I’m The Vicious Cannon Fodder In The Book

Chapter 1 Marriage

In the 20th year of Yuansheng, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month was the Lantern Festival. 

The annual Lantern Festival was being held on the main street of Yunsheng. It was rare for the common people to have a family reunion and took their families out to play. 

The lantern riddle stalls on the bustling streets, there were jugglers, sugar sellers, glutinous rice balls stalls, and laughter and shouts from the lively restaurants. Everything was simple. Everyone was with contented face, but all this had nothing to do with what was happening at the deserted and bloody East City Gate. 

A carriage with a carriage used by ordinary people fell to the ground and fell to pieces. It was almost difficult to see its original appearance. The horse pulling the carriage had been shot by a poisonous arrow and fell to the ground and howled lowly.

Not far away, forty or fifty people in black were holding bows and arrows, one arrow shot mercilessly at the man in prison clothes who fell on the ground. His back was filled with arrows and his mouth was full of blood, but his eyes were firm and he embraced with the last of his strength. He tightly held the white-clothed man with a pale face in his arms, and the white-clothed man was still holding a stiff and breathless baby in his arms. 

The man in in prison clothes spit black blood from his mouth: "I'm sorry, Luo Shuyu, next life you have to stay away from me, don't let me implicate you." 

The white man with cold purple lips, he leaned to the man in prison clothes's arms, was hit with the deep cold winter wind had long been unable to erode half of his body. 

"You are not sorry for me." The man in white covered his mouth with his hand, trying to make him vomit less blood, but his eyes were desperate, "We can go out." 

The man in prison clothes felt his eyelids fall down. The only thing he could face was death: "There are a lot of words, I want to tell you, but unfortunately there is no time."

Another arrow shot into his back, and the arrow pierced his heart fiercely, "Luo Shuyu, you must leave in the next life, far away from me..."

The man in white put his arms around him and called his name sternly, tears streaming down: "Li Mingjin! Don't die! Don't die! What should I do if you die!" 

Li Mingjin raised his hand and stroked his cheek "Don't...cry...can...not...cry..." 

    Before his fingers wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, he was no longer had energy  fell into Luo Shuyu's arms covered in blood.

    "I don't cry, I don't cry."

From the day when Luo Shuyu received the imperial decree of marriage, he knew that his fate was tied to the third prince Li Mingjin. He didn't understand why the third prince chose him. He had always been puzzled by the reason for this. Perhaps the family sacrificed him in exchange for the future of his father and brothers, or his horoscope coincided with the third prince, but no matter what the reason, he couldn't laugh at it. 

No one in the whole Shangjing didn't know that the third prince was paranoid and violent. There were countless eunuchs and maids who died in his hands. He liked to hold whips in his hands. Whenever he saw anyone was not pleasing to the eyes, he would whipped them. They all knew that he was not a good match. Luo Shuyu was the son of the Luo family. When Luo Shuyu married, the whole city betting him being beaten the next day as a joke. However, after three years of marriage, Luo Shuyu was still safe and sound. Li Mingjin acted licentiously, but never moved his finger. 

    Later, he and Li Mingjin had a real husbandand wife's relationship. In an accident, he became pregnant and gave birth to a son for him. One month after the child was born, Li Mingjin was sent to prison for collaborating with the enemy. His father who also the emperor were unwilling to save him, and the family lost their lives. 

    If Luo Shuyu became ignorant after death, he may be a ray of wronged soul, and he would go straight to reincarnation, reincarnated as an adult, and accepted the tragic fate of his previous life. 

    But he had not gone to reincarnation yet. As a ray of soul, he entered a square white room and got a book called "After Transmigrating Into A Book, Four Big Brothers Are Fighting to Marry Me", Luo Shuyu only thought the name of the book was quite strange, and he turned to the first page of the book. 

    The full text of the book was about 800,000 words. Luo Shuyu became more and more angry when he read it. After reading it, his entire soul became more and more transparent due to anger. The tragic fate he (protagonist) had caused was not worth mentioning in the eyes of the protagonist. Both he and Li Mingjin did not live half of the overall content of the novel. 

    Thinking of his one-month-old child dying in the cold winter and Li Mingjin, who was finally covered with blood fell in his arms, his soul seemed to be torn by countless thin threads, causing him pain, and he was crazy. Weeping and crying, but did not shed half a tear.

    It turned out that they were just worthless characters in the book. They couldn't control their own destiny at all. They were just a stepping stone for the promotion of the protagonist in the book. Death was not a pity. 

    But what did he do wrong? 

    What did his poor baby do wrong? 

    Was Li Mingjin really colliding with the enemy? 

    He knew that those letters about collided with the enemy were forged, and that was not Li Mingjin's handwriting at all!.

    However, they were just the characters in the book, an undeniable fact. 

    There was resentment in Luo Shuyu's heart, and his soul was flickering, and he hated it! He hated it! He hated it! 

    He wanted those who ruined his child's life to be buried with him! he couldn’t wait to eat their meat, drunk their blood, cramped their muscles, thwarted their bones and grasped their ashes! 

    He was immersed in resentment and did not notice that the space he was staying in was being distorted. 

    In the blink of an eye, the space turned into a small black spot, and then disappeared. 

    In the west courtyard of Luofu, cicadas and birds screamed in summer, and a young man slept soundly on a deck chair under the tree with a book on his chest. 

    "Young Master, Young Master, wake up, wake up!" 

    Someone was talking, shaking his shoulders gently. 

    The sound in his ear made him who was taking a nap... 

    Nap? Wasn't he dead? Wasn't he reading a strange book? 

    Luo Shuyu suddenly opened his eyes and saw a familiar and immature face. This was Qingwang, who was only sixteen or seventeen. 

    Qingwang’s characteristic was his skin was a bit dark, he was full of joy and anger, everything was written on his face. During the years when he entered the Third Princes’ Mansion, because he was not favored as the master, Qingwang began to become less talkative. Growing up in the lately, in the mansion, he would always speak out to protect him. 

    But, wasn't he dead? How could he still see Qingwang.

    He still remembered the officers and soldiers who came to the third prince's mansion to take people, all of them were very rude. Qingwang stepped forward to stop him and was injured on the spot. After that, he went to jail and asked to bring food to the jailer, but was killed by the jailer who drank alcohol. When he died, he was still holding a dirty steamed bun in his hand. 

    Seeing the young man around him still alive vividly, Luo Shuyu was in a trance, until Qingwang's inviting voice shouted: "Son, something went wrong." 

( gong zhi = son, here just a title for son of an official or son of nobility)

    Luo Shuyu heard Qingwang's roar and was awake, opened his eyes, he reached in the face of Qingwang and pinched it: " Does it hurt?"

   Qingwang wrinkled his cheeky face, approached Luo Shuyu, so that he could relieve the pinch, "Master, son, it hurts, what did Qingwang do wrong, you want to pinch me hard?." 

    Luo Shuyu shook his head, wondering whether the things in his memory were a dream or something else. For a while, he was a little confused. If it was true, then he was now borrowing a corpse to return to life? 

    But he had only heard that the resurrection was in other people's body, but what he was now was returning to his own body, Qingwang was still so young. 

    Qingwang, who was let go, began to be anxious again: "My son, the big thing is really bad!" 

    Luo Shuyu calmed down and asked him: "What big thing is bad? How decent is flustered like this?, let the mistress see and get hit with the board, I won’t speak for you.” 

    Qingwang quickly admitted his mistake: “the little one know that he was wrong, but things are really urgent. I just heard the master and his wife said that the emperor wants to marry you and the third prince!” he was finally could tell what he had inquired about, and he was so anxious, how could the son be in no rush to do something! 

    Luo Shuyu frowned: "Gift marriage?" 

    This was the second time he heard these two words, but his heart was slightly shaken, but there was no resistance, grievance, full unwillingness and final compromise of the last time. 

    And when he heard the third prince, he was stunned. 

    What appeared in front of him was the picture of Li Mingjin being pierced by the arrow, and the sentence he repeatedly emphasized before he died. 

    "Luo Shuyu, you must stay away from me in your next life..."

    He used to think that Li Mingjin had no feelings for him. They were married for many years but never had a room. The only time Li Mingjin accidentally took medicine, and then got him for one night. The memory of that night was still deep, Li Mingjin was very gentle. Afterwards, he helped him clean up, took him to the bath, and never really hurt him from the beginning to the end. 

    How could a person who gave up his life to protect you from a knife and an arrow had no feelings for you? 

    Perhaps he had been immersed in sad emotions, he had never asked Li Mingjin why he wanted to marry him, so many women and sons in the world he could choose, why chose him alone. 

    Daxia Kingdom was divided into three types of people, men, women, and gers. 

(actually this novel uses the word gongzhi (son) again as the third gender, but I think it will be confusing since the servants call their master "son" and people talk about the third gender also use "son")

    The ger was between a man and a woman, had fertility, but the fertility was lower than that of a woman, and it was not easy to conceive. A family that needed heirs to inherit the family would not find a son as the mother of the family, and mostly would choose a woman as the wife. 

    The ger's status in the Daxia Kingdom was not high, even the married man had never selected a ger as the first wife. However, the state of Daxia today was different from the past. The harem of the saint now had a ger who had been promoted to the concubine, and he could please the saint so his status had improved. 

    Just after receiving the news, the butler suddenly ran to inform Luo Shuyu to go to the front hall to meet the imperial decree. 

    Luo Shuyu put on a dress under Qingwang's reminder. He didn't expect that the imperial decree came so quickly, just like in his previous life, there was no time for him to prepare in his heart. 

    Now, it was not needed anymore. 

    There were a lot of people in the front hall. His father Luo Renshou, the mistress of the house, the old lady who was over 60 years old, and the brothers and sisters at home all came out. 

    The Luo family was more complicated. Luo Shuyu was a direct son, but his mother surename Chen passed away due to illness in the early years. The current mistress was Liu, who had been with Luo Renshou for many years. One year after Chen's death, Liu's was promoted to be his full wife. She had two sons, a daughter and a ger under her knees. She was very spoiled, and even the old lady had to give her a bit of face. 

    Although Luo Shuyu didn't receive much attention from his father in the family, he was a ger as a direct son, and he could survive if he was a little tighter on weekdays.

    Sitting on the grandmaster's chair in the main hall was a Hou Ye, and an old eunuch holding the imperial decree followed by his side. 

(Hou Ye = marquis, second of the five orders of ancient Chinese nobility; nobleman or high official)

    Luo Renshou was talking politely with Wen Changhou. 

    Wen Changhou was a few years older, with sharp eyes, he got up when he heard someone called "The Third Young Master is coming" and said to Luo Renshou: "Luo Shangshu, let's start proclaiming the imperial decree." 

    Luo Renshou raised his hand and said respectfully. "Hou Ye, please." 

Wen Changhou waited for the Luo family to kneel down and began to read the imperial decree. 

    "Luo Shuyu took the order." 

    Luo Shuyu knelt down and took the order, with a dignified posture, neither arrogant nor humble. Wen Changhou glanced at it and felt that he was a good boy. It was a pity that this appearance, this manner, was allocated to the third prince. 

    "Feng Tian carries the emperor, and the edict said: I heard that Luo Shuyu, the son of Luo Renshou, an officer from the Ministry of Rites, was dignified and generous, gentle and honest, and excellent in appearance. The queen mother and I were very happy to choose such a virtuous son and match him. Luo Shuyu who waits in his boudoir and the third son of the emperor can be said to be created by heaven and earth, for the beauty of being a beautiful woman, I will match him with the third son of the emperor as the princess. We are working together to get married on a good day." 

(Febg Tian = the old name of shengyan, the capital name of a province)

    Luo Shuyu listened to the imperial decree, and his heart drifted far away. 

    Li Mingjin, I, Luo Shuyu, will never abandon you in this life.