"I used to be the Night Lord of the Great Song, but now I just want to be a good person."

Once a jeweler, he transmigrated into a chaotic era similar to the late Northern Song Dynasty, becoming a notorious power-hungry official. His predecessor had committed countless evil deeds and made many enemies. Facing numerous beauties and famous scholars who wished nothing more than to kill him, he uttered these words in order to save himself.

In fact, he has been trying hard to prove that he is a good person, though there may be some minor issues with the details. After a series of actions, the stunned crowd let out a furious and grief-stricken roar:

"I don't believe you at all! You used to be the Night Lord of the Great Song, and now you just want to get rid of the word 'Night'!"

Chapter One: The Tyrant of the Capital

The first year of Zhaohong, spring.

Great Song, Bianjing, Yonglu Street, Dian Kui Office.

Two hundred imperial guards, clad in fish-scale armor and gripping their official swords, knelt on both sides of the training ground, heads bowed, holding their breath, faces solemn.

Eight strongmen carried a carved palanquin to the center of the ground. A young eunuch lay prone on the ground, his back serving as a step for his master to disembark.

On the carved palanquin, a jade-faced young lord wore a silver martial robe, a gauze cap trimmed with gold thread, and held a folding fan with a jade frame, on which four large characters were written:

I am a good person!

The young lord's name was William Carter, known as the Tyrant of the Capital, Commander of the Black Feather Guards, and personally granted the title Marquis of Wu'an by the Emperor.

His martial skills were unmatched, his temperament cold-blooded. Relying on his power, he persecuted loyal officials and good men alike. Whether princes, ministers, or wandering heroes, all dared only to be angry but not to speak out against him.

However, these glorious deeds became a thing of the past half a month ago.

The current young lord is also called William Carter, but he is not the Tyrant of the Capital William Carter, but rather the model youth William Carter.

Eat well, drink well, sleep well, play well, live well!

The goal is not big, but achieving this small goal is giving the transmigrated William Carter quite a headache.

The things he did before could only be described as utterly devoid of conscience. As soon as he arrived, he was already harming respectable women. The worst villains in history could all be compared to him.

That aside, the dirty deeds could be slowly washed away, but he didn't have much time left.

The dynasty he arrived in is called Great Song, almost identical to the late Northern Song. The emperor is named Samuel Clark, also skilled in calligraphy and fond of flowers and stones. The difference is, he also likes to employ eunuchs, such as his adoptive father Henry Bennett.

With powerful enemies on the outside and rebel armies rising within, and the emperor still employing treacherous eunuchs, at this rate, the humiliation of Jingkang at the end of the Northern Song might come several years early.

He doesn't hope to save a collapsing empire, but if he can at least reduce the casualties when Bianjing falls, he would feel at ease. If he can't even do that, then at the very least, he wants to have his own business, so he can escape south to take refuge.

Even such a simple wish is not easy for him, because he is the emperor Samuel Clark's trusted aide, commander of three thousand imperial guards, having killed countless corrupt and upright officials, good and bad people alike, making many enemies.

Many famous ministers resisting the Jin are now racking their brains to get rid of this treacherous official. He can't fight back, but not fighting back isn't an option either.

It's not that he wants to make such a grand display when going out, but if he doesn't bring enough lackeys, he wouldn't make it two streets before being hacked to pieces and fed to the dogs.

He still feels angry thinking about being kidnapped and hung up for a beating by a big-breasted, brainless female rebel a few days ago.

As a dignified transmigrator, he should have been composing poetry, making money, and winning beauties, but instead, he has become a rat that everyone wants to beat. He was ambushed as soon as he stepped out the door. If not for his quick wit, he would have been raped and killed by that female rebel and his body dumped in the wilderness.

Difficult! This world is just too difficult!

He might as well have been thrown directly into the late Northern Song, at least then he would know how history unfolds.

At the Dian Kui Office training ground, surrounded by guards, he arrived outside the dungeon, carrying a food box containing poisoned wine, and entered the dim dungeon alone.

Bringing poisoned wine, of course, was not something to be proud of.

There were three poetry gatherings being held in Bianjing, which should have been his time to shine, but now he could only come to the Dian Kui Office dungeon to do some despicable deeds against loyal officials. And it was all at the empress's behest—he had no choice.

Entering the dark, damp dungeon, all sorts of chaotic noises could be heard, mostly from fierce bandits of the martial world, with a few court officials. Ordinary commoners had no chance of ending up here.

In the simply furnished cell, the light was dim and the smell unpleasant. An elderly man with graying hair sat upright on the wooden bed, eyes closed.

Opening the cell door, he walked alone to the old man's side and set down the food box.

This old man was the censor Ethan Brooks, who had been thrown into the imperial prison by the emperor in a fit of rage for calling the emperor's favorite concubine, Lady Wan, a femme fatale.

He had come, naturally, at Lady Wan's behest, to send the old man on his way.

In the cell.

Ethan Brooks opened his eyes at the sound, saw that it was William Carter, and snorted, "So it's you, eunuch, sending me off. If it were a normal person, otherwise I'd be disgusted to die at your hands."

William Carter was not a eunuch, but he was part of the eunuch faction. He didn't care about this rebuke, and sat down on the messy straw, opening the food box.

Inside was a pot of poisoned wine, a sheet of xuan paper, and a brush.

Placing the paper and brush in front of Ethan Brooks, he smiled and said, "Old man, you've offended Lady Wan. You should be grateful you get to keep your whole body."

Ethan Brooks sneered, "I've studied for decades and served the country with all my heart. Why would I fear death?"

William Carter sighed helplessly, "If you die, what about your daughter? These days she's been running all over the capital alone, even begging me twice. As her father, you only care about speaking your mind, but that's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?"