Children are industrious in short bursts. Long Yue's naps were punctuated by micro-epochs of learning—brief, bright windows where the system unloaded knowledge in neat stacks. It became clear that many of his early victories were less about raw power than about patient bookkeeping.
SYSTEM: Progress report: Allies established (low-tier) - 8. Infant Charisma I: 54%. XP total: 1,200. Unlock candidate: Memory Palace Technique (early).
The system's internal voice was efficient, pragmatic, and sometimes oddly encouraging. It suggested small strategies that fit the empire's slow rhythms: build goodwill among the servants; make scholars like you; quietly feed those who watch the doors. Long Yue liked this plan because it smelled faintly of dumplings.
[MC / Long Yue:] (thought) "Everything good starts with warmth. Food is strategy."
He began experimenting with "lessons in play." When the scribe's son brought a new carved bead, Long Yue would babble and hold it towards a visiting servant, allowing a small exchange. The servant would smile, and later that servant would drop a casual word to the stable master—who in turn told Bodyguard Shen about a small, odd footfall heard near the east gate. Information moved through the palace in a chain of favors, and Long Yue's network was learning how to pull and push.
SYSTEM: Information flow optimized. Expected increase in early threat detection: +32%.
Scholar Zhao arranged for copy-work sessions to be held in the nurserys' courtyard during meal times. The watchers—kitchen staff, stable boys, and younger scribes—found themselves included. Small networks do not look threatening; large ones do. But they can be far more effective.
[Scholar Zhao:] "Teach respect through practice, young one. Teach gratitude through inclusion."
[Empress Wu:] (observing) "And ensure those who watch have pockets filled enough to be comfortable. Comfort buys clarity."
The Empress' idea was not bribery, at least not in the crude sense. It was a redistribution of attention: give lower servants dignity in the form of tasks and teach them importance. They, in turn, took pride and became sincere observers. The system registered the technique as effective.
Long Yue's own mind—modern, sarcastic, and far too fond of late-night ramen memories—adapted to a new set of priorities. Instead of spreadsheet efficiency, it accounted for faces, for the warmth of a boiled dumpling, for the way a stable boy's calloused fingers hid small kindnesses.
SYSTEM: Cultural adaptation milestone: reached. Recommended: create small ritual "Dumpling Day" for apprentices age 7-12 after three months.
He grinned at the idea, which materialized as an absurd plan: a day when lower-ranked apprentices and stable lads would be invited to the nursery for a simple meal and for Scholar Zhao to teach them a line of poetry. The Empress nodded when he mentioned it—whether she understood dumpling diplomacy or not, she permitted it.
[Empress Wu:] "Small rituals that bind people are like mortar. Use them wisely."
[MC / Long Yue:] (thought) "Mortar for palaces. And for dumplings."
In the crate of practical outcomes, the system rewarded him with tokens—favor tokens that could be exchanged for small privileges: an extra tutor hour, an extended walk in the gardens under Shen's watch, a specially prepared porridge. Long Yue learned to trade favors like a broker in kindness.
SYSTEM: Favor tokens: 3. Exchange options: tutor hour (+1), garden time (+1), culinary exposure (+1).
He chose a tutor hour—more time with Scholar Zhao meant more lines remembered and more chances to make his memory palace denser. Each memory was a brick he could later use to build arguments in court or to recall a sequence that would impress a minister.
That night, as Aunty Lin hummed, Long Yue held the wooden horse and thought about maps and dumplings and the slow, careful work of building a life from small favors.
[MC / Long Yue:] (thought) "Step one: survive. Step two: make allies. Step three: teach the world to like dumplings."
SYSTEM: Quest-log updated: 'Dumpling Diplomacy' added as side quest. XP reward: 400 upon first successful event.
It was a ridiculous schematic, and yet systems liked ridiculous things because they could be measured. Long Yue, a newborn with a modern brain and a system in his head, slept with a plan. The palace hummed around him—the gears of power barely shifted, the needles still hidden in the silk—but in the soft calculus of favors, a child was already learning how to bend the world gently toward him.