My Emperor and Me, Childhood Friends

[Spoiled and carefree | Flirts without realizing it | A fearless “little devil” beauty of a bottom, only a little afraid of her husband & Steel-hearted and forceful | A brooding, restrained older top who secretly wants to stand guard by his sweetheart's bed every night]

Xi You, a victim of his parents pushing him to excel, dies suddenly before the college entrance exams and is reborn in the womb as the young master of the Duke of Rong's residence in Southern Yong.

Born to a life of luxury and doted on by everyone, he decides to lie flat.

Today he goes hawking and hunting, tomorrow he attends wine parties and admires flowers. He spends lavishly in the pleasure quarters and wanders the royal halls, looking down on the powerful.

For seventeen years, he enjoys the spring breeze without a care in the world. Then the emperor dies, and his royal childhood friend, the third prince Xue Zhi, who raised him like an older brother and a father, successfully ascends the throne. Suddenly, young Master Xi feels a little worried.

The new emperor is peerlessly handsome, with an outstanding bearing. No one else could hope to rival him, but as the saying goes, you fear your brother is having a hard time, and you also fear he'll show up in a Land Rover. The difference between sovereign and subject is absolute, and the emperor's favor is hard to predict. With the court on edge, Xi You decides he ought to keep his head down and grow quietly.

In private, he must observe the proper etiquette between sovereign and subject, and can no longer run wild atop the dragon's head

“Your Majesty is busy with state affairs. This young master wouldn't dare trouble you!” “The palace rules are strict. This young master wouldn't dare stay the night in your bedchamber!” “The harem is empty. This young master says Your Majesty really ought to choose an empress!” “...”

“Something terrible happened! The young master threw away the twin-jade pendant Your Majesty gave him!”

The emperor hurries out of the palace in the dead of night and knocks on Xi You's door. His eyes are full of wounded longing, and a ruler is hidden behind his back.

Xi You clutches his sore backside, tears in his eyes as he looks at his childhood friend, whose gaze is dark and whose eyes are red, as though Xi You might anger him to death: Maybe he overdid it with being “good” QAQ

Xue Zhi: Why has my perfectly fine child suddenly started behaving himself!

In public, his childhood friend works himself to the bone for the empire, so Xi You should do what little he can to help

The emperor promotes talented people, so Xi You takes the imperial exam, earns a top result, and is appointed to the Hanlin Academy, serving at court and rising to great prominence.

The emperor abolishes the chancellorship and reforms the system, so Xi You joins the Imperial Study, wearing a red robe and bearing a gold seal, becoming a powerful figure.

The emperor is unmarried, and Xi You looks at the edict appointing an empress: Wait, that can't be right...

The imperial carriage waits outside, the emperor's majesty towering over all, yet the Son of Heaven lingers by Xi You's bed, kissing his knees and gazing up at him, gently coaxing: “Your third brother has secretly loved you for years. He's been lovesick over you, jealous and resentful for so long. You care most for your third brother, and you want him too. Are you really going to cruelly reject him?”

Xi You: “...Oh, right, right!”

Later, young Master Xi discovers that:

He can do more than run wild atop the dragon's head. He can run wild in every other way too, and his third brother likes it even more.

His third brother becomes his lover and wonderful husband, but when Xi You misbehaves, he still gets a spanking. Only the implements and the part of him that suffers have changed.

[Bonus scene]

During the Jinghe era, the ministers of Southern Yong add a new entry to their Survival Guide for Officials:

With Xi You at court, everyone is beneath him.

That one person is the emperor.

[Reading Guide]

① Title and blurb are provisional (June 26, 2026)

② Fictional setting, logic takes flight.

③ A lighthearted, sweet, satisfying hodgepodge of a story, with married life, family matters, and schoolroom antics... Any political scheming will be kindergarten-level.

④ Couple: older top + first love + 1v1 + happy ending (the top really does discipline the bottom)

Theme: Hard work changes your fate.