[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner":3,"chapter-i-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner-i-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner-chapter-27":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","I'm Not Crazy—This Is the Emperor's Banner",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2291367,4480,"Chapter 27: Going Home","i-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner-chapter-27",27,"\u003Cp>When Shen Siyuan had breakfast, he hailed a ride-share car.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Siyuan didn’t book the car the night before because there were plenty of ride-share options going back to his hometown.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was because many tourists traveled daily between Haibin and Yeshi, and Shen Siyuan’s home lay right between these two cities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After breakfast, Shen Siyuan went to the roadside, and soon a car slowly pulled up beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since someone was sitting in the front passenger seat, Shen Siyuan opened the back door and got in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“User 2817, heading to Qingshui Town?” the driver turned to ask.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, are we the only passengers? Can we leave now?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Siyuan didn’t like sitting in the back with strangers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Just the two of you. Let’s go,” the driver said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Shen Siyuan said nothing more and pulled out his phone to browse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the car wasn’t quiet, because the passenger in the front seat was talkative, chatting nonstop with the driver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are the fun spots in Haibin…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The cost of living in Haibin is too high…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are the good places in Yeshi…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Too bad I have a flight this afternoon—I’ll have to come again next time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From their conversation, Shen Siyuan learned the middle-aged man had come to Haibin to relax and was heading to Yeshi to catch his flight home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t fly directly out of Haibin because Haibin, being a tourist resort, had expensive direct flights; many tourists chose to fly to Yeshi instead and transfer there, saving a lot of money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Siyuan got in the car at seven and arrived at Qingshui Town before nine—it was still halfway to Yeshi, and the other passenger wouldn’t reach Yeshi until just after eleven, perfect for lunch there at noon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Actually, from Haibin you could take the coastal expressway, which would be faster, but the driver clearly wanted to pick up one more passenger, so he chose the national highway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Siyuan’s home wasn’t in Qingshui Town, but in a small village below it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After getting out of the car, Shen Siyuan didn’t rush home; instead, he went to a pharmacy and bought several boxes of blood-activating pain-relief patches. His mother was a teacher who suffered from severe shoulder periarthritis due to years of holding her arm up while writing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He also bought a pack of cigarettes—obviously for his father, Shen Jianjun. Though his father didn’t smoke much, he ran a chicken farm, and daily social obligations consumed quite a bit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Speaking of Shen Jianjun, he was a capable man—he’d run a restaurant, operated a sand quarry, raised fish, and kept ducks, and now he ran a chicken farm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Shen Siyuan worked as a livestock handler in Haibin, his family’s living conditions were actually quite good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s why relatives and acquaintances were eager to set him up with dates—mainly because his family was well-off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After buying the items, Shen Siyuan hopped on a three-wheeled rickshaw at the end of the street.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The three-wheeler traveled through villages and alleys, transporting townspeople to surrounding hamlets—essentially a private taxi, but it charged by passenger, not distance: children rode free, adults paid five yuan each.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bouncing and jolting along, it took about twenty minutes to reach the entrance of Shen Siyuan’s village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Siyuan’s village was called Linjiapo. It was small, with only about two hundred households, but most of the current residents were elderly or children—young people had all left to work in the cities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Siyuan carried his bags to his front gate and found the courtyard door wide open; his mother, Huang Huijuan, was drying shrimp skins in the yard—these were for making shrimp paste.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Huijuan was fifty-one, wearing a blue floral V-neck dress and had curled her hair. Her skin was very fair, making her look young; clearly, she’d been a beauty in her youth. Now slightly plump, she carried an air of elegance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mom~”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Siyuan called out to her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Huijuan looked up, saw Shen Siyuan, and beamed with delight, hurrying over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You came back, and you bought more stuff? Did you eat breakfast?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though they bickered over the phone, when they met face-to-face, it was motherly affection and filial piety—though this warmth lasted no longer than the first meeting, not even a full day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I ate. I bought you a few boxes of pain-relief patches—you said your arm hurt last time. Has it improved?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s been fine for ages. If I waited for your ointment, I’d be dead from pain,” Huang Huijuan grumbled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But she reached out and took the bag from his hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, she froze, staring at Shen Siyuan with surprise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s wrong?” Shen Siyuan asked, puzzled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You seem… different,” Huang Huijuan said suspiciously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She reached out to touch his face, but he recoiled with clear disgust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your hands smell like fish. Don’t touch me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Huang Huijuan slapped his shoulder twice, annoyed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then she leaned close to his face, studying him closely: “Did you get those colored contact lenses?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You even know about colored contacts?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s so surprising? I’m not some ancient relic. By the way, I haven’t even scolded you yet—why don’t you like my WeChat posts or follow me on TikTok?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As she spoke, she reached to tap his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Siyuan quickly blocked her, annoyed: “Can you stop posting all that stuff?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What do you mean, ‘all that stuff’?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Things like ‘If you have no kids, you won’t be able to support yourself in old age’; ‘Harsh truths that make your blood run cold’; ‘Eat pickled vegetables daily to live ten more years’; ‘Truths TV stations won’t report’…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’d believe that nonsense before you’d believe your own son is Qin Shi Huang.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Say that to your father—if you’ve got the guts.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Huijuan rolled her eyes, then grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s there to be afraid of saying?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you know who Qin Shi Huang’s mother was?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zhao Ji—who doesn’t know that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zhao Ji didn’t have a good reputation…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uh…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Siyuan’s home was large. Though in the countryside, it was built luxuriously, no worse than a standalone villa in the city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two stories, six rooms, two living halls, one kitchen, two bathrooms—very elegant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Entering the foyer, a huge floor-to-ceiling window faced you, letting in light from north and south, giving an expansive view.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Where’s Dad?” Shen Siyuan asked, slipping on slippers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He’s at the chicken farm. He should be back soon.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Huijuan set down the bags and went to the kitchen to wash her hands—after handling the shrimp skins, they smelled awful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How did you get back?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How else? Rode a ride-share.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Riding around isn’t sustainable. Get your driver’s license—we’ll pool money with your dad and buy you a car.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Shen Siyuan looked up at the luxurious house and thought: She still treats me like a kid, always claiming the family is poor and has no money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Nah, ride-sharing’s fine.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they spoke, the sound of a motorcycle came from outside. Shen Siyuan walked to the door and saw a portly middle-aged man riding in on a motorcycle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man was Shen Siyuan’s father, Shen Jianjun.\u003C\u002Fp>",1190,"2026-06-20T03:53:08.657Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","ed9337b3a9c60e45c87b6006af294b26db67bb2d6fe828c525f0f7c54e3a07dd","i-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner-chapter-28","i-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner-chapter-26",623,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner-cover.jpg"]