TCPM 5

Chapter 5

Over the next few days, Xu Jianyou focused on reviewing historical materials regarding the Chenghui era of the New Zhou dynasty, and Wei Zai stayed right by her side reading along. Fortunately, Xu Jianyou lived off-campus in a rented place by herself, meaning there were no roommates around to catch sight of her bizarre, eccentric behavior.

As a young adult raised in the internet age of the modern era, Xu Jianyou habitually opened a search engine. After skimming through the encyclopedia pages, she clicked around and accidentally wandered into some rather unconventional corners of the web.

"Query: Is Wei Zai actually a lesbian?"... "What is a lesbian?" Wei Zai leaned forward, draping herself over Xu Jianyou’s desk to peer closely at the screen. It was quite remarkable—previously she couldn't touch anything at all, but ever since encountering Xu Jianyou, not only could she make physical contact with her, but she could also touch physical objects, though other people still remained entirely unable to see or feel her. This only made her more steadfast in her conviction that Xu Jianyou was none other than Xu Qingchu. With such a profound bond of karma, who else could it possibly be?

Xu Jianyou massaged her temples: "How should I explain this... Sharing a peach? Cutting the sleeve? Mirror-polishing? In short, it means you like women."

"Well, that much is true. Hey, don't close it yet, let me see!" Wei Zai had already learned how to navigate Xu Jianyou's actions; when the moving arrow jumped to the top right corner, she knew that meant closing the window.

Unable to win against her, Xu Jianyou had no choice but to let her look, while also taking on the task of helping her translate the simplified Chinese characters she wasn't used to reading.

"...Isn't this obvious? According to historical records of Zhou, Wei Zai never had a grand wedding, nor did she have any children. Her successor, Wei Zhibai, was a child born to her older brother Wei Jie during his prolonged period of house arrest; meaning she adopted her brother's child. She fought tooth and nail against her several brothers, and in the end, she still chose her brother's child to succeed the throne. Clearly, it's because she couldn't give birth to children. Either there was something wrong with her physical constitution, or she simply had no desire to get mixed up with men." Wei Zai read aloud as she scanned the page.

Burning with gossip, Xu Jianyou asked quietly: "So, did you keep your inner court empty purely because of Xu Qingchu?"

Reading her own gossip with great relish, Wei Zai replied: "Of course. I already had the person of my affections; how could I possibly go about flirting with others?"

"Uh... do emperors even have that kind of moral consistency?"

Wei Zai glared at her: "Do you look down on me?"

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare."

Wei Zai continued reading down the page: "Speaking of this, one cannot omit our Grand General Zou—that legendary 'The Emperor and the General Remove Their Battle Robes,' this is definitely the official pairing... Zou? Zou Yongjin? What on earth is an official pairing?"

"An official pairing, uh... meaning the primary consort, principal spouse, your absolute favorite..."

"What utter nonsense! Ah-Zou and I are completely open and above board! How can you people of later generations go about tarnishing someone's clean reputation?" Wei Zai frowned, reading further: "Where on earth does Old Zou compare to our alluring Sister Meng? Wei Zai was notoriously fond of wealth, standing as one of the rarest emperors in history with a deep obsession for commerce. Meng Xitong's trade caravans stretched from domestic lands to overseas, traversing Asia, Europe, and Africa. How much hard cash and gold bullion did she bring back—Wei Zai must have adored her to death... Ah, wait, wait, Meng Xitong? She has an official partner! The person managing her was an absolute tyrant; Meng Xitong would practically flee three miles away just to get away from me..."

Having just learned the vocabulary, Wei Zai put it right to use, then asked where Asia and Africa were. Dutifully, Xu Jianyou pulled up a world map for her, giving the ancient sovereign a profound shock regarding the sheer scale of the world.

Wei Zai read along, learning step by step, completely astounded. In the eyes of these later generations, her entire court seemed filled with people who were secretly her lovers—which was a gross exaggeration. The thread wasn't long, and by the time she scrolled to the very bottom, there wasn't a single mention of Xu Qingchu.

Examining some of the internet slang within the post, Xu Jianyou offered an explanation: "This post is too recent; the 'Monarch-Minister Faction' hasn't started flexing yet."

"Then find me one that talks about Xu Qingchu," Wei Zai issued her command.

Exhausted, Xu Jianyou never imagined that an emperor could be so thoroughly unserious and so fiercely addicted to reading her own gossip. She exited the page and searched the forum for Xu Qingchu. Hundreds of pages of posts popped up, with the very first one titled: [The Chenghui Monarch-Minister Group] Come cast your votes: Is it Wei-Xu or Xu-Wei? It was even pinned as a featured post. Thoroughly intrigued, Wei Zai insisted on clicking it in, leaving Xu Jianyou completely speechless. Scanning through the contents, the beginning consisted of verbal skirmishes over who was the top and who was the bottom, the middle descended into chaotic flying excerpts of official history versus wild unofficial lore, and toward the end, the entire aesthetic shifted dramatically—all sorts of fanfiction art and essays poured forth, with the Wei-top faction and Xu-top faction each displaying their divine prowess, pushing the boundaries step by step into unspeakable territory.

Both Xu Jianyou and Wei Zai fell silent. The air in the room took on an indescribably suggestive atmosphere. Xu Jianyou screamed internally: How did this even pass content censorship?! Unable to bear it any longer, she slammed the browser closed with a sharp clack and declared that today's session was officially over.

This time, Wei Zai offered no objection, uncharacteristically failing to utter a single word of commentary.

An awkward silence settled over the room, making Xu Jianyou feel as though she were sitting on pins and needles. Clearing her throat slightly, she changed the subject: "How come I feel like you don't seem like an emperor at all?"

Wei Zai glanced sideways at her: "Why is that?"

Pondering for a moment, Xu Jianyou fumbled to organize her phrasing: "It's just... you're very gentle, very approachable, very lively... I suppose I expected an emperor to carry more majesty and oppressive authority... Look, you don't even refer to yourself as 'Zhen' [the imperial 'We']..."

Seemingly reminded of something, Wei Zai gave a soft, light laugh, which she then reined in, retaining only a faint, gentle smile: "Because right now I am Wei Zai, not Xianzong."

"Aren't they the same thing?"

"Wei Zai was originally just a willful, headstrong little maiden. That was my exact disposition in my youth, except that in order to survive, I had no choice but to fight and contend, forcing myself to become ruthless, cold-blooded, and merciless. Xianzong was a qualified, exceptional emperor, but she was no longer Wei Zai."

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