Chapter One: Fated to Bring Misfortune, Star of Calamity

"Kid, you’re awake? If you’re awake, stop playing dead!"

Had he… crossed over? To ancient times? And it had to be an ancient prison cell!

Staring at the group of fierce-faced prisoners before him, Zhao Hengyi clenched involuntarily.

“We have no grudge against you. Beating you today is for your own good! Tell me, are you willing to take a wife?”

The prisoners, with their unkempt hair and tattered clothes, looked like little devils from the underworld, their eyes glittering with malice.

“Yes, I’m willing to marry!”

As long as you don’t make me the bride, I’ll marry however you want!

“Ha, this kid agreed!”

“Alright, next!”

The prisoners erupted in chaotic cheer, like the overbearing mothers Zhao Hengyi had seen in his past life, thrilled at a forced marriage’s success.

This was the Great Yan Dynasty, a country Zhao Hengyi had never heard of, but otherwise not so different from the feudal dynasties of Chinese history.

Only, the laws here were odd: if a man reached eighteen and still refused to marry, he’d be sent to the Border Guards’ Deadman Battalion as cannon fodder!

Zhao Hengyi barely had time to piece together the memories lingering in this frail body before he was shoved out of the cell by the rowdy prisoners and delivered to the constables.

Were ancient matchmaking methods always this violent?

With a throbbing lump on his head that felt like agony, Zhao Hengyi was led outside the prison, blinking into the bright sunlight that made his eyes stream with tears.

“Hey, why are you crying, kid? What’s so bad about marrying a wife? She’ll cook, wash clothes, warm your bed, bear your children—what’s there to cry about? You should be smiling! Come, give us a smile!”

The constable’s voice rang in his ears, and through his tears, Zhao Hengyi forced a smile.

In the prison yard, three other unfortunates waited with him: a hunchback, a cripple, and a one-armed swordsman… Ruthless! Not even the disabled were spared!

Once all the marriage candidates had assembled, the sergeant waved his hand. The gate opened, and a matchmaker led in a line of maidens, ready for selection.

“You four, hurry up and pick. At least one each, no upper limit! Don’t waste time!”

Sergeant Zhang sat in a legless armchair, acting as witness to the ceremony.

More than a dozen girls stood in a row under the matchmaker’s command, ready for the four coerced grooms to inspect and choose among them. Still sorting through the chaos in his mind, Zhao Hengyi was instantly enraged.

So this is what you call marriage?

Parading decent girls as if they were goods to be picked over, with a minimum of one each and no maximum?

This was treating women as less than human!

Why? Didn’t you have sisters at home?

Even if you didn’t, surely the mothers who gave birth to you were women too?

Damn this Great Yan, damn its forced marriages!

Raised under the red flag and gentle spring winds, Zhao Hengyi found all this utterly intolerable.

As a modern man, equality and respect for women was in his bones. Even in ancient times, even with arranged marriages, how could they treat people like this?

“Big brothers, pick me! I eat little, I can work, I can weave cloth—I’m easy to support!”

Before the matchmaker could finish arranging her line, a delicate girl jumped out, calling to the four men.

Tears shimmered in her eyes, her cheeks flushed bright red with embarrassment, but her face was etched with urgency and panic—she truly was desperate to marry.

“Miao Xiaoyu, step back! If you misbehave again, you’ll go straight to Golden Sparrow House!”

Sergeant Zhang’s shout made the eager girl quiver in fear and obediently retreat to the line… Golden Sparrow House was the only official brothel in the county.

“Tch, that Miao Xiaoyu is up to her tricks again!”

“Cursed fate, bringer of ruin—who’d dare marry her? Take her and you’ll be dead in no time!”

“Even if you have a strong life, what then? She’s got six little sisters as baggage—you’ll all starve together!”

The three misfit men whispered among themselves, appraising the girls like livestock, which Zhao Hengyi found revolting.

Yet their words aroused his sympathy for Miao Xiaoyu, the frail girl.

The Miao family had once been prosperous cloth merchants in the county, never lacking for food or comfort. As the eldest daughter, Miao Xiaoyu’s marriage had been arranged early.

But just as the betrothal was set, her fiancé died suddenly of illness.

The family arranged a second match, only for the new suitor to drown right after the matchmaker’s visit.

By then, rumors of Miao Xiaoyu’s cursed fate spread everywhere. The family had no choice but to seek a live-in son-in-law, and as wealthy merchants in a land where most went hungry, they still attracted suitors.

A few greedy men came, drawn by wealth and their own strong constitutions. Yet as soon as the Miao family made a choice, the new son-in-law would die as well.

Then disaster followed disaster—the family fell, all elders perished, and the fortune vanished, leaving Miao Xiaoyu with only six young sisters to care for.

In their superstition, the county branded her as cursed, a bringer of misfortune. Soon, there was nowhere left in the county for her.

Zhao Hengyi, never one to believe in ghosts and omens, knew Miao Xiaoyu was no bringer of ruin—she was simply a woman with a bitter fate.

What’s more, left in such dire circumstances, she didn’t give up in the face of gossip and ruin, but struggled on, raising her six young sisters alone. Even Zhao Hengyi couldn’t help but admire such spirit.

Misfortune never comes alone. After her family’s utter ruin, the authorities now threatened her with forced marriage.

The Great Yan, beset by barbarian threats and perpetual war, had lost too many young men. Many marriage-age women went unwed, so the government decreed: any girl not married by sixteen would be sent, twice a year, in official bridal convoys to villages for men to choose from. Bachelors picked first, but even married men could select concubines—so long as they found a home, all was well.

If a girl reached eighteen unwed, she would be sent directly to places like Golden Sparrow House!

Miao Xiaoyu had just turned eighteen. That was why she was so desperate, why she begged the four forced grooms to choose her, even at the cost of her dignity.

If she were alone, death might be a relief—better than falling to a brothel’s fate. But she had six innocent sisters…

Knowing the marriage convoy’s routine, Miao Xiaoyu realized that after all the villages and towns, the prisoners in the county jail were her last hope.

But with her reputation as a curse and a harbinger of death, she was unlikely to escape her tragic fate.

The three crippled men made their reluctant choices, leaving only Zhao Hengyi, still sorting through his memories, to pick a bride.

“Sir, I beg you, choose me! If you do, I’ll serve you all my life, like an ox or a horse!”