A Little Lucky Lad from the Heavens

Shan Xi is a foolish young man whom Liu Mengsheng picked up.

When he found him, the young man was covered in grime and barely alive.

Liu Mengsheng has neither father nor mother. He is a poor scholar in the village, learned but with nothing to show for it. He is neither a gentleman nor a good man, and can barely support himself, let alone feed another mouth.

A person's life and death are up to fate. No one could blame him for being too heartless to save the boy.

But as he turned to leave, the young man gently tugged at his sleeve, called him "big brother," and smiled with simple innocence.

The young man seemed to have the mind of a seven- or eight-year-old. He must have hit his head, and if Liu Mengsheng left him to fend for himself, he probably would not survive another day.

Liu Mengsheng sighed, unable to harden his heart.

"I don't need a younger brother. I need a wife," Liu Mengsheng said. "If you want to come with me, then you have to marry me and stay by my side for the rest of our lives. Will you?"

Shan Xi did not understand what marriage meant. He only knew that if he went with big brother, he would not go hungry, so he nodded foolishly.

And so Shan Xi was brought home. He had a husband now, and no longer had to wander from place to place.

Liu Mengsheng had someone beside him in bed, and was no longer alone and adrift.

From then on, the two depended on each other, living an ordinary life of three meals a day and changing seasons, simple food, farming, and raising a child.

Life was hard, but Liu Mengsheng began to find a hint of sweetness in it.

He thought that if they kept living like this, it would be for the rest of their lives.

But one day, years later, Liu Mengsheng returned home from the provincial exam to find the house empty. His husband and child had long since vanished.

He searched for days without success, and was alone once more.

Three months later, he heard the storyteller at the county's First-Rank Tower say that the young son of the capital's chief minister, long lost and wandering outside the family, had finally been found. After years of hardship, the young master had at last come through it all.

The storyteller showed him a portrait. Liu Mengsheng looked up, and the man in the picture was unmistakably the beloved who haunted his thoughts, the one who had slept by his side.

Liu Mengsheng drew a deep breath. His hand trembled as he clutched the picture.

It happened to be the season when candidates were heading to the capital for the spring metropolitan examination. Liu Mengsheng did not hesitate. He packed his bags at once and set out on the long road to find his husband.

The day the mandarin ducks reunite, the winds and clouds gather.

When Shan Xi first saw Liu Mengsheng, he thought he looked familiar. He opened his mouth and said, "Sir, what is your surname?"

Liu Mengsheng: "..."

Shan Xi had forgotten him.

Happy ending

[Blurb written in 2024]

Theme: Love life