Return to Huacheng: The King Reigns Supreme

A hot-tempered military officer who gave up the civil service exams to enlist X a Mongolian prince

Full-on silly comedy

In the first year of Gao You's reign in Great Yan, the court agreed to open a border market with the Tumed tribe. It granted the Ninth Lady of the Tumed a formal charter and bestowed the title of Prince of Obedience upon Altan Khan of the Tumed, while the Ninth Lady became Lady of Obedience. That same year, the prince died of illness, and the second Prince of Obedience succeeded him. The Ninth Lady took full control of the government, and the Tumed officially became part of Yan.

Four years later, the first grand, prosperous, and thoroughly Sinicized town on the border rose from the ground.

The Regent named it on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor: Guihua City.

On the day the exam results were posted, the neighbors set off firecrackers while the Yue household sat in silence. Yue Mu tiptoed out, only for Old Master Yue to roar, "Get back in here!"

Yue Mu rolled into the main hall. The neighbors' firecrackers kept going without end. Old Master Yue smiled without warmth, and Yue Mu gave an awkward chuckle.

That little rascal had done it on purpose.

He was dead set on taking the military exam.

When Yue Mu's mother was pregnant with him, a fortune-teller came to their door and declared with an inscrutable expression, "Your family is going to produce a princess consort."

Old Master Yue thought the baby would be a girl. Yue Mu heard fate calling from inside his mother's belly and came into the world that very night. Old Master Yue took one look and saw a boy.

No princess consort, no bringing honor to the family. Old Master Yue glared at his son from head to toe, furious. Rebellious! Unfilial! Disobedient!

"I've found you a job. Get your butt to Guihua City and stop making me sick!"

Yue Mu looked down at his old, wrinkled father. "Can you really bear to let me go, Dad?"

Old Master Yue sneered. "Didn't you insist on taking the military exam, throwing away your brush to join the army and defend the people? Fine. No need to make things complicated. Go to the border yourself!"

The Regent had issued a policy: go to Guihua City and serve as a teacher, spreading knowledge and answering questions. It would help you earn a position in the future. The family had a distant connection to an official in the capital, and Old Master Yue had made inquiries. It was all legitimate. Yue Mu had been gifted from an early age, but he insisted on joining the army and stubbornly wanted to take the military exam. His father had tried for years to stop him, to no avail. Since that was the case, he would teach the boy a lesson, and then he would come home and obediently pursue a career in the civil service.

Old Master Yue sent Yue Mu packing with a blow from his cane. Off he went to enlighten the frontier and defend the people.

"You bastard, don't go dying out there!"

"You're insulting my mother!"

"Get out!"

After Yue Mu left, Old Master Yue fretted and fretted, then went to a temple to draw a fortune stick. After a long while, one fell out: "Zhaojun Departs for the Frontier."

Old Master Yue stared blankly at the temple attendant. "I was drawing a fortune stick for my son."

The temple attendant stared blankly back. "This is the fortune stick you drew for your son."

The dynasty had never arranged a marriage alliance since its founding. Who would have thought a fortune like this even existed...

Yue Zhaojun was leaving the seaside where she had grown up for the first time. She rode in a carriage, throwing up all the way, nearly losing her soul along with her lunch, when someone shouted, "We've reached Guihua City! We've reached Guihua City!"

A group of people from Jiaodong saw a boundless grassland for the first time, its vastness rivaling the ocean.

Yue Mu tumbled out of the carriage. A breeze carrying the fresh scent of grass swept away his gloom. He looked up and saw the magnificent Yin Mountains stretching into the distance.

At the foot of the mountains and before his eyes, the town was splendid, its buildings packed close together, its streets crowded with people, and its lavish, prosperous bustle filling every corner.

Denglai was one of Great Yan's wealthiest regions, and even so, Yue Mu was stunned by what he saw.

Welcome to Guihua City.

A breeze swept past the glazed pagoda that towered into the clouds in the distance, carrying the sweet chime of its bells down to earth. For a brief moment, the bustling streets fell quiet. Amid the clear, ethereal chimes, Yue Mu saw a figure in white robes and a white cap ride away on a white horse.

"Who was that?"

A cloud from the heavens, drifting down among mortals.

"My name is A Tan." The boy in luxurious white robes held a little lamb without a care in the world, his beautiful eyes fixed earnestly on Yue Mu. "Who are you?"

The second Prince of Obedience had died suddenly, leaving no heir. Following Great Yan's law that a younger brother could succeed an elder brother, the Ninth Lady brought every possible heir to Guihua City.

"It's okay. I was just a shepherd anyway." Tears welled in A Tan's eyes. "I never even met my parents. It's okay."

The direct and collateral descendants of the two Princes of Obedience all came from the Ordos Tumen of old. They all descended from the same man.

Lately, someone had been singing outside the schoolhouse every night. Yue Mu shoved open the door and burst out like a firecracker, reaching out to grab the boy in white. "Tell me what those lyrics mean."

The boy in white held onto his hat and stared back stubbornly. The strings of pearls on his clothes touched with a nervous, tinkling sound.

Beneath the pagoda, the boy held a string of prayer beads, his expression devout. Yue Mu gazed at his exquisite profile.

I don't believe in gods or Buddhas.

But I revere you.

Yue Mu held his knife and rubbed the blood at the corner of his mouth with his thumb. "A Tan, let me tell you a story."

A Tan clutched his belt from behind. "Mm."

"Long ago, there was a man named Shaozheng Mao who competed with Confucius for students."

"Mm."

"So Confucius killed him."

"Mm... Hm?"

The schoolhouse had been smashed up. Confucius's portrait had been torn in half and hung crookedly on the wall, barely staying up.

"Good A Tan, what does this story teach us?"

"I... I don't know..."

Yue Mu reached out and pushed A Tan farther behind him.

"If you want to be a teacher for all generations, you have to know how to fight like hell!"

Yue Mu smiled gently at A Tan. "Good A Tan, stand farther away. You'll get blood on you."

A Tan's blood ties to the Prince of Obedience really were too distant. He'd been found by chance and brought to Guihua City.

Yue Mu held his ankle and smiled. "Then A Tan should simply become king, become the true Prince of Obedience."

A Tan braced both hands against Yue Mu's chest and looked down at him, his eyes as clear and moving as colored glass.

"A Tan is the king, my Highness, my sovereign."

A Tan thought it over seriously. "So which one of us is on top?"

Given their position right now... Yue Mu's hands slid down to the snow-white legs at either side of him, steadying A Tan.

"The king is on top."

Theme: Building a wonderful life together through cultural exchange.