I Became the Older Brother of the Heroine in an Abusive Novel

It was late at night by the time Jun Huailang returned to Mingluan Palace. Jun Linghuan had suffered a fright so she was ushered to bed early, but Jun Huailang felt restless and couldn’t sleep. He didn’t expect that the seemingly impossible to unravel discord between Jun Linghuan and Xue Yan in the previous life had been caused by this.

Only after living as Xue Yan did Jun Huailang experience what kind of situation Xue Yan endured every day. Thus, Jun Linghuan who once gave him a bit of warmth and then broke it with her own hands, became the target of his vengeance in the previous life.

Jun Huailang thought that he should hate Xue Yan. Jun Linghuan had been innocent from beginning to end, yet suffered such unexpected calamity. No matter who the true mastermind was, it was Xue Yan who did it all.

But Jun Huailang still couldn’t hate him.

It was precisely because he experienced it himself that Jun Huailang understood how unbearable the pain of isolation was. It was like an icy blunt knife slicing into bloody wounds, over and over. Because of this, a moment of warmth was especially precious. Losing that warmth was much more painful than never having it. And afterwards, it was much more difficult to accept terror from the person who had given warmth than to accept the malice of other people.

Compared to Xue Yan, Jun Huailang should loathe the group of people who forced Xue Yan to this point. The people who tricked Jun Linghuan and caused Xue Yan to be punished were the ones who forced the two of them to have enmity. 

Xue Yan was a fiery pit; to touch him meant death. It was that group of people who pushed Jun Linghuan in.

But behind them was a much larger group. On the surface it was the Second Prince who framed Jun Linghuan today, but in fact, silently colluding behind him was everyone in the palace and the amoral Emperor Qingping. 

Even when Xue Yan had been exonerated for Jun Linghuan’s disappearance, didn’t Emperor Qingping still find an excuse to punish him?

Jun Huailang looked out into the night. Beyond the flickering lanterns, the darkness was ink black.

At that moment, Fuyi pushed the door open. “Young Master?” he asked, holding a lantern and glancing inside cautiously. 

“Eh?” Jun Huailang looked at him.

When Fuyi saw him, he laughed and instructed the maids behind him to come in. “This servant saw that the lights in your room were still on so I assumed you[1] were still awake. There wasn’t much to eat at the banquet today, so when this servant saw the kitchen making a midnight snack for Consort Shu, I asked for a portion for you too.”

Several maids floated in bearing jade dishes, and the small table in front of Jun Huailang was soon covered. Seven or eight types of dim sum wasn’t much food, but they were all exquisite and to his taste. Jun Huailang watched them serve dishes for a while before coming back to his senses. His stomach did feel a bit empty.

In palace banquets, there were so many nobles to entertain and the dishes needed to be refined. The single imperial kitchen often had more work than it could deal with. The dishes in banquets were often insufficient, only enough to pad one’s stomach.

After all the dishes were served, Fuyi set the table for him and placed a pair of ivory chopsticks by his hand. 

But Jun Huailang suddenly asked, “Is the Buddhist temple far from here?” 

Fuyi was taken aback. He didn’t know either, and looked at the maids behind him. One of them said, “Answering Lord Heir’s question, it is not far. Go out from the east gate and walk for one incense stick of time,[2] and you will arrive at the temple.

Jun Huailang again asked, “Is it guarded?”

The maid covered her mouth as she smiled. “Anyone can go to the temple. Besides the usual Imperial Guards, there are only monks.”

Jun Huailang hummed and fell silent. When he saw the snacks just now, he suddenly thought of Xue Yan.

Xue Yan most likely did not eat much at the banquet tonight, and he still had to kneel in the temple through the night until dawn.

A bold idea emerged in Jun Huailang’s mind. After a while, he found that he couldn’t suppress the thought at all. He pursed his lips and said with uncustomary recklessness, “Fuyi, pack up all this food. I’m going out alone.”

Fuyi was puzzled. “You want……?”

Jun Huailang said, “Don’t ask and don’t disturb my aunt. Just pack up.”

He thought, His Majesty only ordered Xue Yan to kneel all night. He didn’t say Xue Yan was not allowed to eat or have anyone visit him.

In any case, the previous life’s karma had already been cleared. In this life, Xue Yan would not murder the Jun family again, nor would he touch Jun Huailang’s sister. Since the misunderstanding has been resolved, their grievances and grudges can also be considered settled. Xue Yan was already adopted by his aunt so he could more or less be considered part Jun. Maybe in the future he could even protect Jun Huailang’s aunt and younger siblings a little.

Jun Huailang reasoned with himself in this way. 

Although he didn’t want to admit it, just thinking about Xue Yan kneeling alone in the Buddhist temple all night was unbearable. He was just a bit peeved at the injustice, that’s all. After all, Xue Yan didn’t do anything wrong. Why should he have to reflect in front of the Buddha?

Meanwhile, Fuyi obediently packed a food box for him and put it on the table. Jun Huailang got dressed and the maid draped a cloak on him. He took the food box, opened the door, and went out.

This was the first time Jun Huailang had snuck around in his whole life. He glanced at Consort Shu’s room and felt a bit nervous even though he pretended to be calm. He ordered Fuyi, “Remember, don’t let my aunt know.”

“Don’t let me know what?” A bright and charming voice rang out. 

Jun Huailang looked up and saw that Consort Shu had arrived some time ago. She had been standing silently under his window for an unknown length of time.

“…… Gumu?”[3] Jun Huailang panicked.

Unexpectedly, he died before completing his quest[4] and was caught before he could sneak out. 

“I originally wanted to ask you to take a trip there,” Consort Shu met his eyes and turned away stiffly. There was some awkwardness in her cold expression. “If servants go, it would seem like it was my[5] intention. This kind of thing needs to be handled by you, child.”

Jun Huailang was puzzled. Consort Shu raised her hand. He looked down and saw her holding a heavy cloak. 

“The temple is cold at night, take it to him,” Consort Shu said awkwardly and assumed a casual look. “In today’s matter, I wronged him.”

On the banks of the Milky Way outside the southern sky, an immortal tree grew among the sea of clouds. It was a hundred twenty zhang[6] tall, with lush leaves and brimming with peach blossoms. It rang like pearl and jade bells at the touch of a breeze. Beneath the tree sat two people playing chess. One of them was elderly man with white hair and beard, who pondered over the chessboard for a long while before tossing the pieces in his hand on the board and ruining the whole game.

“Who in the Heavenly Court doesn’t know this immortal is a lousy chess player? Even the Jade Emperor[7] will let me take a few pieces, but you are an ignorant underworlder. You kill me like fallen flowers carried away by flowing water every time!”

The old man was still angry. He reached out and pushed over the board before giving up.

“Forget it. I didn’t come to the Heavenly Court today to play chess with you, old man.” Sitting opposite to the elderly man was the lord of the underworld, Fu Jun.[8] “I’m here to ask you, have you dealt with that soul that Heibai Wuchang[9] sent to the wrong place?”

Mingge Xing Jun[10] stroked his beard and said, “More or less. This immortal gave him a few prophetic dreams, only the youngster is supported by an immortal. His disposition is very tough so there’s no way to enter his spiritual consciousness, but recently it finally succeeded.”

“Prophetic dreams?” Fu Jun frowned. “Why aren’t you in a hurry to call the soul back?”

Mingge Xing Jun squinted at him. “You think this is a good move? His fate is tied to the evil star, he deserves to live again. Why do you think the evil star bathed the secular world in rivers of blood when he descended? The reason is because Yue Lao[11] didn’t tie the red thread between the two of them. This person was specially sent to suppress evil. If they were not tied tightly, how could evil be suppressed?“

Fu Jun said, “But he read your fic……”

Minge Xing Jun coughed in embarrassment. “That’s why I sent him dreams,” he said.  “The dreams are the reason why I originally wrote the fic.”

Fu Jun asked, “Will it seriously work?”

Questioned over and over, Mingge Xing Jun angrily said, “The books this little old man writes is thicker than your underworld’s life and death registry, how can you understand things better than I?”

Fu Jun knew the old man was obstinate so he didn’t say any more. Since Mingge Xing Jun took responsibility for the whole matter, he was also relieved. Mingge Xing Jun doing this would resolve a lot of troubles for him. 

The lonely Polis star[12] hung high in the southern sky. Every ten thousand years it descended to experience tribulation, and after one hundred times it could cultivate into a real immortal. Every time it descended, blood flowed like rivers and the underworld had to toil hard. He had already been busy over this matter 99 times, he ought to take a break for this last time.

Fu Jun stood up and said goodbye.

He was about to leave when Mingge Xing Jun stopped him. “Wait, I have something to ask you too.”

Fu Jun turned around and saw the old man sitting as before, wringing his hands with a somewhat awkward expression on his face.

“…… Do the young ladies in your underworld read BL?”

“B-what?” Fu Jun was puzzled.

Mingge Xing Jun cleared his throat and waved his hands. “It’s nothing. Go, just leave.”

Mingge Xing Jun understood, regardless of whether the girls were from heaven or below, as long as the story was interesting, what did gender matter? He had been worried about the evil star for the past few days and stared at the secular world every day. After seeing so much, he thought the two men were fascinating. It was worth writing another story. Mingge Xing Jun’s hands itched.

Notes:

[1] 您 respectful form of you.[2] In ancient times, incense was one of the methods used to keep time. Depending on the type of incense used, it could be anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes.[3] 姑母 paternal aunt[4] 出师未捷身先死 line from poem “The Premier of Shu” by Du Fu. https://www.istudy-china.com/du-fu-poems-temple-of-the-premier-of-shu/[5] 本宫 more literally translates to “this palace” I guess, with similar connotations to the English royal “we.” It’s commonly used by the head of noble houses/palaces, but Consort Shu doesn’t use this often.[6] 丈 traditional unit of length, about 3.3 meters or 10 feet.[7] 玉帝 the Jade Emperor is the supreme deity of Taoism and ruler of the heavens. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Emperor[8] 府君 Lord of the Underworld. Remember him from the prologue?[9] 黑白无常 two deities in Chinese folk religion in charge of escorting the spirits of the dead to the underworld. They are always dressed in black and white.[10] 命格星君 loosely means Lord of Star-Crossed Destiny. He was mentioned in the prologue.[11] 月老 Old Man of the Moon, god of marriage and love. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yue_Lao[12] 七杀星 lit. the Seven Killings Star, a destructive martial star that signifies conquest and victory.