Xu Qiu was a transmigrator. However, he did not possess his pre-transmigration memories during his childhood; those only surfaced quite recently.
Along with those memories came the realization that he possessed supernatural abilities and a farm for growing crops.
It was precisely because of this that his previously frail body had begun to recover.
Although he looked no different from before on the outside, he at least no longer had to worry about suddenly dropping dead one day.
At the same time, he realized that he was living inside a novel. The protagonist shou of the story was Lin Qiong, the darling of the Lin family next door. Lin Qiong was not a person of this era; he came from the future and had transmigrated here about two months ago. In the Lin family, the original owner of Lin Qiong’s body had been the apple of Old Mrs. Lin’s eye, and after Lin Qiong transmigrated, he continued to be treated as such.
In the Lin family, Lin Qiong did not need to do any work; while everyone else got up early, he could sleep until he woke up naturally.
However, the other children in the family were a different story.
Farm work was not easy to manage, especially given the harsh climate in Beiyue. Furthermore, Lin Qiong’s personality was not one that could endure hardship. He had never done any heavy labor before transmigrating, let alone field work. Since the conditions allowed for it after his arrival, he naturally wouldn’t volunteer to work either.
His life was comfortable, but problems always arise when people start comparing.
He was cozy, but how could those of his age be content?
In this world, besides the male and female genders, there was also a Ge’er, a male who can bear children. Their appearance was no different from that of men, though most tended to have softer features. They were expected to marry and have children when they grew up. Lin Qiong was a Ge’er.
Old Mrs. Lin had three sons and two daughters; the daughters had long since married and had children of their own.
The age gap between the three sons was not large, and the second and third sons were twins.
The eldest son had a son and a daughter. The second and third sons had married shortly after one another; the second son’s family had one Ge’er and two sons, while the third son’s family had only one child.
Lin Qiong was the only child of the third son’s family.
To summarize the situation at the Lin household based on Lin Qiong’s complaints shortly after he arrived: others who transmigrate end up resisting oppression, slapping the faces of vile characters, separating from the family, and refusing to be a pushover, but in his case, it was that the vile characters were his entire family. The eldest son was taciturn, the second son was honest and hardworking like an ox, and the third son was lazy and opportunistic.
Their respective wives were cut from the same cloth.
The biggest vile character in the Lin family was Lin Qiong himself. Old Mrs. Lin doted on him the most, requiring him to do nothing and giving him the best of everything in the house.
While the whole family was tanned like charcoal, only Lin Qiong remained fair and tender, without even a single callus on his hands.
The family members closest to Lin Qiong’s age were the eldest branch’s daughter and the second branch’s Ge’er.
In this era, the status of daughters and Ge’er was generally low, adhering to the saying that a married daughter is like splashed water. The eldest branch’s parents did not value their daughter, and under long-term suppression, she had become quiet and cowardly, never daring to express dissatisfaction with her treatment and having little presence in the house.
However, Lin Qu, who was half a year older than Lin Qiong and from the second branch, was different. Lin Qu was stubborn and competitive, and he had been extremely jealous of Lin Qiong since they were small.
When he was younger, he lacked the courage and feared pain; if he were beaten or scolded, he wouldn’t dare say anything.
But as he grew older, Lin Qu’s personality became increasingly sharp.
At this moment, it was Lin Qu who was causing a scene at the Lin house again.
Li, Xu Qiu’s mother, listened with great interest, occasionally adding her own comments: “It truly is disgraceful. Everyone else is working hard in the fields, but she sleeps until noon and secretly eats good food in her room behind everyone’s backs.”
“I don’t know what’s gotten into Xiao Qu lately; his conflict with Lin Qiong is becoming more frequent. Before, they would only fight occasionally, but these past two months, it’s become constant. I heard the Lin family was preparing to find him a marriage match, but with that temper of his, who would be willing to come knocking now?”
Xu Qiu’s heart stirred. A marriage match?
Could it be that Lin Qu had already dreamt of future events? That would explain why he was deliberately picking fights, partly to prevent the Lin family from finding him a partner, and partly because he had endured Lin Qiong for so long and wanted to use this opportunity to vent his anger.
As for whether his reputation being ruined mattered, Xu Qiu felt that Lin Qu probably wouldn’t care too much.
After all, his goal from start to finish was Xu Qiu himself.
As Lin Qiong’s fiancé, if Lin Qu wanted to take his place, the methods he used could not be simple.
To steal a cousin’s marriage match, no matter how sufficient the excuse, one shouldn’t expect to keep a clean reputation.
He would inevitably be the subject of gossip.
According to the background description at the beginning of the novel, Xu Qiu knew he was supposed to be with Lin Qiong, achieving great success and high office in the future. But before everything had officially begun, Lin Qu dreamt of the future and, seeing that Xu Qiu would become powerful, did everything in his power to intercept the match, racking his brains to be with him instead.
As for Lin Qiong, he didn’t care at all that his past-life husband had been stolen and turned around to find an even better man.
From then on, he and Lin Qu became the foils to Lin Qiong’s couple for their entire lives.
Their lives became worse and worse, never achieving the success seen in the dreams, and they lived in poverty and low status for the rest of their days.
Thinking of this, Xu Qiu couldn’t help but shiver. However, he felt that since he had a space and supernatural abilities, he shouldn’t end up like the version in the plot. Besides, he knew exactly what Lin Qu was planning, so he wouldn’t be foolish enough to jump into the pit. He would simply avoid it.
He had no intention of participating in the struggle between the protagonist shou and the cannon fodder.
He would even find a suitable time to break off his engagement with Lin Qiong, though there was no need to rush right now.
Listening to his mother continue to complain about Lin Qiong, he couldn’t help but tease: “What’s this? You used to treat him like a little treasure, and now you’ve flipped your face and don’t recognize him?”
“Don’t you start!” Li glared at him. “Outsiders listen to that old hag when she says Lin Qiong is a child with fortune, but we who are close know that’s not the case at all. A Ge’er who is incredibly lazy at home all day, what family would want to marry such a wife?”
“It’s all my fault. Back then, I heard his mother crying so pitifully that I agreed to the engagement between the two of you. I didn’t even mind that her son was lazy and that I’d have to support two elderly in-laws in the future, yet she had the nerve to look down on you for being frail!”
“I’m absolutely furious.”
“Daughter-in-law? What daughter-in-law? This engagement is over. Lin Qiong can forget about entering our door; he can go climb his high branches elsewhere. I want to see what kind of man he can find.”
Li was still deeply irritated by the matter. “That couple hasn’t explicitly said they want to break the engagement because they haven’t found a better donkey to trade for their horse yet. They think we’re honest and easy to bully.”
“Fine. They won’t say it? That’s fine. We definitely won’t marry him into this family. Let’s see how long they can drag this out. I suspect they’ll be the ones begging us to break it eventually.”
Xu Qiu couldn’t help but laugh as he listened.
The other members of his family were not that easy to bully, as his father and two older brothers both had fierce tempers; it was mainly his mother who was soft-hearted and easily taken advantage of.
His mother, Li, and Lin Qiong’s mother had been best friends, growing up together with a deep bond. However, looking at the vile behavior of Lin Qiong’s mother, one could tell she wasn’t truly friends with Li; she merely thought Li was honest and easy to manipulate. After they both married, they happened to become neighbors, so their contact increased even more.
After Lin Qiong’s mother married the third son, she gave birth to Lin Qiong.
After that, she never conceived again.
As years passed, Lin Qiong’s mother and the third son began to panic. In this day and age, not having a son was equivalent to having no descendants. After Lin Qiong married out in the future, what would they do?
No family’s life was easy; it didn’t make sense that when a child married, they would also have to support two aging parents.
Thus, they came up with a plan: target Li.
Within the borders of Beiyue, there were many ethnic minorities. It used to be a small country that had been integrated several dynasties ago. Because the people were too fierce and difficult to govern, the current situation formed. They were unified, xenophobic, and tough, acting as local bullies in the area. Even the officials sent by the imperial court couldn’t do anything about them.
If they acted rashly, they might end up paying with their lives.
In their area, the Xu clan was one of these local power brokers. Of course, this didn’t refer to Xu Qiu’s father and two older brothers. However, they were closely related to the Xu clan by blood, and his two muscle-bound brothers often worked under them.
Their family ranked near the top in the entire village.
This village was not entirely composed of ethnic minorities, and there was quite a bit of intermarriage with the outside world.
The Xu family was one such case.
Xu Qiu himself looked more like his mother, but if one looked closely at his eyes, one could see the exotic characteristics; his eyes carried a strange and unique beauty, and he was quite good-looking. As for his two brothers, they had completely inherited his father’s rugged, fierce style.
Although Xu Qiu was frail as a child, Li took good care of him. At most, he would catch a cold; he never had serious symptoms like vomiting blood and would recover quickly.
Therefore, Lin Qiong’s mother and the third son never realized how weak his health actually was.
Li also didn’t expect that her son’s health would get worse as he grew older.
At the time, Lin Qiong’s mother came to Li, crying and saying she feared she would have no one to rely on in her old age and that no one would be willing to support them. While the third son had two older brothers, they weren’t his own, so they wouldn’t treat them like their own parents, and their old age could be miserable.
Then, she proposed the idea of a childhood engagement between Lin Qiong and Xu Qiu.
Li was soft-hearted and shared a deep bond with Lin Qiong’s mother; how could she bear to see her friend’s old age be so desolate? She agreed immediately and stated that once the two children were married, they would support them together. As for Li and her husband, they figured they would live with their eldest son and wouldn’t be a burden on Xu Qiu, the youngest.
The Xu family’s own conditions were good. At the time, this engagement was considered the Lin family taking advantage, especially since the young couple would have to support Lin Qiong’s parents in the future, something unheard of elsewhere. In this poverty-stricken and harsh region of Beiyue, raising two extra people was no small feat.
So, even though Old Mrs. Lin believed the Taoist priest who said Lin Qiong was blessed, she had no objections to the engagement.
The two sides settled it just like that.
Xu Qiu was the only one who realized what had happened long after both families had agreed.
He had no say in the matter.
At that time, Xu Qiu did not have his memories of a past life and had no concept of an engagement; like a normal child, his mind was only filled with playing. Engagements and the like were completely unimportant to him.