My Emperor Father Can Read Minds

In the end, Wei Yu was kicked out by his father.

Why?

Because when his father asked him whether he wanted to be Emperor, he reflexively thought in his heart—

[Not even a dog would want to be Emperor!]

—

Wei Yu suspected that he’d been put on his father’s blacklist.

But suspicion was just suspicion. After returning to his sleeping quarters, he obediently collapsed in bed and stayed there all night.

Because he was completely drained.

Confessing wasn’t an easy task—especially not when the person you’re confessing to can read your mind.

His father was the Emperor, a feudal monarch of ancient times. Everything he had just confessed—whether his father believed him or not, what he was thinking, what he might do with that knowledge, whether he’d treat him as some kind of heretic and have him seized… all of it was completely unknown!

Wei Yu felt frustrated, but he didn’t regret it.

Lying to an emperor who can read minds? Even if he managed to get away with it once by keeping his thoughts perfectly blank—what about the next time?

What then?

Would he have to be on edge every single time they met?

Might as well just give him a clean death and be done with it.

That night, after his confession, Wei Yu didn’t sleep at all.

His mind was full of all sorts of chaotic thoughts. He felt anxious and suffocated, and by the time the sky began to brighten, he got up with dark circles under his eyes.

“Ah—”

He yawned as he got out of bed, twisting his face towel to wipe his face.

Xiao Anzi was waiting nearby. Seeing the dark shadows under his eyes, he looked suspicious. “Your Highness, don’t tell me you stayed up all night secretly reading storybooks again?”

It was true that the tablet had a massive library of novels, but even within Great Wei, there were plenty of storybooks in circulation.

Romantic tales loved by young women, martial adventures idolized by youth—and, of course, the sort of adult stories only grown-ups cared about. You know the type.

To cover for his occasional zoning out, Wei Yu had even asked some palace servants who went outside to buy him a stack of storybooks.

He tossed the towel into the basin and gave Xiao Anzi a lifeless glance.

“You were on night duty outside the room yesterday. Didn’t you see if there was any light inside?”

Unlike the modern world, nights in ancient times were pitch-black. Without a light, you really couldn’t tell person from beast a few meters away.

Xiao Anzi thought about it seriously and realized there hadn’t been any candlelight last night.

So he’d misjudged His Highness.

Xiao Anzi owned up to his mistake immediately. “It was my fault, Your Highness. But… those eye bags of yours are quite severe. You must’ve slept terribly. Should I go to the study hall and ask for leave on your behalf?”

Wei Yu waved his hand weakly to shoo him aside. “Stop messing around.”

Ask for leave? He wanted to!

But he’d just confessed to his father yesterday. He still didn’t know how the old man was feeling. What if he heard Wei Yu was slacking off and flew into a rage?!

Ugh, best to endure a little longer.

Xiao Anzi stepped aside, his face scrunched in concern. “But Your Highness, you look like… like you don’t have long to live!”

Wei Yu, who apparently had one foot in the grave: …

He let out a long sigh and gazed at Xiao Anzi with a deeply affectionate look, not even angry.

With a mouth that didn’t know when to shut up, this silly boy—if he really did get locked up by the old man as a heretic, what would happen to this little fool?

Xiao Anzi didn’t understand the look. He thought His Highness was about to give him an order.

“Your Highness, are you hungry? Today’s breakfast is plain porridge and tofu…”

Wei Yu: Great. Now I’ve lost my appetite too.

—

Not knowing what his father would do, Wei Yu planned to behave himself and go to class after breakfast.

But he had clearly underestimated his father’s ability to process things—and his thirst for glass.

Halfway to school, he was stopped by the Emperor’s personal chief eunuch, Li Cheng.

Li Cheng said, “Greetings, Ninth Prince. His Majesty instructed me to take Your Highness to the Ministry of Works.”

Wei Yu froze the moment he heard that.

The Ministry of Works?

What did they want him there for? Don’t tell him they really gave him a kiln to start making glass and steel?!

Wei Yu blinked and asked Li Cheng, “My Royal Father said that? When?”

Eunuch Li Cheng smiled. “Yes, Your Highness. His Majesty said so himself—first thing after waking up. He told me not to wait until after court, just to take Your Highness directly to the Ministry of Works. He also said… Your Highness would understand the reason.”

Wei Yu: …

He didn’t understand a single damn thing!

Wei Yu felt his brain start to throb. He rubbed his forehead and eyed Li Cheng cautiously. “My Royal Father… he’s not angry? Did he say it with a smile or a straight face?”

“Aiyo, what’s Your Highness saying? If His Majesty were angry, would I still be here taking you to the Ministry?”

Eunuch Li gave him a teasing glance.

Though he didn’t know exactly what had gone on between His Majesty and the Ninth Prince in the hall last night—and had spent a while speculating because of the Ninth Prince’s limp when he left—he’d served His Majesty for many years and could tell that His Majesty hadn’t been angry.

At most, His Majesty was just… emotionally obscure? And obscure for an entire night?

Li Cheng couldn’t quite put it into words—he only knew that when he saw His Majesty this morning, the Emperor had already returned to normal, and his condition even seemed more vigorous than before.

Like he had drunk some kind of ultimate tonic.

Li Cheng was one of his father’s people, and the fact that he was willing to give this little nobody like him even a bit of inside info was already something. Wei Yu hadn’t expected to learn more.

Still, knowing that his father wasn’t angry and even wanted him to go to the Ministry of Works, the weight pressing down on Wei Yu’s heart finally eased.

Alright, fine, as long as the old man didn’t plan to throw him into a dungeon right off the bat, things were manageable.

No matter what his father was thinking—whether or not he was secretly planning to “kill the donkey once the grinding is done”—as long as he stayed useful, as long as he could show that “killing the goose that lays the golden eggs” was not worth it, then he could survive just fine!

It’s not like all he could do was make glass.

Even if there were things he didn’t know yet, he could learn!

And the things he couldn’t learn himself, he could have others learn for him!

As long as the results were there, he could show them to his father. Once the old man saw how useful he was, he definitely wouldn’t be willing to kill him off!

He had a tablet loaded with a massive amount of knowledge, after all!

Wei “has a golden finger” “potential heaven’s favorite” “wants to survive” Yu, was very confident: as long as he wasn’t pushed into total desperation, he would absolutely never seek death on his own.

–

Wei Yu followed Eunuch Li Cheng to the Ministry of Works.

At this hour, the ministers were still in court, so there weren’t many people at the Ministry. Only a few officials who didn’t have high enough ranks to attend court, and the duty supervisors.

The supervisor’s surname was Liu, a middle-aged man with a pale face and mustache.

As soon as they arrived, Eunuch Li Cheng greeted Supervisor Liu, handed Wei Yu over to him, explained the Emperor’s order, left two guards with Wei Yu, and then departed.

That left Wei Yu and Supervisor Liu staring at each other.

Supervisor Liu first bowed, “Peace and blessings to the Ninth Prince. May I ask what brings Your Highness here?”

It was his first time doing something like this, so Wei Yu took a deep breath and then smiled at Supervisor Liu.

“I don’t know—where in the capital can I find kilns?”