Yixuan escorted Fifth Brother to the door, and as Fifth Brother glanced back at Dong Huiying, who was obediently nibbling on the cornbread, he suddenly felt very irritable.
"She's acting all strange. Be careful at home and if something happens, don't just stupidly take a beating—find somewhere to hide," he said.
"Alright," Yixuan answered gently, but Fifth Brother was still not at ease.
Normally, the young girl was wild and unrestrained, turning the household upside down, but her sudden transformation into calm and quietness made everyone uneasy.
Tsk, annoyed, Yue Ning ran his fingers through his hair and patted Yixuan's shoulder before striding out of the house with large steps.
......
This village was named Kaoshan Village, originally home to over a hundred families. However, due to years of natural disasters like droughts and floods, along with an epidemic that took many lives, now only a scant dozen households remained.
A plump woman clutching two copper coins sneaked into Kaoshan Village stealthily.
She was fat, tall, and sturdy, with a dark yellow complexion and a large black mole on her lip.
Her arrival coincided with Yue Ning having just left. She was very cautious about her movements, as if fearful of being discovered—a fortunate thing given the sparse population of the village and the seclusion of the Liang family's residence by the riverbank, an area avoided by most due to the abundance of mosquitoes and dampness.
"Sister Dabao?" She crept into Liang's courtyard and headed straight for the main eastern room where Dong Huiying was staying.
Once inside, she quickly shut the door and, holding the two copper coins, she blurted, "Come on, come on, girl, here are the two dangles of money. Not a penny more, not a penny less. Let's count it here and then exchange money for the person."
Dong Huiying was momentarily confused. Da Bao—was this her new body's name?
But money for a person?
The fat woman saw her hesitation and urged her to count the money quickly.
Dong Huiying sensed something fishy about the whole affair and, indirectly probing the plump woman, managed to pry out some useful information.
Was this actually a female dominant world?
In the Dayuan Dynasty, where women were esteemed above men, was her new identity really named Dong Dabao? And like this woman named Zhu Xingfang, was she notorious among all eight villages around, originally from Daliu Village—two mountains away—a hunter's daughter who had married into the Liang family of Kaoshan Village a year ago?
Only, this notion of 'marrying into the family' was not quite what Dong Huiying had imagined.
Despite being in the Liang family, she wasn't the Madam of the Liang family, but rather... a fiancée?
Dayuan was a matriarchal country where men obeyed women, and under this system, many odd rules and ordinances arose.
For instance, men here had to adhere to "Husband Rules," "Husband's Teachings," and "Husband's Prohibitions." Moreover, although Dayuan followed the ancient practice of monogamy, before marriage it was acceptable to designate multiple men as one's fiancés. Once a man's name was written in the Marriage Contract, he could not become engaged to others, nor could he marry someone else on his own accord—it was as if he belonged to the woman.
Yes, here it was the women who married men, and usually, it was the women who earned the money to provide for the family.
The relationship between the Original Master Dong Dabao and the Liang Family Brothers was that of an unmarried husband, also known as a Marriage Contractor. According to local tradition, they lived together, trialing marriage before the formal vows.
Besides, there was another peculiar thing.
About a year ago, shortly after the Original Master Dong Dabao joined the Liang family, Mother Liang—who had been paralyzed in bed from a fall—mysteriously disappeared on a rainy night?