Life with the Whole Family

This novel will go premium on September 5, starting with Chapter 24. If you've already read that far, please don't buy it! Currently serializing: Please add My Family Has a Daughter to your reading list. Coming soon: The Landlord's Family Has No Grain Either. Click on my column and add it to your list! Please, my lovely readers. The Qiao family of Qingshui Prefecture has passed down a tradition of farming and scholarship. Though no one in the family has passed the jinshi exam in generations, they have produced scholars and successful candidates in the provincial examinations. This story follows the life of the eldest branch of the Qiao family over more than a decade, up until Qiao Hui, one of the grandchildren, gets married. Before the story begins, the eldest branch has already split off from the rest of the family, and the sons have also established separate households. The eldest branch's patriarch is the clan leader. The old master himself is a scholar and oversees the clan's sacrificial fields. He had one son, who passed the provincial examination at twenty-three and went to the capital for the imperial examinations at twenty-five. He died of illness there, leaving behind only a daughter. Later, the eldest son of the second branch's second son, Qiao Ran, was adopted into the eldest branch. The second branch has an even more complicated family history. The old master is a scholar who oversees the clan school. He had two wives. The first died in an accident, drowning after giving birth to two sons. His second wife had one son, the third son. The sons of the first wife were not very talented. The eldest only managed to become a child scholar, while the second barely attended school. The third son, born to the second wife, was ambitious. He passed the provincial examination and became a clerk in the county town. The eldest son had two sons, the second son also had two, and the third son had one. So when the eldest branch needed an heir, it had to choose between the families of the eldest and second sons. In the end, they chose the second son's family. Because of this, the second son hardly kept in touch with the eldest son's family. The heroine is the daughter of that second son. Watch her navigate life in this complicated family. Thesis: