Hello, Big Brother. I'm Your Little Emperor

Cute Baby Dragon Emperor Bottom x Hot-Tempered General Top | Raising a Child, Older Top

1.

After his family was destroyed, eleven-year-old Shen Jinglan, son of a military family, was reduced to slavery and dragged into the palace eunuch chamber. He nearly had his manhood cut off and became a eunuch.

That very night, a palace coup toppled the Liang Dynasty. Shen Jinglan did not become a eunuch. Instead, in the chaos, the bloodied old palace eunuch thrust a hot potato into his arms: a tiny bundle wrapped in bright yellow swaddling clothes, sucking on his fingers.

Shen Jinglan looked down and met a pair of bright, black eyes like grapes.

The little bundle grinned at him, drool glistening, and introduced himself: "Hello, big brother. I am the baby emperor."

Shen Jinglan: "..."

Four-year-old Emperor Jiang Ke waved a toy wooden sword at the flames. "I won't run away. I want to fight the bad guys. But my tummy seems a little hungry right now, big brother. Feed me a bowl of sweet bird's nest soup first, and then I'll face the enemy when I'm full."

Shen Jinglan, who hated children most, recalled his old and new grudges against the imperial family and swung a slap at him. "I'll have your butt face the enemy first."

"Wah, I, I will throw you in jail!"

2.

The Shen family had served the dynasty loyally for generations, so Shen Jinglan had no choice but to flee with the little emperor. Jiang Ke was spoiled and difficult to care for. At night, no matter how Shen Jinglan tried to soothe him, he would not go to sleep. Sobbing, he said, "The Imperial Tutor said we can only sleep together after you turn over my bed token. Xiao Lan Zi, you're just a eunuch, and you don't even have a green-head token."

Shen Jinglan remained expressionless. In humiliation, he carved a wooden token and engraved his own name on it. Only after Jiang Ke turned it over did he finally get the little tyrant to sleep.

On the road, Jiang Ke found a majestic black dog. Crouching down, he patted its head very seriously. "I appoint you Great General Who Guards the Nation, the greatest warrior in all of Liang."

Then he turned around, tugged at Shen Jinglan's sleeve, and rose on tiptoe to pat Shen Jinglan's head, announcing, "Xiao Lan Zi is the Great General Who Guards Me. He's only one rank below the dog general. But your seniority is greater than the dog general's, so you don't have to bow to it."

Shen Jinglan could take no more. The veins in his forehead bulged as he pinched Jiang Ke's chubby cheeks until they puffed out. "I really am going to give you a beating. Until this little baby dragon learns how to properly manage his subordinates, even making me chancellor won't help!"

"Then, then I'll make you empress."

Jiang Ke covered his face and said timidly, "Once you're empress, you'll be the mother of all under heaven, so you won't be allowed to hit people anymore, okay?"

3.

The young child grew into a young man.

The world remained full of dangers, and Jiang Ke was still as willful as ever.

But it was he who, on the night Shen Jinglan was gravely wounded and near death, carried him stumbling to a ruined temple, just as Shen Jinglan had once carried him while fleeing. The emperor knelt and wept before an unknown statue of a god.

Again and again, he pleaded with Heaven to let Shen Jinglan live.

As the candlelight flickered, Shen Jinglan looked at him through a haze. At that moment, he resolved that for Jiang Ke, and to put this little emperor, in whom the people placed all their hopes, back on the throne, he would gladly die a million times over.

4.

On a snowy night, fleeing for their lives.

From then on, with his broken body he upheld a promise, protecting the true dragon through life and death.

//Bonus Scene//

At Jiang Ke's first court audience, the officials passionately remonstrated: "The empress's position cannot remain vacant for long. Your Majesty should choose an empress soon, to secure the hard-won realm of Liang! In this old minister's opinion, the young ladies of the Lin and Song families would both make excellent choices!"

"That makes sense." Jiang Ke raised an eyebrow. "What does the Great General think?"

In court, Shen Jinglan, his face dark, gave a sarcastic smile. "It seems I, your 'empress,' have been doing a poor job, making Your Majesty want to depose me and appoint someone else. This subject feels wronged. This subject refuses."

The officials: "..."

What a bombshell!

Reader's Guide:

1. The romance begins after they are adults.

2. This is a fictional setting, so please don't take it too seriously.

Theme: Learning to love others, oneself, and the world through supporting one another.