“Zhang Qi, I feel like your expression looks a bit off. Didn’t you go to the royal banquet yesterday? Why don’t you look radiant, but instead like someone drained your energy? You didn’t actually encounter some little spirit, did you?”

Li Xue, just awake, looked at Zhang Qi on the light-brain with a worried expression.

Zhang Qi on the phone waved her hand.

“Last night was too exhausting. I’m going to sleep. When I wake up, I’ll tell you which things online are real.”

Naturally, Li Xue let Zhang Qi be. She then turned to her light-brain. It was already 7 a.m., and she had gone to bed early last night, which was rare for her.

Li Xue also believed that many others had the same schedule, not for health reasons, but to catch the royal gossip of the day.

Every year, the day after the royal banquet, the trending topics would be dominated by the banquet—either some young lady or young master arguing, or the Emperor announcing important news at the banquet.

Two years ago, the announcement was about poverty alleviation projects entering key construction phases, which allowed those with keen senses to gain the first wave of benefits.

Li Xue, being an ordinary person, had no funds to participate in these projects, so her idea was simple—she just wanted gossip.

After all, those young masters and ladies who argued at the royal banquet were normally inaccessible to her, but now they were personally producing entertainment and gossip for the public.

Li Xue had also heard from Zhang Qi that the entire capital city had been in subtle unrest lately. Although it didn’t affect ordinary people much, it suggested that the banquet could produce major gossip.

When Li Xue received this news before Zhang Qi attended the banquet, she was excited, thinking maybe Crown Prince Woden or the Empress himself would take some action at the banquet.

—After all, recently, Crown Prince Woden had acted wildly in front of everyone.

This incident had greatly affected the crown prince’s public support, even threatening the stability of his position.

Many people expected that Woden would do something at the royal banquet.

Moreover, Woden was very popular at the moment. His words made people laugh while also making them curious about his thought process.

—If it weren’t for portrait rights laws, Crown Prince Woden would probably have become a frequent meme in the online humor zones.

Even now, things were not much better. His words had been overused in those meme zones. Some self-media creators decided to recreate all of Woden’s plans from the live broadcast.

Including, but not limited to, packaging oranges as handmade luxury goods—drawing a continuous hand-painted waistline on the orange peel.

Printing luxury brand logos on grapes.

Adding story backgrounds to handmade products to help them become a new force in luxury goods.

The last one looked decent—if only the handmade product weren’t just an ear pick.

Although these plans failed, the video creators’ content was hugely successful.

—One even livestreamed a luxury brand flying car.

Yes, the brand of the hand-painted waistline.

It was both infuriating and impressive.

Li Xue was genuinely curious whether Crown Prince Woden would continue acting wildly or try to salvage everyone’s impression of him.

Excited, Li Xue quickly opened her light-brain.

She immediately saw a trending topic related to Crown Prince Woden:

#His Majesty Announces the Birth of Two New Heirs at the Banquet#

“Woc!”

Li Xue shouted in shock without restraint.

But when she clicked in, there weren’t many memes—just heaps of analysis that made her dizzy.

She only remembered the conclusion: the Emperor had two children because Crown Prince Woden was too unreliable, instead of letting him succeed, it was better to raise two children.

After vaguely imprinting this in her mind, she exited the trending topic and noticed its rank was rather low—only eighth. Shouldn’t this topic be at the top?

Thinking this, Li Xue looked up at the other trending topics.

“Woah woah woah woah!”

Li Xue became flustered seeing the other trending titles:

#The Four Ex-Boyfriends of the Wealthiest General Are the Same Person!#

#Who Would Argue at a Royal Banquet Over an Ex-Boyfriend?!#

#Begging Ye Wangxing to Publish a Book#

#The Five People’s Actions Over the Past Four Years#

#The Broadcaster Dragged Off the Bed to Cover for Someone Found#

Looking at these trending topics, Li Xue was first shocked, then clicked in to see more.

—Then her gaze never shifted again, and for the next six hours, she didn’t even think about Crown Prince Woden.

It wasn’t only Li Xue, other netizens who saw the trending topic behaved similarly.

First, they cursed, then randomly clicked on any trending title and began intensely refreshing posts.

Other trending topics gradually rose in popularity as well:

#How Did the Finance Minister’s Family Raise Their Kids?#

#Slashed That Palace Intrigue Drama!#

#His Majesty Announces the Birth of Two Crown Heirs at the Banquet.#

#If I Beg Those Four to Slash Once, Could I Hit?#

#Your Breakup, My Breakup Seems Different#

When they clicked in, all the real-time comments refreshed continuously.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

“What the heck, guys? I just slept, and the royal banquet already caused such a huge incident?”

“My God ahhhhh!”

The shock was mixed with confusion.

“Please, Ye Wangxing, publish a book. How did he hook those four? They even gave him time to argue! I’ve begged in front of Buddha for 500 years and never met anyone of the same level as those four—or even one-tenth of their caliber.”

“Waaahhhh, the General, the Wealthiest Person, the Deputy Director and even a prince! That prince is only 19, 19! So young! Ye Wangxing, you’re deceiving a kid!”

“Doesn’t anyone want to tell us how he did it? Waaaahhh!”

These comments were half-joking, half-serious about catching a golden son-in-law.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s just his looks.”

“Would getting plastic surgery help now?”

“Don’t listen to the nonsense above. If you get surgery now, you’d have to update your entire identity information, including facial data collected since childhood and your bone structure data. Don’t act impulsively, you could fail to hook the golden son-in-law and ruin your social information—that would be disastrous.”

“True, the previous advice was heartwarming, but it’s still a bit frustrating…”

“It’s okay. When you learn that this person lavishly gifted those four with millions in furs, over a pound of gold plus two gems worth over a million each, millions in cashmere blankets, and a custom fruit breed funded by the institute for them…”

“…you’ll feel resigned.”

“…Resigned. Can’t afford it, goodbye!”

This advice discouraged those trying to catch a golden son-in-law.

However, these frequent updates made the online situation increasingly complex, making gossip consumption almost painful.

Fortunately, marketing accounts finally stepped in—the most useful intervention from them so far. They collected all online information and created videos, saving the general public from searching for scattered news.

Some netizens gathered under these marketing accounts, waiting for the next videos and chatting.

“…This morning, I originally expected major gossip from yesterday’s royal banquet. I was ready to indulge in royal gossip, but when I opened my eyes today—wow, is there really such debauchery in the world?”

“Let me count: the General, the Prince, the Deputy Director, and even the Wealthiest person of the Empire—and that’s just the ex-boyfriends! I don’t dare imagine who he could find next.”

“This is an unsolved mystery. With his current situation, not only is it uncertain whether he could safely disconnect from these four and find a next partner, even his survival is questionable. Those four declared at the banquet that they wanted a satisfactory answer.”

“By the way, how did he hook these four? Their movements from years ago seemed so different. How did they meet that day?”

“You can check the trending topic about their four-person action trajectories. A big shot compiled all their movements, including revelations about ex-boyfriends from livestreams and social media posts by young masters and ladies in the Capital Star.”

Li Xue scrolled to this comment and immediately clicked the trending topic. The first post was the compiled real-time trajectory by that big shot.

The big shot also wrote a long explanation of their relationships, but it was too long, so Li Xue skipped to the comment section.

The comment section explained it clearly:

“In short, the eldest young master from the Finance Minister’s family grew up with his grandmother in the countryside. That lady had been a military consultant but retired to the countryside for health reasons.”

“At first, the eldest young master was pitiful, unaware of his identity. When he became an adult, his grandmother gave him a sum of money—allowance all Ye family heirs received. He didn’t know his identity and thought it was his grandmother’s coffin money, so he decided to make something of himself.”

“Four years ago, our Emperor launched the poverty alleviation project for the first time. The young master thought of going to a remote planet to create a cheap poverty alleviation platform—and there he met his first patron and ex-boyfriend, General Ortas.”

“The details aren’t clear, but the platform successfully opened the local logistics connections. Shortly after, they broke up.”

“…The reason was likely class differences. At that time, the young master didn’t know his true identity and didn’t want to hold General Ortas back, so he initiated the breakup. During that period, General Ortas was irritable and chasing enemy drones every day—probably because of this.”

“I didn’t expect it, General Ortas is actually quite pure-hearted.”

Li Xue realized this when she saw the segment. No wonder General Ortas had been so irritable during that period.

Meanwhile, the class representative in the comment section continued talking, and Li Xue finally understood the chronological order of these four.

The first was General Ortas, the second was Lord Semos, the third was Count Unobert, and the fourth was Prince Janus.

She did not know the reasons for their breakups, only that once one left, the next appeared within a few days.

But that wasn’t the focus. For now, all they needed to know was that regardless of the original breakup reasons, none of the four currently showed any intention of breaking up.

Then the timeline moved to the past six months. Whether it was the previous pool party incident, the live stream a few days ago, or even the dance floor incident at the banquet, everything became clear.

Li Xue enjoyed following the gossip but also regretted not being there in person to witness it.

After finishing the gossip, Li Xue finally regained her senses. She looked at the unbelievably authentic video in front of her and muttered quietly: “Could it be that some of this information is fake? After all, this is way too outrageous.”

At that moment, Zhang Qi finally woke up, and Li Xue quickly grabbed the data and sought help from her friend.

But Zhang Qi’s silent attitude explained everything.

Li Xue’s disbelief immediately turned into horror. She exclaimed: “—What exactly did Ye Wangxing feed these four?!”

It wasn’t a mind-control potion, but there were plenty of intimate interactions stored in the system space.

Ye Wangxing watched the trending topics online draw all attention away from Woden and breathed a sigh of relief. He leaned back against 19.

[Finally, all this attention shifted. Although some people still discussed Woden, they were mostly professional bloggers. The rest checked the outcome and left the trending topics.]

Ye Wangxing said tiredly.

Last night had been 19’s first time controlling the four, and while he had no issues with basic operation, real-time calculations—especially complex emotional computations—were a weak point for 19.

19’s personality model needed time to calculate emotions. Human emotions changed constantly in an instant. For ordinary people, they could just follow their feelings.

But for 19, he had to calculate what the emotions meant and then display them through his eyes or body movements.

The workload was immense. If Ye Wangxing acted carelessly, the people present might suspect something due to 19’s intermittent power shutdowns every few seconds.

Thus, Ye Wangxing had to fill in 19’s acting gaps based on the persona, ensuring no one noticed.

For Ye Wangxing, this was easy. He just needed to tell 19 when to show complex emotions in his eyes, and 19 would adjust the eye muscles accordingly.

However, it was exhausting. Ye Wangxing had been recovering all day but remained lazy, leaning on 19 without moving.

To outsiders, his behavior fit his persona—a hesitant person who didn’t want to hurt any ex-boyfriends, staying in his room, unsure how to face them.

Even Ye Bai didn’t disturb him. He didn’t go after Woden this time, instead staying home quietly, worried about his brother.

[The network discussions are now focusing on why the breakup happened. Should we fill this gap?]

19 reported calmly, then hugged the lazy Ye Wangxing on the sofa again.

—As if he never considered using a bigger sofa.

Ye Wangxing let himself be placed back on the sofa, his eyes wandering as he said: [This part doesn’t need detailed planning. We can handle it if needed.]

Ye Wangxing lazily said this. He wasn’t a full system like 19. After all this, he just wanted to sleep. If he hadn’t been fully rested, he might have closed his eyes while 19 reported.

19 didn’t question his host’s habits but prepared backup excuses to give if needed.

Ye Wangxing didn’t know how considerate 19 was. He yawned, becoming a bit more alert, and asked 19 about Ye Bai’s situation—whether he showed any signs of thinking about Woden.

[Not really. On the contrary, Ye Bai has some anxiety because of your concern. His care for his family is normal, and now that Woden is no longer the crown prince… Host, would Ye Bai avoid the destiny line?]

[Not necessarily. The destiny line is strong. He’s here because things seem bigger from my perspective. If Woden faced life-threatening danger, Ye Bai wouldn’t remain this rational.]

[But the situation is favorable now. As long as Woden and the empire’s responsibilities are separated, Ye Bai might return to normal.]

Ye Wangxing spoke hopefully, then confidently opened the task objectives.

—Then, he was stunned by the two side-task titles.

[Task Panel]
Name: [Ye Wangxing]
Gender: [Male]
Age: [24]
Current Role: [Ye Family Eldest Son]
Attention Value: [318,094]
Mini World Currency: [33,239,635]
Gold (transferable to real world): [25,100 g]
Main Quest: [Capture protagonist attention]
Progress: [66%]
Reward: [150,000 Attention Value]

Side Quest:
Quest 1: [Prevent the protagonis from not believing the male lead outburst at their funeral]
Progress: [0%]
Reward: [Attention 6000, 4 000 000 Mini World Currency, 3000g gold]
Quest 2: [Prevent the male lead from kneeling and crying at the lover’s grave due to guilt.]
Progress: [0%]
Reward: [Attention 5000, 4 000 000 Mini World Currency, 3000g gold]

Ye Wangxing did not rejoice at the gold or currency this time. He stared blankly.

He gazed at the two side-task titles for a long time and slowly said: [Ah?]

[…Wait, why is this suddenly about suicide? They haven’t broken up yet. What did Woden do to make him want to die? And why does it only happen after death?]

Ye Wangxing stared at the task panel in shock.

He felt the plot looked familiar, but he couldn’t remember where.

[Calculations show that in the original plot, the protagonist dies, and the male lead only changes after his lover dies. So the destiny line forces them toward the original plot.]

19 said calmly, but Ye Wangxing could hardly accept it. He knew Ye Bai was love-brained but hadn’t expected him to be so extreme.

He would actually consider dying for a man!

In the original story, it made sense. The protagonist’s family had been killed, so suicide was reasonable.

But now the Ye family was fine, so why would he think of dying?

Was love-brain hopeless, or was it the destiny line? Ye Wangxing wondered.

19 quietly comforted his desperate host.

[Host, perhaps it isn’t what you think.]

Ye Wangxing looked at 19 in despair: [19, based on Ye Bai’s behavior logic, calculate the probability he would commit suicide for a man.]

19 remained silent, and Ye Wangxing wailed again.

[I knew this task was difficult, but I didn’t expect it to be this hard! I even placed a control group next to Ye Bai, boosting his self-esteem… but…]

[He still wants to die for a man!]

Ye Wangxing scratched his head desperately. 19, seeing the alarmed host, had no better solution and patted him on the back to soothe him.

This method worked even on larger beings. Ye Wangxing calmed down, exhaled deeply, and began planning with 19.

Since the task was like this, previous plans couldn’t be used. Who could predict Ye Bai’s movements? He couldn’t just wait around Woden.

Even with the Emperor’s consent, Woden’s opinion existed—though not very important, public perception mattered.

Ye Wangxing muttered quietly: [I wonder what potion Woden fed Ye Bai, he hasn’t recovered yet. Maybe his tolerance is low.]

After complaining about Ye Bai, he started complaining about the other culprit: [I wonder if Woden is satisfied with the public attention. Most discussions ignore him now, which is good. At least few notice he lost the crown prince position.]

Ye Wangxing muttered, watching Woden frustrate 19 at the light screen in silence.

—From Woden’s reaction, he was clearly displeased.

[But with the male lead personality, he’s probably wondering why no one defends him.]

Ye Wangxing said casually and 19 just nodded.

The crown prince was indeed frustrated. No one spoke up for him, only long professional analyses.

But the matter needed resolution, especially Ye Bai’s situation. What if he lost hope and committed suicide?

Ye Wangxing thought about it and decided to get up.

“Ugh—”

As he stood up abruptly, stars seemed to flash before his eyes.

‘Last night I overworked my brain,’ Ye Wangxing thought. He just planned to close his eyes and rest a moment when he felt a large hand touch the back of his head.

[Host, I’ve already taken control of the home’s smart system. Don’t worry, the main system hasn’t detected it. Even if Ye Bai attempts self-harm, I will bring him back in time. What you need to do now is rest and refine your persona before seeking the protagonist’s lover.]

[19, you’re really thoughtful!]

Ye Wangxing listened to 19’s calm tone and happily sank back onto the sofa.

Indeed, the happiest thing in the world was discovering someone had already done your work when you were about to start it yourself.

‘I will be 19’s good friend forever!’

Ye Wangxing silently vowed—and then completely relaxed.

He only had time to “coincidentally meet” Ye Bai in the afternoon.

When they met, their conversation went smoothly. But as Ye Bai gradually lowered his guard, he suddenly asked a soul-searching question.

“—Brother, why did you break up with those four? I’ll help you analyze and see which one could stay together with you.”

Ye Bai asked with concern.

Hearing this, Ye Wangxing’s expression froze.

‘Damn it. I shouldn’t have been lazy earlier, just focusing on describing all those melodramatic scenes. I haven’t even perfected how the breakups happened in the script.’

[Host, I have a few reasons you can choose from.]

At that moment, 19’s voice rang in Ye Wangxing’s mind. He felt deeply moved and teary-eyed. Indeed, 19 was reliable in crucial moments!

But Ye Wangxing forgot one thing: 19 was a system—and the emotional simulation module wasn’t its strong suit.

So his reasons…

[—19, why are you giving me a reason about incompatibility in bed?!]

Ye Wangxing let out a sharp cry in his mind.

Ye Bai relaxed slightly seeing his brother arrive. At least his brother didn’t look completely crushed by the previous incident, just hiding in his room.

But seeing Ye Wangxing’s pale face, he still worried about his brother’s mental state.

Luckily, his brother could still converse normally, though he remained silent when the four were mentioned.

Ye Bai noticed that his brother had little opinion of the four. He would only compliment them but fall silent when asked to choose.

So Ye Bai decided to investigate the original breakup reasons to determine who should be eliminated. After all, the reasons reflected character.

Unexpectedly, this simple question made his brother stay silent for almost five minutes, his face flushing red before he spoke.

“—Kids shouldn’t ask about this!”

Seeing his brother’s expression, Ye Bai sensed he seemed to know everything and nothing at once. He wisely didn’t press further, chatting normally instead.

During the conversation, Ye Wangxing, perhaps to retaliate for the earlier question, asked about Ye Bai and Woden.

Though it seemed like revenge, Ye Wangxing didn’t ask anything difficult—he just asked what Ye Bai thought of Woden now.

“…I don’t know. I originally thought I loved him, but when the Empress announced two new heirs, my first thought was: ‘Great, Woden finally won’t succeed.’”

Ye Bai stared blankly at the teacup.

“But seeing Woden’s sad expression, I still felt sorry for him.”

He spoke carefully, word by word.

“I know he isn’t fit to be Emperor, but I still mourn that his ideals cannot be achieved. I also clearly know his ideals are unrealistic fantasies. He didn’t work for them—only endless empty talk.”

“I tried to help him recover. From last night until now, I kept messaging him, analyzing everything for him. But his response was to block me…”

Ye Bai sighed deeply.

“I know I don’t speak kindly, and I know this isn’t my fault, but…” He choked slightly, eyes glistening.

“I grew up with him. I remember how good he was to me, and I know he isn’t that child anymore, but—I still can’t let go…”

Ye Bai knew he shouldn’t think this way. After all, the main fault for Woden not becoming Emperor was Woden himself. But memories of the childhood Woden kept resurfacing.

Especially when that angel-faced child asked him if he had married him, Ye Bai didn’t know how to answer.

“Do you want Woden to be Emperor now?”

Lost in thought, Ye Bai heard his brother’s gentle voice.

He shook his head: “No. Woden isn’t fit for the position, he isn’t capable. I know that. I just… don’t know how to explain things to him as a child.”

Ye Bai smiled bitterly: “Moreover… Woden could easily be crushed by this. The probability is high. I can’t just sit by.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have idolized him so much back then. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have become so arrogant…”

His expression grew pained. He murmured softly: “…I wonder if I died, would he finally face his situation properly?”

Ye Bai didn’t know why he spoke this, but he increasingly felt this might work.

…After all, he was Woden’s fiancé. Even if not very important, one’s death would be heavy for Woden.

And…

Ye Bai felt utterly exhausted. All the pursuit and all the hurt he endured for Woden surged back like a tidal wave.

The emotions crept to his mouth and nose, as if to drown him.

He felt so tired, so helpless, wondering if death might be the best solution.

Before forming a plan, he felt someone grab his hand.

“Ye Bai, are you okay? Suicide? Did I just hear you want to kill yourself?”

Ye Wangxing saw Ye Mu Baittering about suicide and became serious.

Was this the power of the high-level task destiny line? It could influence Ye Bai’s thoughts in front of him. He couldn’t imagine if the line acted at night—would Ye Bai impulsively commit suicide?

Ye Wangxing pressed his lips together, now wary of the destiny line he had previously ignored.

Hearing Ye Wangxing, Ye Bai seemed to break free from some state. He shook his head vigorously and whispered: “Brother, I didn’t want to commit suicide. I probably just got my thoughts tangled and said that.”

Ye Wangxing didn’t relax his vigilance. Even though Ye Bai promised he wouldn’t commit suicide and allowed the house robot to monitor him, he remained cautious, glancing back repeatedly as he left.

Fortunately, in the following days, Ye Bai behaved, though online netizens continued screaming wildly.

Especially when they discovered that the necklace Ye Wangxing had worn was an empathy necklace, nearly causing the galactic main system to crash.

Just as Ye Wangxing fully relaxed, the Ye family study erupted with loud noises.

“—You were going to fake your death for Woden? Ye Bai, are you out of your mind?”

The young man beside him stared blankly, closing his eyes, unable to bear watching.

 

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