[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-am-the-xu-family-s-son":3,"chapter-i-am-the-xu-family-s-son-i-am-the-xu-family-s-son-chapter-12":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","I Am the Xu Family's Son",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2307790,4510,"Chapter 12: The Sun Family","i-am-the-xu-family-s-son-chapter-12",12,"\u003Cp>Cao’s fourth son said: “Such heroic deeds and brotherly loyalty are truly admirable!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The patriarch of the Sun family shook his head: “That time, our ancestor may have damaged his root, and since then he could never lift heavy objects; he died young in middle age.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was tragic that the commanding general also lost his life in the ensuing battle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This… this is no time to speak of such things on such a happy day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Come, come, let us all drink together!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone raised their cups, sighed in unison, then shifted the topic to the current emperor’s birthday.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As subjects, besides presenting birthday gifts, we must also plan performances.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just then, cries came from the courtyard, but no one paid attention—boys often fought and cried; it was common.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon, a nine-year-old boy, his head wounded and covered in dirt, walked in and approached Sun’s ninth son.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Father, waaah waaah waaah.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun’s ninth son showed no anger, asking casually: “Nineteen, who beat you this time?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The boy’s crying paused briefly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Father, it’s not one of my brothers—it’s Xu Zai’s niece’s child.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, your cousin Zaiduan—he’s five years older than you. You can’t fight him head-on; wait for an opening, strike when he’s off guard.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a military family, you must train your sons from childhood to be fearless and think strategically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s not Zaiduan… it’s… it’s…” the boy hesitated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zhaizhang is a scholar—you can’t even beat him? Don’t stand there. Wait till I finish the feast, then I’ll train you myself—you’re shaming our Sun family. Get out.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Waaah!” the boy cried louder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, another boy of similar age peeked from the doorway—his hair had come undone, clearly pulled apart from a braid, and blood streaked his lip. He ran while shouting:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uncle Nine, Nineteen tried to steal Jingge’s pony, and Jingge beat him up.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Jingge? Which Cao family has a boy named Jingge?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun’s ninth son turned, puzzled, toward the Cao family.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s Xu’s niece’s third son.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re lying! Your cousin’s barely five—he couldn’t possibly beat my son!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Waaah!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nineteen cried even louder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Father, Seventeen from Eighth Uncle’s house was also knocked down by Jingge’s horse—punish him, punish him!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun’s eighth son heard this, glanced at his bloodied son at the door, rose from his seat to go beat someone—but the boy had already fled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The commotion sparked laughter around the table, and they resumed drinking and clinking cups.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The back courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the room of Sun’s mother.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lady Gu looked at Sun and said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Just now, the maid returned with word—the Sheng family from Fujian Road also sent a birthday gift to the mansion.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun looked at her sisters-in-law and said solemnly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It must be because we helped them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As one grows older, one thinks more. I always disapproved of your mother-in-law’s actions. Had she simply written to explain, I believe that old Lady Sheng, for the sake of her father’s lineage, would have offered some aid. But she….”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wanted to marry a collateral branch’s concubine-born daughter.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The matriarch of the Sun family mused: “That was a solid slap in the face—it also erased all the years of effort the brave marquis’s only daughter had poured in.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun’s eldest sister-in-law added:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When Ten Niang  first married in, she suffered under her mother-in-law’s rigid rules—even while pregnant with Duange, she was forced to stand in the freezing winter. Had she not been healthy since childhood, such humiliation…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second sister-in-law said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s because they looked down on our Sun family—they wanted the Brave Marquis to marry one of their own daughters. Look at their own status! Had it not been for Ten Niang ’s father-in-law’s kindness, they’d have been divorced long ago.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Enough,” said Lady Sun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She glanced at her youngest daughter and continued:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Now that old Lady Sheng is aging, you becoming the main lady of the Brave Marquis’s household is actually us climbing too high.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You owe it to your husband’s grandfather’s favor.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Also, that old Lady He’s maiden surname is Zhang—she personally attended to your care, and that was surely because of her old friendship with your mother.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, Mother. I am deeply grateful to old Lady He. When old Lady Sheng celebrates her birthday, I will send a gift.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good. Go ask outside—why is there crying? See if someone’s been bullied.” The matriarch told her maid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Grandma, Xu Zaijing beat me, waaah waaah!” Seventeen ran into the room sobbing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lady Sun wiped her grandson’s tears: “Oh dear, Seventeen, you’re older than your cousin—how could he beat you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He’s strong, and he has a horse—he knocked me down with it at once! Waaah waaah waaah, Grandma!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun’s face twisted between amusement and annoyance: “That troublesome little rascal.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The matriarch gazed tenderly at her youngest daughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is good—it shows Jingge isn’t one to take abuse, isn’t afraid of the strong. That’s a fine thing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mother~,” the daughter-in-law feigned jealousy, “you’re so biased!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re a grandmother now, still acting like a spoiled child.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who else but has such a wonderful mother-in-law?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Laughter filled the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Sun family understood—they relied on the Cao family, whose roots lay in the Northwest Army, which faced the Bai Gaohebei kingdom of Li.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For years, the Great Zhou had sought to reclaim this former territory, so skirmishes in the Northwest never ceased.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most of the Sun family’s sons served in the Northwest Army; brothers might one day die fighting side by side against the enemy. Thus, among Sun brothers, there was none of the petty scheming found in ordinary families—only brotherhood forged in shared peril.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among sisters-in-law, too, most knew each other’s true nature; those with malicious hearts were often divorced and cast out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the previous generation, a Sun clan member who abandoned his comrade-in-arms was beaten to death on the spot by the Sun patriarch—so the Sun family’s discipline was well known in the military.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the feast ended, the Xu family’s carriage departed from the Sun mansion. Xu Zaijing rode his small pony, but the pony had not been untethered—it was tied behind the carriage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the Sun mansion, talk turned to Xu Zaijing. Several cousins had sore backsides—some because they’d been beaten, others because they’d entertained improper thoughts, coveting their own bloodline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Weeks later, the Ningyuan Marquis’s household celebrated the birth of a daughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the Ningyuan Marquis’s daughter’s full-moon banquet,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Zaijing accompanied Sun to the Ningyuan Marquis’s mansion. He looked at the infant swaddled on the bed, then at Gu Tingye beside him, and at Bai Shi with her forehead band.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since learning Bai Shi was pregnant, Xu Zaijing had often asked his mother about her pregnancy stage. When he learned she was eight months along, he pestered Sun to visit the Ningyuan Marquis’s mansion frequently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Zaijing even devised a scheme, using an excuse of being frightened into a state of shock, to visit the Jade Clear Temple outside the city—the “Jade Clear Temple Theme Hotel” from the drama.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He used his “money power” to have the temple’s fortune-teller utter cryptic, mystical prophecies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back home, he ordered the servants to deliver a message to Bai Shi’s personal wet nurse, Chang Mama: that pregnant women fond of Xu Zaijing should not stroll in gardens, or else he would not recover, and so on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He also threw tantrums, begging Sun to invite Bai Shi to the polo match.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This truly shifted a thread of fate—no one knew how many lives would change. (Gasp—it’s already locked in.)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nearby, Bai Shi, who had been whispering with Sun, suddenly pulled Sun close: “Sister, they say childbirth is like being reborn, but I’ve dreamed so much—every time I recall them, my heart aches.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Please readers, spot any errors—point out any awkward phrasing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1288,"2026-06-20T10:32:38.675Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","6992a98fd9048a948f457098740119ac31f8747a33283b92a2c35a45f80c1508","i-am-the-xu-family-s-son-chapter-13","i-am-the-xu-family-s-son-chapter-11",790,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-am-the-xu-family-s-son-cover.jpg"]