Character Count: 2,739
Date: February 7, 2023, 20:10:53
The Kingdom of Jing.
Linjiang County, the Qiao merchant household, eastern courtyard corridor.
The couple who headed the Qiao family's first branch walked slowly and heavily toward their son's courtyard, worry written all over their faces as they spoke.
Father Qiao sighed and instructed his wife, "Xiuzhi, Nan has only just recovered from his cold. He's still weak and shouldn't be upset. When we see him, don't let anything slip about those dreadful matters."
"I know. Nothing matters more than Nan's health right now. But my poor child! It was supposed to be an ordinary poetry gathering. How could everything have gone so wrong…?"
Mother Qiao choked up and could say no more.
A few days earlier, several private schools in the county had held a poetry competition beside the Linjiang River. A crowd of elegant young scholars composed and recited verses, attracting nearly every unmarried young lady and third-gender youth in the county to watch.
The Qiao family's unmarried daughters and third-gender sons were no exception. Qiao Nan's fiancé was among the scholars, so naturally Qiao Nan had joined the crowd.
No one had expected the terrible accident that followed.
…
The worried couple arrived at Pine Courtyard.
From a distance, they saw a young man in plain robes sitting in the courtyard. His dark hair flowed like clouds, his eyes were bright, his teeth white, and he possessed the refined elegance of a lotus. He gazed calmly at the vast blue sky, showing no trace of the worries that had troubled him recently.
At their footsteps, the youth turned with a faint smile. "Father, Mother, you're here."
His voice was clear and his smile radiant. A vermilion fertility mark rested between his brows, completing a face beautiful enough to astonish anyone who saw it.
Indeed, whatever beauties might exist elsewhere, nowhere in Linjiang County could anyone find a young woman or third-gender man more beautiful than the Qiao family's Qiao Nan.
Seeing that their son looked well, the couple breathed easier, but hurried over to fuss over him nonetheless.
"Look at you! You've barely recovered from your cold and you're out here in the wind again. Why didn't you put on more clothes? What if you fall ill again? Yuzhu, how have you been looking after your young master? How could you be so careless? And where's Chunhe? Where has she gone…?"
Mother Qiao removed her own cloak and draped it over her son, scolding the servants as she fussed over him.
As a man, Father Qiao was less comfortable stepping forward to fuss over him, but his concern was plain on his face.
That simple affection, reserved for family, left Qiao Nan momentarily dazed. How many years had it been? How many years since he had felt this warmth?
"Mother, I'm all right. It was stuffy inside, so I came out for some fresh air. Don't blame Yuzhu. He's looked after me very well. Really, very well."
Qiao Nan smiled reassuringly.
So well that it hurt to remember. In his previous life, even when Qiao Nan died, that loyal young personal attendant had refused to abandon his master. He had wanted to follow him to the grave. What a foolish child.
But this was no time to dwell on sorrowful memories.
The most pressing matter was taking the first step toward changing his fate.
Qiao Nan looked at his parents, whose faces had not yet been aged by catastrophe, and asked calmly and directly, "Father, Mother, has the Zhao family come to break off the engagement?"
"Nan, you…"
Both parents faltered. They clearly hadn't expected that their son already knew the very thing they had tried so hard to conceal.
In fact,
Qiao Nan knew not only that his fiancé's family had demanded to annul the engagement. He also knew that once his own engagement was dissolved, the Zhaos would immediately propose marriage to his younger cousin, Qiao Xu. His grandparents would happily agree, and the two families would continue their marriage celebrations as if nothing had happened.
He, meanwhile, would become the laughingstock of Linjiang County.
His fate and Qiao Xu's were almost perfect opposites.
And it had all begun with the incident in the river.
On the day of the poetry competition, he and his younger cousin had gone to join the excitement with the other young women and third-gender youths. Halfway through, someone had suddenly pushed him, and he and his cousin had fallen into the river together.
Because his personal maid Chunhe could swim, she had naturally jumped in without hesitation and saved her own master first.
Qiao Xu, however, had worn the same color that day. Qiao Nan's fiancé, Zhao Lixuan, had mistaken his cousin for him and rescued Qiao Xu in public, compromising the younger man's reputation.
What a thoroughly wretched affair.
The best solution would actually have been to marry both cousins to Zhao Lixuan, turning the rescue into a romantic tale of a hero saving two beauties and preserving all three reputations.
Unfortunately, Qiao Nan's health had been damaged during the accident, and the physicians at the medical clinic had concluded that he would probably never be able to bear children.
In this era, people valued heirs and the continuation of the family line above almost everything else. Upon hearing the news, the Zhao family had naturally become dissatisfied. They decided to cancel their engagement to Qiao Nan and marry Qiao Xu alone.
Qiao Nan's parents and two younger brothers were furious, but the Zhaos were determined, and his grandparents took their side. The result, after much arguing, was obvious.
From then on,
The lives of the two cousins had diverged completely.
Qiao Xu married into the Zhao family. Zhao Lixuan passed the imperial examinations, rose swiftly through the ranks, and became the powerful chief minister. Qiao Xu became the chief minister's husband, envied by everyone.
Qiao Nan, on the other hand, had married into an official's family to save his father after the engagement was canceled. He was widowed on his wedding day, burdened his parents and two brothers for the rest of their lives, and only found release when he died of illness within that family's inner residence…
He had once believed his miserable life was simply the result of terrible luck.
But just before he died, Qiao Xu had appeared before him to gloat. Only then had Qiao Nan learned from his cousin that every one of his misfortunes had been deliberately engineered so that Qiao Xu could steal the happy life meant for him.
And Qiao Xu had managed it because he had been reborn.
**********
At the time, Qiao Nan hadn't understood what rebirth meant.
But now, seeing his living parents standing before him and his own youthful face of seventeen or eighteen, he understood.
He had been terribly unlucky in his previous life. Now he, too, had a chance to change his fate. It wasn't too late.
"Father, Mother, let's cancel the engagement."
Qiao Nan spoke calmly, but his words struck like thunder.
Mother Qiao's eyes immediately filled with tears, and she shook her head.
"No! We can't cancel it! Nan, you'll turn eighteen soon, and now your health has been damaged. Where will we find you a decent match after this? If the authorities assign you a husband, who knows what kind of awful man you'll end up with…?"
"Don't worry, Nan. As long as I'm here, the Zhaos won't be allowed to bully you!" Father Qiao declared furiously.
The Kingdom of Jing had existed for only a few decades. So many people had died in the wars that preceded its founding that the founding emperor had issued a compulsory-marriage decree: unmarried men over twenty, and unmarried women and third-gender men over eighteen, would be assigned spouses by the government.
Given the social conditions of this era, most people who remained unmarried at those ages had some sort of problem.
The loving Qiao parents could hardly bear the thought of their beloved son being hastily married off to someone unsuitable.
But would marrying into the Zhao family really make things better?
Even knowing that Zhao Lixuan would become the most powerful minister at court, Qiao Nan had no wish to enter the Zhao household.
His engagement had been canceled in his previous life, and he still intended to end it in this one.
Mountains could crumble and people could abandon you. His former life had taught Qiao Nan that precious little in this world could truly be relied upon. Rather than placing all his hopes in another person, he would make himself stronger.
Although third-gender men occupied much the same social position as women, their masculine appearance meant they faced fewer obstacles to entering public life, provided they chose to do so.
He would rely on himself rather than beg for help. This time, his destiny would belong to him.
Qiao Nan's voice remained composed.
"The moment something happened to me, the Zhaos came to cancel the engagement. That tells us enough about their character. Even if you suppress the matter and get me through their doors, how do you know they won't abandon me the next time something goes wrong? You can't protect me forever."
His parents fell silent.
Of course they had considered that possibility. But compared with having their son assigned some dreadful stranger by the authorities, maintaining the Zhao engagement had seemed the better choice.
Qiao Nan knew what they were thinking. He gave a mocking smile and delivered another thunderbolt.
"Father, Mother, you may not know this, but I never intended to attend that poetry gathering. Cousin Xu insisted on dragging me along, and he even wore a moon-white robe, a color he's always hated. There were plenty of people around us when we fell, but I saw clearly who pushed me. It was my personal maid, Chunhe…"
"Just now I sent Yuzhu to search her room, and he found an extra banknote worth one hundred taels of silver in her bundle. Father, Mother, don't you think that's a remarkable coincidence?"
The color drained from his parents' faces. They could hardly fail to guess the truth.
Their nephew had deliberately stolen their son's fiancé!
Mother Qiao went pale. "B-but… didn't Xu always look down on Scholar Zhao?"
Before his rebirth, Qiao Xu had indeed despised the impoverished scholar. But after learning that Zhao Lixuan would one day become chief minister, everything had changed.
Qiao Nan lifted his cup of hot tea and took several sips. Only once the warmth had spread through him did he look at his parents again.
"Father, Mother, please end the engagement. I don't want to marry out. I want a husband to marry into our family."
"A husband to marry in?"
"Yes. A live-in son-in-law."
Preferably one who was handsome, died young, and wouldn't interfere with his freedom to do whatever he pleased.
* * *
Author's Note:
—
A new story begins!
Reading Notes:
1. Bottom's perspective, with male pregnancy. Three genders: men, women, and third-gender men.
2. A gentle native-born, reborn bottom × a transmigrated, wolfishly devoted younger top.
3. Commerce, imperial examinations, court politics, and infrastructure development.
4. This is a story where I'm letting my imagination run wild! I'll write at my own pace and won't keep checking the comments section, so I won't be influenced. If you don't like it, just close the page. We'll all be happier that way. Thank you!
