Chapter 1202 – The Death of Cheng Xun
Cheng Yuan never expected to see his brother in such a situation.
Cheng Xun sat next to a charred corpse, looking as if he had lost his soul, surrounded by wooden structures reduced to nothing but blackened rubble.
“Elder Brother—”
Cheng Yuan tentatively called out, his eyes filled with doubt and uncertainty.
With a significant age gap between them, the deepest impression Cheng Yuan had of his elder brother was the image of him studying hard beneath the window, while words like playfulness and laziness had never been associated with Cheng Xun. After getting married, Cheng Xun took his wife to serve in distant lands, while Cheng Yuan stayed with their father, so the brothers had little contact. Nevertheless, they shared a closer bond than typical noble brothers, and Cheng Yuan held deep respect and admiration for him.
After many years apart, Cheng Yuan wanted his brother to see how much he had grown, to sit down and reminisce about old times together.
But fate had other plans; Cheng Xun served Xu Pei, while Cheng Yuan was loyal to Jiang Pengji, putting them on opposing sides.
When two tigers clash, one will surely be harmed. Xu Pei had failed, and Cheng Xun was on the verge of becoming a prisoner.
Fearing for his brother’s safety at the hands of soldiers, Cheng Yuan hurriedly rushed over.
Perhaps luck was on his side, as he found Cheng Xun without taking many wrong turns.
He ordered the soldiers to stand down and approached directly, standing beside Cheng Xun.
A strange odor of burned flesh filled the air, mingled with the sickening scent of blood and iron.
Cheng Yuan’s gaze shifted to the charred corpse, and a bold thought crept into his mind—
Could this grim sight be that of Xu Pei?
Before he could reach a conclusion, Cheng Xun moved his stiff neck, his eyes bloodshot.
“Gong Liao, I didn’t expect it to be you.”
Cheng Xun still couldn’t accept reality, but seeing Cheng Yuan caused his last line of defense to crumble.
Noticing his brother’s uneasy demeanor, Cheng Yuan hesitated to speak, fearing he might touch a raw nerve.
Before he could utter a word, Cheng Xun sneered, retorting, “Are you here to capture me?”
“I’m just worried that those soldiers might offend you, Elder Brother, which is why I rushed here. Even if capture is necessary, I wouldn’t allow them to harm or humiliate you—rest assured about that,” Cheng Yuan replied earnestly. “To be honest, it’s been ten years since you left home, and our parents miss you dearly. They’re getting old; perhaps you should visit them—”
Cheng Yuan instinctively brought up their elderly parents.
Mentioning their parents stirred something in Cheng Xun’s numbed gaze, creating ripples like a breeze disturbing a still lake, only to quickly fade once more.
“Not being able to serve our parents is my failing as their son. I’ll need to trouble Gong Liao in the future.”
A sense of dread washed over Cheng Yuan, a foreboding feeling that he couldn’t shake off.
“What do you mean by that, Elder Brother?” Cheng Yuan asked. “Serving our parents is the duty of a son, and you are still the eldest!”
He had a premonition that if Cheng Xun wasn’t shaken out of this madness, he might do something reckless.
“The Lord has been defeated and was forced to self-immolate—how could I, as a servant, not seek revenge for such a deep grudge?” Cheng Xun declared, pushing Cheng Yuan’s hand away as he struggled to stand up.
After kneeling for so long, his legs were numb and swollen; if not for his sheer willpower, he would have collapsed in a heap.
Cheng Yuan’s face turned pale; if Cheng Xun sought vengeance, that would mean—
He shuddered, certain that his brother was about to make a dangerous move, or that his emotions had already spiraled out of control.
“The Lord has given me the grace of rebirth,” Cheng Xun said.
Cheng Yuan gritted his teeth, wishing he could shake his elder brother awake. What kind of concoction had Xu Pei fed him? “You must know that Xu Pei has already been defeated! The victor is king, while the loser is a bandit; this is the cruel reality since ancient times. If the one defeated today were not Xu Pei but the Lord, do you think Xu Pei would show any mercy? His self-immolation was his own choice, not out of coercion; where does the grudge come from?”
“To die for one’s confidant is a noble truth,” indeed, Cheng Yuan admired such high-minded gentlemen.
But when this principle applied to his own family, he found it utterly unacceptable.
Elder Brother Cheng Xun had parents above him, children below him, and a virtuous wife waiting for him.
How could he simply discard everything and follow a fallen master?
The world was descending into chaos, with already four to five prominent lords in East Qing alone.
Many perished before making even a ripple, devoured by their neighboring lords; Xu Pei was merely treading the same treacherous path.
Cheng Xun had only served under Xu Pei for three or four years; Cheng Yuan didn’t understand why his brother had become so fixated.
Cheng Xun scoffed, speaking with conviction.
“I swear I will not submit to Liu Xi, nor will I conspire with such a petty person.”
No matter how skilled Jiang Pengji was, in Cheng Xun’s eyes, she was never legitimate; being born of a noble family yet acting in ways that were contemptible, being friendly to the commoners while alienating the gentry—everything she did under the banner of helping the Common People was merely a façade of a hypocrite.
In plain terms, she was using the banner of righteousness for her own schemes, a traitor who disrespected tradition.
Beyond Xu Pei’s self-immolation, Cheng Xun could not accept serving the likes of those deemed inconsequential after his surrender.
Cheng Yuan felt a mix of urgency and anger; how dare someone defame his lord?
Even if that someone was his own brother.
“The Lord truly has the vision to stabilize the realms; even our father acknowledges her. Why are you so stubborn, Elder Brother?”
As soon as Cheng Yuan spoke, he regretted it, not out of contrition for contradicting him, but for being too harsh with his words.
Cheng Xun scoffed disdainfully.
“Rude and uncouth fellows cannot achieve great things!”
Cheng Yuan didn’t want to argue further, fearing it would ignite a fiery spat between them.
“Elder Brother, why not calm down? Think of our parents at home, your wife, and your children—would a mere Xu Pei truly warrant such loyalty? Just because he’s of noble birth doesn’t make him the wise lord you seek. Even if he were not the Lord, he would likely fall to another. If you disdain the Lord and refuse to serve her, it would be better to stay home in idleness. Await peace in the world to return and then display your ambitions; nothing wrong with that!”
Cheng Xun laughed coldly, “A difference in principles means we cannot work together!”
He would never walk the same path as Liu Xi.
To serve under her or bow low to anyone else was preferable to death!
Cheng Yuan, at his wits’ end, could only resolve to call in reinforcements to temporarily detain Cheng Xun, to prevent him from doing something irrational in a fit of madness.
Xu Pei had just died, especially in such a self-destructive manner; the blow to Cheng Xun’s psyche was immense.
Unexpectedly, Cheng Xun drew his sword and fought back; the soldiers, fearing his standing, didn’t dare strike hard, yet he was still pierced multiple times.
Cheng Xun coldly laughed a couple of times, his expression deranged; from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the stone wall in the courtyard, and a ruthless intent flashed through his mind.
“No—”
In the scuffle, Cheng Yuan got injured in the arm, and before he could snap back to reality, he saw Cheng Xun collide with the wall, causing his heart to stop in fright.
A dull thud echoed in the air—
A large splatter of blood stained the blackened wall.
