Xu Zifan didn't stay long after returning to the void space; he quickly moved on to the next world. Life in the beastman world was like a vacation. Although he was busy all day, the bizarre world, the hectic life, and the three loyal beastmen around him completely diverted his attention, erasing his more than a thousand years of longing for the cultivation world. This allowed him to regain his youthful vitality upon returning to the void space.
Therefore, he no longer needed to calm his emotions in the void; he was ready to begin his next mission.
When Xu Zifan opened his eyes again, he was in an antique-style study. Judging from the size and luxury of the study, his status this time was definitely not low. He was lying on his side on a soft couch, and a beautiful woman was sitting on a chair next to him, fanning him.
"Your Highness, you're awake?" The woman rose slightly and curtsied, lowering her head to avoid looking directly at Xu Zifan.
Xu Zifan hadn't yet processed her memories and didn't know who she was, so he didn't respond. Instead, he got up, walked to his desk, picked up a folded document, and said indifferently, "You may leave now."
"Yes, Your Highness." The woman curtsied again and quietly withdrew through the door.
Xu Zifan sat in the chair and began to learn about the situation in this world.
This is a Xuan Dynasty that never existed in history. The original owner was the younger brother of the late emperor. After the late emperor's death, he became the regent and supported the youngest prince to ascend the throne. From then on, he was second only to the emperor and had absolute power in the court. He has been in power for six years now. During these six years, anyone who opposed the original owner or secretly supported the young emperor in seizing power was dealt with by the original owner with ruthless methods. Therefore, the current court is completely dominated by the original owner's one-man rule, and even if someone has different opinions, they dare not speak out.
This was also the most glorious year for the original owner. From then on, the original owner gradually retreated and lost power little by little. After leading troops into battle, he was seriously injured. He forced himself to return to the capital but died of anger. After his death, the young emperor settled accounts, announced the crimes he had committed over the years to the world, and had his bones crushed and scattered to the winds, thus gaining a good reputation.
All of this was because the original owner cherished his white moonlight in his heart, who was also the birth mother of the young emperor and the current Empress Dowager, thus making them a stepping stone.
The original owner knew Empress Dowager Fu Yuhua from a young age. Because Fu Yuhua was the original owner's younger sister's study companion, they had more opportunities to meet than others and developed a childhood sweetheart relationship. When the original owner first fell in love, he and Fu Yuhua made a lifelong promise. However, the second prince, who came of age before him, asked the emperor to grant them a marriage and made Fu Yuhua his concubine.
At that time, the emperor was already hinting at making the second prince the crown prince. Whether for the emperor's and the second prince's sake, or for Fu Yuhua's reputation, the original owner couldn't bring himself to steal his sister-in-law away and could only watch helplessly as his beloved married someone else. If Fu Yuhua were doing well, it wouldn't have mattered, but the second prince didn't care about her. The few times the original owner saw Fu Yuhua, she always appeared with a forced smile, and naturally, he couldn't let go of his feelings. Over time, Fu Yuhua became the original owner's unattainable ideal, a secret he dared not touch.
After the emperor's death, the second prince ascended the throne, and Fu Yuhua became a concubine, giving birth to a son. The original owner of this body was also betrothed to the daughter of a minister, and they had a daughter. Unfortunately, his wife suffered a difficult childbirth and died in an avalanche after leaving behind their daughter. Over the years, the original owner of this body did not remarry, leading many to mistakenly believe that he deeply loved his deceased wife. In reality, he simply couldn't let go of Fu Yuhua and didn't want anyone else to take his wife's place in his heart. He couldn't reveal his feelings, so he channeled all his suppressed emotions into politics, achieving great military exploits in the south and north, handling state affairs with ease, and wielding increasing influence.
When he was thirty, the emperor was caught in an accident while hunting. He was bitten on the neck by a tiger and died without leaving a will. Before the original owner could recover from the shock, Fu Yuhua hurriedly found him, crying and saying that the empress disliked her and her son. She said that with the emperor's death, they would surely suffer a bad end, and begged the original owner to help her and help her nine-year-old son ascend the throne!
At that moment, Fu Yuhua held the original owner's hand tightly, her eyes filled with trust and expectation. Without hesitation, the original owner nodded, swiftly suppressing all restless forces, waging a fierce battle, quelling the rebellion in the court, and placing Fu Yuhua's son on the throne. Fu Yuhua was deeply grateful to him and offered to make him regent, to help the young emperor handle state affairs and teach him how to be a ruler.
The original owner of this body disregarded everything due to the trust of his beloved. For six years, to suppress the power of the other princes and help the young emperor stabilize the court, he shed blood, offending many. Finally, he purged the court, granting the young emperor a peaceful and prosperous era. During these six years, Fu Yuhua would occasionally see him inquiring about his son's studies and discussing state affairs with him, always treating him with kindness and gentleness, even hinting at affection. Although the original owner avoided crossing any lines due to propriety, he felt deeply comforted and believed that everything he had sacrificed for her was worthwhile.
Especially after Fu Yuhua suggested that the young emperor marry his daughter as empress, he felt even more strongly that perhaps Fu Yuhua also regretted their past relationship, which was why their children were paired up. Therefore, when Fu Yuhua suggested that the young emperor handle some matters on his own to gain experience, he agreed without hesitation. In his heart, they were already family.
Little did he know that from that moment on, it would become his nightmare. Fu Yuhua, under the pretext of wanting to accompany him on a southern tour to see the scenery, also took some of his power and gave it to the emperor. During the journey, she repeatedly expressed her envy of his elite bodyguards, to which the original owner voluntarily gave her half of the bodyguards he had trained for over a decade. After returning to the capital, she transferred some of his power to him under the pretext of caring for his old injuries and further reduced his power under the pretext of appeasing the officials. The original owner wasn't stupid; he had previously trusted his beloved and refused to think too much, but as his power shrank repeatedly, he naturally sensed something was wrong.
At this time, Fu Yuhua appeared before him wearing the clothes she wore when they pledged their love, and the jade hairpin he had given her years ago. She reminisced about their childhood sweetheart relationship, and after a tearful moment, she said with a hint of joy that the young emperor had grown up and she could finally let go of her burdens. She hoped he could help the young emperor consolidate his power, and once he was capable of ruling independently, they would fake their deaths, leave together, and live a secluded life in a paradise.
That year, the original owner was only 38 years old, with a long life ahead of him. The life his beloved described was too beautiful; it was the life he had always longed for. He had possessed power and status, and he did not covet them. The only thing he had never had was his beloved. So he made a decision: he voluntarily returned power to the emperor and helped him suppress dissenting voices in the court.
Unexpectedly, the young emperor's first move after consolidating his power was to send him to the frontier to lead troops into battle. At the time, his daughter was pregnant, and Fu Yuhua, assuming her son was settled and settled, gently promised the original owner that they would leave together once he returned. However, upon arriving at the frontier, the original owner soon received news of his daughter's miscarriage, followed by her being deposed for committing a transgression and banished to the cold palace. He was frantic with worry, but unable to leave the battlefield at will, this distraction, coupled with suspicion of his beloved, caused him to neglect those around him, allowing someone to exploit this vulnerability and stab him in the back, leaving him severely wounded on the battlefield.
He rushed back to the capital, but the moment he saw Fu Yuhua, he didn't need to ask anything. Her aloof and indifferent expression said it all. He only asked them to release his daughter from the palace, even if it meant being demoted to a commoner, it would be better than being in their hands. But Fu Yuhua poisoned his daughter right in front of him! She said it was evidence of his betrayal. He had already married and had a daughter, so how could he say his feelings for her hadn't changed over the years? She said she had given up on him the day he married, and everything afterward was just manipulation.
All the dirty deeds over the years were done by the original owner. As long as the young emperor deals with him and puts all the blame on him, Fu Yuhua and her son will not have any bad reputation. On the contrary, they will gain a good reputation for bringing him down.
As the original owner listened to her say these things, he felt nauseous and vomited blood. Then the young emperor arrived, but when he saw him, he showed no gratitude for the years of teaching and protection he had received. He looked at him with disgust and disdain. The original owner felt that his life was a big joke and that he had even implicated his daughter. In shock and anger, he vomited blood and died.
After learning about the original owner's life, Xu Zifan didn't think he was stupid. Sometimes, when you genuinely like someone but don't crave power, it's easy to be blinded by appearances—the so-called "blind spot under the lamp." The original owner was a brave and skilled warrior who excelled at handling court affairs, achieving extraordinary success; he could even have been emperor himself. His downfall was his obsession with his "white moonlight" (ideal love). When this "white moonlight" becomes an unattainable obsession, it's easy to be influenced and go astray.
Fu Yuhua's displays of weakness and goodwill were both highly skillful. She kept the original owner hooked, neither too close to grant her desires nor too far to make her give up. Her cunning and manipulative tactics, used on a man who already deeply loved her, were naturally invariably effective. It can only be said that the original owner was blinded by her unrequited love, and by the time she realized she was being used as a stepping stone, it was too late.
The original owner died with his eyes wide open in anger, and invited Xu Zifan, the envoy from another dimension, to change this fate. He wanted to take revenge on Fu Yuhua and her son, to make them experience excruciating pain, and also to ensure his daughter's lifelong happiness and Yulan's peace and joy.
Xu Zifan rummaged through his memories. This Yu Lan was the woman who had just fanned him, and could be considered a substitute for Fu Yuhua. Yu Lan was an orphan girl that the original owner had rescued from bandits two years ago. Because she resembled Fu Yuhua by about 50%, he kept her in his mansion. Yu Lan dressed like Fu Yuhua and could resemble her by about 70%. Of course, he didn't take her as a concubine; he only had her occasionally help with grinding ink, fanning, dining with her, or simply sit with her. He was only using her as a window to see Fu Yuhua, because in his own mansion, he could stare at her without restraint.
This substitute, deeply grateful to the original owner, lay low for a long time after the original owner's accident, transforming into a dancer to assassinate the emperor and avenge him. However, she was not an assassin after all, and her identity was discovered when she only scratched the emperor's arm; Fu Yuhua then executed her by slow slicing. Fu Yuhua saw her as a substitute and as a disgrace, while the original owner felt it was a great favor, that he owed Yulan, and therefore included Yulan in the mission he entrusted to him.
Xu Zifan transmigrated just as Fu Yuhua proposed that the emperor marry his daughter as empress. The original owner of this body said he needed to return to his residence to consider it, and he had just been thinking about this matter on the soft couch. Xu Zifan narrowed his eyes. Since the wedding hadn't taken place yet, he decided to call it off.