The Crown Prince Ascends the Entertainment Throne - Chapter 4

At the break of dawn, Xiang Xu’s internal clock woke him up.

Staring at the slightly blackened ceiling, he felt a momentary lapse in reality. Just as he was hazily wondering if he had already returned to the Yin Dynasty, a suffocating, foul stench assaulted his senses, causing him to bolt upright.

The room was as chaotic as a garbage dump. It really was not a dream.

It did not even allow him a moment of escapism.

He hugged himself, feeling heartbroken as he touched his chest, which had once been solid and muscular but was now nothing more than skin and bones. He felt incredibly fragile, yet fate insisted on toying with him.

Just as he was wallowing in self-pity, an insect that had been startled awake crawled past his leg, poking his knee with its antennae. Xiang Xu immediately jumped up, grabbed the bug’s feelers in a huff, and threw it out the window like a javelin.

“Alright, alright, I get it! I know, I know!” Xiang Xu was now wide awake.

Every time he lamented his fate, something would come along to provoke him. Before, it was his stern, awe-inspiring Imperial Father; now, this little bug seemed to have been possessed by his father, coming to mock his miserable destiny.

Thinking about it, the beaded curtain on his father’s crown actually looked quite like the bug’s antennae. With that thought, he remembered the graceful arc the “Imperial Father” had traced through the air after being tossed out the window, and his mood brightened considerably.

He walked to the window and looked down, seeing the little bug land like a camphor seed. It struggled for a while with its six legs, finally managed to flip over, and scurried away.

“Very good. Father is having a worse time than I am.” Xiang Xu’s self-consolation was rather malicious, but it was effective. It gave him the courage to face this life.

“If Imperial Sister stays home all day, perhaps I can slip out through this window and put my plan into action.”

Xiang Xu’s gaze moved from the bug to the windows several floors below. Early risers drifted by at the very bottom, and the scenery on the first floor shrank rapidly in his vision.

The bug was already as small as a speck of dust.

He felt a sudden wave of dizziness.

No way, is this too high?

Xiang Xu had no concept of modern building heights. After all, houses in the Yin Dynasty never exceeded two stories; the only structures this tall were a few high towers near the river.

Last night, he had mechanically followed his Imperial Sister up the stairs and had not realized how many turns he had made on the spiral staircase.

While pondering his next move, he heard rustling sounds from his sister’s room. He immediately pressed his ear against the door.

The bedroom door opened, and he heard his sister step out and rush into the cramped bathroom to wash up.

After washing, she changed her shoes, grabbed her bag, and snatched up her keys in one swift motion. The front door opened and then clicked shut.

Xiang Xu waited cautiously for a long time before carefully opening his door and peeking out.

There was no one else in the apartment. He cheered inwardly; this way, he could do things much more comfortably.

He swaggered around the house, opening every cabinet and flipping through items one by one. He treated it like an examination, testing himself on how many object names he could recall and carefully observing the differences between these items and those in the Yin Dynasty, memorizing details bit by bit.

He paid special attention to written text. He had nearly suffered a great loss yesterday due to the language barrier, so he was determined to overcome it today.

However, most of the writing in the house consisted of medicine labels, and the chemical names were utterly incomprehensible to him.

Finally, having explored most of the house, he stood up and stuffed the instruction manuals back into the cabinet.

He decided to execute yesterday’s plan: go to a bookstore to hone his literacy, and perhaps find something related to the Yin Dynasty.

This idea was undoubtedly bold. He was a man completely detached from this world. Today was only his second day here, and he knew nothing.

A stranger who arrived yesterday trying to pose as a local who had lived here for over twenty years was clearly no easy task.

But Xiang Xu had always known that it was better to take initiative than to sit and wait for death. To survive in this world, he had to learn about it as quickly as possible. Taking risks now was better than being caught, locked up, or even beheaded later.

Xiang Xu did not know what the penal system was like here, but based on the laws of the Yin Dynasty, he judged his situation to be extremely dangerous.

Xiang Xu made up his mind and began to groom himself carefully. He did not really know how to groom, so he picked out what looked like the most bright and lively clothes from the wardrobe. The original black outfit made him look like a ghost, so that was definitely out. He poked around the bathroom, found a black hair clip of his sister’s, and pinned his bangs to the side.

With his eyes exposed, he scrutinized himself; the person in the mirror was scrutinizing him back.

His appearance was still quite similar to how he looked in the Yin Dynasty, but he was a bit too thin. His cheeks were slightly sunken, which made his eyes look larger, and his once heroic features had lost some of their sharpness. Due to a lack of nutrition during his growth years, he was not as tall as he had been in the Yin Dynasty.

Perhaps because he was thin and pale, Xiang Xu thought he looked a bit pathetic.

Fortunately, after putting on the long-sleeved lemon-yellow hoodie and using loose blue cargo pants to cover his legs, and clipping back his hair to reveal his eyes, he at least did not look like a ghost anymore.

Xiang Xu had always known that the more lively and cheerful one appeared, the more innocent and less suspicious they seemed. Even though this was not his usual style, he was quite satisfied.

Satisfied, Xiang Xu walked out with his head held high and his chest puffed out, brimming with confidence.

If I do not want others to be suspicious, I must be confident first.

Xiang Xu encouraged himself inwardly and stepped onto the bustling, traffic-filled street.

Compared to the night, the world in daylight looked even more unfamiliar. Strange vehicles he could not name shuttled along the road, and all sorts of people dressed in bizarre clothes walked by. Some exposed large areas of skin, causing Xiang Xu to quickly avert his eyes.

Yet, even though Xiang Xu thought he was acting very natural, he still noticed many people scanning him.

Feeling those strange gazes, Xiang Xu felt a bit anxious, but he dared not show anything. He just pretended he saw nothing and kept walking forward. He was afraid that if he showed any reaction, he would be grabbed and treated as a lunatic.

In reality, Xiang Xu knew he must look strange: a soul that did not belong to this world trapped in an emaciated body, wandering brazenly in front of normal people, carefully observing the world and its inhabitants.

Although he knew it, seeing those suspicious looks still discouraged him, albeit only a little.

“Today this Prince is strange, it does not mean I will be strange tomorrow. If I am strange tomorrow, it does not mean I will be strange the day after! One day, I will be so natural that I will stun you all!”

Xiang Xu always had a way to comfort himself.

Fortunately, although these people looked at him strangely, they all had a sense of boundaries and did not come forward to bother him.

Xiang Xu gradually calmed down, listening in on the way passersby spoke, memorizing their phrasing bit by bit, all while eyeing the surrounding shops.

Although he could not read the signs, it was easy to tell what was being sold by the items displayed in the windows.

Xiang Xu passed many snack shops. The road gradually widened, and the types of shops changed; flower shops, clothing stores, and jewelry shops were concentrated on streets with more pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

The shops grew larger and the decorations more luxurious.

Finally, Xiang Xu stopped in front of a storefront, looking inside with some hesitation.

Judging by the books displayed in the window, this should indeed be a bookstore, but for a bookstore, was this decor a bit too exaggerated?

Unlike other uniform storefronts, this one had been completely renovated. Its exterior and facade were in an Italian style, the windows were polished to a mirror shine, and the pillars on both sides of the door were made of marble, decorated with real white and blue flowers.

Some stylish young women were standing by the shop entrance, holding colorful cups, using those little bricks to take photos of themselves in various poses.

Although Xiang Xu did not understand this decor style or what those girls were doing, he could clearly see how much effort it took to make the shop look like this.

In this situation, the books in the window seemed to be just a part of the decoration. Xiang Xu could not tell if this was really a bookstore, so he just kept looking inside.

To make matters worse, the glass door was tinted, and nothing could be seen without getting close, as if they were afraid people might get a full view.

Just as Xiang Xu was hesitating, a man and a woman walked out of the store with ugly expressions on their faces.

As soon as they were out, the girl could not help but pull a hardcover book out of the paper bag, touching it with a mix of care and gnashing teeth:

“My god, was this book gold-plated? If only I had not felt too embarrassed to put it back!”

“Since we bought it, let’s just treat it as paying for the emotional value. At least the book is pretty. I heard that all the books in this bookstore are specially bound.” The man comforted her, though he also looked pained.

“As long as a book can be read, who cares if it is pretty! I am never coming to this shitty internet-famous store again. If I do, I am a big pig!” The girl vented angrily. “Let’s go! I am not eating dinner tonight; I am full just from the anger!”

“You have to eat. I will treat you; I will treat you to hotpot!”

“Is this a question of you treating me?!” The girl’s anger had not subsided. As the man led her away, she suddenly locked eyes with Xiang Xu’s wide, dark eyes. She aggressively took two steps toward him: “Look! What are you looking at? Have you never seen a shrew before?”

The man immediately pulled her back and said apologetically: “Sorry, sorry.”

Saying this, he pulled his angry girlfriend away.

Xiang Xu stood there, stunned, trying to process the situation.

It seemed this really was a bookstore, but the books inside must be very expensive.

Influenced by the imperial examination culture, he had an innate fondness for scholars and book collectors. He imagined that anyone who decorated a shop with such great expense and effort must also be a book lover.

In the Yin Dynasty, the cost of making books was also not cheap, and using high-quality materials made them even more expensive. Therefore, he loved books, and he felt he could understand that a valuable book would be sold at a high price.

Besides, Xiang Xu was not planning to buy anything; he had not even figured out what the currency here looked like yet.

Since he was not buying, it made no difference to him whether the books were expensive or cheap. He just wanted to go in and see if there were any books related to the writing of the Yin Dynasty.

Having thought it through, Xiang Xu felt at ease and confidently walked inside.