Chapter 2

The musician in the royal capital (2)

The self-saving system of the moonlight in one’s heart.

Provides sir with assistance in sir’s transmigration into each world.

An opportunity to play the role of a male god, as well as an opportunity to enjoy the act of saving yourself from certain death.

Enjoy.

Please relish as much as you can.

Ha ha.

A thousand f*ck your mom sentences ran through Li Yuebai’s mind.

Even transmigrating into different worlds.

Here in this world, I was mistaken by the emperor to have gifted him a green hat and got beaten to death!

“The plot can change.” The system reminded him with goodwill.

“Where’s my golden finger?” Li Yuebai interrogated.

“The system gifts you the tool to count the time remaining until your death.” The system’s voice was filled with kindness.

As such, at the right bottom corner of Li Yuebai’s sight, the time remaining appeared in red: 7 days.

Expressionlessly, Li Yuebai pulled on his reins, contemplating returning to the Ning titled lands.

The system sounded out a jarring warning.

“Warning! Any action that escapes the plot will lead to the possibility of the host’s life being threatened!”

Li Yuebai could not help but stop moving.

Hearing an anomaly in the sounds of the hoofbeats behind him, the good-looking man immediately turned his head and asked hesitantly: “Sir Yun is feeling tired?”

 When he showed up in Li Yuebai’s sight, the relevant information promptly appeared. Its content, however, was relatively short.

Mu Rongnan’s personal guard, Guan Tie. Powerful martial arts, loyal and dedicated, handles work carefully.

“Thanking Brother Guan, I’m not tired.” Li Yuebai forcefully donned a smile and raised his head to glance at the colour of the sky, saying: “We’ve already travelled all night long, now that the capital gate is so close, how is relaxation possible?”

Regardless of whether he went or not, he would die all the same. Since that was the case, he should not waste any more time. Maybe he could revive that unlucky crown prince a little earlier.

They had travelled throughout the entire night. It was early dawn, however, and the gate had not been opened. Nonetheless, when Guan Tie raised his tablet up high, the guards instantly opened the gate. Li Yuebai followed him on horseback, recalling the plotline. Currently, the plot was in his head, but the words and sentences were extremely chaotic. He had to slowly think back before fully grasping its content.

Empress Xiao Wenyin, of the prestigious Xiao family, was a true and impeccable aristocratic lady. She had been raised under the family’s education since young, and was adept at everything, especially at playing musical instruments and writing poetry.

Because she was proficient at playing musical instruments, she was close to Yun Weizhi.

Because she was proficient at writing poetry, she unintentionally included Yun Weizhi’s name in her newly composed poem.

Yun Weizhi played one tune, and Mu Rongnan’s condition improved. From depressed to jubilant, in addition to having distanced herself from poetry for a long time, the empress picked up her brush and wrote a poem. Titled ‘Remembrance’, the poem consisted of four lines:

Alone inside the palace, Lady Zhao put on her jewellery,

Mesmerizing King Han, rain and clouds mark her conquest.

Knowing love when there’s only friendship, a piece of moonlight,

Glancing at each other’s figure till the light of dawn.⁽¹⁾               

Yun (clouds), Wei (only), Zhi (know).

All three characters were within.

Therefore, her enemies discovered her weakness.

Li Yuebai massaged his temple.

Thankfully, it was not one but seven days left; if not, even gods could not save him.

According to the original plot, Guan Tie and Yun Weizhi hurriedly entered the city in the middle of the night and went into the palace. They arrived at the empress’ Yuan Heng Palace, whereupon Yun Weizhi played his guzheng for Mu Rongnan’s sake – normal regulations dictated that the crown prince should stay in his own palace, but since Mu Rongnan was severely ill, he was permitted to move into Yuan Heng Palace so that the empress could take care of him.

It seemed that his initial plan should be adjusted.

“Brother Guan, I have something to ask of you.” In contemplation, Li Yuebai called Guan Tie. “Would it be possible for Brother Guan to go ahead and inform the empress to temporarily withdraw from the chamber? “

“Withdraw?” Guan Tie completely did not understand the issue – was there any incident of etiquette whereby the guest asked the host to leave the room? Furthermore, the empress had an esteemed status; why was the usually good-natured Yun Weizhi suddenly out of his mind?

“Indeed, this one has come to visit the crown prince. It isn’t convenient for me to meet the empress.”

“Why?” With furrowed eyebrows, Guan Tie asked, bewildered: “Your Highness the crown prince is the son of the empress. In this urgent situation, how can Her Majesty abandon her son whom she had carried in her womb for so long to go elsewhere?”

“Perhaps Brother Guan doesn’t know, but I have lived in the mountains for a long time. My personality is slightly queer.” Li Yuebai bullshitted: “In this life I fear neither high-ranking people, nor gods and demons, only scared of women.”

“Scared of women?” Guan Tie was startled. He simply was unable to imagine the existence of such a person on earth. Nevertheless, Yun Weizhi remained extremely composed, looking nothing as if he was joking.

“I’ve incurred your ridicule.” With a painful smile, Li Yuebai shook his head: “As long as there’s a woman nearby, my hands will shake and sweat profusely, preventing me from playing my guzheng. Her Majesty the empress possesses an exalted status, her grandeur far exceeding mundane women – I’m even more frightened…”

“…” Guan Tie remained taciturn for a while before finally agreeing to the request.

He was wholeheartedly praying for his master to be rescued, and thus did not care much about the empress’ thoughts. Moreover, only Yun Weizhi could save the crown prince in the current situation. However unusual his request was, Her Majesty would certainly accede to it.

“There’s still something else!” Li Yuebai approached Guan Tie and whispered a few words before ending with a reminder: “You must remember!”

Guan Tie nodded in consent before hurriedly riding forwards. Only a few guards remained to protect Yun Weizhi, their riding speed the same as before.

Li Yuebai could not help but mentally exclaim about the difficulties in using this era’s transportation vehicles. Riding a horse was jolty to the point of his bones wanting to disintegrate, his butt throbbing like hell and his hands grated till inflammation. Previously, the heroes mounted on horses looked especially awe-inspiring on the television screen, but now…

At the empress’ Yuan Heng palace, Li Yuebai dismounted. Not only did they suffer from a detailed screening by the guards, they were also surrounded by a group of eunuchs. ‘Protection’ was what it was referred to in a subtle manner; in truth they were being monitored.

Immediately after he stepped into the crown prince’s palace, LI Yuebai spotted a familiar figure in black. Everybody gathered around his majestic bearing.

Goddammit, the dog emperor!

A couple of descriptive sentences instantly jumped in front of his eyes: All of his fingernails had been pulled out, theirs tips a jumbled mess of blood and flesh. His finger bones had also been broken – no one could recognize the previously elegant fingers dancing on the guzheng strings. Fresh blood dripped down the ground, drop by drop, trickling on the flower-engraved jade tiles.

…There were a few other descriptive paragraphs afterwards, but Li Yuebai had no desire to read onwards. He felt paralyzed, cold sweat lining his back. Were it not for his combat abilities being zero, he would have soon lashed forward and fought the emperor to the point of either dying.

However, how the heck did the emperor appear in this place?

Expressionless, Li Yuebai mechanically performed a greeting while silently pondering the peculiar situation.

In the original text, at this point of time the emperor had not appeared. He met the empress and the crown prince who was in a coma alone.

“The emperor just visited Her Majesty the queen mother, coincidentally meeting Her Majesty the empress. He heard news about Sir Yun’s arrival and deliberately come here to reassure…” The elderly eunuch next to the emperor, An-gonggong,jovially explained.

After all, as the blood father, he must still display some care towards his child. Having encountered such a matter, anybody would go and visit their child in person. Originally the mother was here, so the father did not come; now that the mother was absent, it was highly reasonable that the father would come.

“It is rumoured that your talent is extraordinary. Can your music really revive a person near death?” The emperor questioned.

“This commoner is talentless and does not have a physician’s skills.” Li Yuebai answered: “The crown prince is proficient in music. Perhaps he would find the melody pleasing to the ears, but whether or not he would recover is still uncertain.”

As a model literature teacher, however anxious or irritated he felt in his heart, his speech must always be polished. It might not achieve full marks, but deceiving others via his words should still be possible.

The guards brought the guzheng inside and placed it on top of a desk.

Li Yuebai looked at the enormous guzheng, stupefied.

His musical talent was non-existent. The most he was capable of doing was blowing the flute or playing the electronic piano, his limit being the song “Two tigers.”

This… how to play? Was he really going to play “Two tigers”?

At this moment, he needed to retain his composure – only by being composed could he devise a solution…

“Idiot.” The system said disdainfully: “Just play the guzheng, the original host’s memory would cover up for you.”

How the heck could this trashy system be so exceptionally kind-hearted whenever it was scorning other people?

Li Yuebai knelt in front of the desk and settled into his usual posture as though he was in front of his computer. He then stretched out his arms and put them on top of the guzheng, hands in his typical keyboard typing position.

If the system failed, I would mock it to death. The moment he pressed the black string, the original host’s memory finally resurfaced and became useful.

The melody carrying a classical hint reverberated outwards, ten fingers dancing on the strings as if they were flying…

“Ah!” A careless Li Yuebai cried out in pain.

Normally, he was quite tolerant when dealing with the kids at school. However, having been tossed about by the system for a period of time, he felt wearied; looking at the dog emperor, he felt wearied; looking at the countdown until his death, he felt wearied. Too worn out to pay attention to his mouth, he had unconsciously cried out.

The most significant reason was that his hands hurt.

He could not understand how the original Yun Weizhi had endured to the point of continue playing even when his hands were grated bloody. Truly an example of courting death.

Upon hearing Li Yuebai’s yelp, the emperor could not help but furrow his brows.

The person on the bed reacted even more fiercely.

“Yun… Yun-gege?” The teenage lying on the bed, who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen, exclaimed. His eyes were shut.

Li Yuebai happily ran to the edge of the bed in two or three steps, half-kneeling on the floor: “Yeah, gege is here.”

If talking could have awoken him, why the hell was he required to play the guzheng?

Only till now was he able to clearly examine Mu Rongnan’s appearance.

In his previous life, he had encountered no shortage of beauties. In this world, he had also seen quite a number of gorgeous female servants while entering the palace. Nonetheless, if he had to provide a detailed evaluation of all the beauties, every single person would be inferior to His Highness the crown prince.

Li Yuebai seemed to have comprehended the true meaning of the phrase ‘stunningly bewitching’ – were the crown prince’s looks not a perfect representation of such a phrase? Phoenix eyes, long eyelashes, a high nose bridge, a tiny black birthmark near his left eye which not only did not destroy the attractiveness of his face but also added to his dark allure… Since he was still seventeen, a hint of childishness remained on his face; he would certainly be the ideal embodiment of a boss in a novel when he grew older!

It was just that at the moment, this young demon king was grasping his hands in a frantic manner.

Li Yuebai had been unable to clearly see the process of Mu Rongnan taking his hands – immediately after he approached the bed and spoke one sentence, Mu Rongnan forcefully yanked his hands, frienzied and with lightning speed, his eyes not even opened yet.

Li Yuebai, who had failed to pull his hands out after a long time had passed, turned his head and glance at the emperor. He felt that the current circumstances were particularly embarrassing.

The force behind Mu Rongnan’s pull was simply too tremendous, identical to iron chains pressing on his skin, rendering his veins incapable of circulating blood. Moreover, he did not know what kind of dream this young child was experiencing in his coma for his face to have twisted so much in anger.

“You’re not allowed to go.” Mu Rongnan furrowed his brows, his words a command.

“Your Highness the crown prince shouldn’t be too emotional, do relax your hands a little, this commoner is about to be squeezed to death…” Li Yuebai parleyed nonstop.

“Not allowed to die…” After voicing out the sentence, Mu Rongnan stopped moving.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the crown prince is talking!” An-gonggong was overjoyed to the point of weeping: “Congratulations to Your Majesty, congratulations to Your Majesty.”

“Call the physician.” His brows still wrinkling, the emperor ordered.

The physician brought his medicine chest towards the prince and attempted to feel the latter’s pulse. As expected, he bowed and congratulated: “Congratulations to Your Majesty, congratulations to Your Majesty, the crown prince’s pulse is stable, truly an improvement!”

Consequently, a group of youthful eunuchs with varying appearances carried the medicine bowl up. Previously the crown prince had been too deep in a coma, clenched teeth resisting being fed the medicine. Now that he had heard Li Yuebai’s voice, feeding him the medicine was possible.

Li Yuebai silently reminisced about the prize flag “Godly mouth storming everything”, feeling that he had indeed stayed true to his reputation.

Footnotes

(1) Original: 宫中只数赵家妆，败雨残云误汉王。惟有知情一片月，曾窥飞燕入昭阳。I think the poem is referring to Emperor Cheng of Han? This emperor was extremely passionate about a songstress called Zhao Feiyan and her younger sister Zhao Hede. He ordered the construction of Zhao Yang Palace and lived with his lovers in opulence for many years. Becoming extremely arrogant due to the emperor’s favour, Zhao Hede ended up killing all of the pregnant consorts, thus severing the emperor’s lineage.