Reborn as Su Shi's Sickly Older Brother [Northern Song Dynasty, Imperial Exams]

My next novel will be about a female emperor: What? The throne is mine, and you didn't tell me sooner? I've already gotten everything ready to rebel! It's a Qin dynasty transmigration story about Fusu's daughter, a female emperor who loves beauty, but loves the empire even more.

Su Jingxian never expected that after walking along Su Causeway, he'd open his eyes and find himself as Su Xun's eldest son.

Good news: He's not Su Shi.

Bad news: He's the eight-year-old boy who died young, the original Su Jingxian. And now he's eight years old too, burning with a fever that won't go down. He wakes up, and it's him.

What really makes him lose it is that Su Jingxian carefully works out the numbers. If he lives to a hundred, he'll be in his nineties when the capital falls and the people are plunged into misery.

Help! Isn't that a bit much for a hundred-year-old man to deal with?

He'll work hard and make something of himself, starting at eight!

Naturally, he can't be the only one studying. His father is 22 and has just failed the exams, so he's the perfect study partner.

Five Years of Imperial Exams, Three Years of Practice Tests; Essential Questions for the Imperial Exams; The Top Student's Notes.

Su Xun: Study, my dear dad. Who could possibly keep up with you?

The high fever in his childhood left him with a chronic ailment. Even as an adult, Su Jingxian coughs when the wind blows.

Then the sickly Su Jingxian took his cough to court, and then onto the battlefield.

In the end, everyone had heard that the Song dynasty had a sickly man who was ruthless and hard-hearted.

When he coughs, whether you'll have a bad day is up to fate.

Luckily, Su Jingxian has a weakness everyone knows about: his graceful, literary younger brother, Su Shi.

Su Shi, who spends his whole life either in exile or on the way to exile (innocently): Brother, get me out of here.

The emperor, unaware that he was originally fated to die young but kept alive by Su Jingxian's butterfly effect (excitedly): My minister, who are we fighting this time?

Maybe this will be the next book:

After transmigrating as Su Shi's cousin, my inner thoughts were exposed, but I insulted the entire court in my head. What do I do? Su Zhe, cousin, can you bail me out too? [Northern Song]

[Inner thoughts + gossip. A clear-headed college student who says everything in his mind, and whose thoughts are broadcast to the whole court.]

[In the setting, his identity is only revealed near the very end. The inner thoughts work like trending topics: it's like reading the newspaper and commenting on it every day, so there aren't many options, but the odds of him being found out are lower too. (I can only think of this way to keep his identity secret, darn it. I might update the setting if I start writing it.)]

[Even if he's found out, he won't die, because I've also given him a survival skill: kill him, and all the gossip gets exposed, along with the loss of the thing you love most.]

[That's more or less it. Ahhhhh, babies, please take a look.]

Su Jinghe, a clear-headed college student, walked along Su Causeway and immediately transmigrated, becoming Su Shi's cousin, a man of outstanding learning and poor character.

Good news: He transmigrated with a golden finger! Passing the time with a little gossip is a nice way to while away the hours.

Bad news: The System says he'll live to a hundred. Doesn't that mean he'll have to live through the Jingkang Incident?

Knowing full well how useless he is, Su Jinghe plans to spend each day fooling around as best he can.

[There's no way a good-for-nothing like me can change the Jingkang Incident. The Song is poor and weak, and they kneel faster than anyone when faced with wolves and tigers. Do they think I can stop them from kneeling? Better to slack off at work and take each day as it comes.]

It's just that his inner thoughts are freely broadcast to every court official, and Su Jinghe has no idea.

All the officials in court, including the emperor, who are there with Su Jinghe, look up.

Who?

Who's making a commotion in court?

At the Battle of Sanchuankou, Western Xia pretends to negotiate peace with the Song.

Emperor Renzong of Song is about to accept.

[They're going to kneel again, they're going to kneel again! They're being tricked. Can you stop kneeling? You can't even beat a place as tiny as Western Xia. Do you know how embarrassing that is? I can't even admit I like the Northern Song! Never mind, you won't listen even if I curse you. Don't get mad, don't get mad. Anger is bad for your health.]

Su Jinghe manages to calm himself down, but Emperor Renzong and his ministers get fired up and grit their teeth as they crush Western Xia.

Emperor Renzong reduces the sentences of imprisoned criminals by one degree, releasing those with minor offenses outright. The officials all praise his benevolence.

[Ha, what a brilliant idea. Who needs Gotham City now? The Song is the real nation of crime. They reduce sentences three or four times a year and even pardon death-row inmates. You might as well lock me up too. Isn't prison safer than the outside world?]

Emperor Renzong's face turns ashen. In the end, he gives up on indiscriminate sentence reductions and orders the review of wrongful convictions instead.

As a minor official who expects to coast through court and wait for death, Su Jinghe's greatest hobby is encouraging his wife to make money and giving her business ideas. He's more than happy that transmigration comes with a marriage partner. With his business skills, even good ideas won't make him any money, after all.

Of course, they're making money so they can run before the Jingkang disaster. Who could have expected the Song to be so different from the one he remembers?

Unexpectedly tough?!

Su Jinghe coasts along on his wife's earnings and slacks off, while the efforts of the powerful men at court make the Song flourish. His own life gets better and better too.

Then one day, gongs and drums ring out beyond his door. Someone kicks open the door to Su Jinghe's home and snarls, "Who keeps saying the Song is quick to kneel? Is it you?!"

Su Jinghe looks closely and realizes it's one of his colleagues!

[Wait, quick to kneel? Was that me? Could it be that I let it slip while talking in my sleep?]

His colleague's expression turns even more menacing, and Su Jinghe grows more and more frightened.

Theme: Make today's dream come true.