Chapter 1: Pleading for mercy in the pouring rain [ Volume 1: Cannon Fodder Gong in Ancient Abusive Novels]

Amid the torrential rain, the heir Lin Xiaoque knelt outside the Emperor’s sleeping palace, pleading on behalf of the top scholar, Xie Zhichi.

The eunuch Zhang Shu urged him, saying,
“Your Highness the Heir, please rise.
The top scholar showed disrespect during the palace banquet and spoke with reckless insolence.
He even dared compose poetry mocking His Majesty.
That is the crime of disloyalty and defiance.
His Majesty merely sentenced him to become a palace s*ave already counts as mercy.”

Lin Xiaoque’s face was deathly pale.
The icy rain battered against him, making his entire body tremble faintly.
One hand pressed against the soaked green stone pavement.
His fingertips had turned bluish-white from forcing himself to maintain his kneeling posture, while the constant soaking rain had wrinkled his skin.

He had been frail and sickly since birth, his constitution terribly weak.
This time, however, he had stubbornly insisted on his own way.
He forbade the maids and young eunuchs attending him from holding an umbrella over him, insisting on kneeling in the rain outside the Emperor’s palace to beg for mercy.
No matter the outcome, a serious illness afterward was unavoidable.

No matter how Zhang Shu tried persuading him, Lin Xiaoque refused to rise.
Fearing that something truly disastrous might happen to the heir, Zhang Shu had no choice but to report once more to the Emperor.

After hearing the report, Emperor Xiao Juan said coldly,
“Let him kneel.

“Even if he kneels to death here today, that ungrateful Xie Zhichi will still be castrated.”

Lin Xiaoque was the son of a king with a different surname.
His father had been a great contributor to Great Ye and was granted a royal title for his merits.
Unfortunately, he died young from illness.
His wife followed him in death out of devotion, leaving behind a wailing infant son with no one to rely on.

Remembering his father’s contributions, Emperor Xiao Juan brought Lin Xiaoque into the palace to be raised.

Now eighteen years had passed.

And he had actually learned to threaten him.

Xiao Juan thought coldly,
‘Since he is so ignorant and reckless, then let him die.’

The sound of the storm raged on.
Lin Xiaoque’s consciousness drifted hazily, his vision swimming with dizziness.
He forcibly supported himself, refusing to collapse.

This was a palace novel filled with forced possession, abuse, and deep obsessive love.
He played the role of the cannon fodder top within it, hopelessly infatuated with the protagonist bottom, Xie Zhichi.
Even faced with death nine times over, he would never regret it.

This type of cannon fodder top was also called a “licking dog.”*
Nowadays, such characters were no longer popular.
Employees in the Quick Transmigration Department were unwilling to suffer through these kinds of roles, and almost nobody accepted cannon fodder top missions anymore.

In the end, the department head had no choice but to send System 233 across countless worlds to find an easily fooled host to bind for missions.

At the time, Lin Xiaoque had already been close to death from illness.

System 233 chose him and coaxed him by saying that the life of a cannon fodder top was deeply meaningful.
That the warmth he gave the protagonist bottom through sacrificing everything was like brilliant fireworks in the night sky.
Even if they bloomed for only a fleeting instant in the protagonist’s heart, they would remain unforgettable for a lifetime.

Lin Xiaoque was not stupid.

He simply wanted to live.

He wanted to survive, no matter the cost.

Even if he had to throw away his dignity, he still wanted to keep living.

System 233 comforted him:
【Just hold on a little longer.
Once you faint, it won’t hurt anymore.
Just endure a little more.】

The system’s voice echoed within his mind.
Lin Xiaoque could communicate with it through thought alone, unheard by anyone around him.
At least this prevented him from becoming some lunatic muttering to himself.

Inside his mind, Lin Xiaoque softly responded with an affirmative hum.

His calves hurt terribly.

While kneeling, the weight of his whole body pressed against his lower legs as they struck the hard, freezing stone slabs.
Pain seeped from bone to flesh.

Even his palms trembled painfully from supporting himself for too long.

He was reaching his limit.

Although this body in this life was also frail and sickly, he had been carefully cared for since childhood.
Clothed in luxury, fed exquisite food, surrounded by servants.

Even when he made mistakes while studying and writing as a child, the Grand Tutor would rather strike the Crown Prince’s palms than punish him.

Ordinarily, the Grand Tutor rarely offended the Crown Prince.
Even when mistakes occurred, it was usually the study companions who were punished instead.

There had only been two exceptions.

One of them happened when the Crown Prince dragged him out to skip lessons.
As a result, Lin Xiaoque accidentally fell into Lotus Lake and nearly died.

While recovering from illness afterward, he heard that the next day during lessons, the Grand Tutor had struck the Crown Prince’s palms as punishment.

The Grand Tutor respected Lin Xiaoque’s father and also felt some affection and pity toward Lin Xiaoque himself.

Perhaps the Grand Tutor believed the Crown Prince had done it intentionally.

After all, the Empress had always doted greatly upon Lin Xiaoque.
Maybe the Crown Prince had grown jealous and deliberately tried to kill him.

But that truly was not the case.

The lakeside had simply been too slippery.

The Crown Prince insisted on holding his hand while walking.
Lin Xiaoque refused.
He was unused to such intimacy with others.

One side insisted on holding on.
The other insisted on avoiding him.

In the middle of dodging away, Lin Xiaoque slipped and fell into Lotus Lake.

At the time, the Crown Prince had been terrified.
He even forgot he could not swim and tried jumping in after him.

Fortunately, the young eunuch Zhi Shang stopped the Crown Prince in time.
Otherwise, the situation would have become truly disastrous.

After restraining the Crown Prince, Zhi Shang prepared to jump into the lake himself to save Lin Xiaoque.

But the young eunuch serving Lin Xiaoque moved even faster.

Shan Xiu plunged headfirst into Lotus Lake and rescued Lin Xiaoque from the freezing spring waters.

The first time the Grand Tutor punished the Crown Prince was because of this incident.

The second punishment had been even harsher.

By then, both Lin Xiaoque and the Crown Prince had already grown into youths.

One afternoon during a rest break, Lin Xiaoque lay dozing over his desk.
The lazy afternoon sunlight slowly climbed across his face.

The Crown Prince stared at him in a daze.

Clearly it was brilliant golden light, yet when it fell upon Lin Xiaoque’s face, it only made him appear even colder and more sacred.

Like some ethereal god dwelling in a celestial palace at midnight.

As though, beneath the sunlight, he might slowly dissipate into nothingness.

That overexposed whiteness along his outline looked like a sign that he was about to leave.

The Crown Prince wanted to keep him.

For some reason, his mind muddled over, and he leaned in to kiss him.

It was an extremely light kiss.

So light that Lin Xiaoque never even noticed.

But the Crown Prince’s luck was terrible.

The Grand Tutor happened to walk in at that exact moment.

Furious beyond measure, the Grand Tutor grabbed the teaching rod and struck him.

“Your Highness!
Prince Lin is not your plaything!
How can you insult and toy with him like this?
Where is propriety?
Where are morality and ethics?”

The matter did not grow too large.

But the Empress learned of it.

From that moment onward, her affection toward Lin Xiaoque gradually faded.

In the Empress’s eyes, there was nothing wrong with the Crown Prince.
Rather, it was Lin Xiaoque who had behaved improperly and harbored thoughts of seduction.

The Empress was not a woman, but a ge’er.

In this world, there were three genders:
men, women, and ge’er.

A ge’er could both marry a wife or be married off themselves.
To Lin Xiaoque, they resembled intersex people.
Of course, there were no anatomical diagrams in this world, so he did not know the exact differences, if any existed.

Ge’er who married others were usually controlled extremely harshly.

Not only would they be physically restrained,* they were also rarely allowed outside.
Compared to wives, they were treated more like private property belonging to their masters.

Because of this, ge’er occupied the lowest social position in this world.

Very few women were willing to marry a ge’er.
Most ge’er could only marry men.

When a woman married a man, she could possess her own private property and also had the right to divorce.

But when a ge’er married a man, the relationship carried the nature of servitude.
Though nominally called a wife, they could not own personal property, nor could they separate from their husband.
If the husband died, they either had to be buried alongside him or remain widowed forever.

There was no third path.

Some women with strong and determined personalities who did not wish to marry men would instead take in a ge’er husband.
The ge’er would manage household affairs while the woman focused on commerce and conducting business outside.

Even then, the ge’er still could not possess personal property or divorce.
Managing the household, raising children, and serving the wife became the entirety of their daily lives.

Marriage between ge’er was strictly forbidden, just as marriage between men or between women was forbidden.

Same-s*x marriage was regarded as a violation of moral and social order and prohibited by severe laws.

After Emperor Xiao Juan ascended the throne, the social standing of ge’er improved somewhat.

Xiao Juan liked ge’er.
His empress was a ge’er, and the concubines in his harem were as well.

As those above set the example, common people gradually became less contemptuous toward ge’er.

After learning that the Crown Prince had kissed Lin Xiaoque, the Empress became deeply troubled.

The Crown Prince was the heir to the throne.
Kissing another man would damage his reputation if word spread.

As a result, the Empress intentionally sought to separate the Crown Prince from Lin Xiaoque.

The Crown Prince resisted repeatedly.

And through her son’s resistance, the Empress’s prejudice toward Lin Xiaoque only deepened further.

The atmosphere between Lin Xiaoque and the Empress also became increasingly cold and strained.

Eventually, Lin Xiaoque grew tired of it all.

He said,
“Your Highness, just as the Grand Tutor said, I am not your plaything.
Even if you harbor improper desires, you should not vent them upon me.”

Standing before him, the Crown Prince raised his chin slightly higher the more embarrassed he became, refusing to show weakness.

“Qie Yunü,* do you truly think my persistence all this time was because I regarded you as a plaything?”

Qie Yunü was Lin Xiaoque’s childhood nickname.

To help preserve the life of the perpetually sickly and disaster-prone child, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau suggested giving him a humble, lowly nickname to suppress misfortune.

After much thought, the Emperor settled on the name Qie Yunü.

Facing the Crown Prince, Lin Xiaoque replied,
“Your Highness, regardless of whether it is as a plaything or otherwise, this subject is unwilling.”

The young Xiao Futu’s lips trembled slightly upon hearing those words.

He looked at Lin Xiaoque as though wanting to say something.

But in the end, he merely pressed his lips tightly together.

Again and again, Qie Yunü pushed him away.

Even a clay figure possessed some measure of pride and spirit.
He could not tolerate losing completely while also degrading and pitying himself.

Xiao Futu did not say any heartfelt, desperate words to persuade him to stay.

Instead, he withdrew the excess affection he had shown.
His eyes lowered faintly as he turned away with proud restraint.

From that moment onward, they were never as close as before.

Within the violent storm, Lin Xiaoque could no longer endure.

His body swayed precariously.

At some unknown moment, Emperor Xiao Juan had emerged from the sleeping palace and stood beneath the corridor, silently watching him.

Following the system’s alert, Lin Xiaoque looked over.

Xiao Juan’s gaze fell upon him like cooled branding iron—
unable to burn him any longer, yet still carrying lingering danger.

The rain raged mercilessly.
Cold seeped into his bones.

At last, Lin Xiaoque could hold on no longer.

His body shuddered violently before going limp as he collapsed.

At the edge of unconsciousness, he saw Xiao Juan walking toward him step by step.

Xiao Juan held an umbrella.

Rainwater streamed from its edges like pouring curtains, striking Lin Xiaoque’s brow and eyes, dripping onto his pale lips.

Soaked through, he looked like melting ice.

His eyelashes trembled as he tried to open his eyes, yet he lacked even the strength to do so.

Xiao Juan looked down upon him from above, utterly unmoved by the suffering he endured.

Only after Lin Xiaoque had fully fainted did Xiao Juan finally throw aside the umbrella and lift him into his arms.