The Transmigration Survival Guide

“Do you think you were too harsh on Chucheng?” queried Veirya, dusting her husband’s sky-blue cape while standing behind him. “I know what Chu is thinking. Enlisting in the army isn’t a bad thing. I was a soldier, after all. If Chu wants to, why not let him?”

“If I was a peasant, I would be fine with it,” answered Lin Dongqing, caressing his wife’s face. “However, you know that I’m not an ordinary individual. I am a minister who wields great authority in this empire. Despite having resigned as prime minister, lots of people still believe that I wield the most power and influence. The status quo is a tense one – war looms. If my child joins the army now, it’ll be the equivalent of announcing war is coming. More young men would abandon everything to enlist. That’s not good for the empire.”

“Will a war really break out?” asked Veirya, after touching teeth with her husband.

“I can’t promise it won’t. That’s why this meeting’s goal is to discuss how to prevent the war. The empire already has enough land and wealth. We can’t allow the younger generation to march to their own deaths just to satisfy our old-men desires and pride. We won’t get a thing from this war.”

“Uhm.”

Veirya gently hooked her arm around her husband’s and headed to the clamouring dining hall together with him. Leah tightly hugged her younger brother, burying Lin Chucheng in her round and ample engineering miracles. Lin Chucheng loudly protested, but Leah didn’t care. She hugged him from behind and kissed his forehead and cheeks. “Chu, why didn’t you tell your sister you were back? I’m happy to see you! How long can you stay? I’ll always be by your side!”

“Sis, I’ve grown up! Stop this! This is embarrassing!”

The most annoying thing to Lin Chucheng was his sister ignoring the fact that he had grown up and hugged him as if he was still a child. He was one year away from being an adult; he understood the relationships between men and women. Lin Chucheng couldn’t control his lust around his sister who dressed in revealing ways and always behaved provocatively… But she was his elder sister!

“Hmph, she’s unmistakably the woman who runs that place. She’s frivolous even with her younger brother,” remarked Ascillia, pouting as she sat opposite the two.

Leah gave Ascillia a smug simper. “Ascillia, you’re just jealous. You just want to be intimate with Chu. Geez, Chu isn’t close to me anymore now that he’s grown up. Chu used to come to me for crying hugs when he was bullied.”

“That never happened!”

Upon hearing the door open, Leah released Lin Chucheng and spun to the door. “Good morning, papa!”

“Good morning, Father,” politely greeted Ascillia, immediately getting up to bow.

“Oh, good morning.”

Lin Dongqing and Lin Chucheng ignored each other. Lin Chucheng didn’t greet his father as his sister did, and Lin Dongqing didn’t greet his son. Lin Dongqing nodded to his daughters. Then, he sat in his seat.

“Ascillia, when did you return from the elven side? Is Queen Lucilia doing well? Also, are the elves doing anything?”

“No, they are not. They have not prepared for battle. Queen Lucilia has not given her opinion on it, either. She does hope that you could visit her in your free time, nonetheless.” Ascillia worked as a foreign diplomat in the elven lands for over a decade at this point, so she was considered their friend.

Lin Dongqing then turned to Leah. “Leah, has there been any interesting cases at the law and politics department?”

“No. You are all arguing about wars or what have you, while we are still leading a peaceful life. After all, we cannot impose our laws on the enemy’s soil,” proudly asserted Leah, the empire’s current head inspector. Additionally, as Ascillia pointed out, Leah also managed the succubi’s traditional work.

Lin Dongqing nodded then began eating breakfast. Lin Chucheng kept his head down and didn’t comment, trying to eat as fast as possible to leave. He really disliked eating with the man he hated most. Merely seeing his father’s face got on his nerves. He only ever had his mother and sister to rely on. His father was never around for him, yet decided to be a father all of a sudden, forbidding him from doing this and that.

Lin Chucheng stood up so vigorously that he nearly flipped his chair over. When he planned to leave, Lin Dongqing finally spoke up. “Lin Chucheng, what’s your decision? You want to go back to school or be the tax minister’s assistant?”

“Neither!”

“Then, go starve on the streets.”

“That’s what I’ve always been doing, anyway!” Lin Chucheng turned around and grabbed hurled his plate at his father.

Veirya swiftly shattered the plate: “You’re not to treat your father that way!”

“Father?! He’s a father?! Mom, where was he after I was born, when I was growing up, when I was sick and when I was bullied?! He’s not worthy of being my father! Where was he when I needed him? I don’t need him! I’ve never known the warmth of family, in any case! It doesn’t matter if he wants me to starve! Heck, he’s always wanted me to starve to death! He’s never cared about me, still doesn’t and won’t! He doesn’t care about me! He’s a cornhole who abandoned us!”