The Xie Dynasty was founded by overthrowing the Tong Dynasty! To have his own child serve the descendants of his sworn enemies—was he insane, or were his parents insane!
It was also impossible that he was sent as a spy or informant. All these years, his family had never given him any 'missions'!
Eunuch Qian looked at His Majesty. This couldn't be. When they arrived, they were still a good master and servant pair, but in this moment, they had become a former dynasty's orphan from a destroyed kingdom and the current dynasty's...
Before Eunuch Qian could finish his thought, he heard the Divine Artifact's heavenly voice in his ear, [The Qian family are indeed the Tong imperial clan living under assumed names, and from the main lineage at that. Their ancestors were from the line of Prince Xi, the third son of Emperor Wei.
However, all this has nothing to do with Old Qian, because he shares no blood relation with the current Qian family members.]
Hearing this, Yue Fuguang's sensitive nerves twitched instantly. "This isn't another switched-at-birth scenario, is it? Eunuch Qian doesn't have some powerful identity and wealthy parents, does he?"
[There aren't that many stories of swapped young misses and young masters! Eunuch Qian's surname was originally Qian. His father's name was Qian Wuliang, his mother was Qian Wu's Wife. His living siblings: his eldest brother is also named Qian Huai, his eldest sister Qian Liu, his younger brother Qian Yu, and his younger sister Qian Tao.]
Qian Gui listened and nodded secretly in agreement. Yes, yes, those were indeed his family members' names. His father Qian Wuliang and his perpetually ill mother were both still alive.
How could it have nothing to do with him? The names of his loved ones were correct!
[The names are not wrong, but the people have been replaced. Qian Wuliang is not Qian Wuliang, Qian Wu's Wife is not Qian Wu's Wife, and Qian Huai, Qian Liu, even Qian Yu are no longer Qian Gui's biological parents, brother, and sister.]
How is this possible? How is this possible! Qian Gui relied on the last shred of his rationality to stop himself from crying out on the spot.
How could his parents and siblings no longer be his real ones... Wait, the Divine Artifact didn't mention his younger sister Qian Tao. That meant his sister... was still his biological sister?
Sure enough, as soon as he thought it, Little Xianju asked for him, "Qian Tao is still Eunuch Qian's sister, right? And what do you mean by 'replaced'? It wasn't that they adopted Eunuch Qian and his sister, but that those Tong people replaced their parents?"
[Correct. The Tong family members replaced the identities of all the Qian family members except for Qian Gui and Qian Tao, and lived on.
Thirty years ago, Tuzhou in the Dayan region suffered a once-in-fifty-years drought. Qian Wuliang fled south with his fellow villagers towards areas with water.
After just a few days on the road, the five-year-old Qian Gui fell seriously ill, burning with a high fever. It was at this time that the Qian family encountered the Tong family, who were also refugees. The Tong family were mountain dwellers from the mountains behind Qian Family Village—essentially unregistered "black household" people.
Qian Wuliang had seen the Tong family a few times in the mountains during his leisure. He remembered them because the head of the Tong family bore a sixty to seventy percent resemblance to him, and their children were around the same age as his own.
Meeting on the refugee road, although Qian Wuliang was wary of the Tong family, they were ultimately acquaintances, so his guard was inevitably lower.
One night, the Tong family finally found their opportunity. They killed all members of the Qian family except for the feverish Qian Gui and the three-year-old Qian Tao!]
All killed!
All killed!
The parents he has now killed his real parents and his siblings!
At this moment, Qian Gui felt only dizziness, his body chilled to the bone from the inside out. So cold! So painful!
He kept his head bowed low, not letting Yue Fuguang see his bloodshot eyes and his nearly shattered teeth clenched tight.
He dared not cry, dared not make a single sound. He pinched his thigh hard to maintain his clarity.
He must not go mad or faint. He needed to hear with his own ears why those he once considered his closest kin would do such a thing!
Yue Fuguang once again voiced the question in his heart, "Why did they do it? Was it because of household registration? Isn't that thing easy to forge? It doesn't even have anti-counterfeiting features."
Minister of Revenue Dong Qianli: Lord Junior Mentor, do you hear what you're saying? How is household registration easy to forge?
And what are 'anti-counterfeiting features'?
The court has records for every household, with copies kept at both the prefectural and county offices. Unless you bribe people in both offices to add your forged record to the archives, any major event requiring verification will expose a forgery immediately!
[The Dayan household registration system is relatively strict and rigorous. Forging registration is extremely difficult for people nowadays. The technology alone is insufficient, making it easy to detect problems during inspection.
Therefore, the Tong family chose a more direct method: replacing identities.
Years earlier, when Qian Wuliang first saw the Tong family, they had already targeted him. Subsequent contacts were to closely observe his family's situation.
The natural disaster gave them the perfect opportunity. The Tong family killed Qian Wuliang's family and assumed their identities.
At the same time, Qian Wuliang's parents and brothers were also replaced by other members of the Tong clan.
To avoid suspicion, they deliberately became separated from the other villagers of Qian Family Village and eventually settled in Dashan Village, Jingzhou.
Old Qian and his sister Qian Tao were spared, one because he forgot much of what happened before his fever, and the other because she was too young to remember.
They kept the siblings alive not out of any kindness. Initially, they were kept as emergency rations. Later, before they needed to resort to that, they found a place to settle. Then they planned to raise the children and sell them for money later.]
A glimmer of understanding finally dawned on Qian Gui. Many things he couldn't understand before now had the thick dust wiped away, revealing the truth clearly!
Why, even when the family was poor, he and his sister always had the least to eat, the worst clothes, and did the most work.
His brothers and sister could all study, but only he and his sister could not.
His parents said his elder brother would need to support the family in the future, his sister needed to be pampered to marry well and help her brothers later, and his younger brother was small and needed more to eat.
But wasn't his sister also small? Wouldn't she also marry in the future?
After he brought this up a few times, his mother suddenly fell gravely ill, requiring expensive medicine for treatment, and he became the family's extra yet most useful member.
The whole family decided to sell him for money to treat his 'critically ill' mother!
He was sold to a trafficker, later ended up in the palace, and not two years later, his family found him.
His father said his mother's illness required expensive medicine to sustain her life. From then on, he could only keep a tiny portion of his monthly allowance, sending the rest home through messengers.
This went on for over twenty years. He only learned from the family's brief messages demanding money that his sister Qian Tao had grown into a young woman, capable of work. Later, she was taken a fancy to and bought by a traveling merchant!
Both he and his sister, Qian Gui and Qian Tao, were sold by the Tong family in different ways!
Back then, he still didn't understand. He sent so much money home, how could it come to selling his sister?
Now he knew. They were never family, but enemies. Enemies!
