From Shadow Guard to Empress

The night was getting dark.

Under the dim candlelight in the room, You Shu was seated in front of the desk, dressed in black, holding a charcoal pen and writing vigorously. Through the large flame under the lamp, one could vaguely see the solemn expression on his face, as if he was doing something very important.

‘Sunny, X day of X year and X month’

‘Today’s task training is 100% complete again, Master Yingshou1 was very satisfied, and he even said that I will definitely achieve great things in the future, and set me as an example for everyone. Although I acted modestly, but to be honest, I think what he said was right. ‘

‘It would be even better if Master Yingshou could give some practical benefits, such as doubling the salary. ‘

The young man under the lamp stopped after writing this sentence and read the content. Then he picked up the charcoal pen and added another sentence.

‘Also, I seem to be a little more handsome today than yesterday. ‘

After finishing writing, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, and got up and stretched. He then squatted down, pulled out an iron box from beneath the bed and carefully placed the booklet in it. Several other identical booklets could vaguely be seen inside the box, all having different numbers.

After relocking the box and putting it back under the bed, he climbed onto the bed and waved his hand to extinguish the candle. He closed his eyes and meditated for a while, and then went to sleep, with a good work and rest habit.

A night without dreams.

Early the next day, just after dawn, You Shu had already gotten up and started moving around. He quickly put on the same clothes as yesterday, opened the door and walked out of the small room. Standing outside the door, he took a long breath.

It was late autumn and the morning air was cool and smelled of dew. He felt as if his lungs were full of water vapor, and his whole body became refreshed.

Although there are ten thousand bad things in ancient times, the air quality is indeed excellent.

A man wearing the same style of black clothes just happened to come out of the next room. He saw him as soon as he looked up, and greeted him familiarly: “Ying San2? You got up so early today?”

He turned his head, saw the person behind him, and nodded in response, all while his face remained expressionless.

Ying Si3stretched his waist and walked over, yawning and muttering: “I heard that today’s training will be doubled, I’m too unlucky.”

You Shu glanced at him, and said lightly: “Master Yingshou caught you being lazy yesterday so naturally you have to do double.”

“Can’t you say something nice? Who doesn’t know that Master Yingshou loves you…” Ying Si complained half-truthfully, and poked You Shu’s waist, whispering, “If you ask me, your waist is too thin.”

You Shu coldly slapped his hand away: “Don’t casually touch a man’s waist.”

Ying Si rolled his eyes, “Keep pretending to be serious!”

During their conversation, the doors of the other rooms were opened one after another, and the brothers all got up and walked out. After greeting each other, they started their own training, and hardly talked to each other. After all, laziness is punished.

You Shu ranks third in strength in the Shadow Guard Camp, so his codename is “Ying San”, and the others are also codenamed according to their strength rankings, and they don’t know each other’s real names. After the training, they went to the mess hall to eat together. Everyone was busy, and no one had time to waste.

The time that You Shu looks forward to most every day is mealtime, because the chef in the mess hall of the Shadow Guard Camp is an excellent cook. Not to mention the delicious taste, the various kinds of food are always cooked in different ways. The main portion is very large and she never shakes her hands like the aunt who cooks at school. For this group of people who have just come out of puberty and have a huge appetite, this attitude is very praiseworthy.

The chef in the cafeteria may have raised pigs in the past4, so there are big chicken legs for breakfast today, two for each person. Adding four white flour steamed buns, two bowls of porridge, three side dishes, one egg and one cake, You Shu glanced at his tray and was very satisfied.

Today is his day on duty, so he has to finish his breakfast in five minutes. After nodding to the other brothers, he puts back the plate which is cleaner than his face, and sets off to report to the master. His partner today is Ying Wu5.

The two of them moved quickly in the huge palace, tiptoeing and passing without a trace. They had to complete the handover before the prince got up. Ying Er6 and Ying Ba7 have been guarding outside the house all night, and they can only go back to catch up on sleep after You Shu and Ying Wu arrive at their posts smoothly.

Before leaving, Ying Er patted You Shu’s head, and reminded him in a warm voice: “The Prince is in a bad mood this morning, please be careful not to make mistakes.”

You Shu moved his head uncomfortably: “Understood.”

“Don’t touch my head.”

There seemed to be a faint smile in Ying Er’s eyes, then he turned around and disappeared into the yard with a vertical leap.

You Shu squatted under the window and waited patiently. He checked the time and counted silently in his heart.

‘Three-two-one’

In the next second, the door was opened, and a man walked out of the room.

You Shu is a person who understands the rules. As a humble shadow guard, he must never raise his head and look directly at his master, without his permission, but he knows what that person looks like without raising his head.

Ling Wang8Xiao Weixin wore a crescent-white robe today with his long and soft black hair casually scattered behind him. He did not wear a crown9like other adult men, which made him look more fragile. The robe was covered with a layer of gauze and a jade pendant was hung on the waist. His figure is tall and slender and his elegant and graceful demeanor perfectly portrays the appearance of an outstanding and noble young man10.

His Highness Ling Wang truly deserves the title of the most beautiful man in the capital. He has a beautiful and handsome face, clear and picturesque eyebrows, neither feminine like a woman, nor masculine like an ordinary man, so no matter whether a man or a woman sees him, they will be momentarily entranced. Had it not been for his lingering illness, the people who recommended themselves as pillows in the backyard of the palace would have been enough to break through the city walls.

As Ying Er said, His Royal Highness Ling Wang is really in a bad mood today. He frowned when he opened the door and no one was pleasing to his eyes. Even the usual bodyguards Qi Han and Wang Chen didn’t dare to say a word, for fear of provoking him.

“I heard that my imperial brother went crazy again last night?” Xiao Weixin stood in front of the door with an unclear expression, and finally said this sentence after a long time. The head maid Hua Chun, who was following behind him, gently placed a cloak on him, but it was impatiently thrown aside by him and, following the wind, it landed on the head of You Shu who was squatting under the window.

You Shu: “…”

His obsessive-compulsive disorder flared up, and he really wanted to tear the cloak off his head.

But he didn’t dare, for fear of having his head torn off.

Qi Han lowered his head and spoke cautiously: “Last night…our people…missed.”

Xiao Weixin’s eyes were dark, and he opened his lips and cursed: “Useless trash.”

“Is there any evidence left?”

Qi Han shook his head: “No, he committed suicide before getting caught, and did not leave any evidence.”

Only then did Xiao Weixin’s face look a little better.

However, You Shu, who was squatting in the corner and listening to the whole conversation, was not in a relaxed mood, because the person who carried out the assassination mission last night was also a shadow guard. Although they are members of separate teams and usually don’t perform tasks together, but, in the past, they had all received training together from childhood. They all had a friendship with each other to some extent, and it was not easy to see any of them die.

For a group of shadow guards like them who were trained by their masters to kill and work hard, their lives were not their own from the first day they came in. For example, each of them has a small medicine sac in the back tooth socket. In times of crisis, they will bite through the medicine sac and release the poison inside. In a few seconds, the seven orifices will bleed to death. Their philosophy is that they would rather die than betray their master and the master’s safety is more important than anything else.

This is what Master Yingshou personally told them on the first day they came in, and let them keep it in their hearts forever.

Just like the brother who died last night.

At first, You Shu couldn’t accept this kind of life as modern education had taught him that all beings are equal and all life is precious. But after living in these cruel times for so long and seeing innumerous killings and deaths, he gradually became silent. After all, he does not have the ability to go against the conventions of this age. Ling Wang could easily have him killed with just a wave of his hands.

It was fine to live one day at a time. Besides, it was originally a life that was gained unwittingly.

Not to mention that the chances of survival will always be higher if one follows the protagonist.

You Shu had never even dreamed that there would be a day when he would transmigrate into a Shuangwen11 novel, and the protagonist, Ling Wang Xiao Weixin, would be right in front of him.

The plot of the novel is not complicated. It describes the power struggle of the Great Xia Dynasty. The current emperor, Xiao Weishen, is a suspicious, arrogant, vain and cruel man. The process of ascending to power was very despicable, and he became even more unscrupulous after becoming the emperor. He used the power and influence of his grandfather’s family to stir up a bloody storm in the court and seized the opportunity to kill several important officials who opposed him, along with any brothers who might pose a threat to his throne.

In the face of such a crisis, Xiao Weixin chose to forbear and surrendered, claiming to be sick and pretending to be useless. He was unwilling to go out and stayed in his mansion all day, wanting to protect himself. Even so, Xiao Weishen didn’t let him off, and repeatedly tried to test if he was actually sick. Every now and then, he would send an imperial physician to explore the truth, under the pretense of worrying about his illness, and also forced him to drink the medicinal soup sent by the palace every day.

Xiao Weixin endured the humiliation and accepted all of his arrangements. Thus he was able to live for so many years. He was determined to take revenge, and he has been gathering his own power in private. Over the years, he has gradually won the secret support of several people. He also met two noble young ladies who loved him deeply and, step by step, helped him ascend to the throne.

You Shu greatly admired Xiao Weixin when he was reading. At the beginning, the cards in his hand were too bad. His Mother Consort had an ordinary background and her family held little power. He himself was not favored by his Imperial Father and was often bullied by the other princes in the palace. He had never had an easy day and was a helpless and pitiful little boy. But it was such a character that seemed to be bullied by everyone, who went against the tide and relied on his unparalleled endurance to make a comeback, and finally emerged victorious from the battle.

There is no man who would not wish to live such a life. A life of talking and laughing freely, with power in his hands and beauties in his arms, and a group of friends and confidantes surrounding him. You Shu, as an ordinary college student, was no exception. He also wishes and hopes that he can also achieve something great like Xiao Weixin. But he is not greedy and he just hopes for a girl who would love him wholeheartedly.

Even though over ten years have passed since he transmigrated, he still hasn’t attracted the protagonist’s attention. However, it doesn’t matter. Opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared. You Shu felt that as long as he worked hard enough and was good enough, the protagonist would notice him one day.

Then, he can be appreciated by the protagonist, successfully hug the golden thighs and walk to the pinnacle of life. Maybe he would be recorded in the annals of history and his name would remain in history. Life would be simply too perfect.

At this moment, Hua Chun, the maid behind Xiao Weixin, reminded in a low voice: “My lord, it’s very cold in late autumn, please wear your cloak.”

Xiao Weixin turned his head impatiently, “Bring it.”

Hua Chun looked around, and finally spotted the familiar silver fox fur cloak in the corner.

Xiao Weixin also saw it.

You Shu’s heart skipped a beat. Thinking of the protagonist’s severe cleanliness, he felt something was wrong.

“Still not coming here?” Xiao Weixin frowned.

You Shu carefully removed the cloak from his head, walked up to him respectfully, bent down and handed it over.

Xiao Weixin didn’t take it. Instead, Hua Chun reached out to take it, but didn’t put it back on him again. It seems that the silver fox cloak will not be used again.

That’s made of the fur of the Arctic silver fox! It’s also embroidered with gold and silver threads, and is worth a thousand taels of gold!!!

Wasteful spendthrift……

You Shu heart nearly bled from the pain.

1

It means Head Shadow Guard

2

Shadow Three

3

Shadow Four

4

Basically that the chef may have affection for pigs and chose to cook chicken instead.

5

Shadow Five

6

Shadow Two

7

Shadow Eight[

8

His title is Ling Wang which basically translates to King Ling. His actual name is Xiao Weixin.

9

A hair crown looks something like this.

10

Zhi Lan Yu Shu (芝兰玉树)=noble son, promising children

11

7A feel-good novel. Basically those novels where the protagonists succeed in everything miraculously. The kind of online novels with protagonists, often born into low-class families, who climb up the social ladder or suddenly become endowed with magical power either in kung fu fighting or other aspects, either helped by others or out of sheer luck, then live happily ever after. Some netizens identify with the protagonists and feel good after reading these novels thus the name.