Labor, Capital, And Friends Are Emperors - Chapter 1

The dormitory featured an independent bathroom. Xiao Shiyun emerged from the shower and used a gray towel to dry his hair. Droplets of water that were not wiped away slid down his sharp jawline and dripped onto a chest that rose and fell with his breathing. They traced the lines of his well-trained abdominal muscles before disappearing into the towel wrapped around his waist.

“Bai Yi, look at you getting a nosebleed just from looking at a handsome guy,” joked Bai Yi’s close friend, laughing so hard his stomach hurt. Bai Yi, who had been pretending to write his thesis, was speechless.

Embarrassed, Bai Yi closed his eyes and practiced his routine of stuffing a ball of tissue into his nose to stop the bleeding. He then opened his eyes and yelled, “It is just a set of abs! I have them too!”

Xiao Shiyun paused his drying and raised an eyebrow as his gaze drifted toward Bai Yi’s midsection with clear intent.

“Xiao Yun, what do you mean? You do not believe your buddy has abs? These abs of yours were probably made from drinking protein powder,” Bai Yi said, feeling provoked. He reached out without hesitation to touch Xiao Shiyun’s abs.

He gave them a squeeze, noting they were firm yet elastic. He failed to notice that the look Xiao Shiyun gave him was darker and more unreadable than usual.

A deep, slightly hoarse voice whispered in Bai Yi’s ear, “Yes, I drank them into existence.”

For some reason, Bai Yi felt a wave of goosebumps across his skin.

A memorial scroll was thrown with great force, striking Bai Yi, who was kneeling on the ground lost in his thoughts.

Bai Yi’s official hat was knocked askew. He snapped back to reality, realizing it had already been half a month since he had traveled to this world. From a distance above his head, a sinister voice drifted down. “Is this the memorial you wrote, my dear minister? Even Laifu writes better than this.”

The memorial unfolded on the floor, revealing several crooked and poorly written characters: Damn it, I want to go home.

The handwriting was incredibly ugly, making Xiao Shiyun’s eyes ache. Laifu was the dog raised by the Emperor. Held in the arms of a eunuch, Laifu barked twice at Bai Yi, who was kneeling in the Imperial Study, appearing quite smug. After barking twice, Laifu met the Emperor’s unreadable black eyes and wisely shut its mouth.

“I want to know exactly what is going on in your head,” Xiao Shiyun said, feeling irritated at the sight of the lowered official hat. He felt that anything could be dragged into the court to make up the numbers.

Bai Yi lifted his head and looked at Xiao Shiyun’s face for the third time without reservation. It was clearly the same face, yet it gave him goosebumps. Facing that familiar face, he had grievances but could not voice them.

His good friend, Xiao Shiyun, had somehow traveled back in time to become an Emperor and was now treating him like a servant. Meanwhile, Bai Yi had become a hard-working official trailing behind him.

“I was thinking of you and your face. Xiao Shiyun, have you really forgotten me?” Bai Yi asked with utter sincerity. If the heavens could return his friend who had not yet turned dark, he would never ask Xiao Shiyun to pick up his takeout or do his homework again.

Xiao Shiyun felt a surge of disgust, and the veins on the back of his hand pulsed. At these words, all the servants in the Imperial Study and the old eunuch, Guo Fu, who had served the Emperor for years, were deeply shocked. Countless gazes secretly shifted between the two.

Guo Fu pointed at Bai Yi, sputtered for a long while, and finally cursed, “Presumptuous! How dare you call the Emperor by his name! You deserve to die! Your Majesty, please pass judgment!”

The Emperor had an unknown, scandalous history with a provincial governor? Was everyone crazy? Was this a loss of humanity or a distortion of ethics? Or perhaps the governor simply did not want to live anymore and hoped the Emperor would send him on his way.

“Guo Fu, take him away and give him ten strokes of the board,” Xiao Shiyun said, sheathing the sword he had drawn. He glanced down to study Bai Yi’s features.

The eyes and brows were regular but not particularly striking. The gaze was clear and foolish. The bridge of the nose was straight, and the lips were red and slightly thick. He looked like someone he had seen before. However, having grown up in the palace, he felt it was impossible to have met this group of officials who were only recently promoted.

When Xiao Shiyun walked past him and stepped on the memorial he had written with blood and tears, Bai Yi finally lost his patience and grabbed Xiao Shiyun’s leg. This caused Xiao Shiyun to stumble forward. He lifted his foot and kicked Bai Yi in the shoulder.

“I see you truly do not want to live,” Xiao Shiyun said with a dark expression, drawing his sword and resting it against Bai Yi’s neck.

“Brother, did you really forget your buddy? When we eat spicy soup, I always remember you want it numb but not spicy. When we eat skewers, I know you eat vegetables but not meat. You hate umbrellas and like walking in the rain. You even have two moles on your side!”

At the mention of the last detail, Xiao Shiyun’s ears turned red. He cursed using the crudest words he knew. “You are talking nonsense!”

“Look, you told me I am talking nonsense. What a familiar phrase. You always know how I will respond: nonsense is better than your smell,” Bai Yi replied naturally, just as he had many times before.

Xiao Shiyun was so angry that he closed his eyes and fainted. Guo Fu cried out in despair, “Your Majesty, you must take care of your health! Heaven helps the worthy! Someone come quickly, the Emperor has fainted! Call the imperial physician!”

“Xiao Shiyun, did I actually anger you to death? Why have you become so narrow-minded?” Bai Yi crawled to Xiao Shiyun’s side in disbelief to check his breathing. “And I do not even have an AED to give you a shock.”

Guo Fu was frantic. “Minister, please shut up! The Emperor was angered to this point by you!”

“I have learned CPR, so do not worry,” Bai Yi said. In his urgency, he placed both hands on Xiao Shiyun’s heart to perform chest compressions. Seeing that he still had not woken up, Bai Yi hesitated. This was his best friend, after all. Purity was not as important as life. After a brief thought, Bai Yi gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and leaned in to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

The soft touch brought a strange tingle. Xiao Shiyun, unable to pretend any longer, opened his eyes. He used his internal energy to strike out with his palm. Bai Yi was thrown five meters back and hit a pillar. He felt as if he were about to cough up blood.

Xiao Shiyun flicked his sleeve and left the Imperial Study. Bai Yi was dragged out, suffering both the palm strike and the unavoidable beating with the boards.

The next day, the court was filled with gossip about the provincial governor receiving thirty strokes of the board at the execution grounds of the Meridian Gate.

When he opened his eyes again, Bai Yi realized he was not lying in the master bedroom of his own residence. Instead, he was on a soft, magnificent round bed. Looking at the ceiling, he saw layers of yellow bed curtains hanging down. He also saw Xiao Shiyun, dressed in a cold and stern manner with a jade crown, being served by eunuchs as he changed clothes.

Bai Yi lay on the bed in silence, quietly watching Xiao Shiyun’s well-defined back and waist. He did not want to ask why he was lying in Xiao Shiyun’s bed. He only hoped this was a dream and that he would wake up in the top bunk of his university dorm.

Bai Yi closed his eyes before Xiao Shiyun could turn around. After a long while, he heard the people in the room close the palace doors and leave. It was so quiet he could hear the rhythm of his own breathing.

“Stop pretending to sleep. I know you are awake.”

Bai Yi opened his eyes a crack and saw Xiao Shiyun sitting in a chair by the bed, drinking tea. Just as he was wondering how to face him, he heard Xiao Shiyun speak. “Do you not want to know who I am? I am the person you are looking for, but I have lost the memories of that period with you.”

Seeing him finally admit it, Bai Yi felt a surge of belief and his eyes filled with tears. Because of this, he did not see the curl of Xiao Shiyun’s lips.