I Didn't Know My Brother Was Ying Zheng

[Coming Soon: [Three Kingdoms] Who Says a Life-Sim Player Can't Become Empress?: What? Fight for supremacy? No thanks. All that bickering is pointless. Farming is so much more relaxing. What?! Dong Zhuo dares trample my wheat? Uncle Wenyuan, get your weapons! We're going to war! Full blurb below.]

Blurb for This Novel

[The heroine and Ying Zheng are bound to the same System. They must use family affection points to unlock features. In the end, one becomes emperor in the Eastern Continent and the other empress in the Western Continent. The siblings each rule one side, and won't fight each other in their lifetimes. After all, productivity is limited, which makes it easy to preserve their sibling bond.]

*

Zhao Wenxiao woke up in the pre-Qin era, transmigrated into the body of a girl just over ten years old.

Thanks for asking. I'm in the Americas, and there aren't even many savages around.

Fortunately, she had the sort of System that usually came with transmigration.

Unfortunately, it was called the "Family Bond Conquest System," and she could only summon a gloomy young man to her side with one click during certain times of day.

According to the System, he was her older brother.

Looking at the sword in his hand, which was taller than she was, and the look on his face as if he wanted to run her through, she managed a brave smile.

She'd just have to try her best.

What else could she do? You couldn't exactly trade in an older brother.

*

Ying Zheng had been rather annoyed lately.

A bracelet that only he could see had inexplicably appeared on his wrist. It called itself a System and claimed that he had a half-sister, born of the same mother, who had been lost somewhere in the world. As their bond grew stronger, they could unlock various features to benefit his Great Qin.

As king, he was tempted. But whenever he thought of Zhao Ji, he couldn't help clenching his back teeth.

The System activated, and he arrived in an unfamiliar wilderness. When he saw the scrawny girl staring at him warily, like a wolf ready to bite off a chunk of his flesh, he knew:

The girl before him could only be his younger sister.

They shared the same phoenix eyes, and the same ambition.

*

At first, neither of them could stand the other.

But they both had their eyes on the high-yield grain seeds, agricultural tool improvement guide, spinning machine design, barefoot doctor treatment manual, and more, all in the System.

Zhao Wenxiao and Ying Zheng wanted every last one of them.

So the siblings went from reluctant partners, to making compromises for mutual gain, to facing life and death together and looking out for each other, even if only through arguments.

*

Many years after the siblings first met.

Ying Zheng, who had never summoned Zhao Wenxiao to the Xianyang Palace before, summoned her for the first time when he was attacked.

"Your Majesty, draw your sword!"

The courtier had barely spoken when a strangely dressed woman suddenly appeared in the hall. She spun, drew the sword from Ying Zheng's hand, and slashed at the assassin's throat.

As Zhao Wenxiao flicked the blood from her sword with a shake of her wrist, the assassin crashed to the ground.

Her phoenix eyes lifted slightly, and her icy words fell: "Anyone who harms my brother deserves death."

She turned around.

Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Your Majesty?"

You son of a, didn't you say your name was Qin Wenzheng, a poor soul unloved by both parents?!

*

Later, Ying Zheng ruled as emperor in the Eastern Continent, while Zhao Wenxiao reigned as empress in the Western Continent.

The world was nearly divided in two, with both sides in the hands of the siblings.

A trusted aide of Zhao Wenxiao's worriedly said, "Your Majesty, what if the prince..."

She couldn't bring herself to say the words "rebel against you."

Wang Ben, at Ying Zheng's side, had the same concern.

But Zhao Wenxiao and Ying Zheng only looked eager for a challenge. "Then let him try."

Matching wits with a worthy opponent was a joy in itself.

What did either of them have to fear?

[Reader's Guide]

1. Both siblings are proud, confident, ambitious people who refuse to submit. They'll clash early on, but not later, and they won't end up fighting. Productivity is limited, so they won't allow that to happen in their lifetimes.

2. The heroine is unrivaled in martial arts, while Ying Zheng is unrivaled in governance. Neither overshadows the other, and they learn from each other as equals. The heroine starts from scratch and gradually claims territory. Since the Americas had few people at the time, she'll bring in people from elsewhere, so people from the West in that same period will appear too!

3. At heart, this is a feel-good parallel-world story that makes up for past regrets. It aims to be historically accurate without being constrained by history. Important things must be said three times: parallel world! Parallel world! Parallel world!

>>>

[Recommended Completed Novels]

1. [Qin Shi Huang Teaches Me to Be Empress]: A tearful empress, brilliant in both letters and arms

2. [I Spent Two Hundred Years Building Infrastructure in Great Qin [The Fourth Calamity]]: Infrastructure-focused, a goddess who loves the people, with both laughter and tears

3. [Wuxia Crossover: I Took a Blind Box System into the Martial World]: A hilarious, feel-good power fantasy

>>>

[Coming Soon: [Three Kingdoms] Who Says a Life-Sim Player Can't Become Empress?]

Three Kingdoms Strategy is a high-freedom, fully immersive game advertised for its absolutely lifelike graphics.

Zhang Zhaoyuan, a life-sim enthusiast, immediately set her sights on its vast stretches of challenging, barren land.

She had no idea that she had brought a game System with her and been swept by a torrent of time into a parallel Three Kingdoms era. Everything before her was real, not a game.

As a life-sim enthusiast, she was determined to stay in Yanmen Commandery and farm, build houses, fish, and more...

*

But...

In this chaotic age, her little paradise stood out far too much. Before the Administrator of Yanmen Commandery could make a move, the Qiang leader Tan Shihuai had already set his sights on it.

One moonless night, he led two thousand elite cavalrymen, planning to raid the place and leave.

Zhang Zhaoyuan hit him with a hoe.

[Congratulations, player! You have captured Tan Shihuai, leader of the Qiang tribe. Please assign him a suitable job and set him a goal.]

Zhang Liao, who had come by for a drink: "!!"

Who knew this young friend was such a heroine!

My respect.

Later, somehow, she kept getting more and more followers. When she ran out of farmland and room to build, she had no choice but to expand into the grasslands.

*

Until...

Dong Zhuo entered the capital, deposed Emperor Shao, Liu Bian, and installed Emperor Xian, Liu Xie.

Ma Chao passionately proposed, "My lord, let's punish Dong Zhuo!"

Zhang Zhaoyuan had no interest in fighting for supremacy. Picking her teeth with a foxtail grass stem, she refused. "No. There are too many people, and they're all so noisy."

Ma Chao was disappointed.

Their lord was great in every way, except that she had no ambition.

Sigh.

Not long after, Zhao Yun brought her some news while passing by. "My lord, Dong Zhuo's horses trampled the new hybrid winter wheat we cultivated."

"How dare he!" Zhang Zhaoyuan sprang to her feet, foxtail grass still in her mouth, and slapped the table. "Uncle Wenyuan, get your weapons! Come with me to make Dong Zhuo answer for this!"

*

Later on.

Standing on Mount Qi, she said to Zhuge Liang, "Chancellor, just tell me which land you like. I'll conquer it for you to farm!"

Zhuge Liang was exasperated. "I only want to see the Han restored to unity, with peace and stability throughout the land."

"Chancellor, you're thinking too small. Why settle for uniting the Han? How about uniting all fifty-six kingdoms?" Zhang Zhaoyuan said, slapping the railing. "And peace alone isn't enough either. I say we take Gan Ning too!"

*

After unification.

Ma Yunlu and Sun Shangxiang asked her what had first inspired her to rise up and vie for the Central Plains.

"Your Majesty, didn't you say your life's only wish was to farm and build houses?"

Well...

Maybe it was the war sparked by a single stalk of winter wheat?

*

[Reader's Guide]

The Three Kingdoms era was too grim, so I wanted to mix in some lighthearted fun. It's based on Records of the Three Kingdoms, but also includes unofficial histories. The heroine's love interest is Uncle Wenyuan, but their comradeship forged through life and death outweighs the romance. They have only one daughter, who inherits the throne, and the dynasty lasts for at least three generations.

Theme: Everyone has their own way to shine. You don't have to compare yourself to others.