The palace smelled of boiled rice and lacquer, of ink and the faint copper tang of coins. Long Yue's first memory of the world included silk against his cheeks and a pair of hands rougher than the taxman's grasp — the midwife's. The Empress's fingers, cool and precise, adjusted the blanket like a general arranging formation.
[Empress Wu:] "Name him Long Yue. Let the records show he was born under auspicious signs."
SYSTEM: Name saved: Long Yue. Destiny node: 'Long Yue, Heir of Wu'. Passive effect: record anchoring — bureaucratic inertia reduced by 12%.
The midwives whispered with the conspiratorial cadence of women used to keeping state secrets as casually as bread.
[Midwife Li:] "The Emperor favors that house in the north… if it pleases, Your Majesty, perhaps this child—"
[Empress Wu:] "No. This child is mine."
Long Yue listened; the system translated the undertones into a neat menu. Threats: court factions — Prime Minister Li (suspicious), Consort Mei (ambitious), Prince Yun (grudging). It even suggested strategies. He forced himself to stay quiet; newborns who did not cry could be thought dead. Newborns who cried constantly made servants mutter. Newborns who performed oddly were rumored to be monsters.
He was, according to the system, a dangerous anomaly.
SYSTEM: Alert: attempted poisoning in utero detected — low-grade. Source: unknown. Recommendation: immediate immune conditioning. Action: passive resistance buff applied.
Long Yue blinked. Poison? He had barely felt the world. But before his thought finished, the room flooded with a hush. A court physician stepped forward with slow, careful steps.
[Physician Wang:] "Her Majesty, there is nothing to fear now. The child's pulse is strong."
[Minister Li:] (lean, hawk-faced) "Might be wise to examine the mother further. The court must be secure."
He had the feeling of a chord struck in a large instrument: tension wound into every face. Favor created enemies as much as protectors.
SYSTEM: Passive tip: display minor perk. Action: spit up on Minister Li's sleeve in three days for deniable comedy.
Long Yue let a small, perfectly timed squawk escape. The Empress smiled — not the distant, perfunctory smile reserved for ambassadors, but a corner-of-the-mouth tilt that warmed the midwinter palace.
[Empress Wu:] "He has a loud soul."
[MC / Long Yue:] (thought) "Good. Loud souls are harder to poison?"
SYSTEM: Humor detected. Social lubrication +5. Suggestion: cultivate public image of vitality; schedule open-kitchen visits for token goodwill.
Open-kitchen visits. He had been reborn into a system that treated even infancy like a campaign. The system's voice, clinical and inexorably efficient, mapped out skills he would eventually be able to allocate into Strength, Strategy, Charisma, and more exotic branches like "Statecraft" and "Domestic Engineering."
Outside the chamber, a different sound creaked into life — the shuffling of petitions, the scratch of brushes on paper. Already the court was making sense of this child in the calculus of power. An heir could stabilize a claim; an heir could also be a stick to beat a rival.
[Consort Mei:] (from the doorway, sweet as wine with an undertone of vinegar) "How fortunate for the Empress. Children are blessings, yes, Your Majesty?"
The Empress's smile hardened into an unreadable line. Long Yue had the infant's vantage and the modern man's suspicion: court smiles were tax forms — they always exacted something.
[Empress Wu:] "Blessings the court will record. Loyalty the court will reward."
SYSTEM: Quest updated: Secure maternal favor — Level 1 complete. Unlock: Infant Education Module. Objective: learn basic court etiquette, memorize key household names (Empress, Minister Li, Consort Mei, Emperor Taizong). Timeframe: immediate.
Learning names sounded charmingly human for such a cold system. The palace tutors would arrive soon; parchment and ink would teach him history he already half-remembered from dusty textbooks in a prior life. But there was something else too: a current of danger. The system's "attempted poisoning" flag did not flicker away like a mosquito. It sat and watched.
[Bodyguard Shen:] (gruff voice) "Orders from the Empress: the child's chamber is locked. No one enters without her leave."
[MC / Long Yue:] (thought) "Excellent. Protected. Also: no dumplings for two days."
SYSTEM: Social joke logged. Infant morale +3. Note: desires of future MC include dumplings; culinary module unlock at age 6.
Long Yue, tiny and indignant at the thought of delayed dumplings, felt the palace fold around him like a newly made cloak — protective, heavy, and threaded with needles.
For a newborn, it was not the worst place to begin. For someone with a modern brain and a system that scored loyalty like a video game, it was the beginning of something wildly dangerous — and thoroughly entertaining.
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