The Old Friend Should Be Returning

(Complete!) (Written before the author signed a contract. Read at your own risk!)

[Cool, upright young scholar X dissolute, free-spirited prince]

Transmigration + rebirth!!! The rival ministers in their past and present lives.

Jiang Ning, the right chancellor, was an upright man, widely known among the people as the very embodiment of integrity and incorruptibility. After personally dealing with Shen Guizhang, the great villain and left chancellor who had opposed him for years, Jiang Ning thought his future would be smooth sailing. Instead, he transmigrated...

He became a young scholar preparing for the imperial exams ten years later. A second chance? Whatever. But the world had changed beyond recognition in those ten years: the dynasty had long since fallen, and now he was a remnant official of the former dynasty. With conspiracies pushing him forward, he had no choice but to uncover the secrets and enter officialdom once more.

By chance, he ran into someone while traveling to take the exams. His old rival had become the emperor's younger brother, Prince Qing. The man bore a striking resemblance to someone from his past, but Jiang Ning didn't know that this was that very person, and that they had both been reborn by a twist of fate. Shen Guizhang recognized Jiang Ning at a glance, and once again began clinging to him, brazenly sending people to follow him.

Later, Jiang Ning used his extraordinary talent to become a powerful minister at court "once again," unaware that the man's plan was quietly unfolding. Just as Jiang Ning was about to make his name known throughout the world, he was framed by that man. After a series of twists and turns, he unexpectedly discovered that the man was someone he had known before...

The nation and the world: how should he choose?

Framed, imprisoned, and made to lose his memories, were all these things intentional or accidental? That man wanted to keep him like a caged bird, but Jiang Ning refused to accept his fate. He faked his death and escaped, and the two understood each other without a word.

In the end, peace returned to the land, and that vivid, eventful life left a few lines in the history books, recounting his story.

He became emperor; he became minister.

Theme: Not decided yet.