Help! I'm the Plot Device: Just Here to Save the Heroes

Hangovers, Head Rubs, and Hidden Talents"

"Young master," the judge asked, bowing slightly, "would you tell us the meaning behind this work?"

Jerry tapped his fan lightly against his palm, eyes drifting toward the painting. His voice, when he spoke, was calm yet threaded with an unshakable weight.

"The pavilion at the cliff's edge," he began, "is where human emotions end, and longing begins."

He pointed lightly with the fan. "The woman in white-white is the color of parting, of mourning. She is mourning a loss too great to name. The horse behind the pavilion symbolizes a journey unfinished, a path one must walk without knowing where it begins or ends. The crescent moon above her-an incomplete circle, a reminder of loss, of something broken, yet a yearning for wholeness. And the waterfall..." His eyes softened, a faint bitterness touching his lips. "...the waterfall is the passage of time. No matter how one longs, what flows away cannot be reclaimed."

The tavern fell into silence, then a wave of thunderous applause. Even Xu Ming, who had started out smirking, found himself clapping the loudest, his eyes bright with surprise and a strange pride.

The system chimed in Jerry's head, voice uncharacteristically awed: "Congratulations, host. That was... honestly beautiful. Didn't know you had it in you."

Jerry smirked faintly, tilting his head. "This is just the beginning system."

Yet, while the crowd was swept in admiration, one figure stood apart.

Yan An, hidden among the spectators, watched intently. His gaze was sharp, thoughtful.

A prince everyone mocked as a fool, he mused. The one who burned poetry scrolls for fun, who brought trouble to every corner of the empire. The one who could not even recite the Sacred Law of the Realm, stumbling through the simplest verse of the "Edict of Heaven." Was he truly a fool... or has he fooled everyone else all along?

His eyes narrowed. Which one is the real you, Yichen? The careless prince of the past, or this veiled young master who paints farewells with aching grace? What more are you hiding behind that veil?.

From the upper floor, Yuanzhou had not moved, his hand clenched around the railing. In the silence between applause, he felt his brother slipping further and further away from the boy he once knew.

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The tavern settled again after the applause, the energy slowly fading as people drifted back to their cups of wine. Jerry and Xu Ming stepped out into the crisp air, Xu Ming still looking like he'd swallowed a whole peach pit.

"Why-why didn't you ever tell me you could do that?" Xu Ming burst out. "Calligraphy, painting, symbolism-you! The one who couldn't even write the word spring straight last year-why hide this from me?"

Jerry only smirked, flicking his fan open as if brushing the question aside. "Would you have believed me?"

Xu Ming spluttered, then laughed in disbelief. "No!"

They bought snacks from a vendor, skewers dripping with glaze, steam curling in the cool dusk air. The crowd was thick with festival stalls-silks, toys, painted masks, jade charms gleaming under lantern light. A silk seller called out to Xu Ming, waving him inside to collect something his father had ordered. Xu Ming glanced at Jerry.

"I'll be quick. Wait for me."

Jerry waved lazily. "Go. I'll entertain myself."

He wandered toward a stall selling small trinkets-hairpins, jade pendants, folding tokens carved with beasts. He bent over the counter, examining the craftsmanship, when a hooded man bumped into him hard. Jerry stumbled back, muttered, "Watch it," but the man only kept walking, head low.

Something about the cut of the cloak, the rough boots-it was like the "generic bandit" costume from every drama he'd ever binged.

"System," Jerry murmured, eyes narrowing, "who's that?"

A pause. Then the system's voice came, oddly uncertain. "Scanning... I can't find any details on him, host."

Jerry raised a brow. "So, what, just some NPC?"

"No," the system replied sharply. "I have data on NPCs too. This... this is different. I think he's a character reserved for another occasion."

Jerry's grip on his fan tightened. "So you have blind spots now? Limitations you didn't before?"

"...Yes. For now."

"Then I'll check myself."

"Be careful, host."

Jerry slipped into the moving crowd, trailing the hooded man at a distance. The man ducked into a narrow side street where another figure waited.

Jerry pressed himself into the shadows and listened.

"Was it that hard to catch that lad that night?" the second man hissed.

The hooded one spat. "We tried, but some masked bastard helped him escape."

"Catch him before San Yue," the leader snapped. "Or our lord won't spare any of us. Remember we need him alive."

The men hurried off. Jerry leaned back against the wall, heart hammering.

The boy. The night. A masked man helped him...

His eyes widened. "System-are they talking about me? That can't be right. Yichen died falling from the roof, not from bandits!"

"Yes," the system's voice grew tense, "but... host, we have a problem."

Jerry frowned. "First time you've ever called it a problem. What is it?"

"You have a new task."

Jerry exhaled. "Great. What now?"

"You must stop Crown Prince Zhao Yuanzhou's wedding with lady Liang Fei."

Jerry froze. "His wedding? How much time?"

"One month."

Jerry gave a dry laugh. "That's plenty. Why do you sound like that?"

The system hesitated. Then: "Because there's a catch. To succeed, you must make Crown Prince Zhao Yuanzhou and the Shadow Prince, Li Jie-Yan An-stand on good terms by then."

Jerry went cold, the street noise fading around him. He stood in the path, unhearing, unseeing.

A shout jolted him. "Out of the way!"

A cart barreled toward him. Jerry turned, but did not move, body rooted.

"Host! Move!" the system screamed.

Jerry only whispered, almost detached, "System... maybe there's no need."

The cart thundered closer-

-and suddenly, a sharp push from the front sent him flying backwards. Strong arms caught him mid-air, spinning his body around before landing hard on the cobblestones.

Jerry blinked up, dazed. Yuanzhou's voice cut through first, urgent and raw: "Are you hurt?!"

But when Jerry's eyes cleared, it was Yan An's face above him, holding him close, grip unyielding.

Yan An's gaze was sharp as a blade, voice low and dangerous. "Are you crazy?"

Jerry's breath caught. His heart pounded.

"...System," he muttered under his breath, lips twitching with a bitter smile. "Do you have any idea how to die properly?"

The world spun, applause and laughter replaced by silence and dread.

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