Chapter 001: The Gu Family’s Third Son Has His Engagement Broken Off

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Gu Tingzhi of Maoping Village had been rejected by his betrothed.

The news sent shock waves through the entire village. After all, just three months earlier, Gu Tingzhi—the third son of the Gu family—had been the most sought-after young man in the area as a prospective husband.

He was sixteen that year. Although his family was so poor they could scarcely keep food on the table, he himself was handsome and distinguished, tall and well-built. More importantly, he was the most accomplished young scholar for miles around. There were several other boys in the village who studied, but none could compare with him. Their tutor was highly respected in the town, and he was certain that the Third Gu Young Master would pass the licentiate examination. His future achievements, he believed, would certainly not end there.

Gu Tingzhi had originally decided to sit for the examination three years earlier, and had already registered. But on the day before the test, his mother, Madam Zhou, contracted miasma and fell gravely ill. She alternated between fever and chills, drifting in and out of delirium until her mind became completely muddled and she no longer recognized anyone. After examining her, the physician bluntly told the family to prepare for her funeral.

The head of the Gu household, Gu Lizong, thought of his third son, who was studying in town. Tingzhi had always been filial; if he failed to see his mother one last time, he might regret it for the rest of his life.

Thus, he sent his eldest son, Gu Qingsong, to town in person to tell Tingzhi that his mother was critically ill. Upon hearing the news, Tingzhi did not hesitate for even a moment. He packed his belongings and returned home, abandoning that year’s examination for junior scholars. He was not alone on the journey back to Maoping Village, either. A physician from a famous medical hall in town came with him.

Madam Zhou was fortunate. The old doctor had only recently cured another patient suffering from miasma and possessed considerable experience treating the disease. After a few doses of medicine, he managed to save her.

Because of this, Gu Tingzhi had to wait another year and a half.

When he prepared to sit for the examination again, misfortune struck his father. While out carrying water, Gu Lizong was bitten by a vicious dog in the village. He developed a high fever and began vomiting violently, appearing to be on the verge of death. Once again, Tingzhi decisively abandoned the examination.

He was certainly unlucky, but his ability to ward off illness and disaster was not to be underestimated. No one knew exactly what remedy he used, but in the end, he managed to save his father.

He was sixteen that year. As long as he could take the county, prefectural, and academy examinations after the New Year without mishap, he would become a licentiate without a doubt.

Who in Maoping Village would not want to become the wife of a licentiate? The village had not produced a single licentiate in several decades. For a time, all the marriageable young women began to stir with anticipation, while their elders brought every talent and strategy to bear. One family carried a chicken, another a duck, and they all hurried to the Gu household to propose marriage.

Unfortunately, the Gu family ultimately arranged a match for their third son with a girl from the neighboring village.

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The family bore the surname Yang, and the girl betrothed to Gu Tingzhi was Yang Xiuqing, the youngest daughter of the household.

Madam Zhou had taken a liking to Yang Xiuqing because she was beautiful. Though they were all country folk, Yang Xiuqing had a slender, graceful figure, and her delicate face was as lovely as a peach blossom in spring, soft and enticing. Any man would admire a woman like her.

Yet when the villagers chose wives for their sons, most did not look for someone of her type. Beauty was all very well, but what use was a wife who could do nothing? With her thin arms and delicate legs, she likely would not even be good at bearing children. As a result, very few families came to the Yang household to ask for her hand.

Madam Zhou, however, did not think that way. Her own third son was handsome and excelled at his studies. He was destined to become an official—how could an official’s wife be some coarse, unimpressive woman?

Thus, Madam Zhou had taken to Yang Xiuqing at first sight. After discussing the matter with Gu Lizong, she made the decision to arrange the marriage for Gu Tingzhi, who was still studying diligently in town.

Not long after the betrothal, Gu Tingzhi returned home during a school break. Unable to bear watching his elderly parents toil endlessly, he wanted to help the family with whatever work he could manage. One day, while everyone else had gone to the fields, he changed into a neat set of coarse hemp clothes and went up the mountain, hoping to catch a few wild rabbits or pheasants to provide his family with a better meal.

But somehow, as the sun was setting and the villagers began returning home in small groups, they found Gu Tingzhi lying motionless on the gravel road at the entrance to the village, his entire body covered in blood.

Although the physician later managed to revive him, the young man had become simple-minded.

He was not completely senseless. He still recognized his parents and brothers, and his behavior was not as vacant as that of other mentally impaired children. But he had forgotten everything that had happened before—the age he was, the books he had studied, what had taken place in the mountains, and much more.

Because of this calamity, the Gu family’s poor but warm household was shrouded in gloom. Their circumstances had already been difficult, and now the cost of treating the Third Young Master had drained them of nearly everything they possessed.

They changed physicians several times and tried countless folk remedies. Even the village headman sent someone to summon a doctor from the county, but no one could cure him.

The tall, handsome scholar who had once been the pride of the Gu family vanished overnight, replaced by the village’s so-called big fool. These days, apart from eating and sleeping, Gu Tingzhi spent nearly all his time sitting blankly in one place.

Among the families who had once gone to the Gu household to propose marriage on behalf of their daughters, some felt sympathy, some relief, and some took secret delight in the misfortune.

The Yang family was utterly dumbfounded. The wife of a future licentiate had flown away before the wedding feast had even been prepared.

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Now that the Third Gu Young Master had become mentally impaired, the Yang family naturally no longer wished to marry their daughter to him. But they were fellow villagers, and if they rushed over to break off the engagement the moment disaster struck, would they not be condemned by everyone?

Yang Xiuqing had originally thought she could endure the situation for another year or two. Once the Gu family could no longer bear the expense, they would take the initiative to dissolve the engagement, and her reputation would remain unharmed. Besides, she was only fifteen. Waiting another two years before arranging a marriage would not make her old. And perhaps Gu Tingzhi might recover one day. If that happened, she could still become the wife of a licentiate.

Her mother, however, did not see things that way. How could her own daughter—delicate and beautiful as a flower—waste two years of her youth on a fool from the Gu family? With her daughter’s looks and figure, which young man for miles around would not want to marry her? Once the engagement was broken, she could find someone better than Gu Tingzhi with her eyes closed.

Yang Xiuqing had no way to resist. After thinking it over carefully, she realized that her mother was right. She was the prettiest girl in the village; what kind of family could she not marry into? In the end, she allowed her mother to take her brothers and sisters-in-law to the Gu household to dissolve the engagement.

The Gu family was furious, Madam Zhou most of all. Standing in the courtyard, she pointed at the visitors and cursed them openly.

“It was your family who came to us and proposed in the first place! You wanted to marry your daughter to my Tingzhi. Now that my son is still being treated by physicians, you can’t wait to come running here and break off the engagement? Have you no shame?”

“Do you think our family is easy to bully? You come whenever you please and leave whenever you please!”

In truth, Madam Zhou knew that ever since her third son had suddenly become a fool, none of the girls who had once dreamed of marrying into the Gu family would be willing to do so now.

What kind of calamity was this? Her poor, ill-fated Tingzhi. Whenever Madam Zhou thought of how her fine son had become what he was now, pain twisted through her chest.

In the end, Yang Xiuqing’s mother, brothers, and sisters-in-law left behind the silver and bolts of cloth the Gu family had sent at the time of the betrothal and fled. They had forcibly dissolved the engagement. As for the sweets and pastries that had been sent along with the other gifts, those had long since found their way into the stomachs of the children in the Yang household. Seeing that no one from the Gu family mentioned them, the group hurried away before anyone could stop them.

Madam Zhou sat on the stone stool in the courtyard, striking her chest again and again. She was so enraged that tears streamed down her face.

Inside the house, Gu Tingzhi sat rigidly before the writing desk, his vacant eyes fixed on the book in his hands. He still recognized only a few simple characters.

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