Three Lives of Fortune - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

This mountain stronghold was home to eight hundred people.

My father was the Great Chieftain, and my mother was the lady of the house he had snatched away to be his wife. Who would have thought that my mother would actually fall for him? Even when her family came to take her back, she refused to go.

Before I was even grown, I could already turn the stronghold upside down, leaving neither peace for the chickens nor rest for the dogs. As I got a bit older, my father lost all control over me.

In the year of my coming-of-age ceremony, I did something earth-shattering.

I took my subordinates and ambushed a convoy passing through Longhu Mountain, kidnapping the young master traveling with them and bringing him back to the stronghold.

The young master looked to be about my age-fair-skinned and pretty. The more I looked at him, the more I liked him. However, there was one problem: he was far too timid.

Ever since I brought him into the stronghold, he had been crying for an entire day.

I tried to scare him. “Stop crying! If you cry any more, I’ll throw you out to feed the wolves!”

The young master’s sobbing hitched for a moment, and then… he cried even harder.

I pressed a hand to my forehead. Honestly, I wasn’t actually that heartless. Perhaps because I had been too disciplined and law-abiding in my past life, all my latent rebellion had followed me into this one.

I really only kidnapped him because he was good-looking and I wanted him to play with me for a few days. Well… play in a proper way.

Between sobs, the young master said, “You’d better let me go quickly. Otherwise, once my Adoptive Father finds out, he’ll kill you.”

So, he was actually worrying about me.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “And who is this Adoptive Father of yours? Is he really that capable?”

The young master glared at me with bloodshot eyes. “My Adoptive Father is the Marquis of Zhenbei, Lu Tingsheng.”

*Clatter.*

The whip I had been lazily swinging hit the ground. Hearing that name from my past life so suddenly made my mind go completely blank.

Come to think of it, I was the one who gave Lu Tingsheng his name.

That year, there was a great drought in Xi County. I had been sent by imperial decree to settle the refugees, and I found Lu Tingsheng in a pavilion five miles outside of Xi County. His family was gone, so I let him follow me.

He said his surname was Lu, so I named him Lu Tingsheng. He said he had nowhere to go, so I took him to the border, where he stayed with me for seven years.

To be honest, I treated him quite well.

Seeing the person I once treated like a younger brother become the powerful Marquis of Zhenbei made me feel a bit gratified. But alongside that gratification was a touch of regret.

Now that he’s so powerful, how am I supposed to get my revenge?

After all, he was the one who killed me.

In my past life, I led troops to intercept the Southern Barbarians at Wuxia Pass. The reinforcements we had agreed upon never arrived. My remaining five hundred men and I were trapped in Wuxia. I exhausted all my strength to send Lu Tingsheng out to seek help.

But in the end, what I waited for was his return at the head of the Southern Barbarians’ army. I and the remaining five hundred soldiers all died in battle. Before I died, I used every ounce of my strength to plunge my blade into his chest.

I thought he had died, but looking at it now, his luck was truly quite good.

I looked down at the boy in front of me and curled my lips into a smirk. “Your Adoptive Father is Lu Tingsheng? Then who are you?”

Perhaps frightened by my gaze, the young master shrank back, his voice dropping an octave. “I am Jiang Jingyan.”

Ha, another old acquaintance.

I dazed out for a few seconds, then reached down to tilt his face up for a closer look. Honestly, now that I looked at him, he really did resemble his old man.

His father was one of the soldiers who died in battle with me at Wuxia Pass. When we set out on that campaign, his wife was already pregnant. He said they had already picked out a name: Jiang Jingyan.

At the time, I had been quite embarrassed. “Even if you admire me that much, there’s no need to go this far.”

His father had scratched his head, looking even shyer than me. “General, you’ve misunderstood. My wife’s given name is Yan.”