Chapter 1967: Miserable Fiancée vs. Daughter of a Wealthy Household (Part 2)
At the age of six, Chang Gensheng personally went to the broker in the county town and carefully selected a male child to bring back.
According to the norm, such children are not considered valuable, but Chang Gensheng chose the fairest and most clever among them.
Buying Chang Fei cost Chang Gensheng two taels of silver.
Two taels of silver was not a small sum for the Chang Family, enough to cover the whole family’s expenses for one or two months.
Chang Fei was the name Chang Gensheng gave to the boy.
Chang Gensheng raised Chang Fei as his own son, providing him with food and lodging equivalent to his daughter, and had the old servant of the house call him young master.
The neighbors saw this and knew that the Old Master of the Chang Family was planning for his daughter’s future.
Indeed, the reason Chang Gensheng bought Chang Fei was to make him a future son-in-law.
He thought that the bond from growing up together, along with the fact that the Chang Family had at least given the child some nurture, would ensure Chang Fei would not treat Jiujiu poorly in the future.
He even paid for Chang Fei to attend private school, supporting his studies for over ten years.
Chang Fei was not foolish. Although it was never explicitly stated by either side, he realized after growing up that he was not a child of the Chang Family, and was aware of his role within the family.
He was not particularly resentful of this situation.
Chang Jiujiu, whom he called his younger sister, grew up to be extraordinarily charming and graceful. Her misty eyes had a captivating allure, which seemed far more refined than what a small town could produce.
Chang Fei, regarding such a beautiful fiancée, even felt a certain delight.
This should have been the tale of a benevolent squire adopting a poor scholar, who, after achieving success in examinations, marries a lovely wife.
However, no one anticipated the subsequent developments.
Chang Fei, though talented, was not widely renowned compared to other scholars across the nation.
Yet, no one expected that this seemingly unremarkable talent would smoothly pass the county exam, the provincial exam, and finally forge ahead to the palace exam.
Although he didn’t secure a place among the top three, Chang Fei successfully became a Jinshi.
It was indeed a Jinshi!
Not to mention in the small town where the Chang Family resided, even in the entire county, it wasn’t certain that there would be a Jinshi produced annually through the imperial examination.
A grand honor for the ancestors!
Others said that the Chang Family must have garnered tremendous luck in a previous life: to have casually bought a child who turned out to be Master Jinshi!
Chang Gensheng was both shocked and delighted, feeling that this step was truly the right move.
In the future, Jiujiu would become Madam Jinshi, and she might even be conferred a noble title!
But he hadn’t considered whether, at that time, Chang Fei would still be willing to marry into a family that could not further his official career.
Chang Fei’s ambitions grew.
After becoming a Jinshi, he didn’t rush back home but stayed in Capital City with the silver coin provided by the Chang Family.
A month later, the eagerly waiting Chang Gensheng finally received a letter from Capital City.
The letter was written by Chang Fei himself, stating that in Capital City, he had been favored by the influential Marquis Mingyi, who insisted on making him his son-in-law.
The marquis’s power was too great for him to refuse, and so on.
The overall message was that his engagement with Chang Jiujiu had never been formally settled, and now it would simply be as if it had never happened.