Shen Ying lay on the bed, her eyes staring straight upward. Upon closer inspection, she looked utterly devoid of desire to live.
To be frank, she was indeed on the verge of a breakdown.
A fat orange cat system calling itself Golden Bean had pitted her.
She vaguely remembered sleeping in a daze when she heard a voice rambling in her ear. It was indistinctly saying something, so she pricked up her ears, trying to hear clearly. She faintly caught a phrase asking whether she was willing or not.
With her eyes closed, Shen Ying had simply said, “I’m not willing.”
And then she went right back to sleep.
Who could have expected that when she opened her eyes, she would find her room entirely transformed? Her spacious, bright bedroom had turned cramped and narrow, not to mention the surroundings and facilities were incredibly ancient.
That very fat cat named Golden Bean said this was a room where ancient people lived.
Right now, she was no longer the pampered young lady of the Shen family, but a imperial concubine in the ancient emperor’s harem. Having entered the palace just two months ago, she was currently waiting alongside the other newly arrived women to be summoned for the emperor’s favor.
Shen Ying did not know much about ancient customs and asked in detail. In short, it meant she was standing in line waiting for the emperor to bed her.
This realization made Shen Ying explode on the spot. How could such a thing be possible? Why should she stand in line waiting for the emperor to bed her? Who on earth did the emperor think he was?
The fat cat Golden Bean said listlessly, “In the eyes of modern people, the emperor really isn’t much, but this is ancient times. Saying such treasonous words will get your head chopped off. Host, you’d better keep your mouth shut.”
Why should she keep her mouth shut? She didn’t even know why she was here. She clearly remembered sleeping in her own house.
Shen Ying, coming to her senses, immediately targeted the fat cat Golden Bean, demanding to know what was going on.
The fat cat seemed tired. It lay there, its tail flicking gently, still looking listless. Avoiding Shen Ying’s gaze, it said in a low voice, “In short, this is what you agreed to yourself, Host.”
Shen Ying agreed to my foot! She didn’t even know she had agreed to such a thing. She insisted that the fat cat give her an explanation.
Unable to withstand her badgering, the fat cat played back the scene where Shen Ying had agreed.
Seeing the replay, Shen Ying exploded with anger once more. “Where did I agree? Didn’t I say ‘not willing’?”
The fat cat covered the word “not” with its chubby paw. “Aren’t the words ‘willing’ right here?”
Shen Ying looked at it in disbelief. “Did you eat that ‘not’ in front?”
It would have been fine if she hadn’t said anything, but the moment she spoke, the fat cat immediately opened its mouth and literally swallowed that “not” right down, leaving Shen Ying dumbfounded.
Having eaten the word, the fat cat looked even weaker. Its entire body turned semi-transparent, and it could barely keep itself up. It could only sprawl there, pointing at the word “willing” with its paw.
Though it didn’t speak again, its meaning was crystal clear: Shen Ying had said it with her own mouth.
By now, how could Shen Ying not realize that she had been utterly pitted by this fat cat, Golden Bean?
Shen Ying felt aggrieved to the extreme. She lay on the bed, recalling all of Golden Bean’s recent actions, and tears instantly streamed down her face. The more she thought about it, the sadder she felt.
“Host, as long as you… tyrant…, my… can…”
Fretting and crying bitterly, she vaguely heard Golden Bean saying something, but she couldn’t hear it clearly and didn’t take its words to heart.
Having grown up as a favored lady, she had never encountered anything like this in her life. How could she give up her life as a wealthy young heiress just to run off to ancient times to become an emperor’s minor wife, lining up with other women waiting for him to bed her?
She wasn’t crazy or stupid.
“Send me back! Send me home right now, this instant!”
If her parents found out she was missing, who knew how heartbroken they would be?
Unable to see her parents, she felt immensely sad inside.
“Host,” Golden Bean called out.
Shen Ying was crying too bitterly to hear it.
Golden Bean raised its voice and shouted once more, but before Shen Ying could respond, the exertion almost caused Golden Bean to turn into data streams and vanish completely.
Sensing its body’s weakness, Golden Bean glanced at the progress bar above its head and couldn’t help but sigh.
Bringing the host here had already consumed a vast amount of energy; it had no spare energy left to do anything else. Seeing that the host had no intention of cooperating, Golden Bean stared at her intently for a while without rushing to speak.
Without energy, it didn’t even have the strength to talk. Sizzling current noises sounded in its ears, and when it looked up again at the black progress bar on the other side, it was almost full.
If that black progress bar filled up, let alone itself, the entire mini-world would be completely destroyed.
Golden Bean tried to stand up, but its body couldn’t support it, and it flopped back down with a thud. Shen Ying was still crying and didn’t notice its movement.
Naturally, she didn’t see the streams of green numbers surfacing in Golden Bean’s cat eyes either. It couldn’t hold out any longer. To prevent itself from falling into a coma, it had no choice but to force itself to borrow some power to recover enough physical strength so it would have the energy to talk to Shen Ying.
Unfortunately, this borrowed power could only be used by itself. If it could unleash it on others, it could certainly make this mission significantly easier.
Swallowing the “not” earlier hadn’t been an intentional act of troublemaking; rather, this matter had to be done by Shen Ying—no one else would do.
Seeing Shen Ying still weeping, Golden Bean waited a moment before continuing, “Host, don’t worry. Once you soothe the tyrant and prevent him from destroying this mini-world, I will send you back.”
Shen Ying’s eyes were red from crying. She didn’t speak, nor did Golden Bean. Both sides remained silent for a long time until Shen Ying suddenly asked, “Why me?”
Her question caught Golden Bean off guard. The sizzling noise of electrical currents echoed for a good while. Borrowed power faded too quickly, and the interest rate was painfully high. Golden Bean dared not delay any further and quickly spoke up, “Because… because according to Golden Bean’s scan, Host is the most suitable candidate! What the tyrant likes best is a beauty just like you.”
Hearing Golden Bean praise her beauty, Shen Ying accepted it tacitly. She reached out to touch her face, falling silent once more.
Don’t think praising her would make her forgive Golden Bean’s act of dragging her here.
Her hand caressed her cheek; to be honest, it felt quite smooth, and the skin was soft and tender. On second thought, this body was only seventeen years old. When she was seventeen, she was still in high school.
Women in ancient times indeed married and had children at this age.
No, no, no—her situation couldn’t even be called marrying. Her identity was merely an emperor’s minor wife. At the thought of having to compete with other women for the emperor’s favor, just like in TV dramas with all sorts of scheming and intrigue that ended with many people dying, Shen Ying couldn’t help but shudder.
Just thinking about it felt terrifying.
Looking at her hands again, although they were fair and tender, no matter how she looked at them, they couldn’t compare to her original pair of hands.
Shen Ying rubbed her hands together and thought for a moment before saying to Golden Bean, “I don’t think I can do this job. You should send me back and get someone else.”
Golden Bean choked. It had never expected that after Shen Ying looked so deeply lost in thought, her conclusion after all that pondering would be this.
It had gone through so much trouble to bring Shen Ying here. Aside from her, no one could soothe that tyrant. If she left, this world would be utterly destroyed.
Glancing at the black progress bar, the previously listless Golden Bean seemed to be spurred by the shock, instantly perking up.
“Host, please consider it carefully! As long as you soothe the tyrant and stop him from destroying the world, I can make you even more beautiful and give you skin as smooth and delicate as a newborn’s!”
Shen Ying shook her head again. She had no interest whatsoever in becoming more beautiful; she was perfectly satisfied with her face. Although she frequented beauty parlors for skincare, that didn’t mean Golden Bean could entice her with such things.
“No need. You’d better just send me back.”
Golden Bean collapsed again, lying there motionless. It was barely holding itself together, so where could it possibly get extra energy to send the host home?
It was the peak of summer, and the weather was stiflingly hot, with bugs and mosquitoes everywhere. In just the short time she had been talking with Golden Bean, Shen Ying’s arms and face had already been bitten into quite a few bumps.
Most importantly, it was far too hot. She had never been this hot in her life. Sweating profusely, her clothes stuck uncomfortable against her body. The tears she had just shed seemed to have evaporated from the heat.
She sat up from her lying position, grabbed the round fan beside her, and fanned herself vigorously, but the breeze that came out was still scorching.
There was no air conditioning here, and she couldn’t stand staying here for even a second. She wanted to go home.
She had never been subjected to extreme heat or cold before. Having been here for only a short while, her whole body felt thoroughly miserable.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t heard what Golden Bean said earlier. It mentioned that a tyrant in this world was about to undergo a dark turn. Originally, he was supposed to be killed by the male lead, but the tyrant’s blackening value became abnormal, and he ended up killing the male lead instead.
If the tyrant continued to darken until it reached one hundred percent, this mini-world would be destroyed.
Unluckily, Golden Bean was the administrator in charge of this mini-world. To prevent the world under its care from being destroyed, Golden Bean went through layer upon layer of screening and finally selected Shen Ying.
The tyrant’s official wife had passed away back when he was still the crown prince. This tyrant was an exceptionally devoted lover. To mourn his late wife, after becoming emperor, he posthumously conferred upon her the title of Empress.
His wife had been dead for six years, and it had been four years since the tyrant ascended the throne, yet he had no concubines around him—not a single one.
The tyrant also had a son. On the day of his coronation, while posthumously honoring his late wife, he also designated his then two-year-old son as the crown prince.
Golden Bean said that the current six-year-old little crown prince was a replica of the tyrant—a future little tyrant.
If it were said that the big tyrant could destroy seventy to eighty percent of the world, the little tyrant would be responsible for wrapping things up and destroying the rest.
Over the years, the court ministers had broken their hearts over the tyrant’s harem, constantly urging him to take concubines.
Even if he didn’t establish an empress, there still had to be women in the inner palace.
After years of urging, they finally got the tyrant to relent. In the sixth month, a group of women was brought into the harem, and Shen Ying was among them.
And then, there was no then.
It was already the eighth month, and let alone her, even the other women who entered the palace in the same batch had not once caught a glimpse of the tyrant’s face.
Under normal circumstances, these women selected into the palace would be granted different ranks according to their family backgrounds.
However, the tyrant truly lived up to his name as a tyrant; his line of thinking was completely different from ordinary people. He didn’t seem to care that the women in the harem were not merely his concubines, but also served the crucial role of balancing the political forces in the imperial court.
When all the women entered the palace, he issued an imperial edict granting everyone—regardless of family background—the lowest rank of *Cai Nv*, and forced them all to live in a single palace complex.
The allocated residence was the most remote palace in the harem, lacking everything imaginable. Even the personal servants brought from their respective families to attend to them were all sent back, leaving each person with only one assigned palace maid.
Those palace maids had likely received orders from the tyrant as well. They came to work strictly on schedule every day, serving only during fixed hours. At any other time, no matter how monumental the emergency was, they paid absolutely no mind to it.
Shen Ying carefully recalled the memories in her mind regarding her time after entering the palace, unable to help curling her lips in disdain.
She really couldn’t figure out what the tyrant was up to, but on second thought, if she could understand what was going through the tyrant’s head, wouldn’t that make her a tyrant too?