Rebirth As a Fatuous and Self-indulgent Ruler

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

Long Xiaoyuan said, “We come out to have fun, but I didn’t expect to encounter such a fun thing.”

Was this something fun? Liu Suifeng was speechless for a moment.

At this moment, many soldiers came to put out the fire.

Most of them were the imperial guards.

Long Xiaoyuan watched them join the operation.

With these people around, the fire was quickly brought under control.

Long Xiaoyuan and the others entered the house after the fire got down.

The search was basically carried out by the Shadow Guardians and Liu Suifeng.

Long Xiaoyuan just came to have fun with Shi Qingzhou.

To his surprise, Wu Qinghai’s house was quite big.

Long Xiaoyuan said in amazement as he looked around, “Qingzhou, tell me, why didn’t he lead a comfortable life instead of reducing himself to such a state?”

Shi Qingzhou said lightly, “Well, sometimes people don’t know how to cherish it until they lose it.”

Long Xiaoyuan paused and sighed. “Qingzhou, you are right. Most of the time, people only know how to cherish it when they lose it.”

Shi Qingzhou turned his head. “Therefore, we cannot do that.”

Long Xiaoyuan smiled and held Shi Qingzhou’s hand.

“Of course, we won’t become those who don’t know how to cherish.”

As they chatted, they continued to walk inside.

After a while, Liu Suifeng and Ouyang Chuan came over together.

“Have you found anything?” Long Xiaoyuan immediately asked.

“There is a secret room under the ground, but outside the room there are many devices, which are being demolished.”

“Oh, I see. There’s a secret room.” It dawned on Long Xiaoyuan, who nodded. “No wonder they came here. They are trying to get something.”

“I think so,” Liu Suifeng said.

“Alright, let’s go over and take a look,” Long Xiaoyuan said.

They went to the place where the secret room was found.

When they arrived, the Shadow Guardians were still trying to demolish the devices.

Long Xiaoyuan stood far away, afraid of being injured accidentally.

Half an hour later, the Shadow Guardians finally said. “It’s fixed.”

Long Xiaoyuan’s eyes lit up, and Liu Suifeng quickly ran over.

Some Shadow Guardians led the way, and Liu Suifeng and Ouyang Chuan were in the middle, followed by Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingzhou. At the rear of the group, there were other Shadow Guardians. In this way, Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingzhou were well protected.

The group headed to the secret room.

Long Xiaoyuan rubbed his arms the moment he entered.

“Why do I feel cold here?”

Shi Qingzhou also clearly felt it, so he used his internal power to drive the cold away, and he did not forget Long Xiaoyuan.

Long Xiaoyuan felt waves of warmth from Shi Qingzhou’s arm. He didn’t feel that cold anymore.

After they got to the end of the stair, the group of people entered the secret room.

Even though Long Xiaoyuan thought that he had seen many things, the scene in front of him shocked him.

In the secret room, there was a square altar.

On the altar, there were quite a few mummies, all of which were in various strange shapes.

These were mummies of animals and human beings.

None of the mummies was complete!

They either lacked arms or legs. Most importantly, the heads were peculiar.

Some heads were complete, but they seemed to stare at people. Others had half missing.

The half heads looked creepier in the gloomy basement.

Long Xiaoyuan felt his hair stand on its end.

“Qingzhou, this place is too disgusting,” Long Xiaoyuan said softly.

Shi Qingzhou nodded. “Indeed.”

Liu Suifeng who was walking in the front suddenly said. “All halt.”

Everyone stopped at his order.

Long Xiaoyuan was right behind him and couldn’t help but ask. “What’s going on?”

Liu Suifeng said, “I know where those black insects come from.”

Long Xiaoyuan squinted. “From here?”

“Yes. If we can find where they originally come from, it will be simple to solve the problem.”

Shi Qingzhou couldn’t help but ask, “Do you mean that we don’t have to worry about the other venomous insects from Lord as long as you discover the secrets here?”

“Well, the premise is that there is a connection between the two.”

Long Xiaoyuan’s eyes flashed, and he said. “They all come from Northern Barbarians, so they should be connected.”

Even if the insects came from different groups, they were from the same country, so their origins should be the same.

Therefore, they should be connected in origin.

Shi Qingzhou also said, “They should be connected. Shall we go out first?”

Liu Suifeng nodded. “You go out first, but some of the Shadow Guardians have to stay behind. Call Zhang Yuan over. He can help me.”

“Okay.” Long Xiaoyuan nodded. “I’ll go back and ask him to come over.”

Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingzhou left.

After they went out, Long Xiaoyuan could not help but say, “I didn’t expect Wu Qinghai to be so good at hiding things. He actually has such an evil thing in his basement.”

“He might not know,” Shi Qingzhou said.

Long Xiaoyuan blinked and thought about it. “You’re right. If he had known about it, he would have told us. It’s not easy to fool the Shadow Guardians.”

Shi Qingzhou nodded. “Yes. You can go back and continue the investigation.”

Long Xiaoyuan nodded. “Alright. Let’s go back first.”

Their spirit was dampened by this incident, and they didn’t feel like looking for fun outside.

The couple went back to the palace together.

They had Zhang Yuan informed before they left the basement, so he had set off when they got to the palace.

Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingzhou went to see their son first.

The child was sleeping, and they didn’t disturb him.

That night, there was still no news from Liu Suifeng, and Long Xiaoyuan could not help but ask, “Hasn’t Liu Suifeng come back yet?”

Shi Qingzhou shook his head. “No, no one has come back yet.”

Long Xiaoyuan pouted. “It’s been so long. It looks difficult.”

Shi Qingzhou didn’t say anything.

Long Xiaoyuan waved his hand. “Forget it. Let’s go to sleep first.”

Shi Qingzhou didn’t object, nodding. “Okay.”

The next morning, when Long Xiaoyuan woke up, Shi Qingzhou was sleeping, so Long Xiaoyuan got up quietly without waking him up.

Long Xiaoyuan asked a Shadow Guardian when he got outside, “Did Dr. Liu come back last night?”

The Shadow Guardian answered immediately, “He came back at dawn.”

Long Xiaoyuan frowned. “He’s been busy until this morning?”

“Yes.”

Long Xiaoyuan immediately asked, “Where is he now?”

“In Yuchang Palace. Dr. Zhang is with him, as well as several doctors from Imperial Hospital.”

Long Xiaoyuan blinked. “Are they all there?”

“Yes. I guess Dr. Liu needs their help.”

Long Xiaoyuan nodded and didn’t ask anything else.

When Long Xiaoyuan came back from the court, Shi Qingzhou was awake and waiting for him to have breakfast. Long Xiaoyuan told him about Liu Suifeng.

Shi Qingzhou said, “Let’s go and take a look after breakfast.”

After breakfast, Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingzhou went to Yuchang Palace.

When they got there, Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingzhou were surprised to see a crowd in the yard.

They didn’t see the doctors, who were inside the palace.

However, the yard was crowded with eunuchs and maids.

Long Xiaoyuan had thought that there were very few servants in the palace, as he didn’t see them around.

But now it seemed that there were still a lot of people staying in the palace.

There were over a hundred eunuchs and palace maids.

What were they doing? They seemed to be washing bottles.

That was right. They were washing jade bottles.

He didn’t know why they did that.

There were thousands of jade bottles of different sizes.

What was Liu Suifeng trying to do?

The eunuchs and maids hurriedly curtsied at sight of Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingzhou.

Long Xiaoyuan waved his hand without asking anything, beckoning them to get up and resume their work. He went inside with Shi Qingzhou.

The doctors inside were even busier.

They didn’t even notice the arrival of Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingzhou.

Frowning, Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingzhou looked at each other and went straight inside.

In the innermost part of the room, Long Xiaoyuan saw Liu Suifeng stirring a big pot of liquid.

Long Xiaoyuan walked over. “What is this?”

Liu Suifeng looked back. “You’re here?”

Long Xiaoyuan nodded. “Yes, I’m here. What are you doing?”

Liu Suifeng was busy with the stirring, saying, “I’m making something with which we don’t have to worry about venomous insects in the future.”

Long Xiaoyuan was shocked.” Can you make it?”

Liu Suifeng said with certainty. “Yes. That’s why we are very busy here.”

“Okay.” Long Xiaoyuan pouted. “I can see it.”

Liu Suifeng ignored Long Xiaoyuan, who saw that there was really no room for him and he couldn’t help them. So he left with Shi Qingzhou directly.

Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingzhou went outside and took a look at the people washing the bottles, leaving.

Liu Suifeng wasn’t boasting. Three days later, he managed to invent a special liquid.

One drop of it on the palm or on the clothes could scare the venomous insects away.

For people attacked by the insects, this liquid could irritate the insects in their bodies, so they could be diagnosed.

In short, with this kind of liquid, venomous insects would no longer be a problem.

After Long Xiaoyuan got a small bottle of liquid and made an experiment, he got highly delighted.

Long Xiaoyuan in a good mood directly rewarded Liu Suifeng.

He gave him two houses in the Imperial City and a few servants.

Liu Suifeng pouted. “They’re all useless.”

Long Xiaoyuan was instantly disgruntled. “How can you say that?” ‘In modern times, houses are the most important thing, okay?

No one will marry you if you don’t have a house.’

It was a pity that Liu Suifeng could not understand Long Xiaoyuan’s good intention.

Long Xiaoyuan asked people to find a few exotic flowers and rare herbs for Liu Suifeng.

Liu Suifeng found them quite interesting.

Long Xiaoyuan pouted. “You have no taste at all.”

Liu Suifeng didn’t bother to argue with him, leaving with Ouyang Chuan.

The imperial officials were tested with the liquid and given over twenty drops to protect themselves.

Most of the liquid was sent to the border, especially near Northern Barbarians.

The test results came out and two ministers had obvious symptoms of venomous insect attack. They were directly caught by Long Xiaoyuan.

They had to wait until the test results of the border came out.

On this day, news came about Wu Ronghan, who had been quiet for many days.

They attacked a village near Ronghua City and many people were killed.

Someone saw Wu Ronghan and the others escaping after the night attack.

They escaped because the Shadow Guardians started to take action.

They did not know why Wu Ronghan killed the people in the village for the time being, but the only thing they knew was that Shadow Guardian’s attack had caused serious casualties to Wu Ronghan.

In the end, less than five people escaped.

Long Xiaoyuan frowned when he received the news. “Wu Ronghan doesn’t look like a person who kills to vent his anger. Why did he kill people in the village?”

Shi Qingzhou was also confused. “I don’t know.”

“From the information concerning that village, there is nothing special about it. Why did they kill the people in the village?”

Neither of them could answer this question.

Long Xiaoyuan finally pursed his lips and said. “Send someone to investigate. He can’t possibly kill them without any reason.”

Shi Qingzhou nodded. “There are a lot of people available in Tianji Sect. I’ll send some of them there and investigate.”

Long Xiaoyuan said without any objections. “Okay. I’ll leave it to you.”

After Long Xiaoyuan said that, Shi Qingzhou went to make arrangements.

After a short time, Shi Qingzhou came back. “The people in Tianji Sect will set off right now.”

“Okay.” Long Xiaoyuan nodded.

That night, they received the news from Fang Shuoyang, saying that Zhou Suye was getting mad and Emperor Zhou seemed to favor Fang Shuoyang.

In addition, Fang Shuoyang told them that there were more people monitoring or protecting him.

Most of those people were sent by Emperor Zhou, but some of them should be sent by Zhou Suye.

Fang Shuoyang also said that big changes were going to take place in the Eastern Darkness.

Long Xiaoyuan raised his eyebrows. He had long expected the changes in the Eastern Darkness, so he was not surprised.

What impressed Long Xiaoyuan was Emperor Zhou.

The emperor’s mind was really unpredictable. The son that he had favored secretly for so many years was discarded by him because of some mistakes.

Long Xiaoyuan didn’t know that Emperor Zhou hated Zhou Suye for his intention of murdering his own father.

Although there was no real affection in the royal families, he felt disappointed that his own son wanted him to die.

Unfortunately, Emperor Zhou didn’t know that all of his sons wanted him to die early.

Fang Shuoyang was no exception.

Were his sons to be blamed? Was the power to be blamed?

Perhaps he should blame himself.

Shi Qingzhou could not help but say after reading the message from Fang Shuoyang, “Emperor Zhou has been enthroned for decades. It is a tragedy that he has to experience the most miserable thing at his old age.”

Long Xiaoyuan nodded. “It’s a tragedy indeed.”

Shi Qingzhou held Long Xiaoyuan’s hand. “Come on. Don’t think too much about other people’s business.”

Long Xiaoyuan nodded. “I didn’t think too much about it. I’m being sentimental.”

Shi Qingzhou looked at him and nodded. “Okay.”

Long Xiaoyuan said, “Qingzhou, I feel contented as long as you stay with me.”

“Okay.” Shi Qingzhou nodded and the two of them looked at each other and smiled. They felt the same about each other.

Long Xiaoyuan smiled and held Shi Qingzhou’s waist.

Shi Qingzhou nestled in Long Xiaoyuan’s arms.

It was a beautiful and warm moment.

The people sent by Tianji Sect only sent news four days later, saying that Wu Ronghan went there to kill a young man.

The identity of the young man had not been known, but he was not the native of the village. He arrived at the village two or three years ago and had been staying there ever since.

Wu Ronghan’s target was the young man.

However, the young man was not killed by Wu Ronghan, and he escaped when Wu Ronghan attacked at night.

Wu Ronghan’s people didn’t kill randomly to vent their anger. They killed people who befriended the young man.

In other words, they could be the young man’s subordinate!

Long Xiaoyuan frowned at the information. “Qingzhou, take a look. There’s a portrait of the young man. Do you know him?”

Shi Qingzhou nodded. “Okay. Let me take a look.”

After he looked at the portrait, Shi Qingzhou frowned and shook his head. “I don’t know him.”

“I don’t know him either. He’s a stranger,” Long Xiaoyuan said, “Why did Wu Ronghan make such a big move just to kill this man?”

Shi Qingzhou could not answer this question, and he could only say, “The people of Tianji Sect are checking there.”

Long Xiaoyuan sighed. “Wu Ronghan is running to the border now. Although we have arranged to arrest him, it’s not easy to catch him because his martial arts are very high and there are not many of them.”

Shi Qingzhou replied. “Yes, but we are not in a hurry. We will get him.”

Long Xiaoyuan patted his chest. “The only thing that could soothe me now is I don’t have to worry about the venomous insects.”

Shi Qingzhou nodded and smiled. “Yes.”

“But we can ask other people about this portrait,” Long Xiaoyuan added.

Shi Qingzhou immediately reacted, “You mean Liu Suifeng and Ouyang Chuan?”

“Yes,” Long Xiaoyuan nodded. “We can ask them.”

Shi Qingzhou nodded. “Good idea. They’ve spent a lot time underground, and they might know this man.”

Long Xiaoyuan didn’t delay and took Shi Qingzhou to see Liu Suifeng.

When they arrived, Liu Suifeng and Ouyang Chuan were practicing swords in the yard.

They stopped at sight of Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingzhou. “Why are you here?”

“I’d like you to take a look at a beauty.”

“Beauty?” Liu Suifeng looked at him in surprise. “Did I hear you wrong? You want us to see a beauty?”

“That’s right. I’m asking you to see a beauty,” Long Xiaoyuan smiled and gave the portrait to Liu Suifeng.

Liu Suifeng unrolled the portrait and pursed his lips. “You call this beauty? He is only a good-looking guy.”

Long Xiaoyuan burst out laughing. “Do you really think I’m asking you to see a beauty?”

Liu Suifeng glared at Long Xiaoyuan.

Ouyang Chuan looked at the portrait and paused. “Why do I think this person looks familiar?”

Liu Suifeng quickly took a closer look at it, but shook his head.

“I’m sure I haven’t seen him before. Have you met him?”

Ouyang Chuan frowned. “He looks a bit familiar.”

Long Xiaoyuan told them about Wu Ronghan and the village.

Both Ouyang Chuan and Liu Suifeng frowned. Ouyang Chuan tried hard to recall, but he couldn’t remember anything.

“He might be a stranger that passed you by.” Liu Suifeng couldn’t help guessing.

Long Xiaoyuan said, “It is very possible. If he left any impression on you, you should remember him.”

“Well, it’s hard to remember a stranger,” Shi Qingzhou also said.

Long Xiaoyuan patted Ouyang Chuan on the shoulder. “Come on. This is not something that can be done in a hurry. Take your time.”

Ouyang Chuan had to nod helplessly. “Okay.”

Liu Suifeng said, “Ouyang, take it easy. Maybe you will suddenly remember something later on.”

Ouyang Chuan looked at Liu Suifeng and nodded. “Okay. I know.”

Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingzhou did not stay any longer and left.