4.50

This was Jia Hyson's fourth world and he had encountered these system shards in all of them. 

To be honest he felt that maybe he might have met a male lead character, with him being the main character of a quick transmigration story. After all, in the first world the shards were in the male lead and the brother of the female lead which were typical characters that a male lead in a quick transmigration story would be in.

However, generally in those stories, the male lead will always be someone OP or super rich or someone who will quickly become OP and super rich. It's to the point where any fans of the QT genre can immediately pinpoint the male lead- the villain boss, the male lead's more powerful uncle, the super strong interstellar military general, the bullied prince, the poor kid who is actually the illegitimate child of the big x family…. 

Jia Hyson thinks of rooster Da Gong and now Chef Wen*, and falls into silence.

*Reminder: he's not aware of Pan Shuchun being the yin yang shard due to her contacts. 

Even though he more or less suspected this, the people who hold the shards in their body are really fucking random ah. 

Jia Hyson deeply reflected on himself and his presumptions about this whole matter. After all he says he will treat each shard like a new individual person, but as a fan of QT how could he have not held a little expectation, especially when so far all of the shards managed to move him emotionally to various extents? 

It's like saying you don't believe in lucky charms. But during the next few months after getting some good luck charm at a temple you become extremely lucky- winning the lottery, getting full marks by guessing on a multiple choice test, getting all the SSR characters in your stupid gacha game that you usually would never think to get unless you paid real money for… then it's impossible for your mind to not waver in your disbelief over this sort of superstition after constant affirmations otherwise. 

This was Jia Hyson's situation. 

After all he could say Drake from the first world captured his heart so easily because of his own vulnerability. After all, he had experienced death and a second chance at life. These sort of things couldn't be taken lightly to someone's subconscious. 

Once you experience a second chance you will instinctively want to pursue things you didn't get in your first life. Jia Hyson had experienced a good education, experienced fame, been rich, had multiple sex partners and many adventures as well as experienced the rush of killing, of indulgence and his mother had provided him family love. Romantic love was probably not the only thing he missed out on in his original life but it could be said to be the biggest thing. Therefore his mindset was most likely much more tolerant and accepting towards romantic partners than before. 

Jia Hyson was very self aware and liked to be introspective so this wasn't a new thought to him. After all, it was strange he was so quick to fall in love despite being so fickle and scum originally. By the third world as Prince Farrell he still fell for Sefu but the attitude he had was very different from the first world. It might be that Sefu was too easy to bully, it might be the indulgence of his rich character background or it could be that the freshness of romance had faded somewhat. 

But then again that didn't really explain the reason why his fickle heart seems to be more or less inclined towards the people with these shards. Of course he could just be overthinking it. After all in the grand scheme of things, who knew if this pattern would be maintained? The sample size was indeed too small to make a fuss over right now. There's no need to stress or try change his current mentality for now. 

Forget it. He's not protagonist material anyway. Just do his job and fall in love at whatever pace his heart feels like it. 

Thinking that he gives up thinking up things that were out of his abilities to control and looks at the large bowl of braised rooster.

…thinking about the two different shards and their current identities, Jia Hyson felt like the dish was a little malicious ha ha. 

Malicious or not, it was undeniably delicious. Even though Jia Hyson hadn't tasted it, the smell alone was enough to know that there were people out there that would cut their own arm off for a taste. And not like poor, starved people that were already desperate for food. Like, decently well off middle upper class people. 

Not to mention the potent amount of spiritual energy in that dish. It was impossible to pass up really.

To manage to keep so much energy in the food, it meant that the ingredients were not normal ingredients and the chef was not a normal chef. It's most likely in the future, Tang Muxin will temporarily become an apprentice for Chef Wu and take in his skills… if there's no sudden appearance of an equally skilled younger and more handsome chef that suddenly comes by of course. 

With the dish now so close to his proximity, Jia Hyson suddenly felt so hungry he wanted to bite at his claws in anticipation. Still, he had a strong affection for Da Gong. Even though the rooster turned a blind eye when the group ate chicken, nobody had eaten an actual rooster in front of him. It was hard not to be embarrassed and guilty.

Da Gong noticed Jia Hyson was sneaking looks at him nervously and instantly felt flattered. 

It turns out his little worm wanted to share the meal with him! How sweet!

Seeing that his worm was too shy to ask him to come over, Da Gong didn't want to embarrass Jin Bao in front of so many people and took it open himself to jump up and sit on the arm of the emperor's throne, balancing himself surprisingly well given his bulk. The emperor's mouth twitched violently as he tried to suppress his shout of surprise, as one usually does when a giant bird suddenly jumps at you. 

Da Gong tilts his head, twitching his head as most birds do when they face something new. However Da Gong was a bold and courageous chicken, and didn't hesitate before bowing down and tearing off a piece of the braised meat with his beak and swallowing it. 

Seeing that the food was good and didn't seem poisonous, he immediately tore another much larger piece and stared at Jia Hyson expectantly, fluttering his wings in the usual shy manner he does when he wants to feed his little worm mouth to mouth.

Emperor: …

Princes: …

Ministers and officials: …

Tang Muxin: …

Jia Hyson: ...I'm kind of into it.

Seeing that Da Gong was unfazed, Jia Hyson leaned over the emperor's lap and reached up to nibble the braised rooster meat. At first taste, his golden eyes lit up and glowed like it was using [Karmic Insight].

So good!

Rooster meat isn't common mainly because roosters are more aggressive and it's hard to raise in groups. Plus they had more uses alive then dead. However the meat itself wasn't so different from hens, while it was a bit tougher, it also had a bit more flavor. Generally though most laymen wouldn't be able to tell the difference. 

However the more spiritual energy an ingredient had and retained during the cooking process, the more delicious they were. The meat was not only not tough, but extremely tender and juicy, there was thin veins of fat through the meat but not in large chunks that would make it overwhelmingly oily. And even though it was heavily seasoned, the meat still somehow shone through, refusing to be overpowered by the mouthwatering blend of herbs and spices. 

Even Da Gong could not deny the deliciousness of the food and was unable to help starting to nibble the rooster meat still in his mouth. 

Unlike humans, there were many animals that engaged in the act of cannibalism. It wasn't that they didn't have any emotions toward their own kind, it was just that those emotions weren't exactly necessary. Once an animal was dead, regardless of whether you were the same species or not, you just became meat. Maybe if the dead individual was a close family member there would be a reluctance or refusal to eat but the animal world was really cruel. 

Even soft, and small hamsters are capable of eating their still living children if their diet wasn't sufficient. Flocks of domestic chickens have also been known to engage in cannibalism under stressful conditions as well. And during these times, such stressful conditions weren't unusual. 

Da Gong was not a wild chicken but he also couldn't be considered very domesticated either given his tyranny, he had higher intelligence but at the heart of it he was still an animal who didn't put a large amount of weight on morals, much less all those complex human ones that are full of exceptions and double standards. After all, it's not like humans have never engaged in cannibalism or other acts that desecrate their fellow species' bodies. 

Seeing that Da Gong really didn't care, Jia Hyson also was too lazy to care either and the two shared a very lovey dovey moment sharing pieces of braised rooster mouth to mouth while on the most powerful man in china's lap. 

Emperor: I can smell the delicious smell of braised chicken but why do I seem to taste dog food?

It was definitely a scene nobody had seen before.

In the future there will be a painting of this moment. It will be put in a museum and many historians and artists will try interpret the metaphorical meaning behind having a large rooster and a small dragon feed braised meat to each other, mouth to mouth while they are placed on the opposite arms of the throne where a regal emperor sits between them. 

Did the rooster represent the new age, as it always calls out and signal to us the rising of the sun and a new day? And the dragon symbolise the good fortune and prosperity that had come to the dynasty during this time period? Or maybe it meant the blurring lines between the common people (rooster) and the aristocrats (dragon) which the emperor had cooly watched over, impartial and unfathomable? Or could this be one big metaphor about the food shortage and droughts during the time that had been eventually overturned into the most prosperous period thanks to introducing new methods of agricultural farming methods and some very timely luck?

Nobody knew. They only knew that the symbols of the rooster and the golden dragon had become popularised during the middle of this dynasty as well as a large cultural and agricultural boom that supported China well for a long time afterwards.

…

Afterwards the happy emperor announced he was throwing a large banquet to celebrate the coming of the little dragon and invited Tang Muxin and the others to stay at the palace as guests. 

They all politely declined but promised to stay a few days before the banquet starts. After all, they were determined to run their business. If they just lazed around and succumbed to the luxury of the palace, then there was no accomplishment in their hearts. 

Most importantly, if the readers saw this they would absolutely riot. Who on earth would be happy reading x amount of chapters about building and preparing a store before the characters at the last minute throw it to some random servants to deal with while they go live it up in the palace arc? That was why the salted fish Jia Hyson suddenly became very energetic and insisted everyone should continue be diligent and hardworking humans. 

Tang Muxin who watches the little dragon quote inspirational words while laying on Da Gong's back lazily: '…are you not also a human?'

Jia Hyson: ConfusedDogeface.jpeg 'Eh? Me? I'm just a cutie? Do cuties need to work?'

Tang Muxin: 'Okay. You really aren't human* heh.' 

*Insult. Eg you're not a human you're just a beast. Or you don't have the morals and decency of humans etc. 

Jia Hyson and the group left the palace like they had entered- in style. This time the emperor wished to make it clear to the entire country who was supporting them and allowed the group to use the imperial carriage that only royalty was allowed to use. Nobody objected. Some even thought it was too little.

The princes especially wanted to do something. Unfortunately their emperor father was too quick and had already arranged everything and practically princess carried the little dragon into the carriage in front of everyone. Even though his body had quickly gotten worn out due to his illness and age, the emperor adamantly refused to stop holding the dragon and ended up being carried on a simple ornate palanquin while hugging a faintly embarrassed Jia Hyson while his even more embarrassed sons followed behind him with complicated expressions. 

Emperor father… your dignity as the dragon emperor… ah, ah they really couldn't look.

Only the seventh prince did not seem to have any sense of shame and stared longingly and enviously at his emperor father as he trotted behind. "Aiyah, emperor father is so stingy, he should let us all have the honour of touching the dragon too." He mutters.

The crown prince inwardly agreed but sneered anyway, "You dare argue against the decisions of emperor father so openly? Are you a fool?"

The seventh prince gave the crown prince a large blinding smile, "First brother, it's really no good to be so negative. Aren't you afraid you will lose your hair from all that stress? After all your maternal family do have a history… but never fear, if you are worried about it feel free to visit my dragon village, our temple has a lot of good items, maybe there's something there to cure your balding problem. Of course even if you are my brother I can't desecrate my beliefs for nepotism so you will of course have to undergo our baptism which-"

Crown Prince: '…' He remembered why he didn't like to engage with this guy no matter what.

Seeing that the seventh prince was going to start his spiel about his religion and how it would be good to visit his stupid temple, the crown prince on reflex covered his ears and sidestepped so he was a few feet away from his seventh brother. It couldn't be helped, at this point nobody could really stand the seventh prince's cult talk. Not only was it insanely annoying and long winded, but the seventh prince was very strong and physically fit and was willing to chase you down so you could continue to listen to him. 

Unless you made it abundantly clear, there was no way to stop the man.

However the moment he did this, the crown prince immediately realised his mistake.

Fuck! Right! Dragons were real! 

Aghhhhhhhh!

The other princes were not as brash and short sighted, and seeing that the dragon crazy seventh prince was about to start one of his speeches, they all swallowed their reluctance and slid closer to the man with flattering smiles.

Scholarly second prince: "Seventh brother, I heard your temple has much beautiful art, I feel like it's been such an awful oversight on my part to ignore it. May I amend my mistakes and ask to visit sometime in the future?"

Musically inclined sixth prince: "I agree, didn't you recently bring in singers and storytellers to further expand your teachings? Why don't I come down and help while I'm there?"

Playboy fifth prince: "Uh, I know I said that I was very busy this week, and next week, and the week after seventh brother, but I feel like I have been enlightened and should take a break from indulging my time in the red light district and spend more time with you instead. I have always admired your steadfast and strong beliefs and decisiveness you know?"

Scheming third prince: "Seventh brother, you saw how badly I messed up today. I know your religion values kindness and generosity, I am humbling myself to learn more about your wonderful religion and beliefs. Please take pity on me and educate me of what I have so ignorantly dismissed before."

Coquettish ninth prince: "Big brother~ Can I visit your dragon village~ Before my concubine mother didn't let me because I was too young but I really want to go!"

Crybaby fourth prince: "Wuwuwu brother… I'm sorry for always running away from you before, I also want to visit your temple…." 

Seventh prince: …

The seventh prince had never felt so popular among his brothers before. He was a little speechless. 

Hey, hey, you guys were so embarrassed by emperor father before but it seems your skin is still pretty thick* ah?

*Thick skin = shameless

Still, the seventh prince would not look a gift horse in the mouth and quietly regaled his brothers of the greatness of dragons and how they simply must join him in his morning prayers. If they couldn't join him in the morning there was evening prayer. And if they couldn't do that, he could kindly provide an afternoon prayer time just for them.

Princes: …Really want to play dead.

Jia Hyson who had sensitive ears, and the emperor whose hearing was also pretty good, overheard it all. It couldn't be helped, not only were they in close proximity but the seventh prince was also a little too loud. 

The emperor chuckled helplessly and tickled Jia Hyson's chin making him chirp and wriggle cutely. "My sons… I'm not sure if I raised them very well or not but I'm not unhappy with this outcome either." He sighs, "I'm just worried. Raising a good emperor is different from raising a good son. I'm afraid none of them are worthy to rule well. They don't have the ruthlessness needed for the throne." He confides.

Generally the fight for the throne was really bloody. However the emperor had not only kept his concubines in line more or less, he also kept his sons more or less in line too. It was sort of unprecedented to be honest.

Now all the princes were grown up and only the unfavored eighth prince had been taken actions against. And to be fair, nobody really liked him much anyway.

Eighth prince Yan Huizhong: …

Sure it took a lot of ruthlessness to kill someone, but the weight of ending a family member's life was obviously far more taxing to the heart. The emperor didn't want his sons to do this of course. But he also felt uneasy at the same time. The palace was pretty much of the belief that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and the emperor, as open minded as he is, was also raised on this. It was very contradictory and something he couldn't really confide to anyone in, even his beloved empress. 

Jin Bao the little dragon was different, his guard was instantly lowered in front of the cute creature. The emperor felt very safe talking about his worries with the dragon.

Jia Hyson who suddenly became a little tree hole*: ???

*Someone who people confide into and tell their secrets to freely. 

However this was advantageous to Jia Hyson as well as he could listen to the emperor's personal thoughts about the princes and their worthiness. Overall the man still had his hopes on a few but ultimately the emperor was still indecisive and unwilling to hand it to anyone right now. Which, you know, really just meant nothing useful other than Jia Hyson reinforcing his decision to find a natural way for Tang Muxin to cure the man and extend his lifespan.

Once they reached the carriage, the emperor reluctantly passed Jia Hyson back to Tang Muxin who unhesitatingly passed him to Da Gong like a hot potato.

Jia Hyson who was practically thrown onto the giant cock: '…Mu Mu you are breaking my heart baby.'

Da Gong: 'It seems I have not treated you so well in vain big boobed human.'

Once the carriage had left, everyone watching them leave also dispersed. The emperor went to go visit his empress and rest. The princes went their seperate ways with various thoughts in their minds and the officials and ministers also scurried off. 

Seeing everyone leave the seventh prince looked around and found Chef Wen. Gesturing the man to follow him he turned around to go to a more private area. As the seventh prince walked away, his warm smiling face gradually cooled down. With his appearance his appearance had transitioned from a friendly albeit intimidating large dog to a completely fierce and wild wolf. 

Chef Wen who walked behind him also straightened his back once there were no more eyes on him. His black eyes flash with intelligence and wariness. "My prince, what should we do now?"

The seventh prince's mouth twitched. "How the fuck would I know?" He said helplessly, his voice still very rough but much quieter than before. Who would know that dragons were actually real? It was so ridiculous that it was impressive he hasn't devolved and broke down into crazed laughter by now. Could it said he was extremely lucky or unlucky?

After all, who would've thought the lie he had spent nearly his entire lifetime weaving would come back to bite him like this?

He had driven away his concubine mother, disappointed his emperor father and successfully managed to hide himself all this time from his craftier and more sinister brothers. Under the guise of being a dragon fanatic, of being insane, the seventh prince quietly obtained many things. 

Loyal and powerful death soldiers who disguised themselves as part of his crazy 'cult following' were slowly cultivated and amassed, spies were planted, and because of his infamous violently muddled and fanatical temperament over time everyone became too lazy to plant their own spies around him. The few that were observing him had long been bought off, killed off or converted.

Most importantly, under his 'I love dragons, my dream is to spread my love of dragons to the citizens, I want to ascend and become the great dragon warrior that is acknowledged by the heavens' nonsense, coupled with his legitimate achievements in the battlefield, he had managed to collect land to establish his 'ideal temple' and was gifted with gold, agricultural resources, and building resources as a reward for his work. 

Because his identity was so firm in the minds of everyone, there were very few who suspected him. Besides, the seventh prince did indeed establish a temple and had even brought in people from nearby impoverished villages to settle around the area, establishing a small town community. 

Religion always required a lot of things, food, shelter, various metal instruments and space to do their traditions in a safe and private manner. 

But then again, another thing that needs this is war. Specifically when raising a private army.

The seventh prince had always been smart and radical as a child which has not changed over the years. He was also legitimately a bit insane. If he wasn't how could he think of such an out of the box plot like this. It was basically the classic strategy of playing the pig to eat the tiger* but on drugs. Hallucinogenic ones. 

*Pretending to be useless on the surface, biding their time and striking their opponent while they are unguarded. 

However because it was so crazy, it worked very well. Not to mention, other than the generally paranoid eighth prince who had the worst childhood experiences out of all of them, most of the other princes were actually fairly well raised thanks to the emperor doing his best to keep the harem and the boys in check. 

But the eighth prince was unfavored, was good at making enemies and also didn't have good eyes because he put his loyalty to the crown prince who clearly was just milking his worth dry. Therefore even if he had suspected something the seventh prince wasn't worried about anything coming from that. 

The crown prince and third prince were the slyest of the bunch apart from the eighth prince, however the crown prince was super arrogant which blinded him to a lot of things. The third prince had been trickier but the seventh prince had been ready for him. After many years of fending off the spies through various means, and playing dumb, the third prince had already stopped seriously bothering the seventh prince for a long time now. Ever since a year and a half ago, the third prince who had become more busy trying to find ways to stand out and beat the crown prince, had pretty much completely stopped paying attention to the seventh prince and the main surveillance restraining him was gone.

A year and a half was enough to do many things, especially when the seventh prince had prepared so many things. 

Chef Wen was one of them.

However… now the seventh prince, who was usually brimming with confidence felt an unprecedented headache. 

It was really a good thing he didn't do things in halves and actually devoted a lot of his time on dragon research to better sell his lie, otherwise he really would have been defrauded right then and there. So many years of pretending to love dragons, it isn't unexpected to himself that this lie had become truth to some extent, but today the seventh prince felt like he had really and truly immersed himself in the role.

The dragon was pretty cute.

But more than that it was terrifying.

Because this was a creature that will determine his life or death.

Absentmindedly he patted his back, thanking his foresight that he wore thicker robes. His back had been drenched from nerves. 

He didn't know if dragons could detect lies but the moment it figures something is off, all his efforts will be wasted. And once his emperor father realised he had any rebellious thoughts, that he even cultivated a private army to increase his chances and serving as a back up if he fails to gain the crown under legitimate means… it would be good if his corpse would still be intact ah.

Unfortunately the emperor was already poisoned, he couldn't take it back and Chef Wen still had use. He was the only cook who could make such good and nourishing food that had notable energising and healing effects. The seventh prince not only had intelligence but good intuition, while he didn't really believe in spiritual energy, he knew that Chef Wu had developed some sort of technique that gave his food properties normal food usually didn't have. 

It was with that intuition that he dared to bring him out to feed the dragon. He instinctively knew no other imperial chef would have impressed it as much as Chef Wen and his abilities. 

Unfortunately this also meant it would be difficult to discard the chess piece once it entered the spotlight. 

"Stop the dosage for now." The seventh prince after some thought decisively orders. 

He wasn't an idiot. The extent of these people's abilities were hard to grasp, but he had no desire to underestimate them despite them being commoners. Not to mention the dragon… No, there was no value in panicking and pushing blindly forward with his current plan of poisoning the emperor and fishing in troubled waters. 

A lesser man might have chosen the route of increasing the poison and rushing the already weak emperor to his death before people became too suspicious, but the seventh prince did not dare. He waited this long because he cherished his life and only wanted to strike in the face of a nearly absolute victory. Even if he failed he didn't want to die, for death was an absolute that nobody could come back from.

Thinking further, the seventh prince felt that he should also make sure no suspicion fell to him if these unknown factors did find out about the emperor's poisoning matter. "Where is the twelve thousand year old ginseng?" He asks before quickly waving his hand, dismissing his own question.

"Never mind, I remember. The banquet is in ten days so we don't have much time. I will depart to the temple. On the fourth day use whatever I have in my treasury plus the ginseng I will give you and make the most nourishing and cleansing dishes for emperor father to detoxify his body with. 

I will say that seeing a real dragon has energised my body and soul and while rushing to pray and personally collect some items the dragon might enjoy from my dragon temple I passed by and found a twelve thousand year old ginseng. Thinking of my beloved emperor father's weak body I immediately sent some people to give it to you to make a dish out of."

The plan was really good. Not only will it showcase Chef Wen's abilities and the seventh prince's filial piety, it will cleanse the emperor's body of the majority of the toxins and minimise both the evidence of their crime as well as suspicion upon themselves. After all, nobody would believe that the person who spent so much time poisoning the emperor would also be the person who would waste such a rare medicinal miracle like twelve thousand year old ginseng for the emperor as well. 

Not to mention, even if it detoxified the body, the damage the poison left is permanent. If the seventh prince determined the dragon and it's entourage was incapable, he could easily continue where he left off and it could be passed off simply as a relapse of old illness. 

Chef Wen was also not a simple man, he quickly grasped the intention and smiles faintly. "Yes your highness." 

The seventh prince glances at Chef Wen, "Good man. While in the treasury you may also take a few pieces for your troubles. I trust you know not to overextend my kindness though."

The chef's smile had become noticeably wider. One of the reasons he had chosen to follow the seventh prince after discovering his true abilities was that, despite everything the seventh prince was actually very careful. Another was that he was also very generous to those who have proven their loyalty and worth. "This servant knows and is deeply honoured with your highness' trust." Chef Wen pauses before laughing lightly, "The missus will be very pleased at your generosity as well."

The seventh prince also laughs, though it was not as boisterous as before in front of the emperor and his brothers, instead it was quieter and muted. "Your wife is truly a greedy thing. I don't see why you must put up with such an annoying woman. At the very least you should've accepted the young lady I gave you last month, her temperament is much better than that woman and her beauty cannot be compared."

Chef Wen shrugs, "I have no interest in creating a fire in my backyard*. Besides I am too lazy to take care of another. I already have two sons and a daughter anyway. This servant is already quite satisfied with the numbers of his household."

*a really big drama in the household

The seventh prince felt like Chef Wen was surprisingly really weak in this area. For a man to be brave enough to help him poison the emperor, and yet not dare to bring a concubine into his household despite his ugly country bumpkin wife… The seventh prince really couldn't understand it. Then again he supposes the wife would indeed be the type to cause a terrible fuss if Chef Wen did bring another lady in. She was quiet shameless after all. However it was ultimately not his business so the seventh prince discarded the topic in favour of other things.

"I will really be going to the temple, it's really too suspicious for me to leave during this time given my obsession with dragons therefore I will bring a few sculptures and things from the temple that hopefully the dragon will like." The seventh prince taps his chin thoughtfully. "The dragon jade strangely does not seem to appeal to the creature at all, only third brother's gift was left behind which is strange. There were some ancient texts that said dragon jade was actually things created by dragons, if that is true it would make sense that it's considered worthless to them."

"It's good for us then." Chef Wen comments mildly, "After all the crops that have the dragon jade mixed into the soil are always bountiful and plump. It is even better than the crops from the imperial palace. I am sure the dragon is much more interested in them."

The seventh prince nods appreciatively, "I will make sure to bring a lot of produce for you to work with. Don't be worried about your supply running out for now. Instead focus on winning the dragon and it's group over."

"Of course my prince." Chef Wen bowed, face full of confidence.

Four days later though…

Chef Wen stared at Da Gong. Static was still tingling on the hand he accidentally brushed against the rooster's body with and his black eyes brightened for a moment while the other's own silver eyes darkened.

After assimilating what information he had about who he was, and his place in this world Chef Wen's eye twitched.

Well. Fuck.