Chapter 3: The Cao Family

He woke up to find he had a wife and child…

Cao Xiangnan lowered his gaze, looking at the small child standing before the bed, sucking on a little finger and staring back at him. The child was thin, with a sallow, yellowish complexion that screamed malnutrition. The child’s name was Cao Ruian, a xiaoge’er [A xiaoge’er is a male in a society that recognizes a third gender, who can marry men and bear children], and was said to be four years old by the local reckoning, but in reality, he was not even three.

Was this his son? It didn’t quite feel like it.

A daughter? Cao Xiangnan immediately rejected the thought. He would just consider him his son.

People in this era married early, at fifteen or sixteen years old, and some as early as twelve or thirteen. The original Cao Xiangnan had married at fifteen, taking a ge’er two years older than himself as his wife.

The original Cao Xiangnan hadn’t liked this ge’er who was two years older and taller than him. He fancied a delicate ge’er from the same village, one who was renowned for his beauty. Many people had wanted to marry that ge’er, but he looked down on Cao Xiangnan for his family’s poverty. Later, a wealthy household from the town took a fancy to him and carried him off in a sedan chair to be a concubine. After letting go of his infatuation, the village matchmaker arranged a marriage for Cao Xiangnan, and his family spent a guan [A string of 1000 copper coins] to marry Qi Wanfeng for him.

After the marriage, Cao Xiangnan and Qi Wanfeng couldn’t be said to have loved each other. They simply lived their lives numbly, and later had a xiaoge’er, An’an. Unfortunately, because he was a xiaoge’er, he wasn’t favored in this family.

Cao Xiangnan told the child standing before the bed to find a spot to sit. Seeing that the child had sat down on a small stool, still staring at him, Cao Xiangnan didn’t pay him any mind and continued to sort through the original owner’s memories, slowly organizing them.

The place he was in was called Cao Family Village. Most of the people in the village were surnamed Cao, and their family was a large one. Cao Xiangnan ranked fourth in this family.

Cao Xiangnan’s A-die [Father] was Cao Ashan. In Cao Xiangnan’s memories, his A-die was a cowardly man. The one who managed the household was his A-mu [Mother], Chen Zhu, who controlled the family’s finances and was a stingy, miserly, tightfisted old woman.

Cao Xiangnan had three older brothers. The eldest brother was Cao Fugui, the second brother was Cao Fuqiang, and the third brother Cao Chunqing was a ge’er. He ranked fourth and was called Cao Xiangnan, and below him was a younger brother named Cao Gaojin.

The eldest brother, Cao Fugui, was an honest and hardworking peasant who had married Chen Li from the same village as his A-mu. He was most favored by his A-mu, and together they had three children: two boys and one ge’er. The eldest boy, Cao Jinbao, was eleven years old, the second boy, Cao Yinbao, was nine, and the third ge’er, Cao Qinglan, was eight.

The second brother, Cao Fuqiang, was a lazy good-for-nothing who specialized in petty theft and liked to gamble. He had married a wife named Wang Yan, and both of them were unproductive members of the family. They had four children. The eldest boy, Cao Tianbao, was eight years old, followed by two ge’ers, and finally another boy named Cao Abao, who was a few months older than Cao Ruian.

The third brother, Cao Chunqing, was a ge’er. In his memories, his third brother Cao Chunqing was a very beautiful ge’er. He had married the young master of a restaurant in Fenshui City as a concubine. After marrying into the family, he had given birth to two boys in succession and was very favored. Every year, he would send some gifts back to his maiden home, but he had never set foot in Cao Family Village again.

The youngest son of the Cao family was Cao Gaojin. Chen Zhu had consulted a fortune teller when she was pregnant with him, and the fortune teller said that the unborn child was a boy and had the fate of passing the xiucai [The lowest degree in the imperial examination system] examination. Chen Zhu protected this child as if he were her lifeline, so Cao Gaojin had been sent to a private school to study from a young age.

Cao Gaojin had been a student praised by the teachers since he was a child and was a good material for studying. Last year, he was the only person in the village to pass the tong sheng [The lowest level of the imperial examinations] examination. After passing the tong sheng examination, he went to Fenshui Town to study in preparation for this year’s imperial examination. The Cao family was counting on Cao Gaojin to bring glory to their ancestors.