Exiled to the Borderlands: My Husband Has Land, a Short Life, and Is Marriable

[Frontier Life + Married First, Love Later + Lighthearted Comedy + Domestic Life + Feel-Good Historical Romance + Contrasting Couple + Butcher Heroine]

Wen Rong came from a family of butchers.

She learned to wash knives at six, pin pigs down at nine, and by fourteen could handle a three-hundred-jin boar.

Her father had refused to acknowledge her for sixteen years, but when a military provisions case came to light, he made her take the blame and sent her straight to the northern frontier.

Once there, a border official gave her two choices.

She could perform five years of hard labor in a government workshop, or pick a man from the military household register and marry him.

Wen Rong read through the register and chose the one man no one should marry.

Pei Yan had both legs crippled and coughed blood year-round. His medicine cost enough to bankrupt three families, and his household was so poor even a mouse would have to leave half a bun behind.

The border official was dumbfounded. “Are you sure?”

Wen Rong nodded. He has land, won't live long, and can't outrun me. Perfect, I can marry him.

Everyone expected the two of them to starve to death.

But Wen Rong went right ahead, pinning down a raging pig with one hand, dragging wild boars out of the mountains, fixing pigsties, opening workshops, farming and doing business all at once. Even vicious dogs and untamed horses got out of her way.

She handled the outside world, earning money and supporting the family, while her sickly husband Pei Yan ran the household from his wheelchair, using his ledgers and legal arguments to settle trouble, back her up, and take care of everything.

Before long, their dilapidated courtyard had become a grand residence, and the condemned woman had become Boss Wen.

Only Pei Yan had a slight problem.

He was supposed to die before winter ended.

But winter passed, and he was still alive.

The second year, his legs healed.

The third year, he returned in armor on horseback, leading tens of thousands of soldiers.

Wen Rong stared at him for a long while.

“Was this illness of yours just a trick to get me to marry you?”