The Ninth Book by Wan Fu'er

[Rugged country man + rural life + multiple births + sweet romance]

Wang Wenqin had been married for three years without so much as a hint of a pregnancy. Her vicious mother-in-law dug her nails into Wang's arm and shoved her toward the home of the old bachelor next door. “If you can't get him to give you a child, don't bother coming back!”

Late that night, Wang Wenqin fled into the hills wrapped in a threadbare padded coat, only to crash straight into the arms of Li Jieshi, the village bully.

Who was Li Jieshi? Nobody for miles around dared meet his gaze. He was built like iron, with a scar at the corner of his brow. Even the children were too scared to cry when they heard his name.

The whole village expected to see Wang Wenqin get the beating of her life. But the feared brute carefully wiped away her tears and wrapped her frozen body in his warm sheepskin coat.

A month later, Wang Wenqin crouched by the courtyard wall, vomiting her guts out. Her mother-in-law peered through the crack in the door, overjoyed. “Did it really work?”

“Bang!”

Li Jieshi kicked the wooden door off its hinges and shielded the trembling Wang Wenqin behind him, his eyes bloodshot.

“Get lost! Those are my babies!”

His roar shook dust from the rafters.

“She’s carrying three!”

Her ex-husband slumped to the ground, and her mother-in-law wailed and beat her chest. Meanwhile, Wang Wenqin was nestled in the arms of the rugged man on the heated kang, her voice soft as she whimpered:

“Li Jieshi... be gentler.”