Chapter 171 – The Concubine’s Counterattack: The Most Favored Empress – The Cannon Fodder Male Supporting Character (01)
Bai Tang and Kyle joined hands to lead the Winged Wolf Tribe, living sweet and loving lives together until they gradually grew old and passed away.
[Points settlement: Reward for breaking up the male and female leads—1000 points; Side quest—help the male lead unify the beastman Continent, completion at 60%, reward 300 points. Review shows the host completed the tasks excellently. The difficulty will increase in the next world. Please continue your efforts,] the mechanical voice reported mercilessly.
Bai Tang asked, “How will the difficulty increase? Is the world very dangerous?”
The system checked and found the next world is an A-rank world, involving a time-traveling woman returning to ancient times to fight for power in the harem. When it tried to delve deeper into the plot, it found the storyline script wouldn’t open.
“Tang Tang, I can’t access the plot…” The system’s voice weakened. Without a plot, it was like feeling around blindly — isn’t that exactly an increase in difficulty?
“Alright, that’s not important. We just need to break up the leads,” Bai Tang comforted the disappointed system.
“By the way, how much energy did we collect in the last world? Can the Qiu’er transform now?” Bai Tang asked excitedly, looking at the system.
The system fell silent, sensing the energy inside its body, then excitedly said, “I can transform now! I have enough energy~”
No sooner had it spoken than the white orb emitted a glow, its shape stretching out as the head and tail gradually formed.
Before long, a small white dog landed on the ground.
Bai Tang’s eyes widened. A Husky?!
A black-and-white little husky circled Bai Tang’s feet.
“Qiu’er?”
“Woof~”
“Why didn’t it transform into a human form…” The system looked at its short arms and legs mournfully, not wanting to be a ruler anymore.
“I think it’s really cute~” Bai Tang picked up the husky, stroking its back. So fluffy, so comfortable.
He finally understood why Kyle liked to stroke his big tail so much. Bai Tang twirled the husky’s tail with his fingers—turns out, tail-touching is this fun.
“As long as you’re happy…” came the system’s still somewhat resentful voice.
The teleportation array activated, and in a flash of white light, the man and the dog disappeared from the space.
[Beep beep beep — Friendly reminder: A change has occurred in the world. A blue energy entity has appeared, increasing the difficulty once again. To protect the main system core, the host’s memories will be sealed to prevent leakage… Huh? Where is the person?] The mechanical female voice asked in a matter-of-fact tone, sounding puzzled.
In a ruined palace, a skeletal thin boy curled up on the floor.
His face was pale, and he bit his lower lip hard, enduring the pain.
This was the cold palace — a remote corner of the imperial palace where even the guards standing at the doors shivered from the cold. Inside, the chilling drafts blew through relentlessly.
Yet the boy on the floor seemed almost unconscious. If it weren’t for his stomach rising and falling slightly with each breath, he might have been mistaken for a corpse.
After the system transformed into a physical form, it could have a tangible body.
At this moment, it was a little husky, struggling to nudge the boy.
“Woof~” Tang Tang, wake up.
Bai Tang was in very bad condition — whipped, freezing, starving — his bodily functions rapidly declining.
Seeing that Bai Tang wouldn’t wake up, the system planned to use its healing function to resolve the current problem. Unexpectedly, the healing function was unavailable, and the small pocket space couldn’t be opened either.
W-What’s going on?!
The system was shocked, watching Bai Tang’s condition worsen, his body growing colder and colder.
The husky couldn’t move Bai Tang, but it could move smaller items.
It ran throughout the entire palace, only finding a thin, dirty, colorless blanket in a side chamber.
The system bit onto the small blanket and pulled with all its might. Since it had just transformed, walking on all fours was still unfamiliar, and as a little puppy, it stumbled and tripped while running. Finally, it managed to drag the blanket over Bai Tang—better than nothing.
The system curled up on Bai Tang’s chest, using its own body to try and warm him.
Bai Tang still hadn’t woken up, his brows furrowed tightly, a tear sliding down the corner of his eye.
The system desperately wanted to find out why. It tried to connect to the space but only received the mechanical female voice’s earlier message.
Sealing memories and system functions—how could that be?!
The husky looked back anxiously at the frail Bai Tang, biting its teeth as it clung to its only remaining hope—the storyline.
The plot of this world is called “The Rise of the Concubine: The Story of a Concubine’s Daughter’s Revenge and Promotion.” It tells the story of a concubine’s daughter from a sixth-rank official’s family who was transmigrated into by a time-traveling woman. The protagonist is bound to a system called “Path of Fate,” enters the harem through a selection process, and begins scheming and competing with the other concubines to climb upward, eventually winning the emperor’s love and becoming the empress dowager.
This world is somewhat similar to the world of Jiang Langwu, but with one difference: this world has a type of male called “Ge’er,” who, like women, can also conceive children.
Bai Tang was a Ge’er—a type of male candidate in the same year’s selection as the female lead. He was chosen because of his ethereal and extraordinary looks. Unexpectedly, he discovered that the female lead, Ma Aoshan, had an ambiguous relationship with a first-class guard.
Since Bai Tang had fallen in love with the emperor at first sight during the selection, he immediately reported this to the head lady-in-waiting in charge. A debauched harem was a serious matter, so the lady-in-waiting dared not delay and escalated the issue for a thorough investigation.
The emperor, who is the male lead Luo Dai, ascended the throne three years ago. He observed the traditional three-year mourning for the previous emperor and only began the selection of palace maids this year. This was the first round of selections, and everyone was still learning the rules.
When the Empress Dowager heard about the matter, she was furious. Upon investigation, it was found that Ma Aoshan and the guard were distant relatives who had just happened to meet in the palace and exchanged a few words.
Bai Tang, jealous of Ma Aoshan’s outstanding talents, falsely claimed that the concubine had an affair with the first-class guard.
With no chance to defend himself, Bai Tang was immediately sent to the cold palace by the Empress Dowager. The palace maids and eunuchs saw him as a fallen and insignificant figure with no notable family background.
Since the higher-ups disfavored him, the palace staff vented their frustrations on Bai Tang, bullying him in the cold palace. The other concubines, jealous of Bai Tang’s beauty, also secretly targeted him. Three months after entering the cold palace, Bai Tang died from hunger, cold, and injuries.
As for Ma Aoshan, this incident caught the Empress Dowager’s attention. With her sweet and tactful words, she was promoted to noble consort without even serving the emperor in bed.
Later, with the help of the system and many supporting male characters, she shone brightly, engaging in clever and fierce battles of wit and courage with the other concubines. From favored consort to empress, she became the undisputed number one in the harem.
She was not only exceptionally talented but also had unique insights into governance, helping the male lead ease his worries. Ma Aoshan and Luo Dai went through a series of events, and in the end, Luo Dai fell in love with Ma Aoshan. For her, he disbanded the rest of the harem and doted solely on the empress. Together, the most honored emperor and empress of the Great Zhou ruled the land hand in hand.
In this original plot, Bai Tang’s role was truly the smallest possible—practically invisible. He worried earnestly about whether the emperor’s favor would change, but because of the female lead’s halo, he was falsely accused and even bullied by low-ranking palace maids and eunuchs.
If it were only the female lead’s halo and the help from many supporting male characters, this world wouldn’t be too difficult.
The problem was that the female lead had a system called “Path of Fate,” which was even more advanced than its own “Naive Sweet Male Supporting Character” system. To avoid being consumed, the main system had to temporarily retreat and seal itself off so it wouldn’t be detected by the other system.
The system was extremely annoyed. If it hadn’t wasted points recklessly in the previous worlds and had instead invested them in upgrades, wouldn’t Tang Tang have avoided becoming such a miserable sight today?
“Co—co—cold…” The boy slowly opened his eyes. The broken cold palace was still in view.
A few days ago, the palace maid serving Noble Lady Ma had come to the cold palace to whip him out of spite. Then winter arrived with the seasonal change. The palace staff became lazy and hadn’t brought him food or water for two days, let alone winter clothes or coal to keep warm.
Bai Tang had lost his own memories but had merged with the original owner’s memories.
Though it clearly wasn’t his fault, everyone believed he had done something wrong. He wasn’t even given a chance to defend himself.
Every inch of his body ached terribly. Maybe this was fate.
“Little guy, was it you who saved me?” He looked down at the ragged blanket on himself.
The boy was thin and gaunt, with sunken cheeks and cracked lips—but his eyes were still bright.
It must have been the little dog that fetched the blanket for him, saving his life; otherwise, he would have frozen to death long ago.
“Woof woof woof~” The system husky barked softly, trying to communicate with Bai Tang.
But Bai Tang couldn’t understand its words and just took it as a sign of care.
“I’m still okay. Not dead yet. Thank you.” The boy’s voice was hoarse, each word sounding like it came through a broken bellows—very unpleasant.
“Woof woof woof~” Tang Tang, don’t talk anymore. Just rest well.
The system husky bit Bai Tang’s clothing hem, trying to lead him to the side chamber to rest—at least it would be better there, offering some shelter from the wind.
Seeing it pulling him toward the side chamber, Bai Tang understood it wanted to take him somewhere to rest. Though everyone had abandoned him, heaven hadn’t completely given up. It had sent him a little dog.
The boy tried to push himself up with both hands, attempting to stand. Unexpectedly, his hamstrings—behind the knees—had no strength, and he collapsed back onto the floor, bruising his elbow.
“Woof woof~~” Tang Tang, Tang Tang, don’t cry! I’ll go find the male lead right now.
The system remembered that every time Bai Tang entered a world, whenever the male lead met him, he would care for him deeply.
It would go find the male lead immediately. Bai Tang absolutely couldn’t die like this.
Tears welled up in the boy’s eyes from the pain. He no longer had the strength to stand, and could only watch helplessly as the little black-and-white puppy trotted away on short legs.
“D-Don’t go… Do you despise me too?” Two clear tears slid down his cheeks, his face filled with sorrow and despair.
Because the system was small and the cold palace guards were negligent, it easily slipped out. But with all its functions shut down, it got lost in the palace.
It turned left and right without stopping, running hard on its short legs, hoping to find the male lead as soon as possible. Even if it couldn’t find him, going to places like the imperial kitchen to steal some food for Tang Tang would be good enough for now.
Luckily, the system’s luck was good. Just as it was surrounded by tall red palace walls, a group of palace maids carrying seasonal fruits and pastries passed by chatting.
“I heard Noble Lady Ma has the Empress Dowager’s favor. She wasn’t even done learning the rules before she was promoted to noble consort.”
“Yeah, and that one who was sent to the cold palace a while ago? She was really beautiful, but so dumb—look where she ended up.”
“Exactly. Otherwise, with her looks, once the young ladies finish learning the rules and can attend the emperor, who knows who’d be in the spotlight next month?”
The system had an idea. Quietly following behind the two palace maids, it waited until they put down their things and left, then planned to steal some food.
Author’s note:
You all have been eagerly waiting—the CP for the Xiao Qui’er (the system) is finally here!