Just after Gu Qingheng transmigrated, he secretly learned that the court would conscript able-bodied men next spring to work on the imperial mausoleum.
Building the imperial mausoleum would take more than ten years. It could easily ruin families.
There were five able-bodied men in the Gu family. By the custom of past years, at least two would have to go. The money to buy their freedom would add up to at least a hundred taels.
With just over three months left, how could he scrape together the ransom for two members of the Gu family?
Gu Qingheng set his sights on Yun Sanlang, the prettiest young man in ten villages around Baishi Town.
Yun Sanlang had fair skin and a beautiful face, a slender waist, a bright red pregnancy mark on his forehead, and hands softer than a three-year-old child's.
His family had demanded a bride price of two hundred taels of silver, clearly planning to send him off as a concubine to some official.
Gu Qingheng gave Yun Sanlang fox-fur hand warmers and a scarf, and a box of scented cream that cost two taels of silver. Using the excuse that he was so captivated by Yun Sanlang's beauty that he was making his parents scrape together the bride price, Gu Qingheng borrowed money and sold land. At last, the family had raised enough silver before the conscription.
With a weight off his shoulders, Gu Qingheng planned to repay the loans one step at a time, then make plans for the future. For instance, he could first take the military imperial examinations and earn a title, so the Gu family would be exempt from taxes and labor conscription from then on.
And once he had a title, he could properly marry that delicate, easily flustered sweetheart from the Yun family in a grand sedan chair.
Who could have guessed that not long after news of the conscription spread, Yun Sanlang would come to his window in the middle of the night, eyes brimming with tears, and say, "No one has ever been this kind to me. Don't worry, I'll be a good concubine and trade myself for the silver to exempt you from the conscription."
Oh no!
This wasn't just the feeling of falling for him completely and being unable to pull away. He was also worried and furious that Yun Sanlang was far too easy to fool.
Exams, exams, exams! I'll take the imperial exams tomorrow and come fetch you as my bride the day after!
A sweetheart this pretty and easy to fool would never survive in some grand household. Obviously, I have to marry him and spoil him, and fool him myself!
Theme: A wonderful life, a happy future.
