The Male Ghost Crown Prince Comes to Repay a Debt of Gratitude

[Pure-hearted county magistrate shou × wrongfully accused ghostly crown prince gong]

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Yuan Daozhen, the magistrate of Peach Blossom County, rescued a handsome, dashing, rather silly man. To his surprise, heaven had shown mercy: the fool suddenly regained his wits and was no longer stupid at all. He was skilled in both letters and arms, like some noble young master reborn.

Yuan Daozhen couldn’t help thinking he was truly lucky.

Even more surprising, this fool, Zhou Sanlang, seemed like Yuan Daozhen’s guardian spirit. He had saved him from danger time and again. When war broke out, Zhou Sanlang protected him under his wing.

The realm fell into chaos, and heroes fought for supremacy. Like a star general reborn, Zhou Sanlang drove out the southern barbarian bandits who had invaded amid the turmoil. When they passed through a certain prefecture, an official offered his daughter to Zhou Sanlang as a concubine.

Yuan Daozhen sat below them and, for some reason, grew nervous. When he lowered his head, he realized he was squeezing his palm so hard his nails dug into it.

Zhou Sanlang gave a vague response, neither accepting nor rejecting the offer.

Unable to stay at the banquet, Yuan Daozhen made an excuse and went back to his room to rest. Before he could open the door, Zhou Sanlang, reeking of alcohol, had already pulled him into his arms.

“Lord Yuan, Sanlang said that he would repay your kindness.”

“Lord Yuan, you don’t want Sanlang to accept that girl, do you?”

Yuan Daozhen snapped back to his senses. Zhou Sanlang’s eyes were shining, as if they held room for no one but him.

For the first time, the usually composed student of the Left Chancellor, the little firecracker of the capital, Lord Yuan Daozhen, couldn’t withstand such an intense gaze. He blushed as red as a cooked shrimp.

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As the Left Chancellor’s student, Yuan Daozhen was a favored son of Heaven. He could debate the whole court into silence and manage flood control in the provinces, yet he could do nothing to overturn the unjust conviction of the crown prince.

Until he was banished from the capital and met a man who was both a stranger and somehow familiar.

He followed that man all the way into the imperial palace, uncovered the wrongful case that had been crushed beneath the weight of power, and brought down the rotten dynasty, all for the sake of having a clear conscience.

Xiao Yue (Zhou Yue) × Yuan Daozhen

The aloof crown prince gets transformed into a clingy, nagging ghostly lover (.

The story begins five years after the gong’s death. The two were the same age before his death; afterward, the shou is five years older than the gong.

Theme: No matter the dangers and hardships, remain steadfast to the end.