The Great Chu Kingdom, 400 years since its founding, Xuande 6th Year.
Heaven blazed with falling fire, the earth collapsed and crumbled.
Demons ran rampant.
Bandits arose everywhere.
A great empire was shattered into pieces overnight.
In the same year.
The city of Yongfeng County in Shi'an County was overrun by bandits.
The flag of a new ruler was hoisted atop the city walls.
The original Yongfeng County government officials and clerks were all imprisoned, their families implicated as well.
Six years passed in a flash.
...
The world was shrouded in gray, sunlight nowhere to be found.
A thick, damp fog brought chilling cold.
The pitch-black earth stretched endlessly, its expanse dotted with miners in tattered cotton jackets, moving like ants. Each wielded an iron shovel, chipping away at the mine with rhythmic clangs.
The ore they mined, known as 'Iron-repellent,' was dark brown in color, with exceptional hardness yet only mediocre toughness.
Each heavy strike of the iron shovel caused chunks to break off, the fragments roughly the size of a fist. Oozing out of these fragments was a black, greasy liquid that smelled pungent and foul.
"Huff~"
"Huff~"
"Huff~"
Chen Jichuan gripped his iron shovel, breathing heavily like an ox.
Every strike demanded every ounce of his strength.
Fragments of the ore struck him, landing on his threadbare cotton jacket that exposed parts of his arm. The foul-smelling grease from the Iron-repellent ore had long soaked into his clothes and skin, an unbearable stench he had grown painfully accustomed to.
Day after day of labor, entangled with Iron-repellent ore and its stench, it became a norm.
Sometimes chiseling.
Sometimes resting.
A full half day's effort barely yielded half a bamboo basket of ore, yet even this small load weighed over a hundred pounds.
After half a day of backbreaking toil.
His arms were sore.
His waist ached and softened.
The remaining strength in Chen Jichuan's body could barely carry a hundred or so pounds.
He hoisted the bamboo basket onto his back.
Its weight bore down on him, forcing him to hunch over in a bent posture.
The grueling life of a miner turned Chen Jichuan, barely eighteen years old, into someone wizened and weathered. He looked even older than the thirty-something middle-aged man he had been in his previous life.
Each day when the fog slightly thinned, Chen Jichuan would have to start work.
Only when the fog thickened again, so cold it became unbearable, could he return.
Day after day.
Year after year.
Starting at the age of twelve, six full years of such torment had ravaged Chen Jichuan's body beyond recognition. Not only was he heavily burdened by accumulated ailments, but the hellish conditions of this place had taken an even greater toll—
The constant dampness and oppressive humidity.
At night, pain would gnaw at every joint in his body, rendering sleep almost impossible.
If this continued.
A few more years would ruin him completely. Even if he somehow made it back to the normal world, he would live the rest of his life plagued by chronic illness.
And that would still be a blessing.
Had they treated them as they did in the first year, as if they were expendable, forcing them to mine until they died, Chen Jichuan would never have survived to this day.
This place, privately referred to by the miners as the 'Black Prison,' had claimed countless lives over the past six years.
Chen Jichuan's father, second uncle, third uncle, eldest brother, second brother, third brother…
All of them had either worked themselves to death or succumbed to illness here.
Six years later.
Even the 'Black Prison' had seen multiple changes in ownership, and the workload had slightly eased, bringing down the death rate.
It was only thanks to this that Chen Jichuan and his younger brother Chen Shaohu managed to scrape by and survive.
But it was mere survival.
...
"Old Fifth."
Chen Jichuan glanced at his younger brother Chen Shaohu, who was working tirelessly beside him.
"Almost done, Fourth Brother. Just a little longer," Chen Shaohu replied, panting heavily as he labored away.
Clang, clang, clang.
He wielded his iron shovel with skill, his head never lifting as he worked. Though clearly fatigued, his tone remained cheerful, showing he had not yet been completely numbed by their suffering.
As Chen Jichuan watched his younger brother, two years his junior but appearing just as prematurely aged, he couldn't help but think back to six years ago.
Back then.
Their family had still resided in Yongfeng County, Shi'an County.
Their father, second uncle, and third uncle all worked at the government. Though merely clerks, their deep connections with local elites and powerful figures cemented their standing.
They were a force to be reckoned with in the area.
The Chen Family was far from virtuous.
In the foul swamp that was the government, even the rats had blackened hearts; not a hint of innocence could be found.
The Chen Family was no different, indulging in the same questionable deeds as most clerks and government officers.
When Chen Jichuan reincarnated, he retained wisdom from his past life, but as a powerless, young child, he lacked the means to challenge or change anything.
He had hoped to bide his time and chart a different course once he grew older.
But before he could even begin, at the tender age of twelve, the vast Chu Kingdom collapsed overnight, and Yongfeng County fell into the hands of bandits.
The government officials and clerks were all thrown into prison.
Their families, including the Chen Family, were implicated and punished as well.
Thus.
At just twelve years old, Chen Jichuan, brimming with ambition, was shackled and imprisoned. Soon after, he was exiled to the 'Black Prison,' where his life plunged into endless darkness.
But after all, he had lived a lifetime before.
In his previous life, he had a successful career and substantial wealth. Even without accounting for the generous compensation and insurance from his accidental death, his eighteen properties in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou were more than sufficient to support his parents for life.
When he first reincarnated.
Chen Jichuan had worried endlessly, his heart aching at the thought of his parents burying their own son.
But eighteen years had passed since then.
Everything had faded.
In its place was the secret joy of living a second life.
No matter how unfortunate his current circumstances were, he had been granted something few wealthy or powerful individuals could even dream of: a second chance. Not to mention, his life before the age of twelve had been privileged, his family in Yongfeng untouchable, and he had lived like a little tyrant.
Chen Jichuan was content.
However.
His younger brother, Chen Shaohu, was only sixteen now. In his previous world, he would have just graduated junior high, yet here, he had already endured six years in the 'Black Prison.' He had watched helplessly as their family members died one by one, his world growing darker by the day.
"One person's sins."
"The whole family bears the punishment."
If this had happened to someone else, in his past life, Chen Jichuan—with his flawed morals and 'righteous indignation' as an opinionated adult—would have clapped his hands in approval and cheered.
But when it happened to his own family, the bitterness of it—