Transmigration: The Straight-Man Prince Was Driven Crazy by My Overachieving - Chapter 4

Shen Shangling finished speaking nervously, feeling as though his entire body were burning up. Now that he was close to Lu Xiao, he could sense the hard, powerful, and muscular tension of a martial artist, even through the fabric of his robes. There was also a scorching, vibrant vitality—a unique quality of youth that even the scent of blood couldn’t suppress—which made him feel somewhat faint.

Only then did he recall that the melodramatic book had stated Lu Xiao was five or six years younger than Shen Shangling. Lu Xiao was only twenty-two? While he, and the “male concubine” Shen Shangling, were both twenty-seven or twenty-eight, nearing thirty.

It wasn’t just that he wasn’t straight; the thought of being a “male concubine” to someone so much younger, who had once been his student, felt like a thunderbolt to Shen Shangling. Even just saying it out loud made him feel ashamed. But compared to the pain of being tormented and crushed by the Prince of Dingbei after his rebirth in ten days or so… this bit of shame was nothing.

“Master?” A flash of astonishment passed through Lu Xiao’s eyes, then, thinking of something, he explained calmly, “Since I saved you and brought you back, I am not afraid of what outsiders might suspect. There is no need for this; please, set your heart at ease.”

There was no need to go this far with the act. Initially, when he brought Shen Shangling back from the Human Hunting Grounds under the name of a “male concubine” in front of all the officials and nobility, it was more than enough to be cursed by the scholars of the world. That point alone was enough to satisfy the old Emperor. As for how he treated Shen Shangling within his own estate… that, in truth, did not matter.

“My Lord!” Seeing Lu Xiao raise his leg to leave again, Shen Shangling, in his anxiety, finally found another excuse. “For the past few nights, I have felt a chilling presence… My heart is uneasy, and I wish to borrow your ‘aura’—your regal, kingly spirit—to suppress it.”

Lu Xiao’s expression remained unchanged, his gaze sweeping over Shen Shangling’s flustered, anxious face once more.

“Very well.”

Just when Shen Shangling worried that Lu Xiao would refuse again, he didn’t expect Lu Xiao to actually agree.

There was only one bed in this room. When it came time to sleep, Shen Shangling wanted to ask whether Lu Xiao would sleep on the inside or the outside. To his surprise, Lu Xiao didn’t enter the inner bedroom at all; instead, he sat down firmly on a chair by the window outside the warm pavilion and casually picked up a book from the shelf.

“I will keep watch here,” Lu Xiao said, his face unmoved. “Master, go inside and rest.”

Shen Shangling paused. If they didn’t sleep side-by-side, he didn’t know if the system would be able to sense where the “Qi” (Fortune) product was. But Lu Xiao’s brow was filled with a deep gloom, and Shen Shangling simply didn’t dare find another excuse to get Lu Xiao onto the bed.

“System, System?” As soon as he lay down, Shen Shangling quickly called out. “Can you sense it? Keep sensing for a while, hurry, hurry, hurry!”

The system responded in its milky voice: “I am sensing, but there is no data response. Host, please rest assured, I will try my best to sense it, ooh~”

Shen Shangling: “…” Stop with the ‘oohs’.

After lying down, Shen Shangling was initially very alert, desperately hoping the system would have a breakthrough. But over an hour passed. The unreliable system still hadn’t responded! Shen Shangling finally couldn’t hold out any longer and fell asleep.

Lu Xiao slowly put down the book in his hand, stood up silently, and walked out. Upon returning to the main courtyard’s study, he gave an order to his secret guard, Li Yan: Shen Shangling’s behavior was abnormal; he must have heard some gossip.

Li Yan went out and returned quickly. “My Lord, among the servants in the estate, there have indeed been some complaints and gossip about Master Shen over the past few days.” Li Yan tightened his posture and stood straight, being careful. “Most of the servants in the estate feel that Master Shen”

“How so?” Lu Xiao frowned.

“He seems a bit too extravagant,” Li Yan paused, then straightened his chest and plucked up his courage. “The estate manager said that the ‘Fairy Mountain Painting Pigments’ he requested the day before yesterday cost tens of taels of silver for a single box!” And he had demanded ten boxes at once! Not to mention that all the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones he wanted were top-tier items from the capital’s finest shop.

Their Prince had only returned to the capital from the Northwest Army last year. Through years of campaigning, aside from his internal injuries, he hadn’t received a single benefit from the old Emperor. Now, with corrupt officials in power and the situation in turmoil, the old Emperor was suspicious and oppressive… The entire Prince of Dingbei’s estate was surrounded by enemies on all sides, in a difficult position. If Shen Shangling was truly an old friend of the estate, how could he not consider the Prince at all?

“We shall discuss this later,” Lu Xiao said, his tone indifferent. “Master Shen has just suffered a great disaster and survived the jaws of death; he is somewhat traumatized and shaken, so his temperament is inevitably a bit paranoid. We shall see after some time has passed.”

Li Yan received his orders and left immediately. They all knew Shen Shangling’s talent wasn’t fake. During the Old Prince’s Battle of Yuling, in the face of desperate straits, he used a brilliant strategy with eight thousand troops to crush thirty thousand powerful enemies of the Northern Hu, achieving countless victories and shaking the court. At that time, Shen Shangling’s “Yuling Ode,” which was unparalleled in the world, added a brilliant stroke of color to that battle. Naturally, the Old Prince had held this man of talent in high regard. Moreover, when their Prince was young, he had also received instruction from him in painting and calligraphy… It was just, to speak the truth, Shen Shangling’s scholarly temperament was truly out of place with the atmosphere of the Prince of Dingbei’s estate.

Shen Shangling woke up to find the windows bright. At first, he didn’t realize where he was as he looked at the antique bed curtains. Once he remembered the transmigration, he suddenly looked toward the partition of the warm pavilion, and indeed, Lu Xiao was already gone.

“System, System?” Shen Shangling climbed up in a rush. “Did you sense anything?”

“Host, there is no response in the data,” the system said in a tiny, milky voice. “The search failed.”

Shen Shangling felt like weeping. Lu Xiao must have already departed for Jibei by now. That meant that in less than two weeks, without any accidents, a blackened God of War would return.

Calm down. Calm down.

Shen Shangling sat on the bed clutching the quilt, his thoughts racing: If the system couldn’t sense it even when he was so close yesterday, could it be that the “Qi” (Fortune) product wasn’t on Lu Xiao at all? Perhaps it was elsewhere in the estate? Could he walk around the estate while Lu Xiao was away for these ten days and let the system sense it?

Hearing movement in the warm pavilion, two maids entered to serve him. They were startled the moment they walked in: Master Shen, who sat on the couch every morning in deep meditation looking like a man of refined scholarly style, was now sitting there in a daze, hugging his quilt… His hair was a chaotic mess, and he even had several tufts sticking up in big lumps. He looked like a crane that had suddenly turned into a dull goose.

Shen Shangling was startled at first, but soon realized these two were here to help him wash and dress. Being careful not to say the wrong thing, Shen Shangling remained silent. But when one of the maids reached for a box of fragrant powder to dab on his face, he subconsciously leaned back. “What is that?”

Why is there face powder? This isn’t a film set, does he, a man, need to wear makeup? Although he wasn’t straight, as an old “salted fish,” he certainly wasn’t the type to be delicate.

“Returning to you, Master, this… this is the face powder from the Yunxian Pavilion that you requested,” the maid was startled, and hurried to report carefully. “This powder, this paste…” Could it be that he was dissatisfied again?

“Don’t use this,” Shen Shangling stopped her immediately upon hearing it was powder. He saw other boxes of rouge and various other items nearby. “Don’t use any of it. Just comb my hair hurry.” There were only ten days left; every day was precious.

After washing and dressing, Shen Shangling looked at the clothes he was to change into, tried to endure it, but couldn’t help himself. “Um… change them for another set.” This set of clothes could be described in one word: “immortal.” It was way too immortal! It was made of some pale blue brocade, and the sleeves were so wide he felt he could fit his agent’s husky inside them. Now, with the weather cold and the ground still wet, wearing this outside wouldn’t just be “beautiful but freezing,” it would be a waste of good clothes; most importantly, it was inconvenient to walk in.

Seeing him want to change, the two maids exchanged a quick look, not surprised at all: after all, this man changed his clothes several times every single day. They brought out one set after another, each more gorgeous and flashy than the last. Shen Shangling watched with patience, only then realizing that it was likely the original owner’s style.

Without wasting more time, Shen Shangling chose a slightly thicker set. After eating breakfast, when he prepared to walk around the estate, the maids draped a fox-fur cloak over his shoulders. As the thick cloak settled over him, Shen Shangling scanned the sleek, shiny, solid-colored red fox fur, biting his lip slightly.

Lu Xiao really had treated the original owner with extreme favor in the beginning. But the better he had treated the original owner then, the more the reborn Lu Xiao would hate him in his heart.

“Host?” The system spoke up on its own. “I suggest the Host initiate the ‘Spirit-Transformation’ system early.”

Shen Shangling thought this made sense. If the system hadn’t been able to sense that “Qi” product earlier, was it because he hadn’t yet activated the system’s “Spirit-Transformation” cheat?

Which animal should I transform? Shen Shangling pondered. A beast was impossible—there were no tigers, wolves, or leopards in the estate—though he had heard the muffled barking of a large dog. Besides dogs, there were cats; the estate should have cats to catch mice. And horses… Shen Shangling paused. Horses! He knew there was a horse stable in the estate; the Prince of Dingbei’s estate had no shortage of fine steeds. And horses were the most important means of transport in this era. According to the system’s calculations, there should be derivative abilities after transformation… perhaps he could establish an intimate bond with many horses. In case he needed to run away, this reliable transport would be very useful. Especially since he knew how to ride!

Pondering back and forth, Shen Shangling hardened his heart: Then it shall be a horse!

As soon as he stepped out of his courtyard, a servant approached him. With a target in mind, Shen Shangling had the servant lead the way directly to the horse stables. The estate was truly massive. Shen Shangling felt he had walked thousands of steps before he finally crossed a large garden and reached the stables.

“Master Shen,” the servant led him a distance before saying carefully, “this is the estate’s stable. The horse the Prince gave you is here in the South Stable—the white horse there.”

Shen Shangling nodded. “I will go take a look myself; you don’t need to follow.” The servant naturally obeyed. After all, the Prince had just issued an order that no one in the estate was to be disrespectful to Master Shen.

Shen Shangling walked up to the steed and couldn’t help but let out a soft “Wow”: What a handsome horse! A white horse! It was sturdy and strong, with shiny fur and an incredibly fluid physique; it was truly a fine steed!

“System?” Shen Shangling said, suppressing his excitement. “Get ready to start!”

“Alright, Host,” the system’s milky voice also sounded excited, “the spirit-transformation is about to begin, ooh~”

Shen Shangling: “…” With the ‘oohs’ again!

When the spirit-transformation began, Shen Shangling had to close his eyes. He noticed that the area around his eye sockets began to ache, and it felt as though blood vessels inside his eyes were twitching. It felt a bit painful, so he pressed his lips together and held firm. Don’t panic; he was already standing before the horse. When he opened his eyes again, the first thing he would surely see would be this steed; the transformation couldn’t fail.

“Beep.”

Not long after, a “beep” sounded in his mind. “Host, the spirit-transformation system has been activated!”

As the system beeped, Shen Shangling immediately opened his eyes. The moment he did, he felt as if a crosshair targeting reticle had appeared before his eyes, flashing with light as it focused on the object before him.

Buzz,

Just as the reticle was about to lock onto the steed, an earth bee buzzed in out of nowhere and coincidentally flew right into the line of the transformation target.

Shen Shangling widened his eyes suddenly.

“Beep.”

At that moment, the system in his mind beeped again. “Spirit-transformation system lock complete, transformation beginning… transformation complete.”