#36Chapter 36 Emperor Wen's thoughts come again! [Additional chapter -1]
AI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
The Emperor's favor towards the Chen family was even greater than before; after all, a family producing two Marquises had never happened before.
Not to mention before, even now, apart from the Chen family, it has never occurred.
And it was not just an ordinary family with two Marquises.
Guandu Marquis's fiefdom was already the largest among the Marquises of Distinction, and now another five thousand households were added, making his fiefdom even larger than some Kings.
It could be said that the fiefdoms of some unfavored Kings might not even be as large as Guandu Marquis's.
What's more... Guandu Marquis was also the head of the 'Meritorious and Noble Martial Marquises'.
The 'Wen Marquis' title bestowed upon Chen Yun was even more extraordinary; since ancient times, titles and posthumous names have almost always prioritized 'Wen' and 'Wu', with 'Wen' being the most prestigious title.
Perhaps some might think, 'Emperor Wu of Han wasn't Wen, but Wu, right? Wasn't he still an emperor of a thousand ages?'
But in reality, there were two reasons why Emperor Wu of Han was not 'Emperor Wen of Han': firstly, his Grandfather's, meaning his Grandfather's, posthumous name was 'Wen', and this posthumous name was already taken by his Grandfather. In the eyes of the civil and military officials at the time, Emperor Wu of Han's achievements did not surpass his Grandfather's.
Below Wen was Wu, and that is why Emperor Wu of Han was Emperor Wu of Han.
Wen Marquis... it can be said.
Among the so-called meritorious nobles today, apart from the Guandu Marquis title, this is the most supreme title—and in Liu Heng's reign, whether Guandu Marquis was more esteemed or Wen Marquis was more esteemed was still a matter of debate.
Suddenly, all rumors about the Chen family declining and about to lose power in the capital disappeared.
Isn't that obvious?
The Emperor had already given the Chen family such honor; did that look like he intended to abandon them?
Although there was no one in the Chen family holding a position among the Three Excellencies, Chen Yun was probably only limited by his seniority, after all, he was Guandu Marquis's grandson, not his son.
If he were his son, he would likely have been able to succeed as Prime Minister.
Everyone thought this, even Chen Lang and Chen Zhen, who had not yet left.
"Yun'er, it's just that your seniority isn't enough, otherwise you would definitely be able to succeed to the Prime Minister's position!"
Chen Lang's face showed a hint of a sigh.
But Chen Yun showed no disappointment; he just shook his head, sighed, and said, "Father, you are mistaken again."
"Even if my seniority were sufficient, the position of Prime Minister would not fall to me."
He looked at Chen Lang and analyzed the current situation for his naive father, word by word: "Now that the world is newly settled, if Grandfather were still alive, he could counterbalance Marquis of Jiang and the others, and naturally, he could be Prime Minister. His Majesty could also tolerate two Prime Ministers."
"But once Grandfather is gone, Marquis of Jiang and the others will have no restraint—this is not simply a bad thing for His Majesty."
"Because it means there is one less person sharing power from his hands."
"His Majesty... has long had the intention of no longer appointing two Prime Ministers!"
"Otherwise, when Grandfather was seriously ill, His Majesty should have gradually allowed me to take over the Prime Minister's affairs to complete the transition, instead of letting me take on the position of Neili of the Prime Minister's Office!"
Chen Lang blinked; when he was young, he could still understand some of the intricacies, but now... he completely failed to grasp them.
Chen Zhen, on the other hand, let out an 'oh' from the side, as if he had understood.
He just pressed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.
"That's enough, that's enough. It's enough for you to worry about these matters; we won't get involved in them."
"Oh, right."
Chen Zhen hesitated slightly before asking, "Yun'er, how do you plan to deal with fourth brother?"
Chen Yun's eyes narrowed slightly, then he slowly stood up, his aura astonishing: "Father, Third Uncle, Fourth Uncle's matter... Grandfather had already given instructions before his death."
"The Qian Shou of Guandu do not wish to abandon the Chen family due to the Chen family's kindness, but the Chen family cannot delude themselves because of this."
"When Grandfather passes away, I must return home to observe mourning. Even if I don't observe the full three years, I need to observe mourning for thirty-eight days. I will return to handle it after I have finished dealing with the matters at hand!"
"Everything... shall proceed according to the laws of the Great Han!"
Chen Lang and Chen Zhen exchanged glances, both somewhat hesitant, wanting to say something, but in the end, they both sighed and said nothing.
This was the old master's dying command; who would dare to object?
No one dared to object.
....
Seeing everything slowly getting back on track, and Chen Yun already preparing to return home to deal with Fourth Uncle, Chen Cheng finally felt relieved.
All the scenes before his eyes slowly condensed into clusters of black mist.
And then dissipated.
....
When Chen Cheng opened his eyes again, he found himself still in his rented room, but this time... his "situation" seemed a little better than last time.
But not by much.
He still opened the search engine, found the person "Chen Xi," then buried his head in the information, and let out a long sigh.
Although this simulation established the Prototype of an aristocratic family, because the "influence" was brief, the "time and space" at this moment was only slightly distorted and returned to its original state during the mid-Western Han Dynasty.
It did not have any impact on current history.
Chen Cheng stroked his chin and glanced at the urgent message on his phone, which was asking whether he wanted to renew his lease after it expired.
After a brief thought, he replied directly with a refusal, then packed his luggage and went home.
....
Lush mountains and clear waters.
It was a coincidence, but Chen Cheng's hometown was indeed "Guandu," or rather, the "Guandu" of that time was called "Zhongmou," located between the provincial capital of Henan and the ancient capital Kaifeng. Although the environment was not exceptionally beautiful, it was still passable.
After living in his old family home for some time, Chen Cheng dug out his family's "genealogy" and indeed found records about "Chen Xi" and "Chen Yun" in it.
"The transformation has not yet succeeded; my hard-working life still needs to continue!"
....
"Chen Yun! What do you want to do?!"
"I am your Fourth Uncle!"
A nearly roaring voice echoed in Chen Cheng's ears, making him suddenly "wake up."
He opened his eyes and saw his small body standing in the crowd, facing "Chen Yun," the grandson of Chen Xi, and "Chen An," the fourth son of Chen Xi.
Before he could react, memories flooded his mind.
Once the memories were "recovered," the memories belonging to "Chen Xi" covered Chen Cheng's mind.
It was the winter of the third year of Emperor Wen's reign, during Chen Yun's period of mourning.
He was about to "rectify the family's conduct."
Chen Xi slowly sighed, gazing at the crowd in the distance.
This was something that was bound to happen and had to happen.
PS: Currently, 3 debts, repaid 1, remaining 2. I will remember them~ Unless I'm too tired and need to rest without adding chapters, normal additional chapters will be announced during the first update of the day.
Also, from this time onwards, the protagonist will use the name of the 'Descender,' and will only use his original name when he returns~