MCUS Chapter 1

The Yan family in the imperial capital is a true aristocratic family. According to the Yan family genealogy, it began with Yan Xiangzhi during the reign of Emperor Daoguang and has been passed down to the 21st century. Yan Ge is the second young master of the Yan family.

The term “second” somehow turned into a derogatory term. Although Yan Ge was of noble status as the second young master of the Yan family, he was a nobody within the family. He has an older brother, Yan Weifeng, who was three years older than him, and was a responsible and astute person. He also has a younger brother, Yan Yan, who is only sixteen years old and is lively and cute. No matter how hard Yan Ge tried, he always fell short when compared to the composed Yan Weifeng and the lovable Yan Yan.

Before the age of twenty-two, Yan Ge struggled to become self reliant, he immersed himself in reading books and poetry, as well as building his own business, hoping to gain attention and recognition from his parents. However, after turning twenty-two, he gave up. The repeated feeling of being ignored despite his efforts became too difficult to bear, and living for others was too exhausting.

Later on, he began to think that it wasn’t entirely a bad thing for the Yan family to ignore him and care about the other sons more. He discovered that he actually liked men. He held a glimmer of hope in his heart: with Yan Weifeng and Yan Yan able to carry on the family line, his attraction to men might be more acceptable to his parents, or at least easier to accept than in an ordinary family. However, he was more inclined to believe that if his parents couldn’t accept the fact that he liked men, they would be more willing to sever their parent r-son relationship than to scold or correct him.

He had silently admired that man for three years, never revealing his feelings in front of him because he disdained being a third party. However, last week, he accidentally stumbled upon the man’s lover flirting with another man, and they were kissing. He knew his chance had come. He decided to confess to the person he liked as soon as possible, even if he wasn’t accepted, at least he would have closure.

“Yan Ge, I asked you to watch TV with me. What are you daydreaming about?” Lu Yanyan pushed the man sitting next to her, who was physically present but mentally absent.

Yan Ge snapped back to reality. Lu Yanyan was introduced to him by his mother. Since he liked men, he had never brought a girlfriend home. His mother, seeing that he hadn’t made any moves, wanted to arrange a marriage alliance with the Lu family to solidify the Yan family’s position in the imperial capital.

“I truly don’t understand how a gentle and lovely young lady like you could enjoy watching these scheming TV dramas.”

The TV screen flickered inexplicably, probably due to an unstable signal.

“Don’t you think these women are all clever?” Lu Yanyan had an admiring expression on her face. “I particularly admire Concubine Yue. Who is your favorite?”

“I don’t like any of them,” Yan Ge sipped his coffee. “In my opinion, these women are extremely foolish. Take Concubine Yue, for example. If she doesn’t want to compete for favor or attract attention, why did she dance in the imperial garden from the very beginning?”

The screen suddenly flickered again.

“Shut up,” Lu Yanyan pouted and playfully punched him, sarcastically saying, “If it were you, you wouldn’t necessarily do any better than her. Regardless, she successfully climbed from a small maid to the position of a concubine. That is a gap of seven ranks! I’ve read plot summaries online, and she eventually becomes the empress.”

Yan Ge remained silent, not wanting to argue about such boring matters. Such assumptions were completely unrealistic—he was a mature man.

Yan Yan’s cat, Dou Ding, proudly jumped over by the TV and knocked over a cup of water that someone had carelessly left on the TV cabinet. The TV screen went black once again.

“The cat must have bumped into the plug,” Lu Yanyan urged, “Go and check it.”

Yan Ge stood up and glanced at the cat. He couldn’t understand why Yan Yan, a grown man, liked such delicate little animals. The man he liked also had a pet, but it was a majestic Tibetan Mastiff.

He absentmindedly walked towards the TV, but suddenly slipped, losing his balance and falling forward. He desperately reached for the TV cabinet, but still uncontrollably fell forward, banging his forehead hard against the TV screen. After a moment of intense pain, he completely lost consciousness…

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Translator Note: The first chapters are a bit short.