those stories would never become alive in the first place.

They would remain nothing but text.

Once taskers entered, the stagnant two-dimensional stories transformed into real three-dimensional worlds.

The characters came alive.

The world gained both past and future.

Taskers themselves were not disposable firewood.

They could travel through countless worlds and help countless worlds evolve.

So wasn’t it natural for systems to protect their hosts?

After raging internally for a while, 233 slowly calmed down and softened his tone.

【I just don’t want Host worrying about unrelated matters. You’ll visit many worlds in the future. If you carry every burden in your heart, it’ll become exhausting.】

【Outside the plot, Host should simply enjoy life. That way this new existence won’t be wasted.】

Lin Xiaoque thought quietly for a moment.

Then noises outside the carriage gradually drew his attention away.

【I’m supposed to be feeling melancholy right now,】he asked. 【But it sounds really lively outside. If I lift the curtain and look, will that count as OOC?】

233 immediately relaxed.

【No. You’re reluctantly watching the scenery because you can’t bear parting from the top scholar. Just make your expression look sad.】

Lin Xiaoque lifted the curtain.

The rain had stopped.

Street vendors had reopened their stalls.

Voices calling out goods, idle chatter, food, games, entertainment—

The once nearly empty streets gradually filled with people again.

The carriage rolled slowly onward while Lin Xiaoque’s gaze wandered eagerly.

Candied hawthorn skewers.

Rattle drums.

Sugar paintings.

Clay figurines.

Cheers from street performers.

Even faint storytelling voices drifting from nearby teahouses.

“Last time we spoke of how a beauty’s scheme turned father and son against one another, causing the great general to fly into furious rage…”

Lin Xiaoque wanted to listen longer.

But the carriage had already passed by.

Unable to catch the rest, he reluctantly shifted his attention elsewhere.

Oil-paper umbrellas.

Cosmetics.

Laughing children.

Vendors loudly advertising herbal tea.

“Cold herbal tea! Only three copper coins! Finest herbal tea around—!”

Lin Xiaoque looked over with a faint smile.

233 panicked and immediately warned him.

At once, tears slid down Lin Xiaoque’s face as he corrected himself aloud:

“Returning home… is probably for the best.”

Pinching his own thigh painfully hard, he forced the smile into bitterness.

There was not the slightest trace of joy upon his face.

233 finally relaxed again.

Lin Xiaoque no longer dared continue watching.

The lively bustling streets might easily shake his emotions and distract him.

He lowered the curtain and leaned quietly against the carriage wall, closing his eyes.

Watching the moisture clinging to his master’s eyelashes, Shan Xiu’s heart trembled.

For one brief moment, he nearly confessed the truth.

But then he remembered the image of his master kneeling stubbornly in the rain before the Emperor.

Gripping the edge of the table tightly, Shan Xiu let the sharp corner dig painfully into his palm.

He never wanted his master to suffer like that again.

If speaking the truth meant forcing his master to suffer in place of the top scholar—

Then he absolutely would not say it.

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