What's Wrong With Me Living Off Others for a Bite to Eat?!

#Cold, cruel, ruthless eunuch x spoiled, willful, pampered prince

Older man raises younger boy

*

Yan Jiao had no idea what he'd done wrong. His father hated him, and the ministers looked down on him.

After his mother died, even the servants dared to bully him.

At first, he only wanted enough to eat. He'd even wear women's clothes for it, even call the enemy his father. No one knew that he could see what would happen in the future.

The wicked, scheming, deceitful, cold, and heartless Chief Eunuch would eventually seize the throne.

Yan Jiao didn't want to be emperor, so one day he barged into the wicked eunuch's sedan and clung to his leg.

From then on, he lived a life he hadn't even dared to dream of.

No matter what he wanted, Fang Huaiying was willing to give it to him, even plum blossoms in June, snow in the height of summer, or melons in the depths of winter.

Even the moon in the sky.

The wicked eunuch became a good eunuch.

Until Yan Jiao grew up and stopped wanting toys, snacks, and picture books.

The palace was lonely. He wanted a pretty wife.

This time, Fang Huaiying refused him.

Only then did Yan Jiao realize that loneliness in the palace was still better than "not being lonely." At least his lips wouldn't be chafed raw, and his legs wouldn't be so weak he couldn't stand.

Yan Jiao bit down on the blanket and sobbed.

Wah, the eunuch really is wicked after all!!!

*

Of the dozen or so princes in the palace, Yan Jiao was the least loved. Of the countless eunuchs in the inner court, Fang Huaiying was the one most favored by the emperor.

Everyone thought Fang Huaiying was certain to become emperor, and that he kept Yan Jiao around only as a tool. Until the day of the coup, when in the bloody Forbidden City, the young Yan Jiao was dressed in imperial yellow and nestled in the arms of the powerful eunuch Fang Huaiying, utterly bewildered.

"He's using the emperor to command the lords." Everyone understood, unaware that at night, the all-powerful "wicked minister" carefully picked the bones from a shad because the young emperor was a picky eater.

Fang Huaiying, who had once gathered the world into his grasp in a classic, brain-twisting political intrigue novel for male readers, was always called by readers "the protagonist who seems most like a villain." He often seemed almost inhuman, so clever he was practically demonic, cruel and merciless.

But even Fang Huaiying, with all his power and influence, had never imagined that one day, after lying atop an empire without end, he would wake up in a world so full of plot holes it was nearly laughable. It could only be described as "waking up to find the whole world's political scheming skills had dropped by 10,000 times."

He'd only meant to pass the time. Resting his chin in his hand, he gazed listlessly out of the sedan and accidentally met a pair of eyes,

full of malice and calculation, yet, through their clumsiness and foolishness, somehow innocently naive. The owner had a belly full of schemes, but thought no one could see through them.

At first, he wanted to see how miserably the boy would die. Before he knew it, he found himself wishing he could die for him.

He was afraid the boy might suffer even the slightest hardship in the future, and realized that even his ability to calculate all under heaven wasn't enough to predict the boy's fate.

All these years, all he could do was indulge him.

The little emperor called him wicked. When had he ever not been wicked?

Theme: Treat people as equals.