Blurb:
Xiao Muqing, the CEO of a publicly listed company, suddenly dies at a product launch. When he opens his eyes, he discovers that he has transmigrated into a character-raising game newly developed by his company.
In a character-raising game, you adopt a main character from infancy and help him reach the pinnacle of life.
He looks at the three choices before him…
Eternal Fame: A gifted scholar from a poor family.
Conquer New Lands: An overlooked illegitimate son of a general's family, yet a brilliant military strategist.
Rule the World: A down-and-out prince, gifted in both literature and martial arts, who has long been suppressed by the imperial harem.
As an investor in the game, he knows exactly which one is the real favorite, and decisively chooses the third.
He steadily completes quests and happily raises the child. In his spare time, he even recruits the other two main characters to pave the way for his kid.
Who could have guessed the other party wouldn't appreciate it, and would keep sabotaging things whenever Xiao Muqing got close to those two?
Xiao Muqing looks helpless. "All right, all right. Whatever you say."
As the days go by, armed with a walkthrough, he always resolves problems in advance. The male lead doesn't have to do a thing, yet everything goes smoothly for him. Xiao Muqing is happy to let him live an easy, carefree life.
But halfway through the game, the "planner" suddenly tells him that the male lead hasn't truly grown at all.
So the planner makes a sweeping change to the main storyline, turning Xiao Muqing from the male lead's ally into his enemy. From now on, he has to do everything he can to put the male lead through hardship, supposedly to help him grow and shine in adversity.
"…"
In a world where you have no choice but to go with the flow, Xiao Muqing can't win an argument with the other party. All he can do is abandon his main account and temporarily switch to an alt to level up.
From then on, the kid never smiles again, wearing a gloomy expression all day long.
Every time Xiao Muqing sees him hurt, his heart aches terribly, but he still has to pretend not to care.
Once the main character has grown enough, the planner finally changes the storyline back, and Xiao Muqing breathes a sigh of relief.
Phew, it's finally over.
At this rate, I'm going to develop a split personality.
He returns to his main account, but before he can go after everyone who hurt the other man, that person embraces him first.
The man who didn't shed a tear even while being flayed to the bone now weeps uncontrollably, his eyes bloodshot with hatred. He takes a rope and ties the other man's hands behind his back, clenching his teeth. "I won't let you leave again."
In his previous life, Feng Xi had to navigate the treacherous imperial palace at every turn. He exhausted himself scheming, and, consumed by hatred, ultimately emerged victorious and took the throne.
He dragged out and killed everyone who had oppressed him, betrayed him, or opposed him. By the end, there was no one left by his side whom he could trust.
After that, he devoted himself entirely to governing the realm, reforming the tax system, land administration, and official institutions, recruiting talent from across the land, and expanding his territory by thousands of miles.
Every moment, he thought about how to be a good emperor and atone for the bloodshed on his hands.
More than a decade later, his body finally gave out.
As he lay ill in bed, Feng Xi looked back on his life and gave a self-mocking curl of his lips.
If he could live it over, he wouldn't care about the grudges from being bullied and oppressed as a boy, or the power struggles and succession battles of the imperial court.
Those people could harm him if they wanted, and fight over whatever they pleased. He just wanted to survive and live an ordinary, carefree life.
He didn't want to be emperor for another moment.
Who could have known that when he opened his eyes again, he really would be back in his childhood, reborn once more?
Only, this life seemed somewhat different from his previous one…
Had Heaven truly sent someone to save him…
A radiant, gentle, cunning, hyper-competitive heir apparent X a seemingly good-for-nothing, scheming, sweet-on-the-outside and dark-on-the-inside, lazy emperor
Theme: Growing in adversity
