NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 3 - My Younger Brother
In the courtyard.
The spring breeze carried a hint of chill, and Xia Chen’s heart could not find peace.
The Empress, she was the most powerful existence in the 【Great Unification】 version, her might dominating the world, with the eight desolates submitting to her rule.
She gathered the world’s fortune and established an eternal law!
Subsequently, leveraging the fortune of the Great Unification, she built a temple, with great ambition, she made a grand vow to the Heavenly Way, forcibly transforming the Great Wu Dynasty into a fortune-based dynasty ahead of schedule. Within the Great Wu, fortune suppressed everything.
From then on, anyone not a subject of the Great Wu was considered a heretic, with their cultivation speed significantly slowed down.
Those holding official positions in the Great Wu, depending on their rank, could draw upon varying degrees of the dynasty’s fortune to accelerate their cultivation.
All the heroes of the world were thus ensnared!
“This situation persisted until the 【Spiritual Energy Revival and Fusion of Myriad Worlds】 phase, when the Empress disappeared, the Great Wu’s fortune collapsed, and the Great Unification fell apart.
Only then were the heroes of the world liberated from the suppression of the Great Wu’s national fortune. But once the Pandora’s box was opened, there was no going back. Subsequently, every ruler of a dynasty emulated the Empress, using fortune to suppress their territories, turning dynasty fortune into a cultivation supplement. The higher the official rank, the faster the cultivation speed, with the dynasty rulers reaping the greatest benefits…”
Xia Chen was carefully recalling the subsequent plot. In his previous life, he had merely treated this world as a game, and thus did not pay much attention in the early stages, merely skimming through many details.
However, as the 【Fusion of Myriad Worlds】 version was activated, and this world became the main world, everything became real. The players no longer had their immortal bodies, and it was then that he realized something was amiss.
“I’ve never heard of the Empress having a fiance!”
Xia Chen shook his head, trying hard to recall and deduce the current situation based on the later plot, but unfortunately, in his previous life, he had entered this world during the early period of the 【Great Unification】 version. No one knew what had happened to the Empress, who was still the second princess during the 《Emperor Wen period》.
“Wait, during the Great Unification period, the Marquis of Zhen Dong’s mansion still shone brightly, producing numerous outstanding talents. My younger brother, Xia Hao, possessed the legendary Supreme Bone and had an astonishing talent. During the Empress’s reign, he became the pillar of the empire, the sharpest spear in the Great Wu’s territorial expansion, and established remarkable military achievements.
The Empress, with her great ambition, broke the ancestral rules and enfeoffed my younger brother as the Marquis of Zhen Dong.
However, there were rumors in the marketplace that the reason my younger brother Xia Hao was enfeoffed as a king was because, when the Empress was in a difficult situation, she had a marriage contract with an ordinary young man from the Marquis of Zhen Dong’s mansion. But in the end, this young man from the mansion died in the coup.
After the Empress ascended to the throne, the marriage contract was left unresolved. But it was because of this matter that the Empress compensated the Xia family and exceptionally enfeoffed Xia Hao as a king…”
Originally, Xia Chen had always thought that these things were just rumors in the marketplace, believing that these rumors were just some people’s attempts to slander the Empress and the Marquis of Zhen Dong.
But now it seems that perhaps everything is true. The Empress and the Marquis of Zhen Dong really have a past, and that ordinary young man from the mansion, whose name was not even recorded in history, was him—Xia Chen.
“Is my existence just a dark history, an unpleasant past that would tarnish the Empress’s glorious image, so that I don’t even have a name?”
Xia Chen laughed bitterly, but the double-pupil phenomenon in his eyes reappeared. His eyes seemed like a fusion of the sun and the moon, combined into one, with chaotic energy spreading and cold light flickering in his eyes.
“So it seems that my story ends with the coup. No wonder in my previous life, I never heard that the Marquis of Zhen Dong’s mansion had a legitimate son named Xia Chen, or that the brilliant and dazzling pillar of the empire, Xia Hao, had an elder brother!”
Xia Chen’s expression became calm again, like the water of an abyss, without any ripples.
He walked into the house and dressed himself in a set of fine clothes. There used to be some maids in the courtyard, but after the age of 12, the marquisate had withdrawn all the maids.
It was not that the marquisate looked down on him because he was young, but all the descendants of the marquisate were like this.
Before reaching the eighth rank, martial artists must avoid breaking their bodies.
However, martial artists in their prime, with beautiful maids around all day, could not help but taste forbidden fruit, which would affect their future prospects.
As soon as Xia Chen stepped out of the courtyard, a beautiful woman in a light green silk dress, around 16 years old, walked gracefully towards Xia Chen.
“Bizhu!”
Xia Chen recognized this woman.
“Third young master, my lord and madam are calling for you.”
Bizhu stopped in front of Xia Chen and bowed respectfully. She did not act arrogantly or look down on this young master, who was somewhat transparent in the marquisate, as seen in TV dramas.
“I know!”
Xia Chen nodded and followed Bizhu. Looking at her graceful and undulating hips, he suddenly felt his blood rushing and had trouble suppressing his urges. He quickly averted his gaze. He had just broken through and was now at the peak of his vitality. Bizhu was a maid by the matriarch of the Xia family, Cui Mengrou, who had always planned to transfer Bizhu to Xia Chen’s courtyard to take care of his daily life once Xia Chen broke through the eighth rank.
Xia Chen tried to distract himself and began to sort out the family relationships in the marquisate. The marquisate had a 600-year-old legacy, and now there were only three direct lines.
The old marquis, Marquis of Zhen Dong Xia Chutian, was now 86 years old but still had strong vitality. However, he no longer dealt with family or state affairs and was in seclusion, hoping to reach a higher rank.
The old marquis had three sons: the eldest son Xia Qian, who was called “my lord” by Bizhu; the second son Xia Yuan, Xia Chen’s biological father, who was called “second master” in the mansion; and the third son Xia Han.
The current head of the marquisate was the eldest master, Anwu Marquis Xia Qian.
Xia Chen followed Bizhu through the winding outer courtyard and arrived at a large hall.
As soon as he entered, he saw a stern-looking middle-aged man sitting in the main seat and a woman in her thirties, well-preserved and with a graceful and noble demeanor, sitting beside him.
“Uncle, aunt!”
Xia Chen respectfully bowed as soon as he entered the hall.
“Chen’er, we are all family here, no need for such formality!”
Xia Qian smiled and told Xia Chen to get up. The beautiful lady beside him also spoke.
“Chen’er, it has been a long time since you last came to our courtyard for meals. Have you heard that your younger brother and sister are coming back and thus become distant with your aunt?”
Cui Mengrou, the matriarch of the Xia family, playfully scolded Xia Chen, her eyes full of charm, showing the demeanor of a mature woman. Cui Mengrou had raised Xia Chen since he was a child and treated him as her own child…
“Aunt, recently Chen’er has been diligently practicing martial arts, so I have been negligent!”
Xia Chen smiled and walked closer, sitting beside Cui Mengrou.
He felt a warmth in his heart. Although his biological mother had ignored him for all these years, putting all her love on her second son, his uncle and aunt had truly cared for him.
They did not look down on him because he was born with a weak body. He had grown up in the marquisate from the age of three without suffering much grievance, thanks to the care of Xia Qian and Cui Mengrou.
Upon hearing that Xia Chen had been diligently practicing martial arts, both Xia Qian and Cui Mengrou’s faces darkened, and they sighed inwardly. Although a person born with a weak body could practice martial arts, it was very difficult to achieve great things in this life. Even with a hundred times more effort than others, the results would still be minimal.
Xia Qian and Cui Mengrou then asked Xia Chen what he still lacked. The three of them chatted warmly, making it seem like a real family.
“Your father has achieved great merits in the Eastern Wasteland, and the emperor has granted a marriage contract, betrothing the second princess to you. You know about this, right? What are your thoughts on this matter?”
After the small talk, Xia Qian got down to business.
“Just now I learned about it!” Xia Chen nodded, then his eyes became serious. “Is there any room for negotiation in this matter?”
For others, marrying a princess was an unparalleled honor. But for the marquisate and Xia Chen himself, it was more like adding icing to the cake, and it might even be somewhat restrictive. Especially since the woman in question was the future empress—this marriage was even more perilous! Too dangerous. Who knew how his previous self had died?
…
【”When the Emperor was young, his martial talent was not outstanding, hence his parents were not very close to him. His parents went to the battlefield and did not return home for fourteen years, and their family letters were also rare, which made the Emperor feel quite neglected by his parents. When the Emperor was only three years old, he lived alone in the clan. Fortunately, his uncle and aunt treated him like their own child, and he was well taken care of and raised to adulthood.” ——《History of Xia》, Volume One, Chronicles of the Founding Emperor】