Qi Shuli is the crown prince.
Unfortunately, he never gives the slightest thought to governing. One day he's catching crickets in the East Gate's Xiulin House, and the next he's flirting with pretty girls at the West Gate's Ningyuan Pavilion.
Then, when he turned sixteen, his royal father patted him on the shoulder and said, "Son, it's time to settle down. You'll be inheriting the throne."
Qi Shuli: !!!
What? So I'm still the crown prince!
What? I'm an only child with no brothers or sisters!
Qi Shuli clung to his father's arm. "Father, I know you must have an illegitimate son. Hurry up and bring him out! I won't compete with him for the throne!! Just give me a prince's title and the lands in the southeast, and that'll be perfect!!!"
The emperor sighed. "Accept your fate, son. You are my only child."
Qi Shuli didn't believe him. Every morning, the first thing he did after getting up was ask the eunuch who accompanied him whether they'd found his brothers yet.
At last, the ancestors in the ancestral temple couldn't take it anymore.
His father and mother went traveling, leaving the realm in Qi Shuli's hands. Then a bolt of lightning struck from the ancestral temple, and the crown prince, who had been dragging his feet and refusing to attend court for days, lost the ability to speak.
Qi Shuli opened his mouth: "Woof, woof, woof!"
Qi Shuli: "!! Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!"
There was only one person who could understand his dog speech: Li Mingyu, the youngest chancellor in the realm, his former deskmate at the Imperial Academy and his sworn rival.
Qi Shuli: "Woof! Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!"
Li Mingyu: "Your Highness, please don't swear."
Then Qi Shuli discovered that when Li Mingyu kissed him, he could speak like a person again.
Qi Shuli: "What is this, making me watch you two flirt?"
A seme who would rather die than become emperor x a loyal seme who is determined to help the crown prince ascend the throne
