Withered Servility

A heart full of schemes, a mouth full of nonsense,

Bending at the waist at the sight of money, smiling at everyone,

Always pushing his luck, never letting the slightest slight go,

When death looms, he casts everything aside.

It's hard to believe this man is his long-lost elder brother! How can he let the Gu family's bloodline wander outside the family? He has to make him return to his roots... Damn it! What spell has gotten into this girl that she could fall for him? Even if they aren't related by blood, he can't entrust his little sister to someone like this! But when did he start being unable to take his eyes off him...

He asks for neither a life of wealth nor a lifetime of glory; neither a hand to hold until their hair turns white nor the joy of children gathered around them. All he wants is for the Gu family to live in peace and for his younger siblings to stay healthy, even if he gets covered in filth and cursed for the rest of his life. But... how can a lowly ant stand against the mighty tide of history...

"In the second month of the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu, Ming, Xuewen was implicated in the Hu-Lan faction case. Six members of the family, including Dequan, a great-grandson of Wan San, and the entire Gu family, were sentenced to death by slicing on the same day.", Gazetteer of Zhouzhuang Town, Volume Six: Miscellaneous Records

[A Ming Dynasty story about an older brother and younger brother. If biological-brother romance is a dealbreaker, don't click.]

Note: The story is set against the early Ming Blue Jade case. It begins in the autumn of the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, six months before the secret plot is exposed.

Note: This does not end with everyone dying! Don't be misled by the quotation, haha~