I Wish to Be the Sparrow in Your Palm [Reborn]

A resilient, tragic, beautiful, strong-willed, masculine bottom x a deranged, celibate, scheming, duplicitous tea-master top

Crown Prince Ji Xia was infamous throughout the land for his debauchery and incompetence.

But who knew the careful intentions hidden beneath that playboy's facade?

He colluded with rebels, killed his father and elder brother, and plotted in secret. He did all this to hand the empire over to someone capable and wipe out the royal family, a nest of parasites.

He was powerless, so he sacrificed himself to save the people.

On the night of the palace coup, weapons clashed outside. Inside the hall, the crown prince, knowing his end was near, used his drunkenness as an excuse to pounce on the pristine, untainted Imperial Preceptor. Shamelessly, he reveled in the arms of the man he secretly loved.

An arrow pierced his head. Everything was settled, and at last he got his wish: to die at the happiest moment of his life.

But who could have guessed that when he opened his eyes again, he would be a baby?

The newborn crown prince became a servant in the household of a county magistrate in a small southern town. Over the next sixteen years, he used his wits to gradually improve his family's lot.

Just as he thought he would live out his life in peace, the name that had haunted his dreams appeared at his side once more.

The Imperial Preceptor, who had once despised the murky world of officialdom, had since become the powerful chief grand secretary. Rumor had it that he practiced dark arts and had built a demon tower at the Imperial College, where he devoured the souls of children.

Ji Xia naturally didn't believe it. But when the man finally stood before him, the figure who had once been so solemn and reserved could now send chills down his spine with the curl of his lips. His face had not aged in sixteen years. He wore white from head to toe, with white hair, and never let go of the arrow-pierced skull in his hands, treating it like a priceless treasure.

Only then did he learn that after the night of the palace coup, the Imperial Preceptor had gone mad.

When those dark eyes fixed on him,

Xia Fu shuddered,

and realized the punishment for his recklessness in his previous life

had finally arrived.

Theme: Fulfill your duty in the position you hold, even unto death