FIMA Ch43: Breaking Off the Engagement [Arc 3]

Gu Siyuan opened his eyes, and a vast expanse of green immediately greeted his sight; it was the newly cultivated rice seedlings planted by the villagers.

At the village entrance ahead, two gardenia bushes had been planted. May was the season for them to bloom, sending over waves of an irresistibly tangy fragrance.

Gu Siyuan rubbed his shoulder, which was slightly sore from the straps of his book basket, and continued walking forward. Following the village road for about a few dozen more steps, a blue-brick courtyard enclosed by a half-height wall came into view—that was the original owner’s home.

With his long legs and large strides, it only took him a moment to reach the wall. He could already clearly hear the voices coming from the courtyard, or rather, it would be more accurate to call it an argument.

A sharp female voice cried out: “Mrs. Xie, I’m afraid handling it this way simply won’t do. You people swap out the person just like that. This whatever Ger Changyue grew up in an Earl’s mansion; our ordinary family can’t afford to serve him.”

Another, milder female voice replied: “Sister-in-law Gu, but Changyue is the true Ger of our Xie family.”

The sharp female voice retorted: “I don’t care if he belongs to your family or not! Anyway, the one our family got engaged to is Xiao Huan, and I only acknowledge Xiao Huan!”

The mild female voice hesitated: “But Xiao Huan has already returned to the Suining Earl’s Mansion. Giving this marriage to Changyue was also Xiao Huan’s idea. Sister-in-law Gu, look…”

Listening to this dispute, Gu Siyuan had no intention of going inside immediately. He looked over toward the side corner of the wall.

There lay several rugged, large stones that had been there for ages, covered in thick moss.

At this moment, a slender figure was standing on tiptoe upon them, hands gripping the top of the wall, entirely absorbed in watching the situation inside the courtyard.

Gu Siyuan’s gaze was sharp and cool.

The slender figure quickly noticed, turned his head to look this way, and was consequently startled by his tall figure and stern gaze. Slipping on the moss underfoot, his entire body tumbled backward uncontrollably.

Village grounds were always full of debris, and right below were crushed stones. If he fell, even if he didn’t break a bone, he would likely bleed.

Gu Siyuan furrowed his brows, stretched out a long arm, and directly caught the person by the waist, pulling him into his arms.

After the fright, Xie Changyue leaned against the warm, rock-hard chest, his face flushing red, unable to speak for quite a while.

Having grown up in the strict environment of the Suining Earl’s Mansion, he had never been this close to a man before.

Just then, the argument in the courtyard seemed to pause, and instead, the sound of the door latch rattling came from the courtyard entrance.

Only then did Xie Changyue shove away the man behind him, burying his head and running toward the village with incredibly fast steps.

Gu Siyuan watched his retreating back, his face expressionless.

The courtyard door opened, and three figures walked out one after another.

An elderly woman and two middle-aged women.

The slightly shorter middle-aged woman, named Liu Zhi, looked at the running figure and muttered under her breath: “Why did that look like Changyue…”

Meanwhile, the eldest elderly woman was momentarily stunned upon seeing Gu Siyuan, then asked in a warm voice: “A’Yang, why have you come back from the academy right at noon?”

The original owner’s full name was exactly Gu Yang.

“Grandmother,” Gu Siyuan cupped his hands and bowed to her, though his face remained consistently aloof. “The academy starts its farming break tomorrow. To prevent students who live far away from having to travel home in the dark, classes were dismissed a bit early.”

The elderly woman quickly said: “Ah, under such a hot sun, hurry back to your room and rest. Your Papa is in the kitchen; have him pour you a cup of tea.”

Gu Siyuan nodded, bypassed them, and entered the courtyard.

Gu Siyuan’s grandfather was the village chief of Huangyang Village, which was why they possessed the best blue-brick courtyard in the village.

The yard wasn’t covered in chicken droppings like other families’ homes; it was kept impeccably clean and even featured a cobblestone path.

Probably hearing the commotion of his arrival, a handsome, delicate middle-aged man emerged from the kitchen doorway—no, it should be a middle-aged Ger, as this world had three genders.

The middle-aged Ger smiled at him and made a few gestures with his hands. Gu Siyuan had previously learned some sign language, so he knew he was asking if he was tired.

The middle-aged Ger was named Mu Xia, the very person who had given birth to the original owner.

Gu Siyuan shook his head, walked up to him, and asked softly, “Your son is not tired. Is Papa well?”

Mu Xia smiled and nodded, then reached out to push him toward his room before going back into the kitchen to boil water and brew tea.

Following his memory, Gu Siyuan pushed open the wooden door of a side room on the east.

The furnishings inside were simple. At the innermost section against the wall was a kang bed, at the foot of which stood a pitch-black wardrobe. Besides that, a long desk sat beneath the window.

This place served as both his sleeping quarters and his study.

Taking two steps to the desk, Gu Siyuan took off the book basket from his shoulder, withdrew a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone from inside, and carefully arranged them on the table.

Although the Gu family’s living conditions were slightly better than those of the other families in Huangyang Village, items like brush, ink, paper, and inkstones were still highly precious. Everyone had to treat them with the utmost care.

Gu Siyuan pulled out a piece of yellow mulberry paper and laid it on the desk. He then picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, gathered his thoughts, and slowly began to write.

In the modern era, he didn’t often write with a calligraphy brush.

But here, even though he had inherited the original owner’s memories, the original owner’s handwriting could only be considered passable.

In the imperial examinations, the quality of one’s handwriting was incredibly important and would greatly affect one’s ranking.

While writing, Gu Siyuan began organizing the information about this world in his mind.

Simply put, this was a switched-at-birth novel.

The dynasty he was in was called the Great Zhou, which recognized three genders: men, women, and Gers.

Gers possessed the appearance of men but had the reproductive capabilities of women; however, their physiques were somewhat more slender than typical men.

The story’s protagonist shou was named Shen Changhuan, a Ger who grew up in the household of a family surnamed Xie in Huangyang Village, Wuqing County, Tongzhou.

However, this was not his true identity.

Tongzhou fell under the jurisdiction of the Shuntian Prefecture and was extremely close to the capital. Many wealthy families from the capital enclosed land here to build manors, and they would recruit people from nearby villages to work on them.

The Shen family of the capital’s Suining Earl’s Mansion owned a hot spring manor in Tongzhou. When Xie Er of Huangyang Village was young, he worked there as a long-term hired hand.

Sixteen years ago, the late Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty exclusively doted on Noble Consort Chu. Showered with thousands of favors, the entire Chu clan rose to power along with her.

Noble Consort Chu’s niece, Princess Chengjia, set her sights on the Second Young Master of the Suining Earl’s Mansion, Shen Wenxuan. Disregarding the fact that Shen Wenxuan already had a wife and child, she forced him to divorce his wife and remarry her.

For the sake of his family and his future prospects, Shen Wenxuan had no choice but to comply.

But this was only on the surface; in reality, he secretly hid his wife away in their Tongzhou manor.

Accompanying the Second Madam Shen to the manor was a maidservant named Hehua, who was immensely loyal and deeply trusted by the Second Madam.

Not long after arriving at the manor, amidst the hardships of life, this maidservant and the hired hand Xie Er caught each other’s eye.

To make things more convenient for her arrangements, the Second Madam had the two of them marry.

A year after their marriage, Hehua became pregnant.

Coincidentally, due to Shen Wenxuan’s occasional secret visits, the Second Madam was also recently discovered to be pregnant.

Shortly thereafter, the political situation at court shifted. The late Emperor fell gravely ill, and the court officials, under the pretext of ‘clearing the sovereign’s side of evil ministers’, executed Noble Consort Chu and the entire Chu clan.

The married Princess Chengjia was stripped of her title, and Shen Wenxuan seized the opportunity to divorce her.

However, Princess Chengjia was not one to be trifled with. She had long known that Shen Wenxuan’s original wife was hidden in the Tongzhou manor, so she had already arranged for assassins to strike beforehand.

At the Tongzhou manor, thanks to the protection of the servants, Hehua and another maid named Liu Zhi miraculously managed to escort the Second Madam out, fleeing into the mountains.

However, following the shock, both the Second Madam and Hehua went into premature labor simultaneously, each giving birth to a Ger.

Due to her frail constitution, the Second Madam fainted right after giving birth.

The group of assassins, refusing to give up the search, gradually closed in on the three women’s location.

To repay the Madam’s kindness, Hehua decided to dress her own child in the clothes of the Madam’s child, voluntarily rushing out with her baby to draw the assassins’ attention.

She then had Liu Zhi take the Madam’s child and hide.

In the end, Hehua was killed by the assassins. Just moments before her child was snatched away and about to be killed…

Shen Wenxuan arrived with his servants and wrested the child back from the assassins. Seeing the baby’s attire and the assassins’ prior actions, he assumed this was his own child.

After locating his unconscious wife in a cave, he took the child and returned to the Earl’s Mansion.

On the other side, while Liu Zhi was running with the child, she lost her footing, tumbled down the wooded mountain, and fell unconscious.

She was saved by villagers at the foot of the mountain and only woke up several days later.

Upon waking, a blood clot at the back of her head left her in a daze, forgetting many things. Looking at the baby, she only vaguely remembered that someone named Hehua had entrusted it to her.

One day, Liu Zhi ran into Xie Er on the road while carrying the child.

She hazily recalled that this man seemed to be Hehua’s husband, so she handed the child directly to Xie Er, claiming it was Hehua’s baby.

Eventually, unable to bear parting with the child, Liu Zhi married the widowed Xie Er.

Just like that, the lives of the two children were completely swapped.

Shen Wenxuan named the Ger taken to the Suining Earl’s Mansion “Changyue,” symbolizing a life of nobility and purity.

As for the Ger left with the Xie family in Huangyang Village, Xie Er and Liu Zhi named him Xie Huan, hoping for him to have a lifetime of joy.

Sixteen years later, both children had gradually grown up.

Xie Huan, who had remained in Huangyang Village, one day rescued an injured young man by the river.

Xie Huan hid him in a cave, and as the two young men spent day and night together, the sparks of love ignited.

At this time, the young man’s family finally tracked him down using secret markers. Among them was a young man named Shen Changye, who seemed quite close to him, teasingly telling him to recover quickly so he could go back and marry his difficult younger brother.

Upon learning that the young man was betrothed, Xie Huan was heartbroken.

However, the young man told him that it was merely a marriage arranged by their parents. He didn’t like that Shen Changyue at all; his heart belonged only to Xie Huan, and he would only marry him.

At this point, the young man also revealed his full identity to Xie Huan.

His name was Xiao Jingchuan, the eldest son of the current Zhennan General and a General of the Jinwu Guard. This time, he had been executing official duties in Jiangnan but was assassinated and injured on the eve of returning to the capital with crucial physical evidence.

And his betrothed Ger, Shen Changyue, was the legitimate Ger of the Second Branch of the capital’s Suining Earl’s Mansion.

One day, Shen Changye brought Shen Changyue over to find them.

Subsequently, the assassins also discovered Xiao Jingchuan’s trail. To force him to hand over the evidence, they tied both Shen Changyue and Xie Huan at the edge of a cliff as hostages, playfully demanding that he choose only one of them to save.

Xie Huan’s adoptive mother, Liu Zhi, happened to be going up the mountain and witnessed this scene. During the ensuing scuffle, her head smashed against a rock. Because of this impact, her memories, blurred for many years, gradually began to clear up.

Therefore, when Shen Changye urged Xiao Jingchuan to save his younger brother first, Liu Zhi couldn’t help but blurt out the truth behind the baby swap from years ago, declaring that Xie Huan was the true Young Master of the Suining Earl’s Mansion—his biological younger brother.

Afterward, although neither Shen Changyue nor Xie Huan died because reinforcements arrived in time, the truth from all those years ago became crystal clear.

Xiao Jingchuan was even more ecstatic at the news; if Xie Huan was the real Shen Changyue, their marriage contract could seamlessly carry over to him.

Thus, under Xiao Jingchuan’s active push, the Suining Earl’s Mansion quickly learned of the news.

Shen Changyue, always a proud individual, proactively left the Earl’s Mansion and returned to the Xie family in Huangyang Village, concurrently changing his name to Xie Changyue.

As for Xie Huan, he returned to the Earl’s Mansion and, following their generation’s “Chang” character, changed his name to Shen Changhuan.

However, life in Huangyang Village was far more complicated than Xie Changyue had imagined.

Firstly, Xie Huan was already sixteen. In the countryside, unless one was unmarriageable, people generally married by this age.

Though Xie Huan hadn’t officially married yet, the family had already arranged a match for him, lacking only the final step.

His betrothed was named Gu Zhen, the eldest grandson of Huangyang Village’s chief, Gu Shan, and the original owner Gu Yang’s cousin. Gu Zhen was the most popular young man in the village.

The village chief’s family naturally had better circumstances than the others in the village. Gu Zhen had been sent to a private academy since childhood. Now eighteen, he had already passed the county exam to become a Tongsheng (child scholar).

It was said that his academic performance was excellent; if there hadn’t happened to be no prefectural exam this year, Gu Zhen might have even attained the title of Xiucai (licensed scholar).

And Gu Zhen was also the story’s devoted second male lead, who had been deeply infatuated with the protagonist Shen Changhuan since childhood.

Upon learning that his betrothed was to be swapped for Xie Changyue, he planned to have his family reject the marriage.

On the other hand, although the Suining Earl’s Mansion let Xie Changyue return to the Xie family in Huangyang Village, they had raised him for over a decade and retained some affection for him, paying quite a bit of attention to his life in the countryside.

To put the Earl’s Mansion completely at ease, Shen Changhuan took the initiative to seek out Gu Zhen for a talk.

In the end, heaven knows what he was thinking, but after returning, Gu Zhen agreed to the marriage with Xie Changyue.

Xie Changyue did not object either. He knew his status was no longer the same as before. Being able to marry a scholar like Gu Zhen in this rural village was considered a top-tier match.

And so, Xie Changyue and Gu Zhen were married.

After marriage, Xie Changyue found Gu Zhen to be a decent person indeed—except that he never touched him.

Gu Zhen studied incredibly diligently, as if something were chasing him from behind, and soon passed the highest imperial examination to become a Jinshi.

Xie Changyue accompanied him back to the capital, reuniting with the people from the Suining Earl’s Mansion once more.

After getting drunk one time, Gu Zhen and Xie Changyue finally consummated their marriage.

Waking up the next day, Gu Zhen seemed to show sudden remorse, declaring that he would treat him well from then on.

The two began to live like a true married couple, with romantic companionship and marital harmony, promising to stay by each other’s side for a lifetime until their hair turned white.

Just when Xie Changyue thought life would continue wonderfully like this forever, Gu Zhen suddenly became increasingly busy, mostly unreachable whenever Changyue tried to find him.

One day, martial law was declared in the city; it was said that the Prince of Wu was leading a rebellion to seize the throne.

By evening, when everything had calmed down, Xie Changyue, worried about Gu Zhen’s safety, had a servant carry a lantern and went out to look for him.

However, upon arriving near the imperial palace, he witnessed his own husband push Shen Changhuan away, shielding him from an arrow shot at his back.

He watched helplessly as his husband died to save Shen Changhuan, finally realizing that Gu Zhen’s recent busyness had been entirely dedicated to running errands for Shen Changhuan.

Xie Changyue fainted on the spot.

When Xie Changyue woke up again, he completely blackened.

He hated Shen Changhuan and began using every means possible to exact revenge on him.

Why was it that his entire life, he had been constantly abandoned because of Shen Changhuan?

Just after he was born, to save Shen Changhuan, he was abandoned by his biological mother and almost died.

Later, his stepmother Liu Zhi also abandoned him to save Shen Changhuan, nearly causing him to fall off a cliff.

And now, his husband had chosen to die saving Shen Changhuan, abandoning the vows they had sworn to each other.

However, no matter how clever Xie Changyue was, how could he possibly compete against the protagonist’s halo?

In the end, Shen Changhuan and Xiao Jingchuan both received promotions and titles of nobility, living happily together, while Xie Changyue, having exhausted all his schemes, died a desolate death.

“Current Mission: Change the fate of the character Xie Changyue and help him attain happiness.

Success Reward: One lottery draw opportunity.

Failure Penalty: Forfeit of reward.”

Mu Xia walked in carrying the tea, only to see his son holding a calligraphy brush, writing something. His serious and quiet back exuded a tremendous aura.

Although everyone in the village praised Gu Zhen from the First Branch, in his eyes, his own Gu Yang was the best. Especially after returning from the academy this time, he felt his son possessed an indescribable air of grandeur.

Not wanting to disturb his son, he quietly placed the tea on the edge of the desk and tiptoed out of the room.

Nevertheless, Gu Siyuan still raised his head.

Because the voices in the courtyard had grown louder. His eldest aunt, Li Xiangtao, was discussing breaking off the engagement with the Xie family with his grandmother. When her emotions flared, she couldn’t help but raise her voice.

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