As the Minor Gay Love Rival in Het Novels

Chapter 3.11

The “Demise of the Emperor” arc of the plot was supposed to be this story’s climax. The male lead defeated the Crown Prince using his own set of offensive tactics, cleanly bringing all the great ministers under his control. He ascended the throne with great power, and finally brought the beauty back into his arms. Just from listening, it made a person’s blood boil. Yes! Or! No!

However, there was no f*cking use in imagining such a plot, because the male lead had not only been replaced with a heart of love sickness, but Crown Prince Pei Yu had also become a pile of waste.

To find out the reason for this, one needed to trace several months back to a certain day. At that time, Pei Yu had lifted his golden gun, about to administer a certain type of wretched punishment upon Xiao Yuan that no one could speak of. Yet suddenly, he was assaulted by a wave of demonic wind. The tenacity of the wind was as if a peerless master had executed his ultimate move.

The Crown Prince was defeated and K.O.-ed to the floor in an instant, coughing blood and suffering severe injuries later on. Before he fainted, he saw Xiao Yuan vanish into thin air just like that, right in front of his eyes………

Within that moment the Crown Prince was extremely shocked. He started to question life, his spirit had received a huge blow!

Although his confidants tried to comfort him after the incident—that it was merely because he had been too heavily injured that he hallucinated as a result—the Crown Prince was unwilling to believe it. He firmly believed that Xiao Yuan was a demonic, supernatural being. In short, he was extremely afraid.

After his body and spirit received dual attacks, from then on his “withered little brother” never stood up again.

It was truly the world’s greatest tragedy, a huge sensation amongst the people! It was extremely deserving to weep a few drops of tears for him!

Thankfully, the male lead daren was “extremely magnanimous”, sending highly effective medicines to cure the Crown Prince’s erectile dysfunction, allowing him to finally return to being a normal man again. However, there was one thing—no one could bring up the two words “Xiao Yuan” in front of him, because the level of fear he felt towards these two words was equivalent to the fear towards a demon or monster. Don’t even bother talking about him fighting for the throne with Prince Duan, this had no difference from asking him to die.

Hence, the male lead’s last battle could only be considered a landslide victory. The Crown Prince’s men had long fallen and dispersed, one after another. He basically didn’t need to expend any effort and successfully ascended the throne. It really made one not know whether to be happy or sad.

As for Yan Rui, no one could tell what he was feeling as he had a face of indifference. As for Fan Yuan, he was suffering. The supporting male had “go die”-ed just like that, what would happen to the remaining plot?!

Moreover, Yan Rui was not willing follow the plot with the female lead. Without the female lead begging for her lover to be spared, how would the supporting male lead escape and start a rebellion ne? If he didn’t rebel, how would Fan Yuan be sent to war ne? If he didn’t head to war, how would he successfully die in the military camp ne?

After thinking it through, Fan Yuan felt that he couldn’t simply sit still and await his doom. He resolutely decided to take the initiative and strike!

Because the original host was a free and unrestrained person, he had an idiosyncrasy⁠—he had extremely clear-cut divisions between what he loved and hated, and he also firmly believed in an eye for an eye. In the original plot, due the fact that he was cruelly tortured, he had a huge enmity towards Pei Yu.

When Pei Yu was in dire straits, Xiao Yuan naturally went to visit him on top of repaying his previous “benefactor”.

This was the final reason why the supporting male lead wanted the male lead to give him Xiao Yuan’s head⁠—the so-called eye for an eye.

At this moment, Fan Yuan was extremely grateful for the original host’s unrestrained personality. It gave him a chance to go to the prison and meet Pei Yu, so that he could dispel that guy’s misunderstanding about him being a demonic spirit, and allow Pei Yu to return to normal. While doing so, he could draw out some fierce hatred from Pei Yu.

After that, he just needed to inform the Crown Prince’s old faction and help them take Pei Yu away from the prison, so that he could rise once again. The plot could flawlessly proceed after that.

After all, no matter how useless Pei Yu himself was, there were plenty of people who had great ambitions. Even if their master was a piece of trash that couldn’t even hold up a wall, as long as he waged a war, they could elevate themselves as upholders of justice. There would be no lack of wolves greedy for power no matter the era, so Fan Yuan had no worries regarding this matter.

Excellent, Yan Rui’s concealment talisman could also be deployed on the battlefield, so he didn’t need to worry about being discovered when executing those sneaky little things. The God of Fortune was truly looking after them ah.

Fan Yuan designed a series of plans, yet he didn’t go through it with Yan Rui. At present, the reality was that Fan Yuan was trying his best to avoid meeting that man. Yan Rui was too perceptive, if he talked with him too much, Fan Yuan was afraid that he couldn’t help but let the cat out of the bag.

Additionally, he was not good at interacting with the current Yan Rui. If he was like his old self that made trouble out of nothing, Fan Yuan just needed to stay far away. If Yan Rui was willing to put aside his feelings, interacting with him just like normal friends, he would also happily accept it. He was extremely willing to be friends with him.

However, that man just had to bluntly confess his feelings, but he did not make any moves that crossed the line and made Fan Yuan uncomfortable. All his care and love was just right, causing Fan Yuan to be unable to reject him. He could only bear with it, so frustrating! Hence, he felt that he should avoid Yan Rui to save himself some trouble.

But the more one tries to avoid trouble, the more trouble would come knocking. He had changed his outfit in preparation to go to the prison and meet Pei Yu, but Yan Rui had already appeared.

As the Emperor, was it okay if he imposed in his subject’s manor just like that ma?!

But the thing was that he had been very cooperative recently, so it wouldn’t be good for Fan Yuan to show him too much attitude. No matter how restless his heart felt, he still controlled himself when interacting with him.

He respectfully bowed in greeting, “This subject greets your Majesty.”

Yan Rui didn’t wait for him to finish his bow and helped him up. He pulled him over to the side of a table to sit, and passed him a book that he retrieved from his sleeve. On the book’s cover, Fan Yuan read the words “Leisurely Travels”.

Fan Yuan examined it for a few glances and asked, “This subject is slow-witted, I do not know what profound theory this book speaks of?”

Yan Rui couldn’t help but laugh, lightly knocking Fan Yuan on the head as he said, “There aren’t any theories, this is something zhen found from the imperial library. I felt that my beloved subject may like it, so I brought it along. I was thinking that you can read this to relieve some boredom when you have nothing to do.”

After hearing him put it that way, Fan Yuan casually flipped through it and realised that it was a pretty decent travel log. The writer collated all their personal experiences and recorded down all the various places in Great Xia, detailing each and every well-known scenery and cuisine. They also detailed the local customs, practices and folklore, while even referring to many interesting legends and myths. Their style of writing was also witty and engaging—the readability was high.

He tucked away the book and sincerely said, “This book is indeed quite good reading material, many thanks to your Majesty for bestowing it upon me.”

Yan Rui saw Fan Yuan’s serious appearance and felt extremely helpless. He really missed the very first world actually. When the plot had yet to unfold, the Fan Yuan back then was lively and optimistic, cheeky and humourous, occasionally doing certain unexpected things that would make people pleasantly surprised.

Of course, there were unexpected disasters, but he was happy to help Fan Yuan clean up his mess, never feeling that it was a bother at all. Even if he was chastised by his family because of Fan Yuan, he never regretted it a single bit.

Hence in these two worlds, he couldn’t help but always stir up some trouble for Fan Yuan, wanting to see him when his expression changed. It was a pity that this little fellow knew how to pretend now, so no matter how shocked or angry he was, on the surface he would at most appear slightly stiff.

However, since Yan Rui had already set his mind on “boiling the frog with warm water”, he naturally couldn’t be too impatient. Too much would instead not be too good.

He asked seemingly unintentionally, “You are about to go out?”

Fan Yuan calmly gave a nod, “Yes, this subject has heard that the rebellious subject, Pei Yu, was imprisoned because he was greatly disrespectful towards your Majesty. I thought of the day when I was indebted towards his “care”, so I was planning to visit him.”

The underlying meaning was: Laozi wants to follow the plot now, if you have any matters, say it you motherf*cker! If there’s nothing, get lost!

Yan Rui evidently didn’t hear his inner monologue, as he said full, “zhen hasn’t seen Pei Yu in a long while as well. How about I go with my beloved subject ba?”

Fan Yuan tried to stop him, “The imperial prison is dark and cold. Your Majesty’s dragon body is extremely precious, how could you go to a place like that. If you want to meet the rebel Pei Yu, let this subject send people to bring him into the palace, wouldn’t that be better? It will also save you the trouble.”

Yan Rui said uncaringly, “zhen has led troops to war for many years, what hardships have I not experienced? How could I be so fragile and delicate, my beloved subject doesn’t need to worry.”

Worried your ass ah! You even devised a plan to come with me! You black fox, you must have seen through the loophole!”

He communicated with Yan Rui through the system, “You’re coming with me to the imperial prison for what? It isn’t written like that in the script ah!

Yan Rui voice was calm, yet his attitude was extremely insistent, “I don’t want you two to interact alone.”

Upon hearing his words, Fan Yuan practically wanted to kneel, “We won’t interact alone, the prison guard will be there accompanying me. If you’re still worried, let Cui Hong come with me and it’ll be fine.”

Yan Rui frowned in confusion as he said, “Why are you so opposed towards me going, are you hiding something from me?”

Fan Yuan’s heart went cold. So close, he was nearly exposed. He said with an indignant tone, “What do I have to hide from you? You’re clearly the one that’s not abiding to the plot, yet you’re still complaining, can you talk a bit of sense?”

Yan Rui seriously stared at him for a long time, and then he finally said, “Since it’s like that, I’ll let Cui Hong accompany you.”

Fan Yuan had a look of helplessness plastered over his face, as his lazily replied, “Up to you.”

Only when Yan Rui saw him like this did he feel relieved. He curled his lips slightly and said, “zhen suddenly remembered that there are some government affairs that have yet to be settled, so I’ll let Cui Hong represent me and accompany my beloved subject to the imperial prison ba.”

Cui Hong, who was attending to them by the side, hurriedly cupped his hands together, “This subject obeys.”

Fan Yuan personally sent Yan Rui to the door, watching him get on his sedan and gradually disappear in the distance. Only then did Fan Yuan let out a sigh of relief in his heart. Just now, Yan Rui was sounding him out ba, and by the looks of it he should have bluffed through successfully.

He looked at Cui Hong. Though the two of them had worked together for so long, they had rarely interacted normally and could not be considered familiar with one another. However Fan Yuan knew that Cui Hong was not as simple and honest as he looked, he actually had quite a few schemes. Nevertheless, the amount of schemes he had were far from that of his master. They were fundamentally not on the same level, so Cui Hong was considered to be much easier to deal with.

Fan Yuan bowed his body towards Cui Hong, “I’ll be troubling Commander Cui then.”

Cui Hong hastily leaned aside to avoid the bow, quickly saying, “Xiao daren speaks too seriously, this is the duty of this lower official.”

Fan Yuan nodded and got on his carriage. Cui Hong rode on his mount and followed along from an appropriate distance that was not too far, but also not too close.

Fan Yuan closed his eyes to rest; what was to come was the most crucial step. Last night, with the help of the concealment talisman, he had already handed to Pei Yu’s former subordinates the map of the prison along with the schedule of the changing of the guards.

Following the position on the map to find Pei Yu was way too simple, and unlocking one lock should not be that hard. Now what he needed to do was to incite Pei Yu’s fighting spirit, and get him to pull himself together once again!

Yi yi? Why did he feel something was off!!

#He felt that he was a warm little angel#

#Why do I have to help the supporting male lead cure his psychological trauma (╯□╰)#

#The supporting gay male still has to moonlight as a psychologist ma, angry!#

Fan Yuan felt incredibly exhausted. He kneaded his temples, slowly asking, “Xiao Wu, help me check to see if there’s anyone following.”

“Ding, according to the system’s scan, there have been no anomalies discovered within a 100 metre radius.”

Only then was Fan Yuan relieved. He was actually very worried that he wasn’t able to trick that fox, Yan Rui. However from the looks of it, that man’s trust in him was quite high, allowing him to successfully cover things up. But this could only work once, the next time he was afraid it wouldn’t be so effective.

“Xiao Wu, I remember that the holistic assessment that comes every five hundred years is soon?”

“Ding, yes, Master had been promoted from the minor character group to the supporting male group and your level has also increased greatly. The difficulty of the examination will increase accordingly, please be prepared.”

Fan Yuan’s lips curved slightly at an angle as he laughed, “It’s better if the difficulty is higher. The best case would be a mission that allows me to go directly to an upper plane.”

“Ding, the upper plane will affect your mind and spiritual power, so any careless actions might damage Master’s spiritual body. Master’s current abilities and experience are insufficient, Xiao Wu does not recommend to accept missions that are too hard.”

“It’s okay, a challenge can also be an opportunity. Once the mission is successful, the energy rewarded would also be beyond measure. Moreover, the might of upper plane’s regulations is enough to scare all actors. Even if it’s Yan Rui, he probably wouldn’t dare to mess around. The best outcome is to let him be stuck there for 180 years to properly calm down, lest he recklessly cause trouble for me.”

“Ding, since Master has already decided so, Xiao Wu will wholeheartedly support Master.”

*******************

In the imperial prison, Fan Yuan and Cui Hong were accompanied by the jailers as they found Pei Yu’s prison cell. Along the way, the ghastly odour that emanated was comparable to that of Hell. Fan Yuan appropriately put on an expression of one that was in fear, while enduring to look calm and strong. After all, the original host was gentle and frail scholar. Although this scholar had many schemes, his guts were small.

Entering the prison cell, he dismissed the others who were present, leaving only Cui Hong and himself.

Pei Yu was currently in a difficult position, no longer having the same dignified and imposing manner of a crown prince. Pei Yu was leaning on the wall with lifeless eyes, and Fan Yuan held a smile as he moved close to him, gently asking, “Your former Highness Crown Prince, do you still recognise Advisor Xiao?”

The singular word, “Xiao”, successfully caused the colour of Pei Yu’s face to change. He immediately raised his head to look at Fan Yuan, and in the very next moment he scuttered to a corner to stay far away from Fan Yuan, as if he had pissed his pants. He used both of his hands to cover his eyes, crying out, “Great immortal please spare me, great immortal please spare me ah, I don’t dare to do it again………”

Fan Yuan raised the corner of his lips and walked close to Pei Yu, pinching his jaw with his hand. He grimly said, “Is the former Crown Prince trying to pretend to be ignorant by feigning madness? For the grudge last time, Advisor Xiao has yet to take revenge ne, you being mad like this, is truly causing my heart to feel unresigned ah.”

Fan Yuan saw that Pei Yu was frightened to the point that he was trembling, as if he was shivering uncontrollably upon being thrown into the cold. He continued speaking, “The previous time, if it were not for wangye sending a qinggong expert to save me in time, I’m afraid that Advisor Xiao would have been ruined in the former Crown Prince’s hands.”

Pei Yu froze, and gradually stammered out, “A qinggong expert………”

Fan Yuan saw that he still could react, so he hadn’t completely become an idiot. He persisted and said, “Yes ah, it was an expert who had always been in isolation. How was the feeling of taking a hit to your chest? I heard that anyone who is attacked by that person with their full power wouldn’t be able to maintain their mental ability, and hallucinating is also common.”

Pei Yu eyes gradually became clearer, as he muttered to himself in a low voice, “So it was like this………so it was actually like this ah………”

Fan Yuan let go of his jaw and took out a handkerchief to give his own hands a wipe, as if he had touched an intolerable, filthy thing. He casually threw the handkerchief on the floor and coldly said, “Although Advisor Xiao has evaded that catastrophe, I’m actually still unwilling to let this go. Your Highness should let Advisor Xiao vent my anger ba.”

After speaking he clapped his hands, and a few jailers walked in with torture tools.

“Serve the former Highness Crown Prince well.”

Fan Yuan left it at this sentence and invited Cui Hong to go outside the cell. Calmly and silently, he listened to the shrill screams that came from the cell from time to time. Occasionally, he would reveal an expression of glee.

Cui Hong lowered his gaze without speaking a word, as if he had not seen anything.

[Epilogue]

In the 23rd year of Great Xia Dynasty’s Mingzu Emperor, the Mingzu Emperor passed away. The Holy Emperor Qi succeeded the throne.

In the autumn of that very year, the disposed Crown Prince Pei Yu declared himself as the ruler of Jizhou, causing the entire country to be shocked.

The Minister of Justice, Xiao Yuan, volunteered to head to battle. Despite how much the Emperor tried to dissuade him, he had to allow it. He bestowed upon him the title of General Yuan to lead 100,000 soldiers and march against the rebel forces.

In the first year of the Holy Emperor, General Xiao was framed, passing away due to poison. He died at the age of 21, and the Emperor conferred upon him the posthumous title of “Duke Zhi”—a surname of royalty.

In the third year of the Holy Emperor, he changed the title of his dynasty to “Yuan” despite the court ministers’ dissuasion.

In the twelfth year of the Holy Emperor, the Emperor passed away at the age of 45.

The Holy Emperor had a life of outstanding achievements and contributions, but the only thing was that he had no descendants as he had private relations with Duke Zhi. In the very end, he was criticised by future generations.

The Author has Something to Say:

If there are any inaccuracies please spare me, science students are not good at writing historical pieces. Recently, my head has been hurting over all the troubleshooting QAQ The next chapter is an extra, oh yeah~ (づ ￣ 3￣ ) づ

And that’s pretty much a wrap for Arc 3! Personally, this arc was pretty nice to translate (mostly because I like imperial harem themes quite a lot LOL). There were quite a few ups and downs for this arc—I liked that there was more focus on Fan Yuan & Yan Rui’s relationship, but in turn there was less focus on the general “script” of this world (so less face-slapping of the FL unfortunately). Let me know what you guys thought about this arc in the comments

I’ll be uploading the extra for this arc this Sunday. Personally, I thought it was one of the much better chapters for the arc as it summed things up pretty well, so look forward to it~