[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-shao-song":3,"chapter-shao-song-shao-song-chapter-482":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Shao Song",{"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},1558648,2024,"Chapter 482: I Really Was an Emperor Once — The Sishui River Stops Rising","shao-song-chapter-482",482,"\u003Cp>1\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was once an emperor. You might not believe it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, I was absolutely certain. Later, my confidence wavered. Because everyone around me said I was sick.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I knew I wasn't sick, but when enough people said it, I came to believe that I really was sick, and seriously so.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It all stemmed from a dream I once had.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that dream, I clearly remembered accidentally losing my footing at a Daoist temple called Mingdao Temple and falling into its Nine-Dragon Well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before I fell, I was the Prince of Kang, the Emperor, fleeing south in panic with a host of ministers, troops, and consorts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A great river ahead, pursuers behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bianliang, I gave up, left behind me; Huaibei, I gave up, also left behind me; even Jiangbei, I could give up. As long as the Jin troops couldn't catch me, as long as I wouldn't have to \"hunt in the north\" like my father and elder brother.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Running was exhausting, but run and run, and after running long enough, you get used to it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the half of the realm I left behind, those Song subjects who lost their homes — ah, I wanted to bring them south with me, but their feet couldn't outrun the Jin iron cavalry after all. They could only pray for their own luck. Bringing them would be bringing a burden; bringing them would only slow my escape; bringing them, I might not escape either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That wouldn't do, so without a trace of reluctance, I traveled light, shedding all my baggage. I knew that as long as I fled Huaibei, crossed the great river, losing everything north of the river didn't matter — I could still find a temporary peace south of the river.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Half a realm was still a realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But alas, one misstep brought eternal regret. That damned Imperial Guard, that damned Chief Eunuch — when I needed them most, they weren't by my side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With my temper, I would have surely beheaded that Yang-someone-or-other. As for that Chief Eunuch, I forgot his name. After all, too much time had passed; some people, some things, were no longer as clear as yesterday.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I fled by day, and at the slightest sound at night, I fled immediately. I fled so hard, I fled in the darkness for so long, that the skill of fleeing was etched deep into my bones, becoming an instinctive reflex. I was about to reach Jiangnan, I was about to see the dawn—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damn it, I fell into a well. Fate played a joke on me, and it was no small joke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Actually, falling into a well wasn't scary; what was scary was having no one around when I fell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having no one around wasn't that critical either, as long as the well wasn't too deep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The well was shallow. But I felt like I was falling for a long time…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Darkness caught up with me before the Jin iron hooves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before dawn arrived, I fell again into boundless darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That darkness — damn, it was dark!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>2\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I only felt a splitting headache. Before I even opened my eyes, I shouted, \"Chief Eunuch…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But that raspy, fawning voice didn't answer me as it used to.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All I heard was a woman's startled cry: \"Son, you're finally awake, you scared your mother to death…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I forced my eyes open. My eyes had grown used to the darkness, but everything before me was so bright — too bright for me to adjust at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This must be an illusion, yes, an illusion. I rubbed my eyes, trying to drive away this damned illusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But my left hand was tightly gripped by someone else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My heart sank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, a drop of warm liquid fell on my face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I opened my eyes again, wanting to rebuke the audacious person who dared to grip my hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then I saw her — a middle-aged woman, gradually coming into focus from blurriness in my eyes. She looked at me with concern, her eyes full of tears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I was furious — there's always some villain trying to harm me!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was about to shout her away when I caught sight of her hairstyle, her clothes. No hairpins in her hair — likely a common woman. But what was with that strange outfit? At that moment, my mind went \"buzz\" and went blank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stared blankly at her, but my mind was churning: Who is this? Where is this? What does she want?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything around me was so unfamiliar, not just this oddly dressed woman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I swallowed the suspicion that was about to burst from my lips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though ten thousand fine Ferghana horses were galloping through my mind, *The Self-Cultivation of an Emperor* told me that at this moment, even if Mount Tai collapsed before my eyes, I must act as if it were a gentle breeze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The safest response now was to not respond, not refuse, not speak, and observe more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That common woman chattered on, her lips moving constantly. But the sound faded from my ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then I saw a woman in a white cap and white gown standing by my bedside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They exchanged words with each other; I clearly heard every word they said, but I sadly discovered I couldn't understand a single one…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But slowly, I came to understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was no longer the Song Dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And I was no longer that emperor who only knew how to flee.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>3\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A few days later, I was discharged from the hospital.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The handwriting on the discharge summary was wild and flowing, just like Zhang Xu's *Four Poems in Cursive Script* that I once collected. \"Roof-leak marks, hairpin folds.\" Having practiced calligraphy and painting since childhood, my own writing, though not as good as my father's, had its own style. Everyone who saw it praised it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The characters in *Four Poems in Cursive Script*, though as graceful as startled swans and swimming dragons, I could barely make out. But these so-called medical instructions — I couldn't decipher them no matter how hard I tried.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The female physician was explaining something to that common woman; I vaguely caught words like \"delusions\" and \"amnesia.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before leaving, that female physician glanced at me and said softly to the middle-aged woman, \"Don't forget to have your son take his medicine.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The common woman took me home. So I not only gained a mother, but also a father. They always hovered around me, looking after me with meticulous care. As for me, I always stared blankly at them with an expressionless face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This world astonished me, dazzled and bewildered me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I gradually sank into it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Day by day, time passed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I sat on the toilet myself and learned how to use the bathroom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I bathed myself, lathering my body with foam, then rinsing it all away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I brushed my own teeth, bared my teeth, and grinned wide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I watched television…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I played on my phone…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I forgot that I had once been an emperor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was so happy I forgot all about home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Until one day, I completely blended into this world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Facing that common woman, I called out: \"Mom…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She wept tears of joy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>4\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I always felt someone was following me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This made me very uncomfortable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, I was a bit nervous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes, as I walked down the street, I would suddenly turn around, wanting to see who was tailing me. But every time I found nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That gaze was like a snake. I felt like a thorn was stuck in my back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, I got used to that gaze, just as I got used to no longer being an emperor. Since I couldn't shake it off, I might as well pretend it didn't exist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I still wanted to say goodbye to the past. Everything had started from that well, so let everything from before—or everything in the dream—also end at that well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stepped into that classical garden.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the garden, ancient trees towered to the sky, blotting out the sun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were few visitors, and from time to time the chirping of birds reached my ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I walked toward the Nine-Dragon Well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was only a dozen meters away from that well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, an old Daoist in blue robes with a wooden hairpin emerged from behind some tree and blocked my way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That old Daoist had a weathered face and white hair. He did not speak, but merely turned slightly sideways, pointing his whisk at a notice board with white characters on a red background.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On it were eight characters: No admittance for men and dogs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, I could not stand before the Nine-Dragon Well to mourn my past. That old Daoist stuck to me like a shadow, polite yet stubborn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stepped out of the gate of that Daoist garden. After walking a hundred or so paces, I looked back. The old Daoist bowed slightly, as if seeing me off with courtesy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I never saw that old Daoist again. I never went to that Daoist garden again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In my heart there is a grave, burying that undead person.\u003C\u002Fp>",1521,"2026-06-06T07:46:32.508Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","0c994e441bc161538d10710011a47ae6108f638068ad45e4d9ef4be1501721d4","shao-song-chapter-483","shao-song-chapter-481",489,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fshao-song-cover.jpg"]