On Your Knees

"Old dog! Beast! Fuck his mother! Fuck his granddad!"

"Rotten ducks can't hold their shit! Rotten to the soles of his pus-dripping feet!"

"That sanctimonious son of a bitch! I'll boil him in oil!!"

In the Hall of Bright Virtue, the Qi Emperor cursed for an entire stick of incense without repeating himself once.

His eyes were bloodshot and his hair stood on end. He had clearly gone mad with rage.

The Qi Emperor was a dignified sovereign. In contests between masters, maneuvering and barbed insinuations decided victory and defeat; he very rarely uttered anything vulgar.

As it turned out, even the most cultured person would curse like a street thug when someone crossed his bottom line.

Zuo'er had mentioned in his ear that the scent on Xi Ming's hands was strange.

Only then had the Qi Emperor drawn closer and caught that fragrance while helping him up.

Anyone who had ever sought pleasure in a brothel would recognize it at a sniff.

After ascending the throne, the Late Emperor had spent his days in drunken, dreamlike debauchery. That sickeningly cloying smell had filled his palaces. How could the Qi Emperor fail to recognize it?

That was why he had ordered someone to investigate the Xi Residence.

He had never imagined that a talented man he valued and approved of could be so filthy behind closed doors. He had even considered appointing Xi Ming as the crown prince's teacher.

The thought of that becoming reality sent a chill through the Qi Emperor.

That filthy wretch harbored vile intentions toward Zuo'er. Zuo'er was only three, such a tiny child who understood nothing. If that man had laid his poisonous hands on him...

The more the Qi Emperor thought about it, the more frightened he became.

With his heart pounding in terror, he recalled every encounter between Xi Ming and the crown prince.

He had brought Xi Ming to visit Zuo'er while the boy was gravely injured and unconscious. As soon as Zuo'er woke, he had clung to him and cried.

At the time, he had even marveled at the bond between Xi Ming and Zuo'er, assuming the boy was crying because his wounds hurt. Now that he thought about it, could that vile bastard Xi have done something to Zuo'er while he wasn't looking?!

The Qi Emperor paced like an ant on a hot wok, regret written large across both his heart and face. The whole affair felt like a glob of old phlegm lodged in his throat, disgustingly impossible to swallow.

"To the Hall of Inherited Blessing!"

Fat Eunuch hurried out to make the arrangements.

The Qi Emperor rushed to the Hall of Inherited Blessing, calling out anxiously before he even entered the door.

"Tun'er—"

Qi Yuanzuo was lying on his stomach on the animal-hide rug, playing at knocking pearls around.

A golden dragon pearl sent a pile of pearls scattering. The next moment, he lifted his head to look toward the doorway, then ran barefoot to greet him.

"Father~"

The Qi Emperor scooped his son up. Seeing not a trace of gloom on that little face, he planted a loud kiss on each cheek.

For an instant, Qi Yuanzuo felt as though his cheeks had been sucked clean off. His eyes rounded in shock, his whole body recoiled, and his soul nearly left him.

"Spit, spit, spit! System, I stink!!"

Qi Yuanzuo screamed at the system inside his head. Tears gathered in his eyes, and his little mouth crumpled into a pout.

He burst into tears, utterly aggrieved.

He kept rubbing his face against the Qi Emperor, finally burying himself in his father's arms and sobbing.

He cried as though his heart had been shattered.

The Qi Emperor, however, relaxed.

Crying was good. Crying was good.

It would have been far worse if he had suffered a grievance and couldn't even cry.

His crown prince ought to be steeped in a honey pot, never made to taste even a little bitterness.

"I've spoiled you rotten. Two kisses, and you start crying?"

The Qi Emperor grumbled aloud while feeling rather pleased inside, then shouted at the servants who couldn't take a hint.

"What are you standing there for! Go fetch water!"

He carried his son inside. "Don't cry, Tun'er. We'll wipe your face, and the spit will be gone."

"You little rascal. You're so fond of being clean, yet I've never seen you wash your own little feet every day. When you were smaller, you hugged your feet and gnawed on them all the time. You weren't happy when I stopped you."

"And now you think I'm dirty?"

Qi Yuanzuo kept crying. How could those possibly be the same?

Only after the water arrived and his face was washed did Qi Yuanzuo stop crying. He lay down and waited for the Qi Emperor to apply moisturizing balm to his face.

The dry autumn air left skin parched. Though the Qi Emperor was a young, vigorous man in his twenties, he had already become a thoroughly capable hands-on father.

He left nothing concerning Qi Yuanzuo to anyone else. Truly nothing.

First, he didn't trust them. Second, he genuinely loved doing it.

He cautiously sounded the boy out. "How many times have you met Junior Tutor Xi, Tun'er?"

"Twice," Qi Yuanzuo said.

"Once when Father brought him here, and once in the classroom."

The Qi Emperor breathed a sigh of relief. Good, there had been no other contact.

He had nearly stumbled badly this time. When choosing a Grand Tutor for Tun'er in the future, he would have to investigate what went on in the man's bedchamber too.

The shadow's report turned his stomach whenever he thought of it.

The Xi Residence had few servants. Xi Ming had used his study as a cover, while his second wife concealed matters for her husband for the sake of her own son, pushing her stepson into a pit of fire.

He would pass no judgment on what the second wife had done, but that was Xi Ming's own son, born to his first wife!

No wonder he had concealed it so well. The filthy creature didn't prey on people outside his home; he preyed on his own eldest legitimate son!

Who would think to look in that direction when investigating someone's background?!

The Qi Emperor enjoyed both men and women himself, but he did not consider himself rotten to that extent.

Now that he knew what sort of man Xi Ming was, the Eldest Prince's previous accusation might very well have been true.

Qi Chengyou had a fierce disposition and wouldn't let himself be wronged. What frightened the Qi Emperor now was how close he had come to placing that filthy thing beside Tun'er.

The Qi Emperor lovingly stroked the little crown prince's face.

Even after a month of recuperation, he still hadn't fully recovered from his serious injuries.

"You must eat properly, Tun'er. Look how thin you've become."

Qi Yuanzuo looked at his protruding little belly, then at the dimples in his hands, and sank into thought.

Eager to deal with Xi Ming, the Qi Emperor played at knocking pearls around with his son for a while, then left.

Qi Yuanzuo held the golden dragon pearl. This was the pearl he had pried from the dragon's mouth on the throne in the audience hall-a solid gold ball that he estimated weighed about a jin.

He poked the system inside his head.

"Do you know where the Transmigrated Woman is?"

88 was feeling low today. "No."

Qi Yuanzuo scorned it. "How come you never know anything?"

88 said self-loathingly, "Right. I'm that useless. I can't help, and I only make things worse."

Seeing something was wrong, Qi Yuanzuo changed his tune. "It's all right. You're cute, and I'm perfectly happy just having you talk to me. It's fine if you make things worse. Even if nobody else likes you, I do."

He added, "Even if you make things worse, I still like you."

88 turned away, looking utterly pitiful.

Qi Yuanzuo poked it. "Why don't you tell me about your sons? Cheer yourself up?"

88 conjured a bottle of data Laobaigan liquor and took a swig.

"My eldest son was open and upright. He sought answers within himself and understood righteousness. He revered Heaven's mandate, great men, and the words of sages. He was free of worry, doubt, and fear. He sought harmony without conformity, was dignified without arrogance, and steadfast without blind faithfulness. He had the bearing of Marquis Wu and the beauty of Zhou Yu."

Qi Yuanzuo summed it up in two words: a gentleman.

And a handsome gentleman with both courage and wisdom.

He pressed it. "What about your second son?"

88's feelings were complicated. "In life, a blade of tenacious grass; in death, a fire sweeping the plains."

Qi Yuanzuo understood: unyielding and indomitable, willing to be shattered jade rather than an intact roof tile.

"What about your third son?"

88 took a fierce gulp.

"Do you know camellias?"

Qi Yuanzuo nodded. "They're also called beheading flowers."

88 recited a poem:

"Shaped by wind, dyed by sun, they bloom in an immortal garden; beside them, all flowers lose their color, even ape's blood pales."

"Today one blossom falls before the steps; surely someone watching must resent Sun Xiu."

It was a poem by Guanxiu of the Tang dynasty.

Its general meaning was that all flowers had now withered, and camellias were no exception. One fell before the steps, like the beautiful Green Pearl falling from her tower long ago. Sun Xiu's unreasonable demands were to blame for Green Pearl's death.

But who was to blame for the camellia's fall today?

Qi Yuanzuo understood: he was dead.

He grew thoughtful. The system had said its System Shop had always been open before this. If someone could die even with a godlike cheating tool at his disposal, just how extreme must the circumstances have been?

88 burst into sobs. "He even cut ties with me!"

Qi Yuanzuo sucked in a cold breath, joining the system in shared indignation.

"If you opened the System Shop for me, I'd even call you Grandpa! How could he go that far! Isn't that tearing down the bridge after crossing the river?!"

88 took another swig. "He hated me for binding myself to him. He hated me for opening the System Shop for him."

Qi Yuanzuo said, "Outrageous!"

88 asked, "If you ended up deserted by everyone, your country ruined and your family destroyed, a lone tree unable to hold up the sky, and then were misunderstood and flayed alive, could you forgive me?"

Goosebumps sprang up all over Qi Yuanzuo. He hurriedly recalled the original character's fate in the book. The author had written it very vaguely.

-In the winter of Tianyuan Year 64, the city fell. The Emperor Qi Ai surrendered and died in an alley.

Thankfully, it wasn't flaying alive. Otherwise, he would bash his head against something and die right now, just to see whether he could return to the modern world.

Against his true feelings, he said, "Maybe I could...?"

After all, the system was only an aid. With the cheat already enabled, who else could you blame if you still made a mess of things?

88 wasn't comforted.

As though drunk, it threw a tantrum inside Qi Yuanzuo's head. "Host, remember this. Never, ever fall in love with anyone."

Qi Yuanzuo's heart warmed. "Don't worry."

Seeing the crown prince sitting there in a daze, Bolao bent and approached. He warmed the boy's feet with his hands, then picked up his socks to put them on, speaking softly.

"Your Highness, it's chilly. Your health is fragile; you mustn't let your feet get cold."

Qi Yuanzuo kicked him in the face. "Get lost! Who gave you permission to act on your own! Go outside and kneel!"