Chapter 22

When Lin JunYi woke up the first thing he was conscious of was how sore his body was. The next was 729’s excited voice, “Host, host are you awake now? Congratulations…”

Lin JunYi blinked and then, still feeling slightly confused, rubbed his eyes with his finger. Unable to care about much he murmured, “Water…”

There was a rustle of movement and then a cup was placed under his lips. Lin JunYi half sat up and drank. As he did so, a slightly callused finger bumped against his lips and then quickly retracted as though stung.

Recovering his wits, Lin JunYi remembered what had happened. He looked down into Yu Xian’s red eyes.

A few seconds passed as the two of them stared vacantly at each other.

“Well, well.” Lin JunYi recovered first and sat up. The ache of his body made him grimace and angrily, he aimed a mocking glance at Yu Xian. “You’re looking very energetic.”

Yu Xian was in fact kneeling beside his bed. He then began kowtowing, knocking his head so hard against the floor that a red mark formed on his forehead. “Your Highness, forgive me! Yesterday, I… we…”

He seemed unable to continue the sentence. “Forgive me, I deserve to die!”

Lin JunYi gazed at him for a few seconds, thinking. Then his mocking smile grew. “It’s okay since I was the one who drugged you.”

Yu Xian’s entire body froze. He looked up into Lin JunYi’s gorgeous face disbelievingly. “What do you mean…?” He could barely wrap his head around it.

Lin JunYi raised his eyebrow. “Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to sleep with you.”

Yu Xian’s mouth opened and closed. His face went white, then red. An expression of fury crossed his features and his entire body began trembling. “Your Highness… must be joking…”

“I’m really not.”

Yu Xian said, from between gritted teeth. “Why?”

“Isn’t it because you’re handsome and have a great body? The Court is full of admirers of Young General Yu. So I thought I’d try it out for myself.”

“I…. already have a beloved…”

Lin JunYi paused. For a second, an uncomfortable and stuffy feeling flashed through his chest but then he smoothed over his expression. Running his fingers through his long, unbound hair, he said casually, “Young General Yu thinks too much. I’m not in love with you or anything like that.”

Yu Xian’s body went even more rigid.

“I was just interested in your body, that’s all.” Lin JunYi continued in that flippant tone. “As well as the soldiers under your command.”

Yu Xian’s eyes flew up again, shocked.

Lin JunYi raised his eyebrows. “In the future, I’ll be relying on you.”

“Your Highness…” Yu Xian seemed to be struggling to find a diplomatic way to put things. Lin JunYi couldn’t even blame him. Even the smartest man would find it hard to change mental tracks from being drugged and bedded, to political maneuvers. “The loyalty of the Yu Army has always been to the Great Wen…”

“Sure but aren't you currently the leader of the Imperial Guardsmen? If push came to shove, I'd say more than a few of those men would be more loyal to you than the Emperor.”

“That’s…” Yu Xian stopped short of saying treason but Lin JunYi finished the sentence for him. Seeing as the poor man looked like he was about to asphyxiate, he didn’t want to tease him any longer. So he laid all his cards out on the table.

“I want your imperial guards to support me. Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask them to do anything weird. After all, I’m the Emperor’s favorite son. There’s no need for me to do anything except stay alive to become the Crown Prince.” Lin JunYi paused. “And even if I die, I want it to be because of natural causes and not because someone’s got it out for me. Send somebody to watch me and guard my safety at all times.”

Yu Xian said, “Why should I obey you… after what you’ve done to me?”

Lin JunYi pursed his lips and crossed his bare legs in front of Yu Xian. The young general flushed red and resumed looking at the ground.

“You have a scar on your left hip, it’s quite distinctive. Shaped like a moon.”

Yu Xian’s eyes flew up again.

“In addition, under your right breastbone there’s also a birthmark.” Lin JunYi smiled. “Does Minister Ruan know?”

Yu Xian’s face went pale. Clenching his teeth he said, “Are you planning to blackmail me?”

Lin JunYi was slightly relieved. This blockhead wasn’t as stupid as he looked and actually managed to cotton on pretty quickly. “Minister Ruan looks like the type who is a bit idealistic. If he knew that you’d slept with me, do you think he’d be able to forget it?”

Yu Xian’s fist clenched and his body shook with repressed fury. “If you dare to tell him, I’ll make you sorry….!!” He was so angry he even forgot to use the honorific. But Lin JunYi didn’t mind. 

He said, “As long as you’re on my side, then I won’t tell him. Not only will I not tell him, but I can even help you two. Right now, doesn’t the Protecting National General oppose the marriage? He doesn’t want you to marry an official because it’s paramount that the Yu family stays out of politics. Also, I wonder if  you know that my sister Princess AnPing has a crush on you and has been trying to persuade the Emperor to let her marry you.” In the original, Princess AnPing was one of the other villains as she tried to scheme her way into marrying Yu Xian.

“Princess AnPing?!” This was clearly news to Yu Xian.

“I don’t mind telling you that Father Emperor is seriously considering it, although it would mean raising your family’s status even further since Princess AnPing can’t marry anything less than a Duke. But since the Yu Army is so strong, he doesn’t mind binding your family and the imperial family closer together.”

“I can’t marry Princess AnPing! Ruan Xi and I have promised each other since we were children! I would never betray him.”

It seemed every time Ruan Xi came up this man’s brains became a bit scrambled and he was no longer able to look at the bigger picture behind things.

“Did you forget what we were doing last night?” Lin JunYi reminded him mockingly.

Yu Xian went pale at a rate visible to the naked eye. He said furiously, “If you hadn’t drugged me then how could I have…”

“Well you did seem to enjoy it too.” Lin JunYi raised his eyebrow and Yu Xian clenched his fist hard. 

“Right now I can help persuade my father to put the marriage on the backburner. You know how much my Father Emperor dotes on me. And then, one day if I become Emperor, one of the first decrees I make will be the marriage between you and the protago- ah, you and Minister Ruan. What do you say?”

“Host!” 729 protested loudly at the same time that Yu Xian said slowly, “How do I know I can trust you?”

“Do you really have any choice?” Lin JunYi got out of the bed and picked up the red  robe off the ground. Wrapping it around his body which was filled with love marks, he turned around and saw Yu Xian staring at him with a burning gaze. 

“Then… happy co-operation.” Yu Xian said slowly. “But if you betray me or hurt Minister Ruan in any way then even if you become the Emperor, I’ll find a way to make you pay…”

We’ve completely gotten rid of the honorifics now have we? Lin JunYi twisted his lips as a sour, astringent feeling washed over him as he looked at that familiar face and those familiar eyes that were currently staring at him with such a distant, cold and angry expression. 

“Happy co-operation,” Opening the door, he left without a further look back.

Yu Xian… for that look, I’ll make you pay.

***

Prior to entering the room last night, he’d already given instructions to Xiao Bao to make his excuses as well as keep people away from this side courtyard. His absence would not be unusual considering his sickly nature. He left the courtyard unobtrusively and without alerting anyone.

As much as it would have satisfied Lin JunYi’s personal vindictive anger against Yu Xian to let Ruan Xi see the two of them together, he knew it wasn’t right. Right now Ruan Xi loved Yu Xian and showed no signs of making him miserable.

And now that I’ve derailed the plotline, what if the two of them want to continue being together? What should I do then?

729 seemed to have the same concern. “Host, you can’t let the second male lead and the protagonist shou be together.”

Seeing as he was pretty sure Yu Xian was Xu Xian, Lin JunYi had no intention of letting that happen. But he was still curious. “Why? You didn’t forbid me in the first world.”

“I have submitted the entire log of the events of the first world to the main system and gotten the feedback. It states that no matter what the second male lead and the protagonist shou cannot end up together otherwise the mission is a fail. Also…” 729 trailed off and seemed to be consulting something. “It says here that the second male lead will never be happy with the protagonist shou.”

“I see.” Lin JunYi paused. “I don’t suppose there’s any more information about the main system that you’re willing to share with me?”

“.... No.”

Lin JunYi quirked his lips wryly.

***

In the next month, Lin JunYi barely saw Yu Xian and Ruan Xi except during morning assembly. But right now he also didn’t have time to worry about them because he had more important things on his mind.

Starting from the day the Ninth Prince turned seventeen, the court officials discovered one amazing change. The Ninth Prince began attending morning court every day! And not only that but he started to ask questions and then, slowly as time went on, push for reforms.

Lin JunYi wasn’t stupid or idealistic. He knew certain modern concepts would never work in an ancient setting. There were also ways of wording things or seizing opportunities and correct timing to make certain ideas more palatable.

Take for example the issue of tax. Currently there was a high commercial tax with a low land tax. This of course benefitted the nobles who owned large swathes of land which they used for farming and other types of industry. Conversely merchants, traders and other types of businesses found it hard to survive unless they had strong connections (i.e. ways of evading tax) or large capital. Of course this once again benefited the aristocracy and prevented commoners from being able to start up new entrepreneurships. Not to mention the Imperial Court maintained monopoly on certain lucrative industries such as silver and iron mining, as well as salt. However it was widely known that there were many black market traders, especially among provinces further away the Capital’s eye.

Lin JunYi wasn’t any type of economics major or business person but there were a few simple things that he could easily understand and that was that in order for a society to flourish and advance, you couldn't just rely on the people on the top of the food chain. Since they were already on top, they were motivated to keep things the way they already were and never change. Conversely people who wanted to rise to the top were those who would be the most hardworking and have the desire to create and innovate. And how to encourage them? Well of course it was with money. 

Through a series of measures he worked on the ministers and the Emperor until he managed to increase the land tax while relaxing the onerous burden on people who wanted to begin new businesses.

Of course this did not make him popular at court, which was comprised of about 50% nobles and 50% common officials who had risen up through the ranks via the imperial exam system. Even those common officials had often married into noble families after reaching a certain status, so most didn’t support it either. 

“The good thing about being unpopular is well… I’m already unpopular.” Lin JunYi chuckled to 729. “I can’t actually get less popular. Even the clean court officials who support my reforms don’t know whether to be excited or frightened, half of them think I’m doing this for some nefarious hidden purpose that’s going to create even bigger chaos. Thankfully Father Emperor dotes on me and can’t be happier that I’m taking my position seriously.”

729 didn’t care about any of this. “Host, what are you doing this for? You haven’t made any progress with the second male lead for a month! Yesterday he specifically stood at the very front of the guards and stared at you through the entire assembly but you didn’t even look back at him!”

Lin JunYi lay on a chair in the imperial gardens, lazily sipping tea. The wind blew in his hair and the strands tumbled loosely over his exquisite features. His maidservants, who had become somewhat less wary of him over the last month, colored slightly and ducked their heads. “That’s where your vision is too shallow, 729. Haven’t I been brushing up his goodwill? Why do you think he was staring at me? Isn’t it because he’s shocked I actually did something good for the nation instead of just running around drinking and gambling and torturing maids?”

“It could also be… because you’re… good looking.” 729 blushed slightly.

“Haha,” Lin JunYi lifted up his sleeve slightly and looked at the sunlight through his long fingers. “This body is not bad. It’s close to my original body. But in future, you can let your main system know that I don’t mind being ugly for once. It could be fun.”

“I’ll make a note of it. But host, you still haven’t answered my question!”

“Why am I doing this? Can’t it just be because I love the people?”

729 squirmed, not knowing what to reply. But eventually it whispered, in a bit of a cowardly manner, “Doesn’t seem much like you…”

“Hahahaha.” Lin JunYi laughed. “You saw through me. Alright, well there’s two main reasons. One is for me. Since I don’t know how long it will take me to complete the mission and considering I might want to stay here afterwards, I might need to live here long term right? Since that’s the case why can’t I make myself comfortable? It’s better to have a little power and influence. I don’t want to get killed too easily before completing the mission.”

729 thought about it and it seemed to make sense. “What’s the second reason?”

This time Lin JunYi was silent for a bit longer. Finally he said softly, “I really want to see… what Ruan Xi is going to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“In the original plot, why did Ruan Xi support the Sixth Prince to usurp the throne? They’re the heroes of the story, so of course their reasons have to be justified. The Ninth Prince is evil, the Emperor indulges him, the Court is corrupt and the people are suffering. So they have to come in and be the saviors, right?”

“But what if it’s not the case?”

“What if the Ninth Prince is noble and the people are happy that he’s become the Crown Prince? What will they do then? Will they stay quiet and lowkey, happy that their dreams are coming true through no effort of their own? Or will different desires arise?”

Lin JunYi narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the bright sun flickering through his long fingers. “I’m really curious what they will do…”