Becoming a God's Bride

A 100,000-word novella in progress

[Modern woman who transmigrates x pitiable village girl]

Lin Wangshu was a baby girl who drifted down the river to Qingluan Village. The village chief happened to find her and take her in. They always said, "She'll become the bride of a god."

A god's bride had to be slender to win the god's favor, so she wasn't allowed to eat much. Even when she was so hungry she fainted, she could only drink water to fill her stomach.

A god's bride had to be meek and obedient to earn the god's affection, so she was beaten and scolded. Even when she couldn't get back up, she still had to smile and serve the whole family.

A god's bride had to be hardworking and capable to earn the god's praise, so she was expected to get up before dawn to cook, wash clothes, feed the chickens, and go into the mountains to gather mushrooms. At noon, she could have a little thin porridge before going to help in the fields. At night, she had to heat water and help the whole family wash up, then weave by moonlight until late...

Lin Wangshu accepted it all, but she often wondered: Was the god really tall, broad-shouldered, and handsome? Did he really own a hundred mu of farmland that needed her help every day? Did he really have three thousand beautiful concubines? If so, why did he need to marry her?

If the god really existed, why hadn't they appeared yet?

She hoped the god would come marry her. At least then she'd get enough to eat.

Three months before she came of age, she finally met a "god" in the mountains.

But this god wasn't tall and broad-shouldered. Instead, she was tiny and frail, wearing strange clothes that left her arms and legs exposed. She looked so pitiful. She didn't own a hundred mu of farmland, either. She only talked about strange things like skyscrapers. And she didn't have three thousand beautiful concubines. She was all alone, and even begged Lin Wangshu to bring her something to eat.

But she said she was a god, so Lin Wangshu believed her.

The god said she came from another world.

In her world, people could eat their fill and dress warmly. They could enjoy themselves without having to work so hard, and they weren't beaten or scolded. Men and women were equal, too.

Lin Wangshu laughed when she heard this. She thought: Once the god marries me, I'll be able to go to such a wonderful world.

"Oh, god, oh, god, when will you marry me?"

The day after Su Zhaoming celebrated her eighteenth birthday, she woke up in a forest unlike any she'd ever seen.

As the morning light rose, the first person she saw was a tiny, numb-looking girl.

The girl wore a loose hemp dress covered in patches. The moment she saw Su Zhaoming, she asked, "Are you the god who's come to marry me?"

There was no such thing as a god.

But for the sake of getting free food, Su Zhaoming said yes.

As they spent time together, she figured out that she'd transmigrated to a small mountain village in ancient times, and that she was visible only to Lin Wangshu. She was terrified, but there was nothing she could do about it. She could only stay by Lin Wangshu's side at all times.

There was no such thing as a god.

Lin Wangshu was just a poor girl who'd lived amid endless lies and was about to be sold as a concubine to an evil landlord.

Su Zhaoming taught her "you shouldn't" and "you should fight back."

Lin Wangshu shouldn't be treated this way. Lin Wangshu should fight back, just like the heroines in all the novels Su Zhaoming had read.

But things were never as simple as in the novels she'd read.

Why wasn't there a god in this world?

Su Zhaoming thought: She believes I'm a god, so I'll "take her home"!

"Do you want to come with me? Leave this place and go to a better world!"

"I do."

Setting

1. No intimate gestures beyond embraces

2. Healing, short story, happy ending

Theme: Have the courage to fight an unjust fate