Tianyang’s Daily Record: [April 23, the Emperor moved the capital to Warm Mountain Garden.]
Because their home was bare and empty, Song Tianyang moved quickly—no other reason, simply skill from experience—
Song Huafeng had worked as a hair-washing girl in a salon and as a masseuse in a massage parlor. Both were honest, physical jobs, but she couldn’t escape the persistent suitors that showed up every few days.
Other female colleagues all had boyfriends or husbands to back them up, making male customers back off.
But when the men pestering her saw the tiny, angry girl charging over, they’d just say they didn’t mind raising her daughter too, which infuriated Song Huafeng so much it felt like her menopause would come early.
To avoid trouble, Song Huafeng had no choice but to frequently switch jobs and move homes, hopping from one urban village to another.
“There’s even security and an entry system here.”
She clicked her tongue in amazement.
“I checked already. The houses at Warm Mountain Garden are small, but the property management and security are reliable.”
Song Tianyang said.
Upon hearing this, Song Huafeng’s expression relaxed instantly, and she stopped complaining about the hassle of moving.
System: [It is recommended that Your Majesty inform the Holy Mother Empress Dowager about the relocation of the capital.]
Song Tianyang stayed silent and sent a photo of her newly rented single room to He Madam: “Moved to a new place.”
He Madam replied on WeChat quickly: “You’re only showing me the servant’s room? Hurry and let me see your room. Send me your address, I’ll help you get some furniture. Or just come back and stay at the He Residence, your room has been ready for ages.”
Song Tianyang: “This is the room I’m living in.”
He Madam’s typing status kept flashing.
Misunderstanding that this was a servant’s room, and recalling how she hadn’t shown warmth the first time she met her biological daughter, instead hurting her feelings… Guilt twisted He Madam’s heart into knots, and not knowing how to deal with it, she simply turned to angry scolding: “Are you deliberately trying to make me feel guilty? What happened back then was just an accident, and now it’s you who doesn’t want to come back to the He family. Why make everyone unhappy?”
Song Tianyang actually admired He Madam’s personality.
Rather than self-reflect, just blame others.
He Madam was different from the Pseudo Brother, so Song Tianyang replied differently:
“Thunder and rain alike are the King’s Grace.”
The main goal was to leave this rich lady completely baffled.
Song Tianyang stayed at home for a while, then went back to the dormitory.
Both of her roommates had signed up for internships and weren’t returning to school, so the four-person dorm only had her and Xu Yuning on the upper bunk left—the latter was the biggest obstacle to her plan of expanding her territory to the whole dorm: “Sister Ning, could you turn up the air conditioner a bit?”
System: [You are attempting to issue a King’s Edict within your territory.]
“If you’re cold, just wear another piece of outerwear.”
System: [Xu Yuning is defying the edict. Please punish her to increase Imperial Authority!]
Song Tianyang: “Alright then.”
She dejectedly rolled back onto her own bed.
Just as she lay down, the upper bunk tossed down an air-conditioned outerwear: “My computer’s on, I’ll get hot. You wear this.”
“Sister Ning, may you have peace your whole life.”
Song Tianyang took the outerwear.
Out of the four in the dorm, Song Tianyang’s family situation was the worst. Even though she never brought it up, living together day and night made it obvious. Fortunately, her roommates all looked out for her. Xu Yuning, in particular, claimed she was afraid of heat, liked to keep the AC on all summer, and basically hid in the dorm all day playing games, consuming a ridiculous amount of electricity—so she covered the entire electric bill herself.
Unknowingly, this eased a lot of Song Tianyang’s burden.
In that moment, she felt the joy of Lü Bu from the Three Kingdoms era—Ningruo Buqi, I am willing to recognize you as my sworn mother!
Xu Yuning had only realized after refusing earlier that Song Tianyang might not have a thick outerwear, and could get cold in an air-conditioned room.
Bundled up in the outerwear and a small quilt, Song Tianyang checked today’s new task.
[Please complete today’s Random Task: Employing the Worthy and Accepting Advice (0/3)]
For a ruler to accept advice and admonishments from their ministers is to accept remonstrance—a virtue every wise monarch must have.
Famous historical remonstrators include Wei Zheng, Yuan Keli, and Hai Rui.
Song Tianyang couldn’t think of anyone around her who could fill this role, since she generally didn’t befriend people who said unpleasant things. When faced with honest advice, she’d just cover her ears.
After thinking it over, she set her sights on her upper bunk roommate.
Xu Yuning came from a good family, had a bit of a princess temperament, and never indulged anyone.
Song Tianyang climbed the ladder and poked her head up: “Sister Ning.”
Xu Yuning: “Speak.”
“Can you give me some advice?”
Xu Yuning paused her flying fingers on the keyboard: “…What are you talking about? I’m straight.”
“It’s ‘jian’! As in ‘remonstrate’! Besides, I’m straight too.”
“Oh.”
Xu Yuning shot her a cool look: “What do you want me to advise you on? You don’t spend money on men, you don’t play gacha games, your life’s fine except for being a bit broke.”
“I just want to hear your honest advice, please!”
Song Tianyang clung to the edge of the upper bunk, pleading earnestly, almost as if she had a little tail wagging behind her.
Xu Yuning was silent for a moment, then agreed: “Log in and let’s play a match.”
“Okay!”
Song Tianyang sat at the edge of the bed, opening up King of Glory with her for a ranked match.
Seeing how few heroes Song Tianyang had, Xu Yuning let her log into her own alt account. They played three games in total. Song Tianyang used Ying Zheng, Liu Chan, and Wu Zetian, achieving the glorious record of 3 kills, 61 deaths, and 2 assists across three matches.
With each line—“Don’t leave the tower!” “Just stay in your jungle, don’t go into the river!” and the resigned, “Forget it, just build tank items”—the three games ended, and the Emperor System popped up:
[Today’s Random Task: Employing the Worthy and Accepting Advice (1/3)]
[Your Majesty, please keep up the good work!]
“I’ll turn up the air conditioner,”
At Song Tianyang’s request, Miss Xu valiantly tried to save the collapsing situation by playing Bai Qi, Zhuge Liang, and Di Renjie, but her face was pale: “Now, get off my bed.”
“Hehe.”
Song Tianyang rolled off in a flash.
Unfortunately, the remonstrance task was only completed once—it seemed she still needed to find two more people to give her advice.
After thinking for a moment, she spent the afternoon in the Library, improving her already mediocre thesis draft, and sent it to her Advisor.
Advisor: “…”
Advisor: “Student, just having words doesn’t mean you have content.”
The Advisor was mentally prepared, but upon opening the document, he realized he hadn’t prepared enough.
Because the thesis was shockingly bad, the Advisor, who had planned to just skim it and look at it in detail later, couldn’t help but start critiquing right away. During this, Song Tianyang, who had come seeking advice, feebly argued: “I wrote it all myself, didn’t use AI.”
The Advisor believed her: “Mm, I know AI didn’t write this. If it had, it wouldn’t be this bad.”
In the end, Song Tianyang received +1 task progress and the Advisor’s comment: “Rewrite everything.”
Tears welled up in her eyes.
No wonder so many emperors in history wanted to kill their remonstrators.
This so-called “accepting advice,” is really not easy!
As Song Tianyang was looking around for another worthy minister to give her advice, a somewhat familiar-looking guy walked over and asked, “Are you Song Tianyang?”
She had a faint impression of him, but not much.
Most likely, they’d just had class in the same room before.
After she nodded, he said, “There’s someone with the surname Gu waiting for you outside the school.”
Someone surnamed Gu…
Song Tianyang thought for a moment: “You don’t know him either, so why are you running errands for him? Did he give you something? I can go, but you have to split it with me.”
“Damn, you’re sharp.”
“Of course.”
Since it was basically free money, even though the guy felt a bit reluctant, he still honestly gave her five hundred.
After all, she’d just ask the guy named Gu how much he’d given, so there was no point trying to cheat her for a quick buck.
As the guy led her to the west gate of the campus, the Emperor System popped up again:
[Congratulations, Your Majesty, you have unlocked the Imperial Harem Panel.]
On the panel, the name Gu Shangyang was displayed.