The Discarded Son Becomes Emperor: Do I Really Have to Rule?

He was the emperor’s great-grandson, but before he was even out of swaddling clothes, the Yan Year coup made him a prisoner. Protected in secret by Lin Yu, he experienced the full range of life’s hardships among the common folk. From a young wanderer of the martial world on Zhaohua Street to a puppet ruler placed on the throne by the Zhou Kingdom, Yan Xu endured and bided his time. He issued an edict to the world, declaring that he had not forgotten the wife who had stood by him in hardship, and at last reclaimed imperial power from beneath the shadow of powerful ministers. He governed with diligence and ushered in a golden age, yet at the height of his power, he looked back at the little short sword his wife had given him when they were young and sighed.