Transmigration: The Straight-Man Prince Was Driven Crazy by My Overachieving - Chapter 1

Great Yin Dynasty, 31st Year of Taihe, The Capital.

The capital was located in the Jiangnan region. In previous years, the weather would warm up as soon as spring arrived. This year, however, there was an exceptionally biting “late spring cold” that lasted for three or four days, with rain mixed with flurries of snow. By evening, the chill would seep directly into one’s bones.

In the East Courtyard of the Prince of Dingbei’s estate, just past the small garden and through a small door at the end of the covered corridor, was the Fushui Room—a newly established water-heating room. What was most eye-catching there wasn’t the gilded copper cauldron used for heating water, but the charcoal burning under the stove. For some reason, it had been processed in such a way that the faint smoke it emitted carried a refreshingly fragrant scent.

Four young maids were waiting for the copper pot to fill their water buckets. Gathered together, they began to whisper among themselves:

“…Don’t even mention how expensive the charcoal in this water room is. Just a few days ago, when the weather was freezing, the Prince personally prepared a sparrow-feather cloak for that person, only for him to toss it into the mud, snow, and rain to be ruined!”

The round-faced maid spoke with heartache in her eyes. Even though they, as servants in the Prince’s estate, were accustomed to seeing fine things, that cloak had been made with such complex embroidery—the craftsmanship was truly exquisite. Seeing such a treasure treated with such disdain, how could she not feel pained?

“That’s nothing. Last time, the Prince spent ten thousand gold pieces on a painting by a famous master from the previous dynasty, and he ruined it just by splashing tea on it,” another maid with a long face hummed in annoyance. “How many days has he been in our Prince’s estate? He’s so strange, and with our Prince’s temperament… to think he can actually tolerate him!”

“That man has poison scars on his face that haven’t healed yet, so he hides his looks with that black, murky ointment,” another maid whispered. “I heard this famous scholar from Xiling… is stunningly beautiful! Putting other things aside, haven’t you noticed just by looking at those eyes, that figure… he has a way of hooking people; it’s just too seductive!”

As soon as she finished speaking, the other maids secretly pursed their lips and chuckled, though their eyes revealed a sense of agreement. It was naturally true; he was indeed seductive. They weren’t blind.

But before this, they had never heard of the Prince having an interest in men. Suddenly, he saved a man from the “Human Hunting Grounds” and openly told outsiders that he had taken a “male concubine”… Such favor truly forced them to ponder quite a bit.

Yet, ever since this male concubine entered the estate, he hadn’t revealed a single smile. He looked at them, the servants, as if they were dirt and filth, and even toward the Prince, he maintained an arrogant and cold expression.

He is far too difficult to serve, even more worrying than this late spring cold.

He was clearly a death-row prisoner who had been tossed into the hunting grounds. It didn’t look like the Prince had saved him; it looked like the Prince owed him something. The maids couldn’t help but feel a bit of indignation on their master’s behalf.

“However, he was running a fever yesterday, and since waking up after his nap today,” the maid who appeared the most experienced and capable whispered, lowering her voice, “I don’t know what happened, but he seems a bit deranged in his actions and speech.”

“It’s true. When he came out of the room after being cooped up for a long time to order bathwater, I saw that the corners of his eyes and nose were red, as if he had just been crying,” the round-faced maid immediately chimed in. “To think that such an arrogant and aloof scholar would weep and feel aggrieved like us girls? How strange”

Just then, the old servant in charge of heating the water coughed twice, and the maids immediately fell silent. It wouldn’t be appropriate to be overheard gossiping about the male concubine in the estate. Seeing the buckets were full, they ordered the two sturdy lower-ranking wet nurses to carry the water through the small door and set it down in the corridor. Then, the girls took over, two to a bucket, and headed toward the main room of the side courtyard.

As they turned the corner of the corridor, the maids suddenly stopped in their tracks, looking toward the doorway of the main room in a daze.

In the heavy twilight, a person stood under the eaves. He was tilting his face, looking at the rain and snow falling from the sky. The light from the glass lantern in the nearby corridor shone over, casting a beautiful, detailed outline upon his facial features. Under the light, the man stood tall and graceful, possessing an indescribable air of cold, exquisite beauty.

“Ahem,” the lead maid with the long face was the first to regain her composure. She hurried over, careful and respectful, and announced, “Master Shen.”

Shen Shangling snapped back to reality: “Hmm?”

After a moment of confusion, he merely gave a slight nod and said nothing more. The maids were clearly accustomed to his arrogant, cold face, so they carefully went into the room, prepared all the washing supplies, and then retreated with careful bows.

As they exited, they quickly exchanged glances. He was still the same as before; the brief moment of incoherent rambling after his afternoon nap… it was likely just that he had been plagued by a nightmare.

Shen Shangling watched expressionlessly as the maids withdrew, then quickly closed the door. Leaning against the door, his forced sense of dignity collapsed. The corners of his mouth twitched, and his eyes grew sore again:

Damn it, he really had transmigrated into this dog-blood novel about a male concubine.

At this moment, the steam rising from the wooden tub and the delicate agarwood smoke spiraling from the filigree dragon incense burner… everything felt so real. The system in his head clearly wasn’t a hallucination from his car accident.

He had originally been an D-list, C-tier actor in the entertainment industry, lacking in both talent and skill. However, his family was wealthy and he didn’t lack money, so he joined the entertainment world just to enjoy the gossip. He never fought for anything; he preferred to just lie flat. He was a quintessential “salted fish” (slacker).

But it seemed Heaven had invested all his talent into his appearance. Relying solely on his looks, he had recently started to become somewhat popular. His agent was overjoyed and pushed him to take a role in a drama, claiming it was an adaptation of a famous web novel with a decent fan base. He had flipped through the original work and was left speechless by its sheer, ridiculous melodrama.

And just as his agent was rushing him to the audition, he got into a car accident. He only remembered a dull, heavy boom CRASH.

When he opened his eyes, he had transmigrated into this melodramatic story! After waking up in this world, he had screamed in shock a few times, but the system’s voice quickly appeared in his head. While explaining the fact of his transmigration, the system warned him to watch his speech and actions and not to reveal his status as a transmigrator.

Hearing the system’s voice at the time, he tried to endure… but he couldn’t. He had crawled onto the bed, pulled the entire quilt over his head, and curled up inside. He stayed like that until evening. Only after he finally crawled out of bed in a daze and looked at the cold rain, snow, and the heavy twilight at the door did he begin to face reality.

Was this something he could resist? Obviously not. And he had always been one to never resist things he couldn’t change.

Sniffling, Shen Shangling’s heart finally settled as he slowly accepted this melodramatic transmigration. He had broken into a cold sweat earlier, and his undergarments were damp, making him feel sticky. He desperately needed a bath to calm down.

While dejectedly stripping off his clothes, Shen Shangling hurriedly tried to recall the plot of the book. What did that melodramatic book actually say?

It said that the Great Yin Dynasty’s “God of War,” the Prince of Dingbei, Lu Xiao, had a favorite concubine a man of peerless appearance and proud character. He was a “heart’s delight” that the Prince had saved from the Human Hunting Grounds, even at the cost of defying the Emperor.

That male concubine was named Shen Shangling. He shared the same name as him, and after waking up and looking into the bronze mirror, he realized they even looked the same!

But in truth, the Prince of Dingbei was not interested in men. This Shen Shangling was several years his senior, a renowned scholar famous from a young age for his elegant grace, profound learning, and mastery of both literature and painting. When Lu Xiao was young, this scholar had been invited by the Old Prince to teach the youth of the estate, establishing a sort of mentor-student bond.

Later, for some unknown reason, this Shen Shangling offended the Emperor with his writing, was thrown into prison, and became a death-row inmate. The old, doting Emperor of the Great Yin Dynasty had capriciously reopened the long-abandoned “Human Hunting Grounds,” tossing in death-row prisoners along with wolves and foxes to serve as game for the nobility to hunt for sport.

Shen Shangling was among them. Seeing this, the Prince of Dingbei used a fine bow to “beg” the Emperor for the man. He knew the Emperor would not be happy unless this Shen Shangling was killed or humiliated, so he used the excuse of having a taste for men to ask the Emperor to give him the man as a “male concubine.”

This Shen Shangling was famously arrogant and disdainful of others. The Emperor already hated him for his pride. Upon hearing that such an arrogant scholar would be made a concubine—destined to be humiliated and crushed under a man’s bed, with no shred of dignity left—he felt extremely vindicated.

Furthermore, the Prince of Dingbei held great military merit, which the Emperor feared. Since Shen Shangling had a reputation among the scholars of the world, having the Prince take him as a concubine would deeply offend the literati, ruining Lu Xiao’s reputation and putting the Emperor’s mind at ease.

For these two reasons, in front of the court, the old Emperor pretended to be forced by the Prince of Dingbei’s threats, while simultaneously “reluctantly” and thoroughly agreeing.

Lu Xiao brought Shen Shangling into the estate. In front of outsiders, he naturally treated him as a favored male concubine, but in private, he repeatedly stated that it was only to save the scholar’s life and that it was a forced measure. He promised that, in the future, he would find a way to settle the scholar somewhere safe. Therefore, in the estate, Lu Xiao treated the scholar with the utmost respect and never overstepped his bounds.

Unexpectedly, Shen Shangling was not only arrogant but also rather naive and foolish. Later, he was secretly recruited by corrupt officials who incited him to poison and frame Lu Xiao, ultimately leading to Lu Xiao’s miserable death. If the story had ended there, it might have been fine…

But this was a “rebirth” novel! Lu Xiao had been reborn! And the Lu Xiao who returned from his previous life was full of cold hatred. The day he was reborn, he declared that in this lifetime, he would torment this “beauty” until he died.

Calculating the timeline, the “rebirth” node was only about half a month away. Thinking of how Lu Xiao had tormented the male concubine in the original book… a chill raced down Shen Shangling’s spine, and his very bones felt icy.

Hoo,

At this thought, Shen Shangling took a deep breath, rubbed his face, and vigorously massaged his sore eyes. This damn melodramatic plot. Crying won’t change this damn melodramatic plot.

He had always been spoiled, afraid of heights, prone to fainting at the sight of blood, lazy, gluttonous, soft-hearted, and he always gave himself away when he lied… He was especially afraid of pain! Why did this broken system pick me?

Oh right, the system! After the system confirmed the transmigration facts that afternoon, it had… temporarily crashed before it could say anything else. Thinking about how his only “cheat” was so unreliable, Shen Shangling couldn’t help but take another deep breath.

Fine, I’ll just have to adapt on my own.

He walked over to the bath, looking at the fresh flowers and fruits displayed on the cabinet, the layers of thin gauze fluttering from the sandalwood frames, and the various herb leaves swirling in the steaming, fragrant water. The corners of Shen Shangling’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch:

It really is… disgustingly melodramatic. He remembered now: the book described the scholar Shen Shangling as having a proud yet refined character. Before his downfall, his daily items were all exquisite and sophisticated. It was said to be the standard style of the Great Yin Dynasty’s famous scholars.

In other words… he was just being super pretentious in every possible way.