Xu Kun: Children, this isn't funny, my little padded jacket has been taken away

"Um...", Xu Tianzhen squeezed out a strange smile and asked Qian Yuhan, "Could you do me a favor?!"

"!", having already realized what was about to happen, Qian Yuhan sighed helplessly and said, "Can I... say no?"

"No." A glimmer of craftiness flashed in Xu Tianzhen's eyes. She pointed at Qian Yuhan's foot, which had yet to cross the threshold of the Princess Mansion, and chuckled, "You haven't left this door yet, so you are still this Princess's guest. 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do'—those were your own words. You aren't allowed to go back on them now."

"Hiss--", Qian Yuhan drew a sharp breath. He opened his mouth to speak several times but stopped, and his face—which could remain calm at any time except when encountering Evil Soul Masters—finally revealed a look that could only be described as "struggling to hold it together."

"The favor you want me to do is within my capabilities, right!?"

"Of course, I swear it in the name of the Princess." Xu Tianzhen blinked and nodded, looking slightly guilty.

"..."

Qian Yuhan pondered for a moment. As if accepting his fate, he said, "Fine, fine. Today, this Qian Yuhan shall accompany the gentleman at the risk of his own life."

"Not quite, not quite. It is accompanying the Princess at the risk of your life," Xu Tianzhen corrected his linguistic slip with a smile.

When the old Emperor Xu Kun had finally struggled to accept the grim reality, he sat hunched over the imperial desk in the Wenhua Hall, sighing as he looked at a mountain of memorials that could be summarized in six words: "Your Majesty, we need money!"

An attendant who had been waiting outside the hall hurriedly pushed open the doors, trotted to the front of the imperial desk, and knelt on one knee. "Your Majesty, Her Highness the Princess has entered the palace."

"Tianzhen? Why is she here?"

Hearing this, Xu Kun bolted upright from his desk. Just as he was about to ask the attendant where his daughter was, he heard Xu Tianzhen's highly recognizable shouting from outside the hall: "Why are you blocking me! Do you not recognize this Princess? Move aside, quickly!"

"Father! Father! Are you there? Your precious daughter has come to see you again and again and again!"

"Your Majesty...", the attendant looked tentatively toward the door, his expression clearly seeking guidance.

"Sigh, she's already here, I can't exactly refuse to see her. Let her in!", Xu Kun sighed, tidied his messy beard, closed the half-read memorial, and tossed it aside.

A few seconds later, the thick golden nanmu doors of the Wenhua Hall were kicked open from the outside with a bang.

Looking at the dents of various sizes on the door—all kicked there by Xu Tianzhen over the years—Xu Kun's eyelid twitched slightly. He silently calculated how much it would cost to repair the door... perhaps it would be cheaper to just replace it with solid metal...

"Father, Tianzhen is here to see you! How about that! Counting from yesterday, you haven't seen me for a whole day. Did you miss your daughter?", Xu Tianzhen strode into the Wenhua Hall, offering a token curtsy as a greeting.

Without waiting for Xu Kun to tell her to rise, she patted her skirt, stood up, and walked naturally to the side of the imperial desk. She reached into the drawer where Xu Kun kept his snacks, grabbed a candied fruit, and popped it into her mouth, mumbling indistinctly:

"Father, you're at your age and still eating such sweet things. Aren't you afraid of cavities?"

"You... the Imperial We just happen to like sweets." Xu Kun slowly closed the small drawer and, with a near-peaceful state of mind, probed, "The Imperial We heard that you kept that boy from the Heaven Spirit Empire at the Princess Mansion for a meal today?"

"Yes, that did happen, but...", Xu Tianzhen spat the fruit pit into a spittoon ten paces away and pouted in dissatisfaction, explaining earnestly:

"Father! He isn't called 'that boy from the Heaven Spirit Empire.' He has a name: Qian Yuhan."

"..."

Seeing Xu Tianzhen earnestly correcting his "minor mistake," Xu Kun felt an inexplicable sourness in his heart. He sighed for the umpteenth time today, resignedly cupping his forehead, and said, "Fine, fine, the Imperial We know his name is Qian Yuhan."

"Tell the Imperial We what you think of that...", Xu Kun paused, swallowing the words "that boy" that were about to slip out, and changed his phrasing: "Tell the Imperial We your opinion of that Qian Yuhan. How do you find him as a person?"

"He's a very good person. He's handsome, has poise, has depth, and is well-read." Xu Tianzhen began counting Qian Yuhan's virtues on her fingers. With every word she said, Xu Kun's expression stiffened further.

Great. By the second meeting, she's already speaking up for an outsider. My daughter has been raised in vain.

Logically, the Sun Moon Empire is the one gaining the massive advantage, so why does my heart feel so uncomfortable!?

Just as Xu Kun was about to lose his composure and say something, Xu Tianzhen suddenly reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck from behind.

Huh! What is she doing?

Is this girl trying to strangle the Imperial We and murder her own father?!

Xu Kun thought this, but he didn't struggle. After all, a three-ring Soul Elder couldn't strangle an eight-ring Soul Douluo with her arms, even if he sat there and let her try all day.

"Father, I'm sorry!", Xu Tianzhen whispered into Xu Kun's ear in a voice as thin as a mosquito's.

"?!"

Xu Kun: "Huh?!", Ancestors above! Did the sun rise from the west today? My little demon of a daughter is actually apologizing to the Imperial We! Am I dreaming, or have I not woken up yet? Something is wrong, this is very wrong!

"You, you, you...", Xu Kun turned his head, trembling, and scrutinized his "transformed" daughter with an extremely unfamiliar gaze.

After a long while, he opened his mouth and asked tentatively:

"Tianzhen, have you... run out of pocket money recently? If you're out of money, just tell your father! The Imperial Treasury isn't so destitute that it can't afford your allowance."

"?!", Xu Tianzhen suddenly released her arms from around Xu Kun's neck (in reality, in Xu Tianzhen's eyes, this was a hug) and said incredulously, "Father, in your eyes, is the only reason your daughter would act like this because I've run out of money?"

"Uh...", Xu Kun wanted to answer directly, "Yes, what else would it be?", but he feared hearing the shrill cry Xu Tianzhen would let out after "cosplaying" a tea kettle.

In the end, Xu Kun compromised very pragmatically: "No, why would you think that! The Imperial We were just curious and asked."

"By the way, you just apologized to the Imperial We. Why would you suddenly say that out of the blue?"

"It's just... I feel like it's not easy for you, Father. Every day in court, you have to match wits with those old foxes until your hair turns white, and then you have to clean up the messes I leave behind. I feel a bit guilty... I should be making things easier for you, but instead, I throw tantrums every day and shout about going to Shrek, making you so angry you get blisters on your lips... I've decided..."

"I'll listen to you, Father. I won't go to any other disreputable academies. I'll go to the Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy and study there." As Xu Tianzhen's voice grew lower, Xu Kun's brow furrowed deeper.

Something is wrong. Something is very, very wrong!

Twelve times out of ten, something is wrong!

As the saying goes, when things are abnormal, there must be a demon!

Having raised his daughter with his own two hands, he knew her temperament all too well; how could she have changed so drastically after just one day? There was definitely something fishy going on!

Connecting the fact that Xu Tianzhen had kept that boy for a meal at noon and then rushed over to apologize to him in the afternoon, Xu Kun had an instant epiphany: that boy must have said something to his daughter.

But the result of that meal!

It was unexpectedly... quite good.

At this moment, Xu Kun's heart was one-third "joy," but mostly "sourness."

The "joy" came from his child growing up, realizing her own immaturity, and knowing how to cherish the hardships of her old father.

The "sourness" came from the fact that after raising his child for so many years, his influence wasn't as great as a single meal with that boy; all his own nagging and reasoning might not have been as effective as a casual remark from someone else.

This feeling was just inexplicably infuriating... you know!

Ultimately, the "sourness" in his heart and his curiosity about what the two had discussed during their meal led Xu Kun to look at Xu Tianzhen very seriously and ask, "Did he say something to you?!"

"Yes!" Xu Tianzhen nodded very honestly and recited every word of the advice Qian Yuhan had given her earlier, without missing a single syllable.

"Fine, Imperial We know. You go back first; Imperial We wish to speak with him. Someone, go and bring..."

"Father Emperor, no need to send anyone to find him."

"Hm?!"

Before Xu Kun could finish his sentence, Xu Tianzhen had already reached out and pointed straight at the palace gate. "I brought him with me when I came; he is waiting outside the hall right now."

"Very well, summon him." Xu Kun didn't say anything more (in reality, he was truly speechless), merely nodding expressionlessly to the attendant standing to the side.

Before long, Qian Yuhan, who had walked out of this hall just this morning—less than twelve hours since his last visit—was led by the attendant into this high-ranking venue, one of the best in the Sun Moon Empire, to meet the Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire, the de facto strongest nation on the Douluo Continent, for the second time in a single day.

"Greetings, Your Majesty." Qian Yuhan bowed slightly, which served as his salute.

(According to his previous identification, he was currently a citizen of the Heaven Spirit Empire, so there was no need to kneel to the emperor of another country. What if he met the emperor of the Heaven Spirit Empire? Naturally, he would just swap to a document from the Heaven Dou Empire or the Star Luo Empire! Did you think Qian Yuhan spent a fortune buying four different sets of documents because he had too much money in his pockets?)

"Hm." Xu Kun responded indifferently, though his sharp gaze could not help but circle around Qian Yuhan.

In the end, the five tags floating in Xu Kun's mind—eleven years old at level forty, possessing a ten-thousand-year spirit ring, suspected extreme attribute, attribute suppression of Evil Soul Masters, and killing an Evil Soul Master above his level—any one of which would be worth treating like a treasure—successfully overwhelmed the "billion" little bits of dissatisfaction in his heart, making him very pragmatically compromise once again for the bright future of the empire.

But... even if he swallowed it, he still felt so angry!

No, Imperial We cannot swallow this breath; Imperial We must think of a way to vent!

Brain, think fast!

After much deliberation, Xu Kun, attempting to stimulate the hidden potential of his clever brain through sheer effort, finally thought of a way to vent a little: grant this boy a noble status in the Sun Moon Empire and turn him into a Sun Moon Empire citizen.

That way, as his subject, he would have to salute whenever he saw him.

Hehehe, this emperor is truly wicked to the core!

That was what Xu Kun thought, and that was what he did. He sighed, and as he opened his mouth, he said:

"About that... you don't need to use that Heaven Spirit Empire identification anymore; switch to one from our Sun Moon Empire!"

"For our own Sun Moon Empire citizens studying at the Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, whether it's tuition, book fees, or other expenses, they enjoy the preferential treatment of our own subjects. Students from the other three empires don't get this kind of special treatment reserved for domestic talent."

As soon as he finished speaking, the attendant at his side, signaled by Xu Kun's eyes, went out to prepare the Sun Moon Empire identification for Qian Yuhan.

Qian Yuhan only replied with extreme indifference, "Good," as if the Heaven Spirit Empire on his documents had nothing to do with him at all.

(In reality, it really didn't. Qian Yuhan was born in the Angel Holy City; by the time he left the Douluo Continent, the Martial Soul Hall was still a church... Shockingly, based on his registered residence, he was actually the last living citizen of the Spirit Hall Empire.)

"Yuhan, hurry and thank Father Emperor!"

Seeing that Qian Yuhan had almost no reaction, Xu Tianzhen hurriedly whispered a reminder from the side. This seemingly casual action dealt yet another terrible blow to Xu Kun's heart as an old father:

Listen, "Yuhan," such an intimate form of address. How long has it been! They are already intimate enough to address him by only the last two characters of his name... Sigh, my own little cotton-padded jacket has been taken away by someone else.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

The more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable Xu Kun felt. Looking at this brat who had managed to bewitch his daughter so thoroughly in just two or three days, he felt angrier the more he looked.

Holding the attitude of "out of sight, out of mind," he stiffened his face and waved his hand to dismiss them:

"That's all. Imperial We still have a pile of memorials to review. If you two have nothing else, you may both leave!"

"This daughter takes her leave." Xu Tianzhen curtsied and led Qian Yuhan toward the door, skipping as she went.

"Wait, one more thing!" Xu Kun shouted.

Qian Yuhan/Xu Tianzhen: "?"

Qian Yuhan and Xu Tianzhen turned around in unison, fixing their gazes on the Emperor, who appeared to be starting to overheat by the imperial desk.

"Hoo—" Xu Kun took a deep breath and gritted his teeth:

"The Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy is our Sun Moon Empire's prestigious top academy. You young people, at such a young age, must seize this precious learning opportunity. You must study hard in the academy, understand?"

"Don't spend all day with your mind off your studies, wasting your precious youth."

"Understood." Qian Yuhan nodded concisely.