The Protagonist Keeps Reloading and Starting Over

[The main story is complete]

Chen Xiao played a game called Splendid Rivers and Mountains. In the game, he was a dashing young general who had risen to prominence early.

The first time he played, he didn’t know the game well enough, his rebellion failed, and he was killed.

Before he could be executed, his close friend and fellow conspirator, Xu Zhizhou, died alongside him.

Xu Zhizhou was the very picture of gentleness and elegance. Even as he faced death, he remembered to comfort Chen Xiao. “To die with you, A-Xiao, means I haven’t lived in vain.”

The second time he played, he and Xu Zhizhou fell out over their political views. To unlock an achievement, Chen Xiao chose to drink poison without hesitation. As he choked, blood splashed all over Xu Zhizhou’s sleeve. With death upon him, he spoke from the heart: “I believe you’ll make a good emperor.”

The third time…

The fourth time…

The fifth time…

Satisfied with unlocking every achievement in the game, he reached the final ending: ascending the throne. He became a wise and benevolent ruler, praised by all, but found it utterly dull and never opened the game again.

…

Xu Zhizhou thought he was seeing a ghost. No matter how many times he died, he would wake up again, back at the moment he first met Chen Xiao outside the palace gates.

The young man was full of confidence. Smiling, he clasped his hands in greeting. “Good morning, Lord Xu.”

In the nightmare-like loop, he and Chen Xiao had rebelled together, faced death together, fought each other on the battlefield, and been close friends who shared their lives and deaths and understood one another’s ambitions.

When he awoke again, Xu Zhizhou both hated and longed for the cycle. This time, he was determined to keep Chen Xiao alive.

But the cycle never came.

…

After Chen Xiao permanently deleted the game, he felt dizzy. When he opened his eyes,

he saw Xu Zhizhou. Not a game model, but a living, breathing person, warm to the touch.

Yet this time, the gentlest and most easygoing Xu Zhizhou didn’t greet him with a smile and call him General. Instead, he wrapped both arms tightly around Chen Xiao’s waist.

Xu Zhizhou spoke softly, but his eyes were feverishly unhinged. “A-Xiao, why do you keep leaving me behind, again and again?”

He continued, “Your Majesty, this time, stay by my side forever.”

A carefree, go-with-the-flow, slightly mischievous bottom who’s always stirring up trouble (Chen Xiao) × a gentle, elegant, ghostly lunatic top (Xu Zhizhou)

The blurb differs slightly from the main story. Please refer to the story.

Upcoming story: “The Tyrant Became Pregnant After Getting Drunk”

After the emperor, who never did a day’s work and never attended court, fell gravely ill, his waist and belly began to swell. Those useless quacks at the Imperial Medical Academy told him he was pregnant!

The director of the Imperial Medical Academy stammered, “Your Majesty’s pregnancy is heaven-sent. It must be nourished by the purest yang energy in the world, or… both father and child will die.”

The mad emperor acted on the simple principle that if he couldn’t be happy, then nobody else could be, and waved a hand grandly.

“Fine. Let the ministers of the Six Ministries take turns keeping me company. Whoever does the best can let the child take his surname.”

The ministers who heard the news: ????

The imperial exams never said that passing meant you’d have to sleep with the emperor. Sleep with him? Not a chance. I studied hard for over a decade to serve my country with all my heart, not to become a royal favorite

“I’ve never dared gaze upon Your Majesty, but when I saw you yesterday, Your Majesty truly was magnificent.”

“Your Majesty showed concern for my tongue the day before yesterday. You asked if I wanted to keep it after I’d said so much. Your Majesty is so considerate of your ministers. We are truly fortunate.”

“What’s that compared to me? His Majesty wants me to enter the palace and wait on him personally. Though it seems he might have to remove a little something first.”

“Your Majesty…”

Everyone said the emperor was foolish and incompetent, forcing the pillars of the state to serve him in bed. Such cruelty and decadence were signs of a nation doomed to fall.

In a private chamber, Xu Yin, the prime minister, knelt on the bed. A man of grace and integrity, he had suffered humiliation for no reason. He coaxed the emperor, “Your Majesty, I beg you, please stop looking for anyone else, all right?”

The emperor lifted his eyelids and cursed weakly, “Get lost.”

The prime minister smiled and bent down to kiss him. “I, too, am devoted to Your Majesty.”

Xu Yin was young and strikingly handsome. When he first entered officialdom, an old minister stared at him for a long time, aghast.

He learned later that his meteoric rise wasn’t just because he was exceptionally capable and a fine blade the emperor used to divide his ministers. It was also because he looked like the Marquis of Qiyi.

The Marquis of Qiyi had been born the same year as the emperor. He excelled in both civil and military affairs, and shared a deep childhood bond with the emperor. His one flaw was that he died too young.

The prime minister, now in the emperor’s good graces, had two worries. The lesser one was that with him setting the example, the other ministers were following suit, eager to repay their sovereign by offering themselves. The scandalous trend was getting out of hand.

The greater one was that the Marquis of Qiyi wasn’t dead.

As he gently stroked his own emperor’s long hair, Xu Yin calmly considered: “Perhaps I should make sure he really dies this time?”

…

Later, the emperor purged corrupt officials, reclaimed his authority, governed by his own hand, and brought peace and prosperity to the realm.

Xiao Yu looked at Xu Yin. “Much of what happened back then was a matter of expedience. I pushed you too far.” He smiled, his eyes curving. For the first time, the emperor, usually so mercurial, looked relaxed and cheerful. “From now on, you won’t have to demean yourself by serving me in bed.”

Before he could finish, his own minister caught him around the waist and held him close. “Your Majesty…” Xu Yin’s voice trembled. “You can’t… You can’t do without me.”

A refined hypocrite and scheming prime minister top × a sharp-tongued, beautiful, deranged emperor bottom

Theme: Making up for regrets