Chapter 186 Three Main Characters: Fifth Sister and Third Sister
"This subject matter is more difficult to write than I thought."
Yao Xiaoyu frowned and slowly chewed on some chicken jerky. Pi Xiukang sat at the table without responding, completely immersed in the world of the novel.
As always, Little Fish's new book is fast-paced. The opening chapters introduce three main characters: the youngest daughter of the Feng family, who is chosen to study abroad; the fifth daughter of the Lang family, who uses her dowry to buy a boat ticket; and the third daughter of the Fang family, who doesn't want to be a maid and brave the sea to risk her life.
The story begins with the Feng family hosting a banquet, a lively and bustling affair that brings a rare smile to the faces of the Feng elders—the Feng family held official positions during the Qing Dynasty, but failed to gain access to the Republic of China and has been declining year by year ever since.
While the festivities raged outside, the youngest daughter of the Feng family was secretly taking off her men's outer garments, untying her hair, and changing into women's attire before quietly arriving at the banquet. The banquet was nearing its end, and her appearance was merely a formality. Her mother was unaware of the reason for her late arrival and held her daughter in her arms, sighing for a long time after the banquet ended.
For families like theirs, where men might be chosen by noble ladies and marry into their families, marriage is extremely difficult for women. This time, she finally managed to hold a banquet and found several suitable men, but because her youngest daughter was not present, she could not make a decision. She didn't know what kind of marriage might happen in the future.
Normally, Feng Xiaoman would be just as anxious as her mother: a woman's marriage is like a second reincarnation, and not finding a good family is a lifelong matter.
Feng Xiaoman is the nickname of the youngest daughter of the Feng family. She was born on the day of Xiaoman and received this name. Her family calls her Xiaoman, and sometimes they also call her Third Sister according to her birth order. Feng Xiaoman had said before that she wanted a formal name, but she was rejected by many people. For example, a woman's name should be given by her husband, and no one outside calls a woman by her name. Over time, Feng Xiaoman got used to it.
Missing out on a potential good marriage was indeed sad, but too much had happened today, and she simply couldn't focus on love. Feng Xiaoman hastily coaxed her mother to leave, then lay down on the bed and closed her eyes, but tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep—
Everyone knows that the youngest daughter of the Feng family is the most obedient and well-behaved, but today, at her elder brother's request, she disguised herself as a man and became the substitute examiner. And it wasn't just any ordinary exam; it was a quota for studying abroad using the Boxer Indemnity.
Although the Qing Dynasty has fallen, the system of sending students abroad for study, which began in the last three years, has remained unchanged. There are too many people who want to go, but the number of places is limited, so the selection process has to be started. Although everyone knows it's a rigged system, the process still has to be followed, showing that times have changed and everyone has a chance.
Brother Feng seized this opportunity and established himself as a symbol of fairness. His family used to be officials, but now they had no connections in the court and were just ordinary people. However, even a broken boat has three thousand nails, and his reputation was more solid than those who had truly risen from the bottom. In addition, he was tactful, knew how to read people, and had good money. As long as he behaved like a normal person, he would definitely get a spot.
But Brother Feng was addicted to opium.
Whether she was forced or willing, Feng Xiaoman didn't know. In any case, when she was stopped, her older brother's addiction had already kicked in. If she had been forced to participate, it would have been a complete disaster. Fortunately, although the banquet was a bit late, nothing went wrong. Apart from being called coy, no one noticed anything amiss with her forced participation.
Feng Xiaoman thought the matter was over, but after the news spread that her older brother had successfully passed the selection and become an international student, his legs were broken on his way back home. When he was secretly carried home, he was covered in the smell of opium.
With her leg broken, she definitely couldn't study abroad, but her family had already used up all their resources for this spot, and they couldn't afford a second chance. Feng Xiaoman knew nothing about what her family discussed behind closed doors. When her parents came out again, she heard the decision they had made: Feng Xiaoman would disguise herself as a man to take her older brother's place and seize this opportunity to study abroad.
It's not that I don't want Feng Erge to take his place, but the eldest and second sons of the Feng family are completely different. In modern terms, Feng Erge is like someone who grew up eating protein powder. No matter how loose his clothes are, he can't hide his muscles. Most importantly, he is a head taller than his eldest brother!
If you're not tall enough, you can use height-increasing insoles; but if you're too tall, you can't just cut off your feet!
As for finding other relatives' children, the Feng family never even considered it: why should other families pluck the fruits of their hard work? When they return in glory and tell the truth, the person with the halo of being an overseas student won't be greatly affected, but the Feng family's future path will be completely cut off!
After much thought, the most reliable solution seemed to be for Feng Xiaoman to disguise herself as a man and study in place of her brother.
It just so happens that Feng Xiaoman didn't appear much at the previous banquet, so she can use her illness as an excuse to stay in seclusion. It also takes men several years to quit opium, so she can simply switch places when she returns. This is a path that the Feng family all thinks is feasible after discussing it.
This was completely unexpected for Feng Xiaoman, but her opinion was never important, and she herself agreed with this. So when the ship set sail, Feng Guozhang, who had been traveling with the students, had become Feng Xiaoman, wearing height-increasing insoles and drawing thick eyebrows. She looked at her distant hometown, her heart filled with confusion: Was this decision really the right one?
As the sun set, Feng Xiaoman, who was unsure of her own feelings, did not intend to miss dinner: if her soul could not find the answer, she could not let her body suffer as well—then she saw a young woman adorned with jewels, whose eyes held a similar bewilderment to hers.
This woman, or rather the girl, is the second protagonist set by Yao Xiaoyu, Lang Yinzhang, the fifth daughter of the Lang family. However, she no longer uses this name. After successfully boarding the ship, she gave herself a new name: Lang Xingqiao.
She never planned to return to the Lang family in her life. Lang was not half of the Lang family name, but her mother's surname: her mother may have had a thousand faults, but without her mother's help, Lang Xingqiao would not have been able to board the ship smoothly.
Compared to the declining Feng family, the Lang family were lucky enough to unwittingly benefit from the political struggle. However, because they started from a very low point, the family could only be considered average among the wealthy, let alone enter the political arena. But this did not prevent the Lang family from believing that their future was promising. After all, many pigs on the wind do not realize that they are on the wind, but only believe that they can really fly.
As a large family that was about to grow, the Lang family naturally valued population. Women were carried to the backyard one by one, and men were married as soon as they reached the right age, but they had no male heirs that they longed for.
Lang Yinzhang was born at this time. She was the eldest daughter in her own family, and ranked fifth in the extended family. The saying goes, "If you have a son, you will have a son; if you have a daughter, you will have a daughter." Yinzhang's name sounds nice, but it is actually just a more elegant way of saying "Zhaodi" (a concubine rank).
She didn't have any twin brothers born with her, nor did her name bring a boy: the script for twins was for the eighth sister, and the script for bringing a younger brother was for the thirteenth sister. Lang's fifth sister grew up in such an ordinary way, reached marriageable age in an ordinary way, and was arranged to marry a man in his forties who had been married three times.
The man had ten concubines and all his children. If Lang Yinzhang married him, she would be the mother of eighteen children. But he said that after Lang Yinzhang married him, he could give the man in the Lang family a minor official position. The Lang family agreed. Sixteen-year-old Lang Yinzhang cried for three days. She felt that she still couldn't accept this situation, so she changed her dowry and ran away from the marriage.
Such a big event could not be kept secret, but because Lang Wuniang was not valued, she knew how to bypass the blockade and do small business since she was a child. Although she didn't know why she could never make money, she had accumulated a lot of connections. After using them all, she miraculously managed to get out without losing any money.
Lang Xingqiao's mother was a traditional woman who didn't care much about her daughter after having a son. She initially opposed Lang Xingqiao's marriage, but after discussing her husband's future and her son's future, she relented. Because of her mother's compromise, Lang Xingqiao didn't intend to reveal his plan to elope. He only planned to tie up his mother's people and gag her on the day he left as a farewell.
But the news still leaked out, and it's unclear how it got out. Lang Xingqiao managed to fool his mother, then changed the escape location, turning "outside the city" into "foreign country." On the day he planned to tie up his mother and say goodbye, he saw that his mother showed no signs of having been drugged.
? ! !
It's no exaggeration to say that Lang Xingqiao was prepared to marry into the family and then run away. But her mother simply handed Lang Xingqiao a cloth bag and told her to hurry up. When Lang Xingqiao got to the room and opened the bag, she found that it contained jade bracelets separated by cotton, and each one was of good quality.
Gold is a hard currency in many countries, but jade is just as valuable in China. These bracelets, if sold, would be enough for Lang Xingqiao to live a life of comfort and ease.
The sea breeze couldn't dispel the fog in her mind. Lang Xingqiao couldn't understand her mother's thoughts, but she wasn't the type to dwell on things. After being struck up a conversation with Feng Xiaoman on the way to the restaurant, she put those complicated thoughts aside and tried her best to keep the conversation focused on a safe dinner.
The ship's restaurant wasn't large, but it wasn't small either. Lang Xingqiao quickly got used to this monotonous and boring life and began to think about her future. She had originally planned to make a living in China, but plans don't always go as expected. She didn't want to die far from home, so she had to think everything through carefully.
Lost in her plans for the future, Lang Xingqiao paid no attention to the commotion outside. It wasn't until she was exhausted from studying English and sought temporary solace in food at a restaurant that she noticed there was an extra woman among the waitresses.
This is the third main character created by Yao Xiaoyu, Fang Sanya, who was pulled up by the crew while they were fishing.
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