A complete story in the same genre, Idle Clouds and Wild Cranes
Blurb
Ji Yunmai is good-looking and well-behaved, but unfortunately, fate has dealt him a bad hand. There's no food or drink at home, and his wicked stepfather is forcing him to marry a local village rogue.
He tries to run away but gets beaten instead, and Yunmai loses all hope and throws himself into the river. When he wakes up, he's soaked through and in a wretched state.
The man who saves him is Xie Xiu, the village's only physician. He's young and handsome, and people say his medical skills are excellent, but he's cold and distant, so ordinary folks hardly dare say a few words to him.
Meeting his indifferent gaze, Yunmai cowers and waits for him to scorn or drive him away.
Instead, a cool, clear voice says, "Don't marry that rogue. I'll marry you, how about it?"
Yunmai is stunned, tears pattering down his cheeks. He doesn't understand why such good fortune has fallen into his lap. All he knows is that Xie Xiu is a good person, and he vows to repay him properly.
*
After they marry, Yunmai is careful around Xie Xiu. His husband doesn't say much, so Yunmai assumes he doesn't like him getting close and focuses on figuring out how to be good to him.
Xie Xiu is a physician and often goes up the mountain to gather herbs. Yunmai gets up early and stays up late, keeping their home in perfect order and preparing all sorts of stomach-warming meals.
On Xie Xiu's birthday, in the bitter cold, Yunmai holds a bowl of longevity noodles against his chest and brings it to the clinic.
His fingertips and the tip of his nose are bright red from the cold. In a tiny voice, he says, "I made you longevity noodles..."
They're simple plain noodles with a fried egg on top, and the steam quickly dissipates in the cold wind. His colleagues laugh and ask to share the bowl. "Second Brother doesn't like noodles, so we might as well eat them!"
But Xie Xiu reaches out and firmly shields the bowl, his expression still cool. "No. My husband made these. Don't you have husbands of your own?"
His colleagues are dumbfounded: ... He's the only one among them who's married. Xie Xiu knows that!
*
Yunmai doesn't know that Xie Xiu has been hiding a secret.
Many years ago, when Xie Xiu was still a half-grown boy, he saw a pretty young man by the river with a flower tucked behind his ear, smiling as he offered Xie Xiu a flower.
That image stayed with him, impossible to forget.
Until one day, while gathering herbs on the mountain, he saw that familiar figure by the river. He was thinner than before, and his eyes were red from crying.
Xie Xiu could hardly stop the corners of his mouth from turning up. He pulled the soaking-wet person out of the water and used every ounce of restraint he had to keep his voice even. "Why don't I marry you? It's better than marrying that rogue."
Later, Yunmai still learned the secret.
By then, they had walked side by side through many springs, summers, autumns, and winters, and Yunmai had become a fine cook.
In spring, he gathers wild greens and tosses them with tofu. In summer, he picks tender cucumbers to make soup. In autumn, he dries vegetables for winter. In winter, when it's cold, Yunmai often makes a tofu stew with soft tofu, cabbage, and a few slices of cured pork, simmering it all together until it steams...
The years roll on, and life rolls gently along~
[Reading note]
*Simply put, this is a sweet little bedtime story.
*No breaking up the pairing, no reversing roles, no self-inserts, and no character substitutions.
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