Chapter 1: Grain in Ear, Busy with Engagements

Chapter 1: Grain in Ear, A Busy Time for Betrothals

It was the Grain in Ear season, and the wheat on the capital's outskirts had fully ripened. Every household was busy harvesting wheat and grinding fresh flour.

By the Shen hour (3–5 PM), the aroma of steamed buns always wafted through the alleyways.

The pastries and buns steamed in the wealthy households were even more exquisite and refined—kneaded with goat's milk and this year's freshly ground flour, with a bit of malt sugar mixed in, they released a faint, sweet fragrance when steamed. A young servant carried a steaming basket just off the stove and hurried toward the Second Young Master's quarters.

"Second Young Master, you haven't eaten for two days now. The kitchen has made your favorite sugar cakes—please, just let me bring them in." The servant, locked out of the room, could only plead softly.

Inside, Ning Xishi lay on a silk mattress his grandmother had sent from Jiangnan, his head resting on a goose feather pillow, clad in imperial-bestowed Yangzhou silk. His trouser legs were rolled up a bit, revealing a stretch of pale ankle—the very picture of a pampered young master.

But this young master, nestled amidst gold and jade, stared blankly at the gold-thread embroidered canopy above—decorated with koi fish playing among lotuses—his eyes void of spirit.

Only one thought remained in his mind—it's over. All of it is over.

He had thought this was just an ordinary womb transmigration, wanting only to live a life of ease and riches. But unexpectedly—unexpectedly—he was—

And by sheer bad luck, he had become the vicious cannon fodder who died a gruesome death!

Whenever he recalled the words from the book—"This spineless coward was indeed afraid of death. Before dying, he endured a thousand and one cuts in full. Not a single patch of good flesh remained on his body, and he bled to death"—Ning Xishi's vision went dark.

How could he possibly have an appetite!

"I'm not eating! Stop bothering me!" Ning Xishi shouted toward the door, but having not eaten for two days, his voice was genuinely weak and feeble.

"Second Young Master..." The servant tried to coax him again.

"Stop bothering me. Just leave the food by the door—I'll get it myself later."

Hearing the final word, the servant could only set down the pastries. The Second Young Master was usually easygoing with the servants, but when he was serious, no one dared defy him.

At last, silence fell outside.

Ning Xishi mentally replayed every detail of the seventeen years since he had transmigrated into this world.

His father was the Minister of Rites, and his mother came from a wealthy Jiangnan family. His elder brother perfectly embodied his parents' expectations—mastering the Four Books and Five Classics, passing the imperial examinations with flying colors, and having just earned the rank of Jieyuan last year.

As a result, the Minister and his wife doted endlessly on their second son, whose health was somewhat frail. They feared he might melt in their mouths or shatter if held too tightly.

Since transmigrating into the womb, Ning Xishi had essentially grown up amidst gold and jade.

To put it bluntly, the greatest hardship he had ever endured in this life was the few kowtows he performed during the annual ancestral rites.

Second Young Master Ning had lived a smooth and uneventful life until the age of seventeen—until the day before yesterday, when his elder brother came of age and his grandfather bestowed a courtesy name on him...

It was those two characters bestowed during the capping ceremony that abruptly yanked Second Young Master Ning from heaven straight into hell.

— Lanzhi.

Ning Lanzhi was none other than the third male lead in a novel called The Charming Imperial Concubine, which Ning Xishi had read before transmigrating.

This novel, as the title suggested, was an old-school romance between the female lead and the emperor. Ning Lanzhi, the third male lead, was nothing more than a tool to help the two realize their feelings for each other.

In the book, Ning Lanzhi was originally a noble and upright gentleman, as bright as the moon. But when his younger brother was brutally murdered, he used the female lead's feelings to take revenge—poisoning, assassinating, and ambushing the emperor and princes who also loved her...

In the end, he got his revenge, but his brother could never come back.

Ning Xishi furrowed his brow in pain and thought to himself: "Without a doubt, my elder brother—originally named Ning Qishi—is now Ning Qishi, courtesy name Lanzhi—the infamous third male lead of the book!"

And he, the cannon fodder who appeared in fewer than eight hundred characters in the entire book, was the spark that set off his brother's descent into darkness.

Ning Xishi: …

Ning Xishi: Is it too late to reject this transmigration starter pack?

Just as Ning Xishi was wallowing in despair, hurried footsteps sounded from outside the door again, this time accompanied by a woman's gentle voice.

"Is it true, as you say, that Xige'er hasn't eaten for two days?"

"I swear to heaven, every word I speak is true. I actually wanted to come to find you two days ago, but with the First Young Master's capping ceremony, the household was in chaos, so I didn't dare disturb you. I just had the kitchen keep his favorite pastries ready at all times, so the Second Young Master could call for food whenever he wished. Today, I heard his voice growing really weak, so I finally mustered the courage to go to the main courtyard."

As they spoke, the two had already passed through the flower-hung gate and arrived at Ning Xishi's door.

The woman gave a slight nod, and the servant immediately knocked.

"Second Young Master, the Madam is here—please open the door. Whatever is troubling you, your mother is right here."

This was none other than Ning Xishi's mother, Qin Rong.

"Who told you to call my mother? I said I want to be alone!" Ning Xishi's angry voice came from inside.

Seeing the steaming baskets still sitting on the ground outside, and worrying that Ning Xishi had gone so long without food, Qin Rong furrowed her brows. Suddenly, as if remembering something, she shook her head with a mix of heartache and amusement: "Xi'er, don't be stubborn. Open the door, and your mother will explain everything to you."

"Mother, I just want to be alone for a while." Ning Xishi covered his ears.

Seeing no other option, Qin Rong waved away the attendants and approached the door herself, saying: "Is this about your elder brother's engagement to that Nangong girl at the capping ceremony? Before the betrothal, didn't I ask you whether you had any feelings for Sister Nangong?"

Hearing his mother mention Nangong Yu, Ning Xishi suddenly sat bolt upright in bed.

Right—in the original text, besides himself, the cannon fodder who met a miserable end, all the other women connected to the male supporting characters didn't fare any better.

The fiancée of the third male lead, Ning Lanzhi, had been sent to a nunnery even before the wedding, on charges of illicit relations with another man.

A young woman in the prime of her life, at twenty, would have to spend her entire future with only Buddhist scriptures and oil lamps for company. Later, it seemed the nunnery fell into disrepair, and after a heavy rainstorm, the building collapsed, leaving her homeless.

Whenever he thought of that sister—so dignified and graceful in public, exuding the air of a proper young lady, yet pulling him by the hand to fish and play in private—ending up in such a state, Ning Xishi felt rage boil inside him.

As for the original novel, it never even mentioned the name Nangong Yu, referring to her only as "the woman betrothed to Ning Lanzhi."

Because the novel never named her, over the past two days Ning Xishi had never once connected "the woman betrothed to Ning Lanzhi" to Nangong Yu!

Had his mother not brought it up, Ning Xishi would have completely overlooked the matter entirely.

"This is utterly outrageous!" Ning Xishi thought. "Forget about me, but Ayu is such a good person—she doesn't deserve that fate."

As for himself, the original text described how the emperor decreed he marry a disabled man as a male bride. Unable to bear the humiliation, he often tormented his husband in the marital bed for amusement...

In the end, that man flayed him alive.

One thousand and one cuts! Even a single prick from a thorn hurt him, honestly!

Let alone being cut with knives.

The door opened, and Qin Rong finally saw her son. Noticing how unusually pale he looked, she quickly said, "Xi'er, could it be that you truly have feelings for Miss Nangong?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, Qin Rong herself felt a sense of bewilderment.

From a parent's perspective, Nangong Yu and Ning Lanzhi had grown up together, both being exceedingly dignified, well-mannered, and well-versed in literature—they were a match made in heaven.

Her second son had a good temperament, but his studies and career... let's not dwell on that. She only wanted to find him a girl he could enjoy spending time with, so they'd be kindred spirits.

Yet, her second son did often go out and about with Miss Nangong.

At this moment, seeing how pale Ning Xishi looked, Qin Rong truly wasn't sure of her judgment anymore. Could it be that Xi'er really liked Miss Nangong and was too shy to say so? Now that she's truly betrothed, he finally regrets it?

Two brothers fighting over the same girl—what a mess!

Ning Xishi naturally had no idea how far his mother's imagination had run, but he was feeling dizzy from not having eaten for two days. He steadied himself against the doorframe and said, "That's not it at all. Sister Yu and my elder brother are a perfect match. I'm nothing compared to them."

Qin Rong said, "Xi'er, how can you say that about yourself? In your mother's eyes, you and Qi'er are equal."

Ning Xishi was taken aback, seeming to catch on to his mother's line of thinking, and said helplessly, "Mother, I'm not feeling inferior. I truly don't see Sister Yu that way."

"Then why haven't you eaten for two days?"

She finally got to the heart of it.

Ning Xishi said, "Because..."

Ugh, this was really hard to explain.

Forget the transmigration—the fact that the novel he'd read before crossing over was actually their world sounded way too bizarre to even bring up.

Ning Xishi would bet that if he dared to say those things, his mother would call in a master to perform rituals and make him drink talisman water that very day.

He brushed it off with a laugh: "It's all because of that letter the tutor sent complaining the other day. Father punished me by forbidding me to leave the house for ten days. I think the punishment was too harsh... I wanted to push back a little."

After saying that, he even smiled. In his own view, it was meant to please; in Qin Rong's view, it just made her want to hit him.

Qin Rong: "..."

Qin Rong was silent for a long while, barely holding back the urge to hit her son, and said, "Well then, let's get you something to eat first."

Ning Xishi cautiously glanced at his mother's expression, sat down at the table, and took a couple of bites of sugar cake, finally feeling his strength come back.

He thought, since the root of everything was the emperor's decree ordering him to marry a man with disabled legs, he might as well just get engaged first. The emperor wouldn't just mess with an arranged marriage.

Ning Xishi took a swig of tea right from the teapot spout and said, "Mother, since elder brother is already betrothed, why not get me engaged too?"

An engagement wasn't the same as marriage—he could buy some time and deal with the rest later.

Qin Rong shot him a sideways glance. "What's the rush? Your mother's keeping an eye out for you."

In truth, she'd been looking around for her second son for quite a while. When choosing a daughter-in-law, age, appearance, character, and family background all had to be just right. Unfortunately, her son's reputation as a good-for-nothing was too notorious. The ones she fancied, after testing the waters with their families, all turned down her second son. And the ones who came rushing to propose, she didn't like.

That's why nothing had come of it for so long.

Qin Rong watched her son, after eating his fill, prop his elbow on the table and rest his head on his hand—no posture at all, whether sitting or standing.

But she couldn't deny that Xi'er was handsome. That pose somehow made him look like a carefree rogue.

Qin Rong said, "You're still young. Don't rush into an engagement. And whatever you do, don't bring home any frivolous women from outside. If you do, I'll break your legs."

Ning Xishi thought to himself, this matter absolutely had to be expedited! If worst came to worst, he could find someone who also wanted to escape the marriage, and the two families could cooperate.

Just as Ning Xishi was about to persuade her further, another series of hurried footsteps came from the flower gate.

This time, it was the sound of black boots—his father had returned from the palace.

The boots didn't stop, walking straight to Ning Xishi's door. Seeing him slouching, Minister Ning, his father, let out two heavy coughs of anger.

Ning Xishi immediately stood up straight.

Qin Rong was about to plead with Minister Ning, since their son hadn't eaten for two days and deserved some leniency.

But Minister Ning's next words were earth-shattering: "I went to the palace today, and His Majesty summoned me to discuss Xi'er's marriage."

In an instant, Ning Xishi felt all the blood in his body rush backward, and a ringing sound filled his ears.

==========Author's Note:==========

Hope everyone enjoys the new book!