My Brother Is the Top Scholar, So Who Needs Any Other Friends?

Year 35 of Wuzhi: Chen Moyu arrives in the imperial capital, Liuhua City, to search for his family. Year 36 of Wuzhi: Chen Moyu meets Zhang Lai, the sixth young master of the Zhang family. Year 37 of Wuzhi: Chen Moyu makes a name for himself in the capital with a single poem. Year 38 of Wuzhi: Chen Moyu devises a plan to end the locust plague and places first in the provincial examination that same year. Year 39 of Wuzhi: Chen Moyu places first in the palace examination. Year 40 of Wuzhi: Chen Moyu marries a princess. Purple light fills Liuhua City, and the divination foretells great fortune. Year 41 of Wuzhi: Chen Moyu is appointed imperial envoy to Ningzhou, framed, and thrown into prison. Year 42 of Wuzhi: The eldest princess holds a baby and kneels before the throne, and Chen Moyu is spared the death penalty. Year 43 of Wuzhi: The eldest princess falls ill, and Chen Moyu’s entire clan is investigated. Year 44 of Wuzhi: Kuai Xiang launches a border war in the north, and Chen Moyu is falsely accused of colluding with the enemy. Year 45 of Wuzhi: Gravely ill, Chen Moyu takes refuge in a friend’s home. Year 46 of Wuzhi: The emperor falls ill and has all of Chen Moyu’s relatives and friends in prison executed. Year 47 of Wuzhi: Kuai Xiang’s army pushes more than seventy li into the borderlands and captures three cities. Year 48 of Wuzhi: The emperor dies. A new emperor ascends the throne and changes the era name to Sunshi. Year 1 of Sunshi: Chen Moyu is pardoned, but Kuai Xiang has already captured seventeen cities in Bianliang. Year 2 of Sunshi: Chen Moyu’s case is cleared, and Bianliang establishes a new line of border defenses. Year 3 of Sunshi: The eldest princess dies, and Chen Moyu is appointed military inspector. Year 4 of Sunshi: Chen Moyu exposes the mastermind behind the plot against him: his own teacher, the Left Chancellor. Year 5 of Sunshi: A palace coup. Year 6 of Sunshi: Bianliang begins its counterattack and retakes seven cities. Year 7 of Sunshi: Bianliang sends its entire army north, and Kuai Xiang suffers defeat after defeat. Year 10 of Sunshi: Bianliang can no longer withstand the pressure of foreign threats. Year 13 of Sunshi: Chen Moyu’s friend flees to Luguo with his only son. Year 15 of Sunshi: Bianliang falls.