At midnight, after working overtime for half a month straight, Zhao Yan finally walked out of the steel-and-concrete high-rise.
The night sky was hazy, with sparse vehicles on the streets and only a few scattered pedestrians passing by. At this hour, both buses and subways had stopped running, leaving him no choice but to hail a taxi by the roadside.
Feeling drowsy, he leaned against a straight streetlamp while waiting, yawning. His eyelids drooped, his gaze lowered, and he stared blankly at the ground.
Not far from his feet, the lamplight flickered, like ripples spreading from near to far. The water was a cold, azure blue, and in it, he saw his own weary face…
Zhao Yan thought he must have gone mad from overwork—how could there be water on a perfectly dry road when it hadn’t even rained?
He rubbed his eyes, but the pool at his feet remained.
Just as he was about to step back, a pair of hands suddenly reached out from behind and shoved him hard into the water.
Splash!
The push was so forceful he couldn’t steady himself. He barely had time to turn his head before he fell backward into the icy lake. Water flooded his eyes, and through the ripples, he vaguely glimpsed a cold, indifferent face.
The owner of that face wore a blue-gray round-collared eunuch jacket, with a particularly noticeable black mole at the end of his eyebrow. The surroundings swiftly shifted from the empty, long street to a quiet, dark flowerbed.
The frigid lake water rushed into Zhao Yan’s lungs. Already dizzy from overtime, he now felt like a fragile watermelon… He barely struggled before sinking to the bottom.
How utterly unjust!
He was just an ordinary office drone—who would stay up all night to harm him?
Was it for his pitifully meager savings?
The lake was bone-chillingly cold, and the intense water pressure made his consciousness fade… He had always been an orphan. If he died, probably no one would remember him.
If there was a next life, he hoped to have parents who loved him and a home to return to when he was tired.
And, if possible, he wished to be a bit smarter.
He didn’t know how much time had passed before he heard someone sobbing by the bedside.
Someone scolded, “Stop crying! The imperial physician said Xiao Qi’s pulse is stable. He’s just asleep and will wake up!”
The crying gradually ceased, and a gaze fell upon him. The tone of the scolder shifted, gritting teeth as she asked, “How did he end up in the lake for no reason? Make Ban Xia kneel properly. If Xiao Qi doesn’t wake up, she can kneel until she dies!”
Chen Xiang glanced back at Ban Xia, who was kneeling outside the room, her face pale. Though she felt some pity, this was indeed Ban Xia’s fault.
She had been told not to leave the Seventh Prince unattended, yet she had let him be alone.
After her outburst, Li Meiren asked Chen Xiang, “Did you deliver the message to the Changji Palace? Has His Majesty come?”
Chen Xiang lowered her head and whispered, “This servant delivered the message. Feng Zongguan said His Majesty is busy these days and should not be disturbed unless necessary…”
Li Meiren pressed her lips together, her warm hand clasping the small one hanging by the bed. Tears welled in her eyes. “My Xiao Qi is blessed and will surely be fine…” As she spoke, her eyes widened slightly.
The child under the quilt, who had been tightly shut-eyed, now had his eyes wide open. His long, curled eyelashes blinked twice as he stared back at her, wide-eyed, for two seconds.
“Xiao Qi, you’re finally awake!” Li Meiren cried with joy, reaching out to pull the child into her arms, her hands trembling as she held him.
Zhao Yan, squeezed tightly, struggled to breathe, his dark eyes momentarily confused. A wave of discomfort hit his lungs, and he couldn’t help but cough repeatedly.
Li Meiren finally released her grip and looked down to ask him, “Xiao Qi, where else are you feeling unwell?” She then turned and instructed Chen Xiang, “Quickly, go fetch the imperial physician at once!”
Everything felt utterly unfamiliar.
Had he descended to the underworld, or had someone saved him?
Zhao Yan’s mind was muddled, and before he could process the situation, he instinctively asked the woman before him, “Who are you?”
Upon hearing his own voice, he realized it was soft and childlike—completely that of a young boy. Glancing at his hands… they were small and delicate, unmistakably a child’s.
Zhao Yan grew even more bewildered, his round eyes blinking rapidly in confusion.
To Li Meiren and Chen Xiang, his dazed expression seemed almost possessed.
Li Meiren lowered her voice and called out, “Xiao Qi?”
Zhao Yan looked up blankly: Was she calling him? Was he Xiao Qi?
Back in the orphanage, he had also been ranked seventh, and the matron had called him that too.
But given the current circumstances, it was highly likely he had traveled through time.
Such a reckless question would surely be mistaken for a ghostly possession.
Sure enough, the next moment, Li Meiren’s face paled dramatically, and she immediately shouted, “Chen Xiang, hurry, go fetch Yu Zhen Fashi! Xiao Qi must have been haunted by something in the water!”
Yu Zhen Fashi?
What was that?
His mind instantly conjured images of sorceresses wildly shaking bells and dancing… Would these people drag him out and burn him without even asking for an explanation?
Zhao Yan panicked slightly—perhaps because he had become younger, his courage had shrunk as well. His small face turned pale, and he bit his lip in frustration: If only time could go back to a moment ago, he wouldn’t have spoken carelessly.
No sooner had this thought crossed his mind than a ding-dong sounded in his head. 【Ding. The Infinite Reversion System has been activated. The host can Revert to a previous save an unlimited number of times, with the initial maximum Revert time set to a quarter of an hour. The system will adjust the maximum Revert duration based on the frequency of the host’s usage. For the first activation, the system will automatically Revert to five minutes ago according to the host’s needs. Please prepare.】
Zhao Yan froze: What…
Before he could react, the next second he was lying on the bed again.
Li Meiren, who had just instructed Chen Xiang to summon Yu Zhen Fashi, was now holding his hand, staring at him wide-eyed as before.
Zhao Yan fell silent, his already round eyes widening even further—had time reversed?
A system for every time traveler?
Li Meiren wept with joy once more and reached out to embrace him.
Recalling the earlier suffocation, Zhao Yan instinctively raised a hand to block her, his small body shrinking back in resistance.
Li Meiren, having missed her embrace, looked at him puzzled and tentatively asked, “Xiao Qi, what’s wrong?”
Zhao Yan pressed his lips together and remained silent, his fair little face flushing red with effort. His expression appeared both unfamiliar and wary.
Frowning, Li Meiren immediately turned and instructed Chen Xiang, “Go fetch the imperial physician quickly! Xiao Qi must be feeling unwell somewhere!”
Just as Chen Xiang was about to leave, Li Meiren added, “Oh, and while you’re at it, bring Yu Zhen Fashi as well. Xiao Qi still seems a bit off.”
Zhao Yan’s heart tightened, and he instinctively Reverted immediately. The next second, he was back on the bed, staring wide-eyed at Li Meiren again…
This time, he dropped his guard and allowed Li Meiren to hold him as she wept.
After Li Meiren calmed down, she finally gave up on the idea of summoning Yu Zhen Fashi and only called for the imperial physician to examine him.
Zhao Yan breathed a huge sigh of relief. Thank goodness for the system—it had saved him from his own slow-wittedness.
Soon the imperial physician arrived, performing pulse readings and asking questions. Zhao Yan answered as little as possible, his small body curled up on the bed, neither moving nor speaking. He simply listened quietly to the conversations among the people in the room.
After listening for a long time, based on the people and events they mentioned, he finally pieced together a general understanding.
It seemed he had transmigrated into a book, becoming an early-dying cannon-fodder prince in a story about seizing the throne.
Not long before transmigrating, he had just read a novel. The novel told the story of several princes of the Great Chu competing for the throne. The Seventh Prince happened to share the same name as him, so he had paid special attention to those parts.
When Li Meiren was pregnant, she dreamed of a golden dragon entering her dream, convincing her that her son was exceptional and destined to rise to great heights. Thus, from the age of one, she began teaching the original host to recognize characters. The original host was clever and quickly memorized the characters taught.
Li Meiren became increasingly enthusiastic, tirelessly pushing him along the path of forced growth. Before entering the palace, she hadn’t read much, and her two palace maids were also largely illiterate. By the time the original host reached five and a half years old, she was already struggling to teach him. So she considered sending the child to audit classes at the Imperial Study where the princes studied.
In the Great Chu dynasty, princes only began formal studies at age six, but the Tianyou Emperor valued his sons’ education highly. Sending children to audit classes at five and a half had seemingly become customary in the palace.
The Second Prince, born to Wen Guifei, and the Third Prince, born to Chen Fei, had done the same.
But Li Meiren wasn’t favored. Since becoming pregnant with the Seventh Prince, she had never received the emperor’s favor. After much deliberation and bribing with silver, she finally managed to plead her case to the empress.
When she entered the palace, it was Jiang Huanghou who had approved her selection. Jiang Huanghou, known for her kindness, agreed to let the Seventh Prince audit the classes.
Before Li Meiren could rejoice for long, the original host accidentally fell into the lotus pond.
The Seventh Prince who woke up afterward became him—a child not yet six years old, with a voice still soft and milky.
After the original host’s death, he had found it unlucky and stopped reading the novel.
Later, busy with work and consecutive overtime shifts, he had nearly forgotten the novel’s content.
Only now did he vaguely recall it.
After the imperial physician finished prescribing medicine and left with his medical box, Li Meiren sat back down by the bed. She tucked him in and asked in a hushed voice, “Xiao Qi, tell your mother, how did you end up in the water?”
Xiao Qi had always been well-behaved and would never go near the lotus pond without reason.
Li Meiren was convinced someone had intended to harm her Xiao Qi.
Zhao Yan’s long eyelashes fluttered: When he turned his head at that moment, he seemed to have seen a eunuch’s face.
But it might have been his imagination; he wasn’t sure.
More words meant more mistakes. He shook his head, gave a small yawn, and said in a soft, milky voice, “Mother, I’m sleepy…” After speaking, he closed his eyes.
Seeing him like this, she couldn’t press further. Li Meiren smiled, pulled the quilt up for him again, and coaxed, “Then Xiao Qi should sleep first. Mother will have someone wait outside. Call if you need anything.”
Without even opening his eyes, Zhao Yan pretended to be drowsy and nodded, then began to snore softly.
Seeing this, Li Meiren stood up and signaled for Chen Xiang to leave with her.
Once the door closed, Li Meiren walked up to Ban Xia and said coldly, “Get up. Xiao Qi is fine. I’ll let it slide this time, but don’t let it happen again!”
Ban Xia gratefully nodded repeatedly. As she stood up, her knees, weak from prolonged kneeling, nearly gave way, but fortunately, Chen Xiang steadied her.
Li Meiren took a porcelain bottle from her sleeve and tossed it to her, then asked, “When you found Xiao Qi in the water, did you notice anything unusual?”
Ban Xia shook her head: “No, when this servant arrived, there was no one by the lotus pond.” She too felt wronged—previously when escorting the Seventh Prince to his studies, he had always been well-behaved. But yesterday, for some reason, the Seventh Prince seemed to deliberately shake her off and sneak away alone.
By the time she found the Seventh Prince again, he had already fallen into the water.
Li Meiren pressed her lips together and strode out.
Chen Xiang quickly followed behind her and asked: “Meiren, where are you going?”
Li Meiren: “To see His Majesty, to beg His Majesty to uphold justice for Xiao Qi—someone must have tried to harm Xiao Qi!”
Chen Xiang hastily pulled her back: “Meiren, without any evidence, I fear His Majesty will be angered…”
Everyone in the palace knew that His Majesty had three dislikes: he disliked foolishness, laziness, and those who stirred up trouble without cause.
Li Meiren’s actions would only add to the misfortunes of Jingfu Pavilion.
Li Meiren couldn’t care less—she was determined to appeal to His Majesty and make whoever wanted to harm Xiao Qi think twice.
She ordered Ban Xia to guard the room well, then headed out with Chen Xiang.
Meanwhile, in the Changji Hall, the Tianyou Emperor was reviewing memorials.
Feng Zongguan hurried in, stood by his side, and said quietly: “Your Majesty, Li Meiren from outside requests an audience…”
The Tianyou Emperor set down his brush after finishing the last memorial and asked irritably: “What does she want now?”
Feng Zongguan promptly gathered the memorials and replied cautiously: “Li Meiren claims the Seventh Prince was pushed into the lotus pond…”
The Tianyou Emperor rubbed his temples: He still remembered Li Meiren’s stunning beauty that once captivated the capital when she first entered the palace.
Though the beauty wasn’t exactly foolish, she certainly wasn’t clever enough.
After cold-shouldering her for years, she still hadn’t broken the habit of speaking without thinking!
He had already sent someone to investigate the day the Seventh Prince fell into the water—it was clearly an accident.
What new trouble was she trying to stir up now?
The Tianyou Emperor said impatiently: “Send her away, and from now on, forbid her from approaching Changji Hall!”
Feng Zongguan acknowledged the order and hurried out.
In the blink of an eye, he hurried in again from the doorway, stood by his side, and said quietly: “Your Majesty, Li Meiren from Jingfu Pavilion requests an audience…”
The Tianyou Emperor gave him a strange look and was about to reprimand him when he suddenly realized he was holding the last memorial he had just reviewed.
But the memorial was blank, clearly just unfolded…
The Tianyou Emperor felt dazed: Had he reviewed too many memorials and started hallucinating?
Before he could speak, Feng Zongguan, who had just been standing beside him, hurried in again from outside, stood by his side, and said quietly: “Your Majesty, Li Meiren from Jingfu Pavilion requests an audience…”
The Tianyou Emperor stared at Feng Zongguan in eerie silence.
Feng Zongguan grew uneasy under his gaze and couldn’t help but ask softly: “Your Majesty, is there something improper about this servant?”
The Tianyou Emperor rubbed his temple forcefully and shook his head: “No, perhaps it is We who are improper. Quick, summon the imperial physician!!”
He must have been too diligent and overworked, suffering from severe hallucinations.
As soon as he finished speaking, in the blink of an eye, Feng Zongguan hurried in yet again from outside…
The Tianyou Emperor: Will this never end