Dawn broke with light cyan seeping into the sky, seemingly signifying their unclear and murky future. Yang Shaolun held onto Lin Haihai and muttered, “I don’t wanna go to the morning court meeting!”

Lin Haihai looked out of the window at the brightening sky. “If you never attend a morning meeting again, won’t I be taking the blame for generations to come?”

“Why do people want to be the emperor?” Yang Shaolun asked lazily. “Power comes with a heavy price. It’s not a good bargain!”

“That’s because you’ve never been a peasant and don’t understand their helplessness!” No matter the era, no matter how wise and competent the ruler was, peasants were always riddled with trouble they couldn’t resolve. That was why they held onto the wishful belief that they would be completely free of worldly concerns if only they were the supreme power ruling over the world.

“Peasants have their problems, while emperors have their own pains.” Yang Shaolun had never had peace since the moment he took the throne more than ten years ago. Floods, storms, earthquakes, droughts, wars - There was not a single day when he didn’t dread whatever bad news he would...