The Emperor's Younger Brother

则慕Jiangsu Kuwei Culture Development Co., Ltd. · ChinaJun 2025

3.1

Word count: 501K words
Chapters: 140

Summary

[Premium fiction + ancient romance + past and present lives + love-hate + power struggle + rebirth] Rong Changxi has a younger brother by the emperor—the person she has hated most since childhood, bar none. Until one day, this so-called brother becomes emperor.

So Rong Changxi is duly granted death. Rong Changxi was born the princess most doted on by the emperor, spoiled a thousand ways and pampered ten thousand, spoiled until she became a fool.

Specifically: Rong Changxi dies three times before realizing that this utterly detestable younger brother is destined to become emperor. She can never defeat him; her only way to live is to swallow her pride and curry favor with him.

Editor's review

This is an ancient romance novel that blends rebirth, palace intrigue, and power struggle. Its core appeal is not sweet romance but the heroine Rong Changxi's repeated humiliation and awakening as fate keeps pushing her back to the start. She was spoiled into a fool and only after dying three times will she admit that her younger brother is destined for the throne—a setup that gives the story absurdist black humor and urgency from the opening. The author Zemou writes life-and-death matters in a brisk tone; the heroine's shift from hatred to flattery is not abrupt, but built into a believable will to survive through repeated failure. The power-struggle thread is not heavy; the book leans more on character relationships and psychological push-and-pull, making it suitable as a relaxing serial read. Recommended for readers who enjoy past-and-present lives, love-hate, and a heroine's growth arc, especially for reading in installments on the commute or before bed—no need to scrutinize court logic; just follow the heroine's misfortunes and comebacks.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy ancient romance and rebirth setups, wanting a heroine who turns things around after repeated trial and error
Readers who prefer a brisk style and accept power struggle serving the romance line
Readers who need installment reading for commutes or bedtime and want a continuous story feel
Romance fans interested in sibling relationships and love-hate

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting rigorous court politics and historical accuracy
Readers who do not accept repeated rebirth or exaggerated setups
Readers who prefer pure sweet romance without life-and-death conflict

Reading tips

Read the first few chapters to see if you can accept the absurd rhythm of the heroine dying three times before deciding to continue.
Treat the younger brother as a symbol of fate rather than an ordinary supporting character, and note what triggers each shift in the heroine's attitude.
No need to scrutinize the power struggle point by point; focus on how relationships change through the cycle of life and death.
Suited to reading two or three chapters each night, savoring the black humor in the heroine's repeated misfortunes.

About the publisher

Jiangsu Kuwei Culture Development Co., Ltd. China · Founded in 2014

Jiangsu Kuwei Culture Development Co., Ltd. is a cultural enterprise focused on planning and publishing literature and social science books. Public information is limited, and the available details come mainly from its in-house catalogue. Its publishing areas cover prose and essays, foreign literature, social science classics, mystery and detective fiction, and history books, with attention to reissues and boxed sets of classic works. Representative titles include Wang Zengqi's essay collection Renjian Youwei, Wanwu Youqu, The Little Prince, a boxed set of Western philosophical classics, Mao Dun's classic works, a collection of Yasunari Kawabata's award-winning works, Cai Lan's essays, and the Eddie Flynn courtroom mystery series. Its authors include Chinese and foreign names such as Wang Zengqi, Mao Dun, Yasunari Kawabata, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Plato, and Marcus Aurelius, reflecting a publishing profile that brings together Chinese prose, foreign literature, and philosophical and social science classics.

版权信息
第1章摔死
第2章魂归
第3章落水
第4章纸钱
第5章皇兄
第6章着火
第7章皇姐
第8章猛将
第9章情窦1
第10章情窦2
第11章情窦3
第12章情窦4
第13章至交
第14章献策
第15章陷害
第16章丢失
第17章搜查
第18章景祺
第19章求助
第20章珍妃
第21章西灵
第22章败退1
第23章败退2
第24章败退3
第25章败退4
第26章败退5
第27章大凶
第28章真相
第29章旧仇1
第30章旧仇2
第31章旧仇3
第32章旧仇4
第33章旧仇5
第34章想通
第35章纸钱2
第36章合计
第37章玉镯
第38章三季人
第39章琼林
第40章喷嚏
第41章茶室
第42章猎场
第43章苍和
第44章打架
第45章遇险
第46章盖章
第47章信件
第48章互换
第49章条例
第50章争执
第51章出宫
第52章柳素
第53章身世
第54章遇刺
第55章马市
第56章瘟神
第57章贵物
第58章疑惑
第59章金球
第60章盘问
第61章和解
第62章赐婚
第63章梦魇
第64章婚宴
第65章意外
第66章绿衣
第67章探讨
第68章暴露
第69章福泉
第70章陈年
第71章谜团
第72章病重
第73章怀疑
第74章长大
第75章沉香
第76章妙计
第77章恳求
第78章询问
第79章审判1
第80章审判2
第81章审判3
第82章结束
第83章遗言
第84章攻心
第85章可怜
第86章行宫
第87章画像
第88章香屑
第89章混乱
第90章疑窦
第91章求婚
第92章密谈
第93章难耐
第94章逼问
第95章决裂
第96章出家
第97章春猎
第98章突乱
第99章急变
第100章同谋
第101章乱局
第102章丧事
第103章认命
第104章抗旨
第105章贺泉
第106章偷梁
第107章算计
第108章春蕊
第109章阿曦
第110章相会
第111章维护
第112章告别
第113章和亲
第114章三哥
第115章重逢
第116章沟通
第117章常曦
第118章梳头
第119章借宿
第120章玉镯
第121章碍事
第122章父亲
第123章受伤
第124章恩公
第125章初见
第126章承诺
第127章愤怒
第128章离开
第129章梦蝶
第130章玉佩
第131章释然
第132章初吻
第133章离别
第134章新帝
第135章结局
番外一扬州1
番外一扬州2
番外二新春
番外三容景谦——骤雨

FAQ

The heroine only realizes after dying three times—isn't that too foolish?

The material explicitly says she was spoiled into a fool, and the three deaths are the price of her recognizing reality. The author writes growth in an exaggerated way; her early foolishness sets up the later transformation, and it can be read as a comic setup rather than a logical flaw.

Is the power-struggle element heavy in this book?

From the material, the main line is the heroine's life-and-death relationship with her younger brother and their past-and-present entanglement, with power struggle serving more as backdrop and motive force. If you want tightly linked court maneuvering, it may feel light; if you want characters surviving under the shadow of power, it fits well.

Can someone who hasn't read the author's other works read it directly?

Yes. It is a standalone story and does not depend on prior works. Just accept the basic setup of rebirth and ancient romance; the opening quickly establishes the heroine's hostile relationship with her younger brother, so the barrier is low.

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About the author

则慕 Author

Ze Mu is a web-fiction author about whom only limited public information is available; nationality, birth and death dates, and an English name have not been reliably recorded. Nine works are held in the collection, including My Seemingly Perfect Husband, Imperial Candy, Spring Water Brighter Than the Sky, Not Letting Down, Imperial Younger Brother, Invisible Chang'an, I Am a Princess, Not a Young Man, and Just Like the Stars, Just Like You. Judging by their subjects, the author moves across modern romance, time-travel and alternate-history fiction, and suspense and mystery. The works explore suspicion and tension in contemporary relationships, as well as identity displacement and power struggles in ancient court settings, while attempting to plant suspenseful threads in the plot. The overall style tends to center on character emotions and to drive narrative through premise and reversal, showing a self-aware use of genre elements. Because verifiable biographical information is limited, this sketch of the author's writing interests rests on the works alone; further personal details await public documentation.