Winning Back My Wife

Please bookmark my similar story next door, Year After Year. The synopsis is at the very bottom.

I fought with all my might for this marriage. We treated each other with respect and lived in perfect harmony. I thought we would grow old together, but I never imagined that our loving life would turn into a dream after ten years of marriage.

I went to the palace alone to plead with the emperor and save him. I got soaked in the rain, then knelt for a long time in the main hall. After that, I fell ill and never recovered.

That night, he was drunk and had his arms around his newly bought concubine. With one hand, he squeezed my neck hard, eyes bloodshot as he demanded viciously, "Song Shushu, when are you going to die?"

I thought my life would probably end like this...

For his sake, I had lost my family and my child. Now I was probably about to lose my life, too.

And yet I still remembered that drizzly day on the long street, when he had approached me at an unhurried pace, looking as bright and carefree as the moon. "Shushu, let's get married..."

Year After Year

Niannian's mother died when she was young, and her father was a gambling addict. The family was so poor they could barely afford to eat, so he sold her to a scholar as a bride.

The scholar was refined and so handsome. Niannian fell for him at first sight. His one flaw was that he was even poorer than she was.

But Niannian didn't mind. She thought that if she got up early, worked late, and endured more hardship, then once her husband passed the provincial examination and became a juren, their good days would finally begin.

The scholar's family had scraped together the money to buy Niannian, but still ended up owing someone ten taels of silver. His mother hated to see so much money go to waste and tried every way she could to recoup the cost from Niannian.

Before dawn, Niannian went out to cut pigweed. When she returned, she fed the chickens and ducks, cooked, washed clothes and shoes, emptied the chamber pots, and even found time to embroider things to sell. Niannian never complained about any dirty or tiring work. She did her best to care for the entire scholar's family.

Her mother-in-law deliberately made things difficult for her, but Niannian thought she must not be doing a good enough job. The scholar's younger sister cut up a new dress she'd bought, but Niannian thought the girl was just young and willful.

Everyone laughed at Niannian for being foolish. Niannian thought they were the foolish ones.

They didn't know that the scholar would soon pass the provincial examination and become a juren, and that before long they would be living in a big house, enjoying all the finest food and drink.

Niannian also knew her scholar treated her well. Whenever night fell and all was quiet, he would always lean close to her ear and whisper, "Your husband wants to make his wife feel good."

Later, the scholar really did pass the provincial examination and move into a big house. He even got a new lady of the house.

Niannian couldn't understand why the scholar had become so heartless. She saw him at the gate of the big house she had dreamed of living in.

The scholar looked even more refined and handsome than before, and he was rich now. Niannian asked him, "Husband, why don't you want me anymore? Did I do something wrong? I can change."

The scholar shot her a cold glance, tightened his arms around the woman in his embrace, and spat a mouthful of saliva at Niannian. "I got tired of playing with you..."

Later, Niannian became a famous woman entrepreneur, the richest person in all the towns and villages nearby. The scholar's eyes went wide. That very night, he knelt outside Niannian's home, weeping bitterly. "Niannian, I was young and foolish before. I know I was wrong now. Please look at me again."

Niannian opened the door, and the delighted scholar was greeted by a bucket of manure.

Theme: Work hard with your own hands to build a better tomorrow.