My Husband May Be Useless, but I’ll Still Have a House Full of Kids!

Jiang Jintang has been married into the Gu family for four years without conceiving. Her mother-in-law is frantic, nagging her to have a child until she’s worn herself hoarse, and has even started arranging for her husband to take a concubine. Who could have guessed that Jiang Jintang had nothing to do with it? The one who couldn’t perform was her husband, the fourth-place winner of the imperial examination. Her husband couldn’t perform, but life had to go on. Her mother-in-law had scolded and pleaded, but after learning the truth, she was at a loss. The two women put their heads together and decided: fine, they’d go out and find someone who could get her pregnant! Jiang Jintang was decisive. She rescued a handsome scholar from drowning at the ferry and took him in. On a trip to check the accounts, she took a fancy to a rugged escort and took him in too. Later, even a prince climbed through her window in the middle of the night. A few years passed, and her household was full of cheerful children: two boys and a girl, each one lovely. The fourth-place scholar was so delighted he wept with joy, wishing he could just bang his head against a wall and be done with it. But the children’s fathers weren’t happy. One had passed the highest imperial exam, one had passed the military examinations and become an imperial guard, and another had become Crown Prince. Good grief, they all came knocking, demanding an explanation. She couldn’t give them one. What explanation could she give, and to whom? In this world, not everything comes with an explanation. And these men all held positions of power. She couldn’t afford to offend a single one. So be it: Jiang Jintang neither married nor ran away. She sat back and watched the men fight it out.