Shen Youzhi awakened memories of her past life and remembered that she had died of illness. Now she was the little daughter-in-law of a distant branch of the Great Qi imperial clan, with a mother-in-law who worked as a professional embroiderer, an idle husband, and a three-and-a-half-year-old son sitting on the threshold, reciting the Three Character Classic with a bobbing head.
After her father-in-law died the year before, their family had reached the end of its noble title. With no more stipend to collect, money was tight. To maintain the dignity of an imperial clansman, they had bought silk and new clothes, then brought home a cartload of new grain. Their purse was emptier than their pockets.
Shen Youzhi sighed at the sky. She wanted to be able to eat meat whenever she liked and spend money freely. But her purse felt limp in her hand, without even a single copper coin left.
She made a plan: first, her husband would find honest work to earn money, while she would make some novel snacks to sell to their wealthy relatives.
Who could have guessed that one day, a sky screen would appear
[They say that after Emperor Chengde had three sons in a row who all died young, he never fathered another son for the rest of his life. The emperor's line had no heir! How terrifying!]
What? No heir? The third prince would die too?
Everyone glanced furtively at Emperor Chengde and the third prince in the empress's arms, their expressions complicated.
Emperor Chengde's face turned livid. “Summon the imperial physicians. Keep the third prince safe.”
[Emperor Chengde did so many wicked things that he suffered the retribution of having no heir. But before he died, he at least did one thing right: he passed the throne to the most promising bloodline in the Ji imperial clan, Ji Shicong.
He pacified the northern barbarians, quelled the chaos, restored the realm, brought peace to the people, and ushered in the golden age of Great Qi. Later generations called him “a founding emperor with the achievements of Qin's King Ying Zheng” and “a ruler with the governing talent of Li Erfeng,” making him an emperor for the ages!]
Ignoring the sky screen's insults, Emperor Chengde ordered, “Find him. You must find him!”
But even after searching every imperial clansman in the capital, they couldn't find a single person named Ji Shicong.
Could he not have been born yet?
In the Shen family's little courtyard, all three of them looked at Xiao Chong, who never stopped reciting his lessons even while eating. A few days earlier, his father had asked a passing scholar to give him a formal name: Ji Shicong!
Three-year-old Xiao Chong didn't even know he had a formal name yet. He asked in confusion, “Mother, is there rice on my face?”
Shen Youzhi snapped out of her daze. My son is an emperor for the ages!
He's only three and a half!!!
*Screenshot saved on 2026.04.12
Theme: Work hard to live a better life
