Chapter 1 Awakening Page 1

  It is recommended that readers of this book first read the preface, thank you!

  In a daze, Zhu Yinglong saw a thread of bright light, hazy and soft. Before he could see clearly where he was, a surprised voice suddenly rang in his ear: "The king has awakened, the king has awakened..."

  "What's with the king, filming TV...” Zhu Yinglong was startled by this high-decibel voice, his eyes gradually becoming dizzy. How is this rooftop so high? It's all colorful and looks pretty good. What kind of ghost place is this?

  No good, headache, hurt badly, he had to close his eyes again, and fell asleep once more.

  "Your Highness, Your Highness..." Zhu Yinglong felt his body being shaken nonstop and couldn't help but open his eyes. A delicate and beautiful face appeared before him, making him wonder when a woman had entered his home. Oh right, he was in the hospital, so this must be a nurse. Zhu Yinglong closed his eyes again, but suddenly opened them once more. This time, he saw clearly that a young girl in a light green uniform was gazing at him with joy. Not far away, on a dark red wooden table, a bronze incense burner emitted a gentle stream of smoke, filling the air with the fragrance of sandalwood.

  The girl in the palace saw him open his eyes, and excitedly revealed a pair of white teeth, turning her head to shout outside: "Uncle Xu, Uncle Xu..."

  "Your Highness, sir..." Zhu Yinglong muttered to himself a few times, then looked down at his own body and was immediately stunned. What happened to his original body? It had clearly become much thinner, and his clothes had changed too - they were all made of pure white palace silk undergarments. How did this happen? Where was he? Heaven wouldn't play such a huge joke on him, would it? He hadn't been careless or distracted while walking, nor had he bumped into an electric pole... how could things have turned out like this?

  He pinched his thigh hard, and the piercing pain told him that this was indeed his current body. This wasn't a dream; it was real. He had really come to an unknown world. Glasses, where were his glasses? Zhu Yinglong frantically searched the bed, but they were nowhere to be found. How could he see anything without them?! A young eunuch and the palace maid who had called him "Your Highness" earlier rushed in, looking at Zhu Yinglong with confusion as he rummaged through the bed. They didn't know what to say or do, and just stood there, stunned. What was going on? What was wrong with His Highness?!

  Zhu Yinglong's current body was not his original one. After struggling for a short while, he started panting and stopped to look at the astonished palace-dressed girl and the eunuch-attired man. Hmm, this doesn't seem right - my eyes were nearsighted by several hundred degrees, how can I see so clearly? Suddenly, he came to his senses and realized that he was no longer his former self, and his nearsightedness had disappeared along with the change in his body.

  Zhu Yinglong's thoughts were extremely chaotic, almost on the verge of collapse, with extreme despair and a desire to cry but no tears. He didn't know what had happened, how did he suddenly change bodies? Was it that he had traveled through time and space and attached himself to someone else's body? This was too absurd, wasn't it? He himself was one of those so-called "empty history" writers, what with all the nonsense about traveling through time and space, past and future. But reality seemed to be right in front of him. After calming down his emotions a bit, he didn't know what his current identity or location was, so he opened his mouth and asked in an unfamiliar voice: "Excuse me, where am I?"

  "Your Highness, this is your bedroom!" The eunuch surnamed Xu came to his senses and hastily stepped forward. Under his indication, the palace-dressed girl walked over to the bed and helped Zhu Yinglong down.

  "What palace?" Zhu Ying's dragon head suddenly enlarged, and he became the king? Did he really possess some kind of king's body? This is terrible! Ordinary people are fine, but royalty is a big trouble. Looking around, there are eunuchs and palace maids serving, could it be that he is in some imperial palace? Why is he so unlucky? Crossing through time and space is one thing, but possessing the body of some king, isn't this asking for trouble? It's all his own fault, writing nonsense about alternate history. Now look what happened, he can't even go back!

  "What is this place?" Zhu Yinglong asked vaguely, he had a faint idea that he might not be able to return. If such things could happen so easily, the universe would be in chaos. So first of all, he needed to figure out where he was and what identity his current body held. Since he came here, he couldn't just wait for death, he still needed to eat and sleep. His mother used to scold him saying "leaving home is not having a home", this time it really was leaving home with no way back. He couldn't help but feel melancholic in his heart! Why did good things always pass him by, while misfortunes came one after another? Heaven, you're being too unfair! Zhu Yinglong cursed silently in his heart.

  "This is your bedroom, Your Highness!" Xu Gonggong repeated seriously, then looked at Zhu Yinglong with a puzzled expression, unable to understand why the king had changed so much after waking up, becoming stupid and silly, even not recognizing his own home.

  Forget it, this eunuch's clothes aren't great either, probably not high-quality, and naturally not very smart-looking. Asking further wouldn't yield an answer anyway. With the help of a palace-dressed girl, Zhu Yinglong finally managed to put on a complete set of ancient long-sleeved robes he had only seen in TV shows and movies. It seemed like it was a regular attire for a vassal king, but he didn't care about that anymore. The clothes were quite large, indicating that this new body was indeed somewhat weak. Well, no need to worry about losing weight now, Zhu Yinglong thought to himself with some self-mockery. However, his height was still decent, and his appearance could be considered handsome even by modern standards, which slightly calmed his inner frustration. He stood up and said, "I'm going out for a walk."

  "Your Highness, you haven't had any food from yesterday to now. I've already asked someone to cook a bowl of hundred-treasure lotus seed porridge for you, would you like some?"

  This Mr. Xu didn't mention it, but as soon as he did, Zhu Yinglong felt his new belly suddenly rumbling loudly, so he had to put aside the idea of understanding the environment first and nodded in agreement with Mr. Xu's suggestion to solve the Wuzang Temple first.

  The imperial cuisine was indeed extraordinary, Zhu Yinglong ate three bowls of hundred-treasure lotus seed porridge in one breath before stopping, a starving person can't eat too much at once, otherwise, he could have eaten five bowls.

  Just as he had comfortably put down his bowl and chopsticks, a flurry of hurried footsteps was heard outside, followed by a loud, hoarse voice shouting: "The Emperor has arrived!"

  Zhu Yinglong was startled, and he himself had not yet figured out his current surname and name. How did the emperor come here? This king hadn't even understood what was going on, if the emperor saw through the cracks, what would happen? Should he pretend to be dizzy or pretend to have amnesia? If it's a minor illness, amnesia can't be believed. Pretend to be dizzy? He had just woken up and eaten three bowls of Baobao lotus seed porridge, how could he suddenly faint? Zhu Yinglong was anxious in his heart, blaming the serving palace maid and eunuch for spreading the news too quickly, his mind was in a mess.

  "Little brother, you really scared me to death! Are you okay?" A young man in a golden yellow dragon robe with a pale face walked in and helped Zhu Yinglong up from his knees, asking with an unusually concerned tone.

  "My lord, my younger brother has worried the emperor." Zhu Ying's forehead was sweating profusely as he forced out this sentence, not daring to look at his opponent, so much so that he didn't even get a clear look at what this older brother looked like. He thought to himself, I'm already 25 years old, how can I still be calling someone who looks younger than me "older brother", what bad luck!

  "Zhōng Xiàn, since you believe the king is safe, why don't you let those palace maids and eunuchs go?" The emperor's face lit up with joy, and he said to a middle-aged eunuch who had followed him in.

  "Yes, sir!" The middle-aged servant...