A Rustic Couple: Farming and Raising Kids to Prosperity

(No rebirth or transmigration, no golden finger. Domestic life and family matters, unfolding at a gentle pace.)

That spring, something happened in Little River Village, not too big and not too small. Chun Ge'er, who was twenty and still unmarried, was matched by the authorities with Lu Zheng, a hunter from the west end of the village.

For Jiang Shichun, a stepmother meant a cruel father. He worked himself to the bone like an old ox, only to be thrown out at twenty.

Lu Zheng had observed mourning for his father, then his mother, and was dragged into his twenty-third year. All he had left was a single mud-brick house.

There was no red wedding robe, no formal betrothal gifts, not even a proper blessing.

Two people worn down by life simply came together like this.

On their wedding night, the young couple barely dared exchange a word, afraid the other might not want to make a life together.

Neither of them expected that from that day on, the humblest mud-brick house in Little River Village would slowly fill with the warmth of home.

He was gentle and quiet, yet willing to work hard to manage the household.

He was taciturn and awkward, but kept all his tenderness in his actions.

Chun Ge'er washed clothes, cooked, and handled the housework, keeping their home spotless.

Lu Zheng hunted in the mountains and farmed the fields, doing everything he could to protect him and keep him from suffering another moment of hardship.

They never grew rich or rose to great heights. They lived ordinary lives from beginning to end.

With nothing but their own two pairs of hands and their two hearts,

They turned bitter days sweet and warmed their poor little home.

Simple meals, three meals a day, through all four seasons,

They went from treating each other with respect to staying together for a lifetime.