Rumor had it that Bai Chenxin was a vile, despicable man, sinister and treacherous. Yet by harming loyal officials and manipulating political power, he climbed step by step to the position of Imperial Preceptor, The Outcast, second only to the emperor and above all others.
The words most often on the common people's lips were, "Bai Chenxin deserves a horrible death. In his next life, may he be born as a pig or a dog, drink from filthy springs, and eat bitter bark and swallow needles."
Bai Chenxin thought so too.
But when he opened his eyes again, five years after his death, he discovered that a tyrant had ascended the throne and the people were living in misery. Everyone had begun to remember how good things had been when Imperial Preceptor Bai held power.
The great general, who had once wanted to cut him into a thousand pieces, called him the only good brother he had ever had.
The ungrateful adopted son he had raised for over a decade, who had then gone over to someone else, knelt before his grave and wept bitterly, cursing himself for having been blinded by greed and wishing he could follow Bai Chenxin into death.
The old chancellor, who had once denounced Bai Chenxin before the entire world as a two-faced, despicable scoundrel, wrote a tearful elegy after his death, lamenting that Imperial Preceptor Bai had truly been a loyal and righteous hero.
He even heard that the tyrant in the imperial palace slept with Bai Chenxin's memorial tablet in his arms every night, murmuring his name even in his dreams.
Bai Chenxin: I'm dead. Don't bother me.
*
In life, Bai Chenxin had once rescued a boy with both legs broken in the snow. The boy was taciturn, cold, and hard-hearted, and one day he left without a word.
When Bai Chenxin opened his eyes again, he never expected that the boy would become the tyrant of the future, while Bai Chenxin was reborn as one of the male favorites the tyrant kept in his harem.
Remembering the rumors, Bai Chenxin used every trick he could think of, deliberately testing this tyrant who had single-handedly turned his reputation around.
Xie Rongheng: I admit that when you act spoiled, you really do resemble him. But I will never love you.
Bai Chenxin: ?
*
Before he recognized his beloved: Why is this person always hanging around in front of me? What a nuisance.
After he recognized his beloved: Sob, why hasn't Xinxin come to see me today?
1. Both are virgins.
2. Beautiful, treacherous minister as the shou x sinister tyrant as the gong.
Theme: Among the countless people in this world, there will always be someone who adores you.