Qi Heng didn't know how to respond to her. While his decision to marry Third Miss Jiang was indeed driven by circumstances, he had approached it with genuine sincerity.
"Never mind if you won't tell me. I'm not interested anyway." Jiang Nian turned to leave, but Qi Heng urgently reached out to stop her.
"I'll tell you!"
Qi Heng explained: "The Crown Prince visited the Prefectural Residence incognito and intended to arrange a marriage for me. My father used you as an excuse to decline the imperial match. The Crown Prince then declared he would attend our wedding ceremony, which is why I had to urgently propose."
Jiang Nian burned with rage. So this was the same reason he had married her in her previous life! The Qi Manor should have been begging for her hand, yet they treated her like someone forcing a marriage through obligation, showing her no respect whatsoever. Was it because she was a farmer's daughter that they thought she could be easily bullied?
In her past life, she had been so happy – marrying the man she loved, believing he felt the same way about her. Otherwise, why would he have proposed? Now she knew the truth. Perhaps even their wedding night had been unwilling for him in that previous life.
"What right do you have to use me as an excuse? How dare you treat people this way, changing my entire life with a single sentence!"
Jiang Nian shook off his hand, the intense hatred in her eyes leaving Qi Heng bewildered.
"My apologies." Qi Heng's brows furrowed with visible guilt. "After we marry, I will treat you well, only you."
"Did I say I would marry you?" Jiang Nian retorted sarcastically.
Qi Heng frowned slightly, puzzled by her animosity. By all accounts, this was their first formal meeting – where could such resentment come from?
"Have I done something to displease you? Why are you so resistant to me?"
Jiang Nian was speechless. "You're using me, and you expect me to accept it happily?"
"You can use me in return," Qi Heng offered. "I will help with any matter concerning the Jiang Family."
"What if I absolutely refuse to marry you?" Jiang Nian stepped closer to him. "Will you force me?"
Qi Heng remained silent for a moment before bowing respectfully. "This concerns the lives of over a hundred people in my Qi Manor. Miss Jiang, I beg you."
Having known him for two lifetimes, this was the first time Jiang Nian had seen him beg anyone – and it was her. Her heart churned with conflicting emotions.
"Aren't you being overly dramatic? What would happen if you don't marry me? Would the Crown Prince actually kill you all?"
Qi Heng's eyes darkened as he sighed helplessly.
"If I don't marry you, it means my father and I lied to the Crown Prince. The crime of deceiving the sovereign – do you think he wouldn't feel betrayed and slaughter my entire household in anger? When the emperor rages, corpses litter thousands of miles – this is no idle threat."
"What does that have to do with me?" Jiang Nian hardened her heart in refusal. The Qi Manor people had bullied her plenty – whether they lived or died was none of her concern.
"I will grant you anything you want." Qi Heng made the promise solemnly.
Jiang Nian thought of her family and hesitated.
In these chaotic times, without protection, the fate of her Jiang Family members would be uncertain. In her previous life, it was only under Qi Heng's protection that the Jiang Family remained unharmed. In this life, who would protect them?
She looked up at Qi Heng, her eyes filled with inner conflict. If the Qi Family faced imminent danger, her Jiang Family wouldn't fare any better in the future.
Seeing her hesitation, Qi Heng took a large step forward and pressed a white jade hairpin into her hand.
"This was left to me by my grandfather, to be given to my future wife."
Jiang Nian stared at the familiar white jade hairpin, her expression dazed. In her previous life, the day after their wedding, he had used this same white jade hairpin to fasten her hair.
Although his motives for marrying her were impure, he treated her genuinely well, always protecting and accommodating her. Whenever he was home, those noble sisters-in-law dared not cause trouble in her presence, and even her mother-in-law refrained from sarcastic remarks. It was her own lack of self-esteem that made her unable to stand up for herself, allowing others to bully her.
"I don't want it." Jiang Nian shoved the white jade hairpin back into his hand. "Let me think it over properly. You should take this hairpin back and give it to someone more suitable."
Qi Heng pushed it back toward her. "No one is more suitable than you."
"I said no!" As they wrestled over the hairpin, Jiang Nian snapped coldly.
"If you force it on me again, I won't even consider marrying you!"
At these words, Qi Heng retrieved the hairpin and stole a glance at her. "Don't be angry. I'll keep it for you for now."
"You should go." Jiang Nian urged him to leave.
"Then you…" Qi Heng hesitated.
"I said I'll think about it," Jiang Nian stated.
Qi Heng replied, "Alright, I'll come back in a few days."
After Qi Heng left, Jiang Nian went to the main hall to find her grandfather.
Grandpa Jiang asked, "Why is Qi Manor so determined to marry you?"
After Jiang Nian explained the reason, Grandpa Jiang suddenly understood.
"So that's how it is. I was wondering why the esteemed second young master of the Prefectural Residence would take a fancy to our farming family. Indeed, unnecessary kindness always hides ulterior motives."
Jiang Nian's eyes flickered. "Grandfather, I want to use this matter to negotiate a deal with Qi Heng."
Grandpa Jiang was slightly taken aback. "What do you mean?"
"Grandfather," Jiang Nian said slowly. "The world is in such chaos, who knows when fighting might break out? When war comes, farming families are always the first to suffer—our grain seized, our men conscripted. Our family won't be able to avoid losses. But if we have the protection of the Qi family, we could survive intact."
Grandpa Jiang spoke with difficulty. "You want to marry into the Qi family."
Jiang Nian said, "The Qi family needs me now. If I help them through this difficulty, they can protect our Jiang family's safety. Later, I can divorce Qi Heng."
"No!" Grandpa Jiang disagreed.
Jiang Nian argued, "Grandfather, we're just a farming family with no power to oppose officials. The Qi family is still discussing this with us politely now, but if we don't cooperate, they might resort to force. We might as well use this opportunity to demand more benefits from them."
"Let your grandfather think this through properly," Grandpa Jiang said, rising and heading into the house.
Jiang Nian went to the yard to water the vegetable garden, then fed the chickens and ducks.
Her elder sister-in-law, An Shi, holding her son, watched Jiang Nian work. The second sister-in-law from the second branch, Xu Shi, timidly approached Jiang Nian.
"Niannian, let me help you with that."
Jiang Nian stopped her. "Second sister-in-law, I'm almost done. No need to get yourself dirty again."
"Sister-in-law!" An Shi called to her. "If you're free, come take care of my son for me. Oh, I'm exhausted from carrying this chubby boy around all day!"
"Oh, alright," Xu Shi replied, walking over and skillfully helping to soothe the child.
Ever since Xu Shi married into the family, An Shi had always found various excuses to order her around. Xu Shi, naive as she was, ended up acting like a servant—caring for the child, cooking, and washing clothes.
Witnessing this scene, anger surged in Jiang Nian's heart. Back at Qi Manor, her three sisters-in-law had bullied her in the same way, constantly ordering her to do this and that. Back then, she had just married into the Qi family and her status was lowly, allowing those three sisters-in-law to manipulate her at will.
"Elder sister-in-law!" Jiang Nian threw down the gourd ladle and glared at An Shi. "This is your son. Why do you make second sister-in-law take care of him for you every single day?"
An Shi said righteously, "This is your Jiang Family's chubby grandson. Why should I be the only one watching him?"
"You could ask Brother Jiang Yu to watch the child," Jiang Nian retorted sarcastically. "He's the child's biological father. Does he think he can just be a hands-off manager and not take responsibility?"
"He's a man. How could we let him watch the child?" An Shi retorted indignantly.
"Since you can't bear to let your own man suffer," Jiang Nian walked over, took the child from Xu Shi's arms, and placed him in An Shi's embrace. "Then you should bear the burden yourself and not trouble others!"
"Jiang Nian, you…" An Shi was furious, and the child in her arms began to wail loudly.
"Nian Nian, I'm fine. I can help her watch the child," Xu Shi anxiously tried to mediate. "Stop arguing. Grandpa said that harmony in the family leads to prosperity in all things."
Jiang Nian sighed. "Second sister-in-law, you help her with childcare, cooking, and laundry every day. Don't you feel wronged? She's clearly taking advantage of you."
Xu Shi lowered her head without responding. How could she not feel wronged? She had been doted on by her parents in her maiden home, but since marrying into the Jiang Family, she hadn't rested a single day—constantly serving her elder sister-in-law and the children, exhausted to the point of tears every day.