“Spring has arrived, everything is revived, and it’s once again the season when animals begin to breed!” Lu Qing walked out of his thatched hut, picked up the bamboo basket under the eaves, and looked toward the lush forest in the distance.
He pulled back his thoughts and prepared to gather wild vegetables to repay the ones Aunt Zhang and the others had given him during the winter.
Three months ago, on a snowy and stormy night, Lu Qing had transmigrated from a brightly lit modern era into this unfamiliar Great Yong Empire.
The original body’s father had been the former village chief of Manglong Village.
With some family foundation, he had sent his son to study, hoping the Lu family would one day produce a scholar.
Unfortunately, after ten years of hard study, the original host only managed to pass the xiucai exam and failed to qualify as a juren.
In the Great Yong Empire, a xiucai had little use besides exemption from taxes and corvée labor. There had once been subsidies, but after the signing of the “Yellow River Alliance,” the court began paying annual tribute to the Jurchens, Tanguts, and Turks, increasing financial pressure and resulting in the removal of xiucai subsidies. If one wanted a future through studying, one had to at least become a juren.
Three years ago, the original host’s father was killed by mountain bandits, causing the Lu family of Manglong Village to decline. Faced with an empty house and hunger, the original host ended his life, making way for the current Lu Qing. With the villagers’ help and charity, Lu Qing survived the harsh winter.
“Are you the xiucai Lu Qing from Manglong Village?”
While Lu Qing was gazing at the distant forest in deep emotion, a voice came from the courtyard gate. He looked up and saw two constables standing there, with Manglong Village’s elderly village chief Liu Xicai beside them.
“I am.”
Seeing constables, Lu Qing didn’t dare show any disrespect. He stepped forward to acknowledge his identity and asked the new village chief Liu Xicai, “Village Chief, what is going on?”
“A good thing.” Liu Xicai’s face was full of smiles as he looked at Lu Qing.
A good thing?
Lu Qing really couldn’t think of any good thing that could possibly happen to him in this body. “What good thing?”
“We’re delivering you a wife!”
Lu Qing froze on the spot.
Delivering a wife?
Was he dreaming?
How could there be such a good thing?
“Lu Qing, you’re not young anymore. You should start a family. Since the normal matchmaking didn’t work out, we’ll follow the court-arranged marriage. It may not compare to a normal bride chosen through proper matchmaking, but at least you’ll have a wife at home, and you’ll understand the difference once the time comes,” Liu Xicai said in the tone of an elder.
With those words, Lu Qing finally recalled. The Great Yong Empire had been ravaged by years of war, leading to a sharp decline in population. To restore the numbers, the court issued laws requiring all citizens—male or female—who reached the designated age to marry. If they refused, the authorities would forcibly arrange a marriage.
The result of this forceful system was that no one knew who their spouse might end up being. They could be idle and lazy, irresponsible, or even missing limbs or disabled.
For example, in the neighboring village, Zheng Mantun was lazy and disabled from birth, yet he was forcibly matched with a beautiful young wife. The woman didn’t want it, but could only accept her fate.
Another example was Scholar Wang from Luo Village who, despite his scholarly disposition and aspirations to attempt the juren exam this year, was forced to marry two years ago because he reached the required age. His wife was even sturdier and more muscular than he was, and outsiders joked she looked like his personal bodyguard.
The court didn’t care whether one liked it or not. All it wanted was population growth. In their eyes, commoners were merely tools for production. Anyone who still refused after being ordered by the magistrate would have their family fined ten times the tax amount; men would be conscripted or sent to labor in mines, and women demoted to slave status as tribute.
The annual tribute was part of the agreements that the Great Yong Empire had signed with the Turks and Jurchens—each woman counted as five taels of silver. It was said that these women suffered inhumane treatment once taken away. They were forced into beast-fighting arenas to kill one another, lacked proper clothing in winter, and countless froze to death every year.
Lu Qing remembered that Liu Xicai had tried several times to propose a match for him with the Meng family, but the Mengs knew his family’s poverty too well.
Even though their threshold had practically been worn down by constant requests, they still refused.
The Lu family was no longer the village chief’s family, and Lu Qing couldn’t even feed himself—how could he feed a whole family?
Marrying their daughter to him would be like pushing her into a fire pit. She would be better off becoming a concubine in a wealthier household.
“Can I refuse?” Lu Qing asked cautiously.
“Refuse? You’ll be stripped of your xiucai status, your house confiscated, and you’ll be sent to forced labor!” The constable looked at him impatiently. A mere xiucai dared defy the court’s iron law?
“I’m willing to serve the empire and ease its concerns,” Lu Qing declared immediately.
With this frail body of his, conscription meant certain death. Since life after dark was the same anyway, he braced himself and accepted his fate.
Lu Qing followed Liu Xicai and the two constables to the village entrance. When he arrived, he saw that the entire Manglong Village had gathered. In a place with no entertainment, court-arranged marriages were the liveliest events. Adults and children flocked over to watch the spectacle.
“Lu Qing is here!”
“This is going to be fun. Lu Qing is handsome. I wonder what his wife will look like.”
Seeing him approach, the villagers grew even noisier.
As the only scholar in Manglong Village, Lu Qing was something of a small celebrity, so people were eager to see whether he would be successfully paired.
“Xiaojun, Lu Qing is getting married. Do you regret it a little? I told you before to marry him. He may be just a xiucai and not much of a laborer, but he’s good-looking and would’ve married you as the main wife,” Aunt Zhang teased the young girl beside her.
“Aunt Zhang, what nonsense are you saying? I’m not like that with Lu Qing.” Meng Xiaojun glanced at Lu Qing as he walked over. She had once liked him, but after learning he wouldn’t become a juren, she gave up. If she married him, wouldn’t she be starving too? When would the hardship ever end?
“What do you mean you’re not like that?” Aunt Zhang said with gossip-filled curiosity.
“Aunt Zhang, don’t talk nonsense. Scholar Wang from Luo Village already sent a matchmaker to propose to me the other day,” Meng Xiaojun replied shyly. Wang and Lu Qing were of similar age and both xiucai, but Wang was expected to have a chance at becoming a juren this year. Even if she married him as a concubine, once he passed, her status would rise. Lu Qing, however… she had given up.
Aunt Zhang said nothing more after hearing her response.
When Lu Qing stepped forward, he saw several other villagers like himself who had also reached marriage age but, due to various reasons, failed to marry and now had to rely on court arrangements.
“Hey, look, that one looks nice.”
“Tie Zhu, Tie Zhu, pick the second one. She’s broad-shouldered and strong. She’ll work well and bear children!” Zhao Youde assessed the women for his son Zhao Tiezhu.
“Alright,” Zhao Tiezhu nodded.
In a poor place like Manglong Village, looks meant nothing.
What mattered was the ability to work, to bear children, and to add another laborer to the family. Choosing a pretty woman was foolish—marrying a vase was pointless.
A wife meant another set of taxes next year, so she had to be someone who could earn back her own tax burden.
“The fifth one isn’t bad either. Her skin is dark, but she looks healthy.”
“The third one too; look at that figure—she looks like she’ll definitely bear sons.”
Everyone inspected the waiting brides like they were selecting merchandise. Lu Qing also examined the women before him.
All he could think was: fate truly plays as it wishes.
…