After that, everything had little to do with Liao Tingyan.

Before they even returned to Luojing, news of Chen Yun's death reached them, shocking Liao Tingyan greatly. The original male lead just died like that? It felt too unreal! Too random!

Looking at the male second lead who killed the original male lead, he was resting in the carriage, looking a bit tired but otherwise fine.

In Yaozhou, with the deaths of the Lord of Southern Qin and Chen Yun, it fell into chaos with a power struggle. The son of the Prime Minister conquered Yaozhou city and purged all the rebel forces. The disaster victims' rebel army gathered by Chen Yun, lacking the scale of the original and with most people not having the desperate resolve, began to disperse as the situation became clear, choosing to return to their hometowns.

Without the mass deaths like in the original, the subsequent plague didn't happen either. Liao Tingyan wasn't clear on the specifics, only occasionally hearing some rumors, like certain disaster-stricken areas where the emperor sent scions of certain families to handle things, and they were promoted and favored by the emperor for outstanding performance, bringing fortune to their whole family.

Meanwhile, the Duan family gradually faded, with several elder statesmen retiring. There were many undercurrents that Liao Tingyan couldn't see.

Returning to the palace and seeing the familiar halls, she felt a bit dazed, and hearing the beauties and palace maids call her "Your Majesty the Empress" made her feel even more surreal.

Although the original male lead died and she didn't follow the original route, she still ended up as empress like the original ending.

There were far fewer palace beauties now, and the remaining ones all looked very timid and fearful when looking at her. Liao Tingyan felt like she was some kind of bomb that would explode and kill a bunch of people if touched.

In fact, that was close to the truth. Her assassination attempt before was related to a palace beauty, and the palace beauties were implicated and went through another bloody purge, scaring them witless. Although the Noble Consort...now Her Majesty the Empress still looked harmless, the emperor behind her always had a face ready to kill at any time.

Too scared, don't dare to offend.

Liao Tingyan's process of becoming empress was very smooth. No one in court dared to oppose it at all. Compared to the original male lead expending great effort to balance the court powers and eventually killing off the female supporting character who became empress in order to finally make the original female lead empress, this was rocket speed.

For Liao Tingyan, being empress or noble consort made no difference, as life went on the same as before...no, there was one difference. There was a night life now.

One dark and windy night, Sima Jiao woke her up in the middle of the night and slept with her without a word.

Hmph, men. Saying they don't want it, that they dislike it, but now? Doesn't his face hurt?

On the third night, when woken up again, Liao Tingyan couldn't help saying: "Your Majesty, don't you find this disgusting? If so, let's not do it. You've already proven your point, I really believe it!"

Sima Jiao stroked her cheek with his hand. "I find other people disgusting. You're not disgusting, you're different from others."

Liao Tingyan: "..."

After a moment of silence, she sighed and pulled down Sima Jiao's head. "Alright, Your Majesty, come on then."

Although there was a night life, there was no prince, as neither of them wanted one. The country needed an heir, so Sima Jiao selected one from a collateral branch to be raised in the palace.

That child was very honest and timid, not daring to see Liao Tingyan normally, because Sima Jiao was usually by her side, so seeing her was equivalent to seeing Sima Jiao. The court officials all feared Sima Jiao, let alone a little child.

Liao Tingyan felt bad for the little child leaving home alone and often had people send him snacks and food that she herself found tasty. Sima Jiao never stopped her from doing this.

Rather, he basically never stopped her from doing anything. On the contrary, Liao Tingyan occasionally stopped him from doing some things. Although still a tyrant, having a "caring for the country and people" Empress Liao made him unconsciously do many things benefiting the people in order to let her "relax and be at ease".

Also because the empress liked it, Sima Jiao opened many trade routes. The areas along the trade routes gradually prospered. The thriving commercial development improved people's lives, especially in Luojing. One year, Liao Tingyan had Sima Jiao take her out on the streets. She suddenly realized compared to previous years, people walking on the streets now had much better spirits, and there were more novel goods and trinkets.

That night returning to the palace, Liao Tingyan took the initiative to hug Sima Jiao and snuggled in his arms to sleep.

How wonderful. This was the best ending she could imagine.

————

Chen Yun arrived at the transit station with a dark expression. His appearance was still Chen Yun's, but his normally bright expression was now gloomy enough to drip water.

"System, what's going on? Come out!"

— "I regret to inform you that your assigned world has deviated from the plot, and your role has been stripped of the 'male lead' status. This world no longer belongs to you."

Chen Yun was silent for a long time, his eyes full of unwillingness. After a while, he clenched his fingers. "Forget it, it's just a small world. If it's gone, it's gone. I was careless this time. Now I want to know the ending of those two people."

Just a minor character actually killed him and stole his woman. He refused to believe that kind of person could truly be loved by the female lead.

The system flickered before his eyes for a moment, then began to show images. Chen Yun habitually closed his eyes and began to immerse himself in the scenes.

It was in a magnificent palace. On the bed lay a thin middle-aged man, while a beauty sat by the bedside. Even though the beauty already had faint wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, no longer young, and looked a bit haggard, she was still a dazzling great beauty. These two people were none other than Sima Jiao and Liao Tingyan.

Sima Jiao lying on the bed was clearly not long for this world. Only his eyes still had a glimmer of light. He stared intently at Liao Tingyan by the bed and asked her, "Empress, I've always wanted to ask you...after all these years, do you love me?"

Liao Tingyan, with tears in her eyes, gently nodded and answered, "I do."

Sima Jiao laughed, shaking his head and sighing, "Empress, after all this time, I could always see through your lies, but this is the first time I can't find any flaws. Are you afraid that I'll die and you'll have to be buried with me? I know you don't want to die, but I want you to accompany me, so I've already left a decree that after my death, you must be buried with me in the imperial tomb."

"I want to take you with me..."

Hearing this, Liao Tingyan showed no reaction, lowering her eyes and holding that thin, withered hand.

That hand also gripped her tightly, as if wanting to drag her down to hell together, but slowly, it finally loosened, growing colder and colder.

The crown prince, now grown up, walked in and knelt at her feet, still as honest as in his childhood. He kowtowed respectfully, "Your Highness, please restrain your grief, His Majesty has passed."

Liao Tingyan came back to her senses and looked at the old, decrepit eunuch standing to the side, calmly saying, "Jin De, His Majesty wanted me to be buried with him, so the poisoned wine should be prepared. Bring it up."

Jin De also knelt down, but didn't speak, only carefully presenting a scroll of bright yellow silk, "Your Highness, although His Majesty indeed had this thought, yesterday, he personally burned that silk scroll and left this one instead."

Liao Tingyan seemed to understand something, tremblingly taking the silk scroll.

After a moment, she clutched it and sobbed. The scroll told her which capable people he had left for her, taught her what to do in the future, and also informed her of a palace he had built especially for her, where she could go live after leaving Luoyang. He had arranged everything for her, one by one.

He always said he wanted her to die with him, saying it for so long, but gave up at the last crucial moment. Liao Tingyan threw down the scroll, covering her face, weeping uncontrollably, "In this life, I lied to you many times without you ever noticing, but the one true thing I said at the end, you refused to believe no matter what. You were wise all your life, but muddled for a moment..."

She was human, not grass, wood or stone. Encountering such a man, even if others said he wasn't good, how could she not like him?

"I said it but you didn't believe me, yet you insisted on asking!" Liao Tingyan cried and threw herself on the bed, raising her hand to slap the corpse, "I was long prepared to go with you, but now you say to let me live well alone, you idiot, get up!"

Jin De and the crown prince looked shocked, having never seen the empress like this. They hurriedly stepped forward to stop her, separating her from Sima Jiao's body.

As Liao Tingyan wailed loudly beside the bed, the heavy tolling of the mourning bell penetrated through the many palace walls.

......

Chen Yun opened his eyes and cursed, "That dog emperor is so scheming, pulling that move at the end. Even if she didn't love him originally, she'd be moved in the end."

— "The storyline and romance in this world have completely deviated, it's irretrievable."

Chen Yun said angrily, "I know, no need to remind me again, it's not like this is my only world." With that, he waved his sleeve and disappeared.

......
...
..

Zou Yan woke from the familiar nightmare. She sat up, looking at the fluffy rug under her feet, and turned on a bedside lamp. From the messy pile of toner and facial wipes, she fished out her phone and checked the time. It was only 5am.

"Phew—" Zou Yan fell back on the bed, covering her eyes.

It had been almost a month since returning to this world. As time passed, the life of "Liao Tingyan" in her mind felt more and more like a dream, as if shrouded in a layer of gauze.

But those memories also made her feel a strange sense of unfamiliarity with this world. For many small things, she needed to think for a long time to recall them. Because of this, she had taken a month-long leave from the company.

If she didn't go to work tomorrow, she'd probably lose this job.

Compared to the cruel reality, those carefree days of eating and sleeping seemed even more unreal. Zou Yan got up to change clothes and went for a morning run, listening to music as she circled the nearby park lake three times until she was exhausted and not thinking about anything.

Returning to the company that day, Zou Yan couldn't quite remember who some of the colleagues greeting her were. She worked inefficiently all day before slowly getting back into the swing of things.

"Zou Yan, are you recovered from your illness? You still seem a bit off today, not talkative either." Near the end of the day, a female colleague came to chat. "Hey, a few of us are planning to go for dinner, you coming?"

Zou Yan smiled, "Sure, where are we eating?"

The group joked and laughed as they packed up to leave work, entering the elevator. When it reached the 9th floor, a few people got on. The young man in the lead wore a suit, looking pale and irritable, frowning darkly. Zou Yan looked at him and was instantly speechless.

The other female colleagues also stopped talking, awkwardly crowding together and softly greeting, "Manager Wei."

The man didn't speak, glancing at them, then at Zou Yan, before turning around. As soon as the elevator opened, he led the others into the 6th floor conference room.

Zou Yan listened to her colleagues chattering, feeling a bit dazed, until one pulled her aside, "Zou Yan, you probably didn't know since you were on leave, but that was the crown prince who parachuted in last week, the son of the big boss at headquarters, sent here for training."

Zou Yan thought: What kind of clichéd reincarnation plot is this? Why does this guy look so much like Sima Jiao? Or am I crazy, seeing Sima Jiao in everyone?

"May I ask the esteemed name of this deity who has descended from the heavens?" Zou Yan asked.

Her female colleague laughed at her joke, chuckling for a while before saying, "Wei Jiao."

Zou Yan: "Jiao as in acting spoiled?"

The colleague continued laughing, "No no, Jiao as in burnt."

Zou Yan: I see, the Jiao from Sima Jiao.

While eating with her colleagues, Zou Yan's mind kept echoing classic overbearing CEO storylines - "My family has 100,000 companies like this, with 1 billion cleaning ladies like you..."

"Woman, you're just approaching me for my money, right?"

"Very good, you've successfully attracted my attention."

Bah, overbearing CEO my ass. He's no longer the emperor, and she's no longer a peerless beauty. They should just go their separate ways.

Liao Tingyan went to accompany Sima Jiao, but now Zou Yan doesn't have to be forced into a romance with some Wei Jiaojiao.

Zou Yan would rather die in poverty on the streets and quit this job and date Wei Jiao.

The next day, Zou Yan encountered Wei Jiao again in the elevator. This new manager, her boss's boss, was a haughty, bad-tempered pretty boy who was known for not liking to talk to people. But he suddenly asked her, "What's your name? Do you also work at this company? How come I've never seen you before?"

There was a familiar feeling of being dominated by a tyrant. Zou Yan gave a fake smile, "I am indeed a company employee, in the art department, called Zou Yan."

At noon in the cafeteria, she ran into this young master again. He was actually eating in the cafeteria like a regular employee. Liao Tingyan couldn't help but look at his tray, he had barely eaten two bites before throwing it away. She suddenly felt a sense of desolation, as if she had returned to the days before the liberation.

After Sima Jiao had Empress Liao Tingyan, he ate more consciously.

Forget it, forget it, this is Wei Jiaojiao, not Sima Jiao, what does it have to do with her if he doesn't eat?

In the afternoon in the break room, Zou Yan saw the young master again, pouring tea.

Zou Yan: "..." Don't you have your own break room on the 12th floor? Why do you have to come down to the 10th floor to drink water?

Wei Jiao poured the water, swallowed two pills with an impatient look on his face, and gulped down the water. Seeing Zou Yan looking at him, he also turned his head to look at her. After looking for a while, he said, "This is medicine, not candy."

Zou Yan: I'm not an idiot, I can see that.

She still gave a fake smile, called out Manager Wei, and was about to leave with her cup of water when Wei Jiao stopped her.

Zou Yan turned around. Wei Jiao stared into her eyes for a long time before saying, "When can we be together?"

Zou Yan: "...??" What did you say? My ears aren't good, I don't think I heard you clearly.

The few female colleagues who happened to come to the break room to drink water together: "...???" What shocking gossip did we just hear?

The next day, the news of Zou Yan dating the parachuted young master spread throughout the entire company. Even the security guards and reception staff knew about it.

Zou Yan denied it but couldn't stop the gossiping masses. Some busybodies in upper management heard the news and didn't quite believe it. They jokingly asked Wei Jiao, "Manager Wei, I heard you're dating little Zou from the art department?"

Wei Jiao moved his gaze from the computer screen in front of him and looked at the person speaking, "No."

That person understood. He was about to say that young girls these days are not steady and only think about these trivial things, but before he could say it, he heard Wei Jiao say, "I think we should get married."

The executives in the conference room: "...???"

By the afternoon, the rumor had changed to Zou Yan having already married Wei Jiao long ago, and the long vacation she took before was for their wedding and honeymoon. Colleagues were all wailing about why she didn't give out wedding candies.

Zou Yan: Wake up! It's fake! It's all fake!

A few days later, in the company lobby, Zou Yan saw a great beauty who pulled her in familiarly, "You and Ah Jiao are not young anymore, when are you planning to have a child? If you two don't want the trouble of raising the child, you can send them back home for me to take care of."

Zou Yan: "Sister, you are?"

The beauty smiled gently, "I'm Ah Jiao's mommy."

Zou Yan: Mother... f*cker.

She found Wei Jiao, "Your Highness, stop messing with me!"

Wei Jiao looked at her and suddenly laughed, "You clearly remember me, but still pretend not to know me."

Zou Yan: "!?"

Wei Jiao: "Didn't I say, you have to accompany me."

After a long while, Zou Yan said, "If it were someone else, with you like this, it would definitely be a story of painful love."

Wei Jiao raised his hand and pinched the back of her neck, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, "That's why, there's no one else, only you."

(The end of this short story)

Author's note: Alright, the first story is finished, next is the second story.