Chapter 1: The Return of the White Moonlight

Inside the Chui Gong Palace, the sharp voice of the eunuch announced, “This year’s top scholar, Lin Lang from Yizhou County—”

“The second place scholar, Fan Zhong from Wuling County—”

“The third place scholar, Lu Ji from Yangzhou County—”

“The first of the second rank, Wang Jin from Yuezhou County—”

…

On the dragon throne above the imperial steps sat the young Emperor, dressed in a black robe with dark gold dragon patterns, wearing a jade crown. His expression was somewhat impatient, his sharp eagle-like eyes not looking anywhere but at the person leading the group in the hall, filled with disbelief.

The ever-changing expression revealed the Emperor’s turbulent emotions, sometimes showing intense infatuation, sometimes deep nostalgia, and sometimes a mix of anger and barely contained agitation. Fortunately, the jade crown covered most of it; otherwise, if the entire court saw the Emperor’s expression change like this, they would be scared out of their wits, thinking some unlucky soul was about to suffer.

The chief eunuch beside the Emperor was deeply alarmed. He had been with the Emperor for a long time and clearly saw the resemblance of the new top scholar to the late Ning Mo, the son of the Duke of Cheng, whom the Emperor had longed for over the years.

Tsk, who knows if this is a blessing or a curse—

Just as the Emperor’s patience was about to run out, the long list of nearly a hundred successful candidates was finally read out.

It took more than half an hour. Besides, there were over a hundred other candidates who would only have their names posted on the list without being read out.

Then came the appointment of officials—

Starting with the top scholar, the eunuch’s sharp voice rang out again, “This year’s top scholar, appointed—”

Before the appointment could be completed, the Emperor’s voice interrupted, “The top scholar is appointed as a fifth-rank Hanlin Scholar, Palace Lecturer, and Imperial Attendant—”

The grand hall was instantly filled with a cacophony of crows, a fifth-rank Hanlin Scholar?! Unheard of! Never seen before! How could a new top scholar be directly appointed as a fifth-rank Hanlin Scholar? How could this be fair to those ministers who had spent many years in the court to reach the fifth rank—

The old ministers looked at each other, their dissatisfaction almost written on their faces, but no one dared to stand up. They only exchanged glances, each looking like they had crossed eyes. After all, they didn’t want to be the one to stick their neck out, knowing the Emperor’s temper.

However, there were always a few who didn’t believe in evil and had stiff necks, directly kneeling in the hall with a “bang,” and an old voice cried out hoarsely, “I implore Your Majesty to retract the decree!”

Among them, the attitude of the Censor-in-Chief, Lord Zhao, was the most intense. His large face and thick neck, his voice like it had its own speaker, passionately declared, “Your Majesty! The Hanlin Academy is the hall of scholars in the world! It is the ideal place for self-cultivation, family management, and world peace! How, how can it be defiled so casually!”

The Emperor leisurely smiled and said, “Come, Lord Zhao, tell me, how is appointing the top scholar as a fifth-rank Hanlin Scholar defiling your ideal place?!”

Censor Zhao, being straightforward and stubborn, ignored the fact that the Emperor was clearly displeased, angrily said, “Traditionally, new top scholars are appointed as sixth-rank Hanlin Editors, and there has never been a precedent for appointing a fifth-rank scholar. Even a county governor is only fifth-rank. Your Majesty’s capriciousness, how will the scholars of the world think?! How will the scholars of the world think?!”

“Even three years ago, when the son of the Duke of Cheng, Ning Mo, was the top scholar, he was only appointed as a sixth-rank Hanlin Editor according to tradition—”

The civil and military officials all looked down, burying their heads as low as possible, secretly thinking that Zhao Sui was a fool! Bringing up the wrong topic! If you oppose, just oppose, why mention that person! Anyone with a bit of sense knows that person is the Emperor’s reverse scale, whoever mentions him is doomed!

Sure enough, the Emperor’s previously playful expression turned dark upon hearing Censor Zhao mention Ning Mo.

He coldly said, “Zi Mo was influenced by you stubborn old men. If he were willing, I would have directly appointed him with a purple ribbon and golden seal!”

Censor Zhao was so angry he almost fainted, angrily said, “Your, Your Majesty, how can you treat the foundation of the court as a joke! I implore Your Majesty to retract the decree! Otherwise, I, I will—”

The Emperor coldly said, “Otherwise, what does Lord Zhao intend to do?”

Censor Zhao: “I, I will crash into the pillar to show my resolve!”

The Emperor sneered, “If you want to crash, then crash—” pointing to the pillar on the left of the throne, “Come, come, come, this one! I remember several beloved ministers have crashed here, right? If you’re lucky, one hit and King Yama will take you away, if not, two hits should do it—”

The civil and military officials dared not speak, a few who were close to Censor Zhao signaled him not to do such a foolish thing.

The new scholars were even more frightened, their legs trembling. They had heard the current Emperor was cruel and unjust, but seeing it with their own eyes was even worse than hearing it, making them both fearful and angry, and very worried, worried about the future of the Cangxuan dynasty, and worried about their own future—

Lin Lang stood in the hall, under the gaze of all, for a long time without coming back to his senses. Just now, a “ding” sounded in his mind, and the mechanical voice of the system said, “The task is officially activated, please save the tyrant’s reputation and stop Censor Zhao’s death protest!”

What was meant to come has finally come—

Three years ago, as the son of the Duke of Cheng, Ning Mo, he was the top scholar, deeply favored by the Emperor, and was in the limelight. Unexpectedly, at the Qionglin Banquet, he was drugged, had a spring night with the Emperor, and was later pushed off a cliff by his half-brother, whom he never guarded against, leaving no remains.

He thought he had lost his life in vain, but unexpectedly, he woke up again, bound to System 001.

001 told him that this world was actually a book, and he was the white moonlight of both the villain and the protagonist, with less than three chapters of plot in the entire book.

After his death, the villain Emperor completely blackened, doing many outrageous, heaven-defying things to resurrect him, causing the already troubled Cangxuan dynasty to collapse, and was eventually replaced by the protagonist.

The book’s plot should have ended there, but the small world’s operation somehow encountered a bug and collapsed.

After precise calculations by the system’s cloud brain, only reviving Lin Lang could change the direction of the small world’s collapse. But the character Ning Mo in the book had too little description to form an independent personality and image, so the system, after massive data calculations, brought over Lin Lang, who died suddenly from lack of sleep in the modern world.

However, during the book traversal, the system encountered a bug, causing Lin Lang to lose his memory of the original world, and the system was not activated, so it went on for eighteen years until the accident of falling off the cliff activated the system and recalled the memories of the previous world.

Lin Lang, suddenly possessing memories of two worlds and two lifetimes: …

How to say it—at first, it was indeed a bit uncomfortable, like having a split personality, but later, as time went on, he got used to it, like opening up his meridians, realizing some of his previous thoughts were quite foolish, like after waking up from a spring night with the Emperor, he felt like the sky had fallen, how could such a thing happen to him, both were men, and he was a minister, if the world knew, they would say he was a sycophant seducing the Emperor, which was the last thing he wanted to see, what was the point of his ten years of hard study, wouldn’t it be like a joke?!

Later, with the awakening of his modern world memories: Oh, it’s no big deal, just slept together, the Emperor is handsome, has a great body, he didn’t lose out—key point, the Emperor liked him a lot, but he still had a bit of a grudge. He remembered when he was still conscious, he begged the Emperor for an antidote, not to treat him like that, but the Emperor, with red eyes, didn’t care about his feelings at all.

Even in the modern world, he liked men, but he liked obedient ones, not like the Emperor, a big bad wolf pretending to be obedient—

Besides, there was one thing that made him curse the Emperor every time he thought of it—just that one time! He ended up with a baby in his belly! A man, with a baby! Unheard of!

Ten months of pregnancy, one day of childbirth, the pain he went through need not be detailed, enough to make him curse the Emperor a thousand times, ten thousand times.

As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours, he was already having a hard time, and the system took advantage of the situation, saying he and the baby in his belly needed energy points to survive, and energy points had to be earned by helping the Emperor become a wise ruler for the ages—

However, considering his special situation of being pregnant, out of humanitarian consideration for pregnant men, the system could lend him five thousand energy points, enough to sustain him and the baby for three years.

Lin Lang: He really would thank—

Now, seeing the three years about to expire, Lin Lang had to change his appearance, retake the imperial examination, hoping to get close to the current Emperor and complete his task as soon as possible.

It’s just that his task is a bit difficult—

After receiving the system task prompt, Lin Lang was momentarily distracted, then saw Censor Zhao, a big burly man, directly running to crash into the pillar in the hall.

Everyone heard a “bang,” and Censor Zhao fell to the ground with a face full of blood, those around were shocked, especially the new scholars, many of whom were young and inexperienced, turned pale and directly collapsed to the ground, secretly thinking the current Emperor was indeed cruel and unjust, what did the people do to deserve this! What did the people do to deserve this!

The chief eunuch beside the Emperor hurried to Censor Zhao’s side to check his breath, his heart sank, and he turned to the Emperor with a grim face, “Your, Your Majesty, Lord Zhao only has outgoing breath, no incoming breath—” seeing he was about to pass away.

Everyone turned pale, feeling a sense of shared fate.

The Emperor on the throne remained unmoved, “If that’s the case, then drag him out and bury him—” his tone as if burying a cat or dog.

The new scholars were all indignant but dared not speak.

Lin Lang quickly stood up, “Wait—” almost popping his eyes out.

He went to Censor Zhao, took out a small jade bottle from his bosom, poured out a black pill, and directly stuffed it into Censor Zhao’s mouth.

After a while, Censor Zhao coughed a few times, and Lin Lang said to the eunuch standing by, “Please, Eunuch, call an imperial physician to check on Lord Zhao—”

Everyone was amazed, especially the chief eunuch.