An unfamiliar room, well-furnished in a traditional Chinese style; strong smells like dust, coal smoke, incense. A silence so loud it was deafening. There was a clear, chubby white hand at my side that curled into a fist when I willed it, and when I lurched up into a sitting posture, I felt a long braid move along my back, noted my short legs and other features. Added with my memories of dying in a car accident, I had a pretty good idea of what was going on here.

Soul transmigration! As! A rich boy in the ancient era!

I'd read a ton of novels like this! Well, not like this, specifically; protagonists are usually on the thin side after all. But at least three chubby examples came to mind. After a little more thinking, one was a Japanese story with a Western setting, and another had gone on and on about how rough the protagonist's skin was before he lost weight. If this was a world that I knew - if I was the protagonist and not a side character - then the only one left was…

“Rong Xiugang.” I mumbled it out loud, wanting to hear my new voice.

A shiver ran down my back, but I didn't pay it too much mind. I was trying to remember the story; I vaguely felt that it was one of those two thousand chapter monstrosities I couldn't finish. I think I had been fascinated by the beginning, though. It was definitely a xuanhuan novel, with revenge as a theme…

Right! Rong Xiugang was a bitter and tragic time-traveling protagonist. The narration was third person omniscient- sometimes it would reveal some misunderstanding to the readers, so we'd get to watch Rong Xiugang make mistakes based on his wrongful past knowledge. There wasn't too much faceslapping, and he didn't attract hordes of dimwitted followers. There were some cool creatures in the first parts, as well. But, it was his family circumstances that originally caught my attention as they were different from many other web novels.

Originally Rong Xiugang was raised as the spoiled eldest son of a prominent cultivator - but actually, nothing in his life was as he thought!

His father wasn't his father, his loving stepmother was secretly scheming against him, his cute little brother coveted his things, and even his dead mother was actually alive somewhere. She had merely abandoned him to her green hat husband. His friends stabbed him in the back, his fiancee betrayed him, and it wasn't worth mentioning how his mentor screwed him over. Every person Rong Xiugang dared to trust carved a new wound on him. It was a thorough blackening.

I was pretty sure the story started with his death at the hands of a woman. I couldn't remember her name, and I wasn't sure what she meant to him - it's not like she was the only person to try to kill him - and after dying, the bitter Rong Xiugang woke up to find he had become a twelve year old all over again.

If I didn't miss my guess, I'd also become a twelve year old version of him.

Getting up, I looked for a robe and shoes. It was a little chilly even with my extra insulation; I stepped out into a neat courtyard and lifted my eyes. It was the break of dawn, but the blue tinge was limited to the eastern horizon. I couldn't help but be dazzled by how many stars there were in this ancient sky; even at this hour, with lanterns overhead, I thought I could spot the Milky Way.

The floor had creaked under my feet, and after a few minutes, someone else came out. A young woman dressed in plain cotton, rubbing at her eye, called out to me; “Young master? It is very early…”

She seemed to be a servant, and for a moment I was glad to see her. This way, I could quickly confirm my age and identity. However… I had no idea how to address her. What was her name again?

An answer floated up. “A’Sisi,” I tried. From her expression of mild expectation, it didn't seem to be the wrong name. “I want to go out for a walk.”

Sisi’s mouth twisted. “Young master Rong, at this hour?” Her tone was a little too familiar, but I wasn't worried about it - this really was the Rong family!

“Am I so young that I can't go for a walk?” I asked, trying to sound whiny instead of excited while I fished for information.

“It isn't that, but, if it's outside of the Rong family, the Madam doesn't want the young master to go alone…”

“I wanna go with gege,” A sleepy voice said (1). I felt a wave of anger flow through my body at the sound, my fist and teeth clenching automatically. It was a little off-putting, but I decided that it must be cuteness aggression. After all, this was the first time I'd had a little brother! His hair was mussed on one side as he slipped out into the courtyard, and as someone that had always been good with kids, I really wanted to pinch his cheeks.

“Hmm, is my little brother old enough to go exploring?”

“Gege, I'm already nine!” the boy complained.

Rong Xiujian, one of Rong Xiugang’s worst enemies, was three years younger than him. I felt like this was pretty solid proof that I'd guessed correctly. The timing seemed to be accurate as well.

Xiujian was an antagonist, but a sympathetic character if you thought about it. After all, Rong Xiujian was the real first son of the family, born to Rong Yutang and his first wife Yu Qianqian. The things he took from the protagonist, they weren't earned by the protagonist anyway; they had all been given to Rong Xiugang by Xiujian's parents.

Also, Xiujian waited until his older brother had been missing for six years to marry Xiugang’s fiancee; wasn't that pretty considerate?

“Second young master,” Sisi greeted him, a little more polite. “Can I suggest that the two of you take a walk in the gardens? Later, a guard can be arranged, but you must return before noon.”

I sighed, but nodded. As Sisi bowed, I walked over and offered my hand to Xiujian. When he took it, I noticed that his little hands were faintly warm and sticky in the way of all children. He held on to my fingers tightly, showing his reliance. It warmed my heart, my teeth clenching again involuntarily.

The two step-brothers had a pretty good relationship in the original timeline. Xiugang was a spoiled brat, but Xiujian was like his little lieutenant. It's really sad that things would change so much.

I let Xiujian lead the way since I didn't know this place at all. He was yawning, but he started to talk soon, rambling about training and recent events and what would be happening later today. He didn't need much of a response to keep going, and his words helped to jog my memory.

“Father's birthday banquet is gonna be so boring, right?”

“Mn.” Right! Rong Xiugang was reborn on his stepfather’s birthday - a day that served as the beginning of the end of his easy life.

“Everyone just comes to suck up ‘cause he's the strongest. I don't know why we have to be polite to people like that. They're so annoying!”

Rong Yutang was the most powerful cultivator in Guoyang town, bar none. Thus his birthday was always a lavish event. Early gifts had started to arrive the month before.

“A’Jian, it's not like you have to talk to them. You can play shy.” I was a little worried that this form of address would come off weird, but he didn't seem to notice anything was strange.

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“Hmmph. I meant father shouldn't have to put up with those guys. Augh! You know what I heard?!” I made a noise of interest, and Xiujian continued right away, getting quite passionate.

“Old Lu heard from a servant in the Zhang household that the old fart there got drunk last week and was making fun of father.” Another little yawn broke through, and I locked my jaw so I wouldn't copy him. “That guy, he said it was ridiculous to have such a big banquet for an orphan. Can you believe that?!”

“Rumors aren't always truth,” I said, and then realized a second later that it wasn't something Xiugang would have said. Xiujian had stopped in place to stare, so I backtracked. “That guy is too much of a coward to say anything to father's face, and even if he said it behind his back, it's just jealousy.”

“Hmmph!”

Slowly remembering the details, I squeezed Xiujian’s hand. “He probably wishes he were half as brave as Father. If something like that happened to his family, would the Zhang household ever make a comeback?”

“Never!”

Most families here were multigenerational, but the current patriarch of the Rong clan, Rong Yutang, was rather unlucky.

In the novel, it was revealed that he was the only survivor of an attack by demonic cultivators that wanted to claim the Mount Guo area as their territory.  His family had been the major cultivation clan of this county for more than a century, and he was able to sneak away with many of the family treasures and texts - with his talent and those resources in hand, it took him less than twenty years to take back his family home.

He would have made a pretty good protagonist in his own right; Rong Yutang had all the makings of a good story, so I thought it was a shame that he was just a cuckold background character here.

“Gege, you know, I heard something else he said too. You really can't make excuses for that Zhang family! Because they were even talking about, um.” His voice dropped. “About mother, and Aunt Yue.”

Ah. Yeah, the real twelve year old Rong Xiugang would have been furious about that.

But… I didn't know what to say at all.

Rong Yutang had met both of his wives while he was very young, and genuinely loved them both. His first wife Yu Qianqian belonged to an old vassal family of the Rong clan, and her Yu family helped him when he came back to chase the demonic cultivators out. Yu Qianqian had married late for waiting for him, as they had an unofficial agreement in place before the Rong family's demise.

His second wife, Lan Yue, he met while on the run. It was her that healed the wounds he received when his family was attacked. As the only disciple of the country’s greatest doctor Lan Yue had been able to hide him well and aid him in his cultivation. It was just a shame that she wasn't fated to stay with him.

The circumstances of Rong Xiugang’s birth seemed to be pretty unique for a xianxia protagonist. His mother was a strange person, devoted first to the path of medicine and secondly to living freely. I'm trying to put things nicely. She helped Rong Yutang because he was handsome, and accepted his marriage proposal when he tracked her down. But a month before the wedding, Lan Yue slept with a demonic cultivator and became pregnant! Out of! Wedlock!

She delayed childbirth a few months to ensure that Rong Xiugang would be treated as a legitimate son, and then after a year or so, Lan Yue faked her death and disappeared.

Yu Qianqian, as Xiugang’s stepmother, was naturally an antagonist. However, she was also a little sympathetic. When Lan Yue faked her death, most people thought that Yu Qianqian had secretly killed her, and even Rong Yutang had doubts.

It was well known that Yu Qianqian was unhappy that her husband that she had waited so long for, had gone on a trip for more than a year to bring back a second wife. In the first place, it wasn't usual for there to be two legitimate wives.

Yu Qianqian had given birth to his first child the year before, his eldest daughter Xiumei. Even aside from the discomfort of sharing a husband, I felt that it was natural for her to resent being left alone with a young child.

Under suspicion for the second wife's death, Yu Qianqian was naturally not happy to raise that second wife's son. But she was smarter than most stepmothers in fiction; she knew there was only punishment waiting if she wronged the child. She took to the task of raising Rong Xiugang very earnestly, giving him all of the best things and even things from her own dowry. Yu Qianqian chose the name Gang for him from the name of her own esteemed grandfather that had sacrificed himself to save Rong Yutang, making it clear to all that she was treating him as her real son.

When she became pregnant again, Yu Qianqian still made sure to prioritize the eldest son. The name Jian for Xiujian was chosen to match Gang, and she urged the three year old to play her son often. It seemed like she was a much better mother to him than his real one.

Unfortunately, her attitude couldn't stay so good forever. At the age of five, Rong Xiugang's spirit roots were tested and found lacking. Unlike Rong Yutang’s astounding talent, his first son was barely able to cultivate.

Rong Yutang was devastated by this. For years it had been his goal to restore his clan, and his childrens’ strength was crucial to this. Still, when he saw Xiugang cry, saw Xiujian comfort him, he called for Xiumei too and found some words to say.

“There are many worthwhile paths in this world, not just the path of cultivation. In the future, the three of you will support each other.”

Xiujian was just a toddler, and he didn't understand what was going on, but was always the one to cry the loudest. So Rong Yutang comforted him especially, saying something like, “One day, you'll be the one to look out for and protect your older brother.”

To Yu Qianqian, this kind of talk naturally awoke some hope of seeing her real son become the head of the family. In the name of comforting Xiugang, she began to ply him with sweets and encourage him to pursue fun over his studies. The twelve year old Xiugang of the original timeline had been chubby, spoiled, arrogant, and ignorant as a result.

“Gege? Gang-gege?”

“About mother and Aunt Lue’s matters…”

Blankly repeating after Xiujian, I still couldn't think of anything to say.

Xiujian was waiting for my anger, I think, but he eventually got impatient and stamped his little foot. “Maybe we should tell father! I hope father kills him!”

“Mmmn…”

“Gege, what's with you? Are you sick?”

“Maybe…”

“Okay, let's get out of the cold first! A’Sisi can help, you have to feel better soon! You have to go to the banquet!”

I remembered only a little bit about Rong Yutang's birthday banquet, but maybe it was best to play sick and stay out of it. I also had to think a little about what to do now.

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(1) Gege 哥哥: a less formal way to say older brother