Chapter 2007
The Prodigal Son 1
Liu Mei and Liu Tong became the envy of many women, and they were proud of it. They looked down on Liu Tong, thinking that he had brought trouble upon himself.
Liu Dong chuckled: "How can a sparrow know the ambitions of a swan?!"
Five years is enough time for Liu Dong to make sufficient preparations.
This time, the Great Xia took the initiative to launch an attack.
Liu Dong led the Tian Ce Army at the forefront, heading straight for the heart of the enemy.
The capital of the Northern Desert Kingdom was captured, and all members of the royal family were sent by Liu Dong to the capital of the Great Xia Kingdom for a "tea ceremony."
When the good news reached the capital, everyone was shocked, followed by ecstasy.
The Northern Desert Kingdom was the greatest threat to the Great Xia Kingdom, and the court officials were always worried that the Northern Desert Kingdom's army would knock on the gates and march south to invade the Central Plains.
But now, they don't have to worry anymore!
Everyone was praising Liu Dong's achievements.
When Liu Dong returned to the capital with the emperor of the Northern Desert Kingdom, he received an imperial edict bestowing upon him the title of king.
From then on, Liu Dong became the only king of the Great Xia Dynasty who did not share the same surname.
When the news reached the Liu family, Zhao was so excited that she fainted.
Although Lord Liu and his two sons were happy, they were also somewhat uneasy.
The fact that the most successful member of the Liu family is a girl makes the men seem incompetent.
Liu Mei and Liu Tong are currently experiencing the most complex emotions.
A king of a different surname!
That was a status that even their husbands dared not dream of!
I heard that the Empress has taken several men into her harem.
Now that Liu Dong has become a prince, will he also find a few men to serve him?
The two women were so jealous that their eyes turned red at the thought of Liu Tong being fawned over by a group of handsome men.
But their jealousy was useless; they dared not and could not allow men to serve them.
These two people lived their lives with resentment.
They had been keeping an eye on Liu Dong, and saw that she had successively subdued two other neighboring countries, and later even went to sea to conquer an island nation.
Liu Dong's achievements are unparalleled. Although he did not marry or have children, and had no descendants to worship him, he was honored to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, with royal family members offering incense to him.
Such a high achievement is something that even men cannot reach.
Liu Mei and Liu Tong: If there is an afterlife, could they learn from Liu Tong and compete with men for a place in the world?
Liu Tong didn't stay in this world for long, after all, he had already become too powerful and threatened the emperor's authority.
To avoid him eventually losing his temper and rebelling, Liu Dong decided it was best to leave this world.
This world just happened to brush past another small world, so Liu Dong went directly to that small world.
Because it was a direct incarnation, Liu Dong skipped the reincarnation process and directly possessed the body of a boy who had just died.
The boy's family was considered wealthy.
His father was a mid-level official in the imperial court, and he had two older brothers, one who studied literature and the other who studied martial arts.
My elder brother, Liu Chong, has passed the imperial examination and been appointed as a county magistrate.
The second elder brother, Liu Chong, was a seventh-rank official.
The boy has two sisters.
The elder sister, Liu, was very beautiful and ambitious. Ignoring her parents' advice, she took it upon herself to participate in the imperial concubine selection. Unlike the Qing Dynasty, the selection process in this dynasty was not mandatory for daughters of officials; it was based on voluntary participation.
Lady Liu was indeed beautiful. After entering the palace, she gained the emperor's favor and remained so ever since. Five years have passed since then.
During this period, Liu became pregnant twice.
She gave birth to a prince in her first pregnancy, but he died before reaching his first birthday.
The second pregnancy ended up being lost in the womb.
Lady Liu was heartbroken, but thanks to the two times the emperor compensated her, she was promoted from a seventh-rank beauty to a second-rank virtuous consort.
Because of Lady Liu's favor with the emperor, the Liu family naturally benefited as well.
However, they were not true imperial relatives; it was just that Liu's father and two brothers had been promoted three ranks in their official positions. Among the families of the concubines, they were only considered to be of lower to middle social standing.
Of course, this is inseparable from the Liu family's low-key approach.
Liu Tong and her younger sister Liu Yu'er were twins. Although they were not as beautiful as Liu Shi, they were still pretty girls.
Because both sons were successful, Mr. and Mrs. Liu did not demand as much of their younger son as they did of their older two, but instead spoiled him more.
The original owner of this body was spoiled and became somewhat naive and playful, but she was not a spoiled brat.
But he had a playboy by his side, and this time, his playboy friend took the original owner to a brothel.
As a result, the playboy friend got into a fight with another person over the courtesan, accidentally injuring the original owner of the body, causing the original owner to fall down the stairs and lose her life.
When Liu Dong arrived, he had already taken away the original owner's soul.
In his space, there was another soul, one he had encountered when he first entered this world.
That soul had been wandering the world for hundreds of years, and it was about to dissipate.
Liu Dong had a feeling of destiny, so she put the soul away and nourished it with the spiritual energy in the space.
The two souls were cleansed and nourished by the spiritual energy in the space, and gradually became stronger.
After Liu Dong possessed the body, he began to recuperate. Although Liu's father and mother were angry that Liu Dong had gone to a brothel, they could not blame their son since he had almost died.
Liu Dong took advantage of this leisure time to begin cultivating.
This world has spiritual energy, though scarce, it's enough for Liu Dong to cultivate to the Golden Core stage.
In the ancient world where martial arts were relatively weak, the Golden Core stage was like a god-like existence.
After staying in his room for a few days, Liu Dong had a recliner placed in the courtyard, where he lay down and read.
Unfortunately, most ancient vernacular stories were about talented men and beautiful women, so only some travelogues were somewhat interesting.
Liu Yu'er came over while Liu Dong was reading a book.
"Young man, are you feeling better?" Liu Yu'er asked with concern.
"I'm all better now. What brings you here today?"
His younger sister is even busier than him.
Liu's mother hired a female tutor for Liu Yu'er. Liu Yu'er had so much to learn that she spent eight out of the twelve hours a day studying.
Even eating and walking are forms of learning.
Mother Liu had discussed with her eldest daughter the idea of marrying her youngest daughter into a noble family so that she could become the matriarch.
Liu Yuer: "I told you I was coming to visit you, and the master agreed."
She used Liu Dong as an excuse to want to take a break.
Studying all day is really exhausting.
Fortunately, she has already learned everything she needed to learn, and now she can relax.
Liu Dong chuckled, he didn't think Liu Yu'er would have an easy time in the future.
No more studying; now I'll be accompanying Mother Liu to various flower-viewing parties and getting to know the noble ladies of the capital.
Socializing is more tiring than studying; at least studying doesn't require scheming.
Liu Yu'er saw the books Liu Tong had put aside, picked one up, and started flipping through them.
This was originally a story about a scholar and his daughter.
The scholar and the young lady fell in love at first sight in the temple.
The scholar was poor, so the young lady sponsored his studies with money to prepare for the imperial examinations.
The scholar passed the imperial examination with top honors and came to the young lady's house to propose marriage. The lovers eventually became husband and wife.
Liu Yu'er looked on with envy: "That's so wonderful! I wonder if I'll ever meet someone so sincere in the future."
Liu Tong: "Hehe, don't even think about it. These stories are just fantasies written by down-on-their-luck scholars. Where in reality would you find such a good thing?" (End of Chapter)