Diary of a Hidden Guard

[Highlights: An episodic short-story collection about the royal family's secret guards]

1. The Cold Crown Prince and His Pretty Secret Guard: A stoic secret guard and a toddler heir to the throne make a chaotic pair

As a secret guard who grew up in the camp, Yi had no feelings from childhood. He was cold and loyal, and had completed countless missions at a tender age. A born killer, he was destined to become the new emperor's most trusted and sharpest blade.

Yi thought so too, until one day he met his master:

A three-month-old baby, the future new emperor and current crown prince.

Looking at the crown prince, dressed in a kitty onesie and dangling from the empress's arms against his chest, the cold and heartless Yi fell into deep thought...

"So, Jia, what are we here to do?"

"It's obvious, Yi. Help Her Majesty the Empress raise the baby."

2. The Tyrannical Hanlin Scholar and His Pretty Secretary: Jia and his secretary-father's loving, filial relationship

Jia was a secret guard born in a remote village. Because of his exceptional talent, the head of the secret guards bought him from a trafficker when he was young.

He was loyal, ruthless, cunning, and thoughtful. He was the most dependable smiling tiger under the new emperor.

The old emperor was growing frail, while the crown prince was gaining power.

When the great future emperor, His Highness the Crown Prince, went traveling across the land alone, Secret Guard Jia took on the identity of a Hanlin Academy scholar to help His Highness govern. He was responsible for drafting edicts and conveying secret messages.

From a Hanlin Grand Academician to the chief Hanlin secretary, from an unknown nobody in public to a man wielding great power, he always had a diligent, reliable secretary at his side:

An ordinary Hanlin scholar from a family of middling literati, an unremarkable-looking middle-aged man who worked hard and kept his head down.

The kind of dedicated uncle who occasionally cursed his boss behind his back.

Jia always thought so, until one day...

A message arrived from an informant in his hometown, about the identity he had kept on file just in case. His biological parents had sent people to find him.

It turned out that the young secret guard Jia had not been born into a poor family. He was the young master of a wealthy family, switched at birth by mistake. The family lived in the capital, and their surname was Chen.

His biological father had now risen to a high position, serving as a Hanlin Grand Academician and chief Hanlin secretary.

Jia, the secret guard serving as the chief Hanlin secretary: ...

Jia stared expressionlessly at the hapless secretary who was working overtime while quietly cursing him:

So it was you.

The hapless secretary-father, who had thought he would soon have to face a melodramatic tale of the real and fake young masters: ...

I'm sorry, boss. You're the one who's my dad.

3. The Cold-Blooded Tang Clan and the Sweet White Physician: The tangled love and hate between Ding, a poison doctor and king among secret guards, and the hapless eldest young master of the Tang Clan, whose constitution is a perfect textbook example.

4. To be continued...

Theme: Strive tirelessly, stand on your own two feet, and don't shut yourself away too easily.