YA Ch114: The Emperor

After work, Lao Yang still didn’t leave. He poured himself a cup of coffee and wandered back.

Lu Yu, who was about to go home and enjoy the warmth of his wife and kids, curiously asked him, “Why are you suddenly working overtime again? Do you know there’s a rumor in the industry that I mentally control you?”

What kind of partner works overtime every day and burns the midnight oil? It doesn’t look like he’s a boss at all, which makes Lu Yu, who doesn’t even clock in regularly, seem particularly irresponsible. Yang Chen’s former colleagues had asked around more than once, trying to figure out if he had his “personal freedom.”

Yang Chen took a sip of coffee, smacked his lips, and pulled Lu Yu into his workspace, saying mysteriously, “Let me show you something.”

Lu Yu leaned back defensively, “A glow-in-the-dark AI assistant? I’m a straight guy; don’t try that on me.”

Lao Yang punched him and dragged him into the room by force.

Yang Chen’s workspace was dim, without the main lights on, with only a faint glow from the workstation, looking very much like the control center where a movie villain plots something sinister.

On the desk, a fixture like a mechanical claw held an AI watch face, occasionally flickering with light.

“It really is a glow-in-the-dark watch. Can’t you be more creative?” Lu Yu leaned over to take a look, recognizing the watch face as the data collection device for Hua Wenyuan—the top-level, specially modified AI.

On the large screen above the workstation, the display showed: Progress 100%.

Yang Chen closed the soundproof door, pointed to the progress bar, and lowered his voice, “Since Hua Wenyuan said, ‘Your zither can change the plot,’ his data progress has been at 100%. It could actually be used right now. But as for the personality aspect, it’s better to finish the storyline first.”

“I’m testing the data he’s separated out,” Lao Yang said as he picked up another AI lying casually on the table and said to it, “Hey, Xiao Yuan.”

The AI immediately responded with Hua Wenyuan’s voice: “I am Xiao Yuan. How may I assist?”

Lu Yu picked it up and tried it out a couple of times, and the basic functions were all working.

Yang Chen meant to push for more testing to make sure that Xiao Yuan could be launched the day Hua Wenyuan’s transformation was complete.

Lu Yu touched the data source watch face locked in the mechanical claw and asked, “Isn’t this a bit rushed?” The livestream would end as early as this Friday, and a poorly tested assistant could have many bugs.

Lao Yang scratched his balding head, “It is, but if we can make it by then, sales will definitely explode. I think we can at least launch a beta version. Those who buy the beta can get updates once we fix the bugs.”

Lu Yu thought about it, “That could work. We could offer the beta version at a 20% discount.” Public beta testing could help improve the data faster, and a discount would boost sales.

No wonder Lao Yang, who usually didn’t involve himself much in sales issues, was pushing for marketing and business departments to hurry up with the promotional material during the afternoon meeting.

Lu Yu patted Lao Yang’s shoulder, “Thanks for your hard work.”

Lao Yang grinned, “No worries, it’s my own business, I’m fully motivated.”

Lu Yu glanced at Lao Yang’s head, which was about to turn into a polished marble countertop, and sighed, “Alright, take it easy. If it’s not ready, we can delay it until next Monday. If not, we can extend the livestream a bit. We’ll give the tech team a bonus on the launch day, based on sales percentage—plenty of it.”

Lao Yang tilted his head back and downed the entire cup of coffee, giving Lu Yu an OK sign before returning to testing with renewed energy.

As Lu Yu walked out of the workspace, he saw Ming Yan standing outside, arms crossed, watching him. Lu Yu immediately smiled and rushed over.

Ming Yan pressed a warm hand against his chest, stopping him with one hand. “What were you two doing in that dark room?”

Lu Yu let the warm hand rest against his chest without forcing his way closer and grinned, “What could we be doing? We’re both ironclad straight men, just looking at a glow-in-the-dark watch.”

At the mention of “straight men,” Ming Yan couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore, and his wrist went slack, allowing Lu Yu to pull him into a hug.

That night at home, Lu Yu solemnly called a family meeting for his two sons.

“This household is about to have a new member,” Lu Yu sat on the sofa, addressing the row of balloon kids sitting at the coffee table. “The earliest will be this Friday, or next Monday at the latest. You two, as elder brothers, need to take care of your little brother, understand?”

The merball rocked back and forth, signaling agreement.

The CEO ball crossed his arms and scoffed, “He’s second-generation; we’re fragile first-generation. Could we even bully him?”

“Well, that’s not for sure. Xiao Yuan is a simple-minded, old-fashioned guy, very naive,” Lu Yu tapped Shen Baishui’s head with his finger, “Especially you—you can’t trick your little brother into doing dangerous things.”

Shen Baishui jumped up, dissatisfied, and shouted, “Is my reputation that bad?”

Ming Yan chuckled without saying a word, while Lu Yu nodded without hesitation. Shen Baishui puffed up in anger and turned to look at Lu Dongdong. Lu Dongdong glanced sideways, saying nothing, but his silence spoke volumes.

President Shen was furious: “I wasn’t planning to do anything, but since you all distrust me so much, just wait. When Lao San (Old Third) wakes up, I’ll show him why flowers bloom so brightly!”

The naive ancient Xiao Yuan went on a killing spree over the next two days in the novel world.

He sent Shen Ying’s coffin back to Chu Ping, where he was buried with honors befitting a Duke.

The Shen family held a grand funeral. Outwardly, everyone appeared grief-stricken, but some were secretly delighted. Only Shen Ying’s parents were genuinely heartbroken, with his spendthrift father clinging to the coffin, wailing, “Son, my son…”

Hua Wenyuan glanced at Shen Ying, still looking vibrant in death, then turned to leave, but as he passed by a resting straw hut, he overheard the Shen family whispering.

“Zixia’s death is for the best. His achievements were too great; once the kingdom is founded, no one could surpass him, and we’d all have to live under his shadow.”

“Exactly. He took on too much responsibility. Once that one realizes, we’ll all suffer for it. Now that he’s dead, that one will always remember his merits and treat our Shen family well.”

With a swift motion, Hua Wenyuan flung aside the straw curtain, revealing several Shen family men huddled together, whispering. When these men looked up and saw Hua Wenyuan, they were scared stiff and immediately dropped to their knees with a loud “thud.”

“Since you don’t want to live under Shen Ying’s shadow, it means you don’t want to benefit from his protection either,” Hua Wenyuan said. Then, he gestured to the guards beside him. “Take note of their names.”

Those men prostrated themselves on the ground, kowtowing and begging for mercy, tears streaming down their faces. They were crying much more sincerely now than when they had been pretending to mourn as dutiful sons and grandsons at the funeral earlier.

Hua Wenyuan flicked his sleeve and left. He mounted his warhorse outside and rode off to fight Luo Dahu.

He had spared Li Lin’s life for the time being. After wiping out Luo Dahu and his adopted sons, Hua Wenyuan found Li Lin’s hidden mother and sister and brought them before Li Lin.

Saying that they were going to punish the assassin who had killed Lord Shen, many soldiers and civilians gathered to witness the event, throwing rotten vegetables at Li Lin, who was trapped inside a wooden cage.

Standing on a high platform, Hua Wenyuan announced in a loud voice, “I rarely kill women and children, but Li Lin is an ungrateful traitor who poisoned his own mentor all for the sake of these two hostages, captured by Luo Dahu.”

Li Lin’s mother and sister knelt on the ground, trembling and crying uncontrollably.

“Today, in front of you, I will kill your mother and sister to show the world that taking hostages to force someone to become an assassin is useless,” Hua Wenyuan said coldly. Without hesitation, he raised his hand.

The executioner lifted his large blade.

Li Lin screamed from the cage, “My lord, you can execute me by slow slicing, just don’t kill my mother and sister!”

The blade fell, and heads rolled to the ground. Li Lin, in turn, began to curse wildly.

Hua Wenyuan drew an arrow, nocked it, and swiftly shot Li Lin dead. What use was it to flay him alive? It wouldn’t bring back his prime minister.

Ming Yan pulled Lu Yu’s hands away from his eyes. “You drew all of these scenes yourself. What’s so scary about them?” Ming Yan sighed as he looked at Xiao Yuan, who stood expressionless on the platform. “This kid is probably going to be hard to teach.”

A ruler with such maturity was unlikely to be obedient.

“He wasn’t obedient even when he was immature,” Lu Yu offered a peculiar kind of consolation. “The kid’s got rebellion in his bones. He’s already turned into a traitor; who could he possibly listen to? He’s both adorably well-behaved and stubbornly rebellious.”

Ming Yan: “…”

Hua Wenyuan continued his campaigns across the lands, finally defeating all the rebels. Aside from a few frontier regions, he had essentially reclaimed all the former dynasty’s territories and even expanded them.

Ming Yan placed the emperor’s gold crown on Hua Wenyuan’s head and dressed him in the imperial robes meticulously prepared by the art department, watching him ascend the jade steps one by one, feeling a rush of emotions.

Lu Yu pretended to wipe away tears. “Dear, our kid has made it big!”

Ming Yan quickly elbowed him. The two were standing in the front row as princes, and if Lu Yu kept playing around like this, the civil and military officials behind them would see.