Transmigrated as the Villain: Punching the Protagonist Group and Stepping on the Domestic Abuser - Chapter 1

When Rong Se opened his eyes, he was still in a daze. The sound of whistling wind still seemed to linger in his ears, and the weightlessness of falling from the twenty-fourth floor had not completely faded. His entire body was drenched in cold sweat, his legs were weak and trembling, and his fingertips were spasming.

Before him was an ancient hall with carved balustrades, painted rafters, and a brilliant golden glow. The sound of string and bamboo instruments was melodious and lingering, and graceful women danced with light steps.

Rong Se slowly furrowed his brow.

With the slightest movement, a turbulent storm surged in his mind, and countless unfamiliar memories abruptly poured in.

After a moment of chaos, Rong Se managed to compose himself. He realized he was still alive, and he had transmigrated into a book! He had fallen into an ancient Danmei, plot-driven novel he had skimmed through a few days ago, titled The Emperor and the General Removing Their Armor.

In the original work, the shou protagonist, Rong Jing, was a legitimate, direct-descendant imperial son with a gentle and generous personality. His destined partner was Liang Shenyu, the Marquis of Dingbei, widely known throughout the Great Jin as the God of War. The two had known each other since childhood and had been separated for many years. The book was not particularly long, and the plot essentially served the romance line, with everything dedicated to the sweet love between the gong and shou protagonists.

He sat quietly and silently because a reel of the original owner Rong Se’s life was still playing in his mind like a revolving lantern. It wasn’t meticulously detailed, but rather fragments that had left a deep impression on him, somewhat resembling a film montage.

The original owner, also named Rong Se, was the late emperor’s youngest younger brother. His birth mother, Yan Shuang, came from a pleasure house and was known as the number one beauty in Jinjing. However, she was a courtesan who sold her artistry rather than her body. After entering the palace, she won immense imperial favor and gave birth to a son for the old emperor, and then the old emperor passed away.

The new emperor, who was Rong Jing’s father, forced Yan Shuang, who was now a dowager concubine, to serve him in bed. Word of this scandalous deed leaked out, and the crime of defiling the inner palace fell squarely on Yan Shuang’s shoulders. Empress Cao at the time personally bestowed death upon Dowager Concubine Yan. Right in front of the eight-year-old Rong Se, she was strangled dozens of times before her breath finally cut off. With her eyes wide and tongue protruding, her face was ferocious and her death hideous. After that, Rong Se was thrown to the imperial tombs to fend for himself.

The original owner guarded the imperial tombs for five years until Zheng Fu, a close attendant of the emperor, deliberately tried to curry favor by sending the emperor’s younger brother, who looked strikingly similar to his birth mother, back to the palace. The original owner was not stupid. Though young, he endured in silence for three years, allowing the old emperor to use him as a living memory of his birth mother like a nostalgic keepsake. Six years later, he officially began laying out his plans.

Using the old emperor’s hand to co-opt imperial physicians, he secretly hinted that Empress Cao was relying on her son, and that the emperor intended to make her son the crown prince. Because Rong Xu delayed naming a crown prince, Empress Cao inevitably grew anxious. The physician then handed her a pre-prepared medicine, telling her that long-term use of this substance would definitely lead to an early death.

Just as the original owner had anticipated, the old emperor’s health gradually deteriorated. Rong Se then began to make a name for himself in the court, successfully rising to power by exploiting the court conflicts of interest between the Ministry of Rites and the Nine Ministries.

During the six months before the old emperor’s death, he became the Regent who ruled on behalf of the imperial brother.

However, after the old emperor died, a traitor appeared from within his ranks, prompting the Marquis of Dingbei to gallop five thousand miles to save the throne. The gong protagonist, the Marquis of Dingbei, held massive military power, but he was far away on the border with his vision blocked. The original owner only had one hundred thousand imperial guards in his hands. Upon learning that the Marquis of Dingbei was rushing back, he voluntarily stepped down simply to avoid giving the marquis any pretense, with the condition that Empress Dowager Cao be sent to guard the imperial tombs.

If he did not rebel, the Marquis of Dingbei could not dispatch troops. One day, he would eventually leave the capital, and that would be the time to plot the grand undertaking. Coincidentally, the original owner held a tight grip on half of the court officials, and the Marquis of Dingbei had no intention of fighting him to the death. Thus came the original owner’s subsequent role as a romance tool.

It wasn’t until the gong and shou had enjoyed enough sweetness that the original owner could no longer help himself and raised arms in rebellion. Only then did he discover that those he could use had either been turned to the marquis’s side by the Marquis of Dingbei or killed. With no one to support him, he ultimately met a tragic end.

At this moment, that gloomy, cold, ruthless, and tragic major villain was none other than Rong Se himself.

Rong Se thought to himself that this escalated rather abruptly.

It was truly a hellish start.

Having someone else’s memories forcibly played in his mind was like suddenly pouring in countless knowledge points; whether he wanted to accept them or not was not up to him. Rong Se did not know how long he had remained silent, but by the time he came back to his senses, every single face before him could be matched one by one with the original owner’s memories.

Remaining calm and composed, Rong Se continuously weighed his options in his heart. Even an ant clings to life; since he was living a second life, he had no intention of walking down the original owner’s old path.

The original owner’s inherent nature was cold, and his methods were cruel and intense. Everyone around him was merely a tool to be utilized, and he wished that every smile and frown was a calculation. It was only natural that he met such an end.

Yet the shou protagonist, who was portrayed as so wonderfully virtuous in the original novel, was in the original owner’s memories actually a wicked seed hiding a knife in his smile, sanctimonious and vicious in intent. For instance, he would insult and beat him when no one was around, punish palace servants and beat a puppy to death before proclaiming to the outside world that Rong Se had done it, and even intentionally or unintentionally spread word that Rong Se was a blood-drinking monster.

If trash like this could be the protagonist, the quasi-villain Rong Se found it very hard to swallow this breath.

He made a brief analysis.

At this very moment, the time he had transmigrated to was precisely chapter one of the book. The late emperor had newly passed away, and because the Marquis of Dingbei had returned to the capital and was watching and waiting without moving, the new emperor Rong Jing had ascended the throne. After performing the ancestor-worshipping ceremonies, a banquet was held to welcome the Marquis of Dingbei, who had rendered great service.

This meant he was still the Regent who could stand face-to-face with the protagonist gong and shou.

The only problem was figuring out how a cook was supposed to fast-track political maneuvering.

Rong Se rubbed the space between his brows, his gaze drawn to the Roland-purple robe edged with gold he was wearing. He then swept his eyes across a low table in front of him, atop of which sat a few plain, watery dishes. The plating looked quite nice, but just looking at it made one lose all appetite. Only then did Rong Se realize that he was sitting in a wooden chair carved with dragon heads on the armrests.

You could tell just how arrogant the original owner was. The emperor was sitting up there, and he dared to use a second version of the dragon chair.

Lost in thought, Rong Se looked down again at the dishes before his table. They were all cold dishes, and his convulsing stomach felt icy cold, making him even less inclined to eat.

“If Your Imperial Uncle is tired, you might as well return to your residence early to rest.”

A concerned voice rang out. Guessing who the speaker was based on the title, Rong Se narrowed his brilliant peach-blossom eyes slightly.

He was sitting in the position directly below the Son of Heaven.

Raising his eyes, Rong Se saw Rong Jing, dressed in a bright yellow imperial robe and wearing a beaded imperial crown. True to the novel’s description, he was fair, handsome, bright-eyed, and white-toothed, the living image of a pure and harmless little white lotus.

This was openly trying to evict him. Rong Se thought with a lack of enthusiasm about that vicious little waste from the novel who relied on the protagonist gong to reach the imperial throne. The nausea that had just subsided welled up in him once again, and he felt like vomiting.

Rong Se glanced further down. The officials were seated on both sides below, leaving only himself and the newly ascended emperor sitting above. Therefore, the seat at the head of all officials had to belong to the protagonist gong, Liang Shenyu.

Rong Se slowly looked over, his gaze abruptly halting.

It stopped on a dish situated on that person’s table.

Throughout the entire banquet hall, it was the only hot dish, an egg-drop soup still emitting wisps of steam.

It also looked like a clear soup with a few specks of green leaves floating on top and wisps of egg ribbons drifting within. It stood out brilliantly among a crowd of cold salad-like dishes, instantly capturing Rong Se’s attention.

Seeing that Rong Se wouldn’t acknowledge anyone, the smile on Rong Jing’s face became difficult to maintain.

Rong Se had already lost! The one sitting on the throne now was him; by what right did Rong Se still dare to act so condescendingly arrogant?

Just as Rong Jing prepared to speak again, the person sitting at the head of the officials smiled and said slowly, “My Lord, you’ve been staring for quite a while. Is there a desire for this dish?”

Rong Se only saw a pair of well-defined hands holding silver-plated chopsticks, gently pointing at the edge of the soup bowl.

He snapped back to his senses.

Only then did Rong Se observe the man sitting there, blessed with deep-set brow bones and a handsome countenance, wearing a dark purple court robe of the same color as his own, with kirins treading on clouds embroidered on the collar. Among a hall full of officials, he managed to wear it with a crane-standing-among-chickens air of unbridled wildness. His bearing was also exceptionally outstanding; sitting just as straight, he carried a composure of effortless mastery.

He looked like a pine tree defying the frosty wind, proud and unyielding.

The Marquis of Dingbei, Liang Shenyu, bore the courtesy name Shuyun.

Retaining his calm, Rong Se rested his chin in his palm and sized him up for a moment before giving a restrained, graceful nod.

“For this king?”

In just four words, Rong Se had spent half a day pondering how to say them.

When uttering the self-reference denoting royalty, there was still a trace of obscure embarrassment, much like a delusional teenager.

Liang Shenyu, however, was slightly surprised, raising an eyebrow with amused interest.

Ever since his return to the capital, this power-hungry Regent had avoided meeting him. Thus, today was his very first time seeing the infamous Ninth Prince, reputed for lusting after power, collecting wealth, and stinking of corruption, since his return.

To openly close his eyes and rest at an imperial banquet, ignore everyone upon opening his eyes, and make his very first sentence a demand for the bowl of food in front of him was rather interesting.

Harboring a desire to test the waters, Liang Shenyu slowly rose to his feet. Carrying the wide-mouthed celadon bowl, he ascended the steps, bent down to place it before Rong Se’s table, his smile masking a probing look.

“Please partake, My Lord.”

Rong Se subconsciously backed away slightly. He was unaccustomed to being too close to people, though he didn’t lose his composure. He couldn’t help but feel surprised.

“My good nephew prepared this for the Marquis.” Rong Se glanced at Rong Jing, whose expression was taut and faintly showed shock and grievance. His mood lifted considerably, and his smile grew even more genuine as he asked, “Is it truly given?”

Liang Shenyu appraised the prince’s fine appearance before him. When smiling, his eyes were like peach blossoms, brimming with tender affection, yet his temperament remained gentle, bearing not the slightest resemblance to the gloomy Asura of the rumors.

His words, however, were less than pleasant. Not only were they treasonous, but they also neatly shifted the blame back onto him.

“It is merely a dish. With Your Lordship’s noble status, what is there that cannot be given?”

Liang Shenyu swept a meaningful glance across Rong Se, then turned around and strode back to his own seat.

The officials throughout the hall were as silent as cicadas in winter, not even daring to gaze at how ugly their newly ascended sovereign’s expression had become.

These two individuals were blatantly disregarding the new emperor!

The Regent wielded imperial power across the court and held military authority. The Marquis of Dingbei was laden with battle achievements and held heavy forces in hand.

A single dish was interpreted by the officials as carrying countless possibilities, such as these two having silently completed a hidden confrontation.

Rong Se, who had managed to get a sip of hot egg-drop soup, couldn’t be in a better mood. Since he had taken over the original owner’s body and identity, it was only natural to repay the favor somewhat. After all, the chance to live a second life was beyond precious, and he couldn’t simply turn a blind eye to the original owner’s aggrieved and resentful first half of life.

Therefore, seeing Rong Jing get snubbed was naturally deeply gratifying.

Rong Se happily sipped his egg-drop soup while pondering the hastily read original novel. Many plots had not involved these details, such as the memories that had been forcefully crammed into Rong Se’s head, leaving his head throbbing faintly even now.

However, Liang Shenyu should have just returned to court, at a point where the novel’s romance line had not yet fully unfolded. The character setup for this man was a warm-faced yet cold-hearted, brave and battle-tested general, as well as a pristine gentleman of clear moonlight. Rong Jing, that white lotus, would love him deeply and unregrettably, loving him to the point of obsession before finally moving Liang Shenyu and securing his protection.

Yet Liang Shenyu did possess the merit of supporting the dragon throne; there was no guarantee he didn’t harbor favoritism toward Rong Jing right now, so Rong Se still dared not let down his guard.

Just as he was deep in thought, Rong Jing spoke once more.

“I have heard that on the day the Marquis of Dingbei returned to the capital, the Commander of the Imperial Guards, Yun Zhi, not only failed to dismount and salute, but even drew swords against him, an offense that ought to be severely punished!”

Rong Se immediately looked toward the section of military officials. A young man clad in scarlet official robes stood up expressionlessly, bowing to plead guilty with the words, “This subject is terrified.”

This was one of his own people.

Rong Se had a pair of twin brothers under his command: the older brother managed businesses for him in the residence, while the younger brother entered officialdom, holding command over the hundred thousand imperial guards, which was also Rong Se’s foundation of confidence.

This scene did not exist in the original novel because the original owner had been so sickened by Rong Jing’s attitude that he flipped the table and left on the spot.

Rong Se sighed inwardly.

It looked like he was going to have to improvise.