Everyday Happiness in the Second Branch of the Wang Family

[Main story and extras completed]

A story about the little everyday ups and downs of a small family

[Blurb below] If you like it, feel free to add it to your favorites.

Qing Cuicui has been reborn, returning to a carefree time before she was married, when she embroidered with her friends in the village.

But men and women of marriageable age are expected to marry. She's fourteen this year, and her family has already asked a matchmaker to quietly look around for a husband.

In her previous life, she married the county magistrate and became his eighteenth concubine. The villagers said she wore gold and silver and lived in luxury. They didn't know she was bullied and mistreated in that cannibalistic inner household. In the end, the principal wife framed her for an affair with another man, and she froze to death in the bitter winter cold.

After thinking it over, Qing Cuicui realized she couldn't rely on her parents' decisions or a matchmaker to find her a good husband. She would have to find one herself.

Actually, Wang Ermazi, from the Wang family at the east end of the village, would be perfect.

He's seven feet tall and not bad-looking. He's a little quiet and awkward, but he's kindhearted. In her previous life, after she died, he gathered up her remains from the mass grave and buried her, even setting up a grave marker for her. The underworld official said that if he hadn't burned incense at her grave, she would have had to suffer the punishment of the mountain of knives and sea of fire before she could be reborn.

Qing Cuicui made up her mind. This time, she would spend her life with Wang Ermazi.

She didn't mind if they were poor or had to work hard. She owed him a debt of gratitude!

In the end, everyone who doubted the couple was proven wrong.

Everyone in Huaxi Village knew that after Wang Ermazi, who was cursed to bring death to his family, married the eldest daughter of the Qing family, their life grew more prosperous by the day. They earned copper coins and silver, lived in a brick house, and had two chubby sons. They became one of the village's most respected families.

[The male lead's perspective]

Wang Ermazi had been troubled lately.

Cuicui, the prettiest girl in the village, had asked him if he was willing to marry her.

He was willing a thousand times over. Cuicui had saved his younger brothers' lives, and he owed her a huge debt. He had secretly asked about her countless times.

But he couldn't marry her.

His family was too poor. They had no farmland, just a shabby thatched hut. All he knew how to do was fish and hunt, and whatever he earned had to go toward medicine for his younger brother. Their rice jar was so empty even the mice didn't want to visit.

How could he bear to make that flower-like girl taste even a little of such hardship?

What? Cuicui was going to become the county magistrate's eighteenth concubine?

That was great. The county magistrate's family must be rich. Cuicui would live in comfort there, Wang Ermazi thought.

What? The county magistrate wasn't a good man, took several new concubines every year, and one of them died in the inner household every so often?

Wang Ermazi thought it over from every angle, then finally stopped Cuicui on a little path.

Wang Ermazi: "C-Cuicui, when you said you were willing to marry me, did you mean it?"

A glint of mischief flashed in the girl's eyes. She smiled, her almond-shaped eyes curving into crescents. "Of course."

Reader's guide: If you don't like it, please leave quietly. There's no need to tell me. The author's heart is fragile, so either leave a comment or come argue with me.

* A cozy, sweet story about everyday family life.

* 1v1, happy ending. They're poor at first, but things get better after hardship.

* Set in a fictional world. The female lead doesn't have much of a golden finger.

* "We'll build a better life through hard work," says the female lead.

Preorder: "Hao Ying's Marriage Story" in my author page, now updating

Sun Haoying is the second daughter of the Sun family, a renowned medical family with a century of history in town. At sixteen, she's bright-eyed and beautiful as spring, and the top choice of unmarried young men looking for a wife.

Having seen the many hardships her elder sister faced after marriage, Sun Haoying isn't eager to wed.

She studied medicine from childhood and has seen how difficult it is for women to get medical care in this world. She is determined to open a clinic specializing in women's health.

Once the clinic opens, matchmakers who used to flock to the Sun family stop coming altogether. Prominent families in town look down on Sun Haoying for appearing in public every day, calling her indecorous and saying she'll end up alone, dying at home.

But just a few months later, not only does the Sun family avoid marrying off their youngest daughter, they also make a match with the county's aristocratic Zhou family.

And the Zhou family's eldest son dotes on the second daughter of the Sun family. No matter the weather, he takes his wife to and from the clinic every day. What's more, this man is seven feet tall and powerfully built, yet he prefers managing the household. He's excellent at running a home and raising children!

Before long, wives throughout the county and town find themselves discontented with their own husbands. Naturally, the looks they once gave Sun Haoying with mockery and scorn turn into boundless envy.

For Sun Haoying, marriage had once seemed like a shackle holding her back. But after meeting Zhou Yan, he took every storm and hardship onto his own shoulders.

She didn't let her husband's support go to waste. Five years into their marriage, she finished compiling the "Medical Records of Midwife Sun" herself. The book focuses on obstetrics, childbirth, treating sores and swellings, fractures, acupuncture, and other women's health conditions. Women of the time admire and praise her, giving her the title "Immortal Sun."

[The male lead's perspective]

The first half of Zhou Yan's life was lonely and desolate, with no one but himself for company.

His family disliked him, and his mother ultimately sacrificed him to scheme against his half-brother. Zhou Yan returned from a battlefield piled with corpses by sheer luck, only to suffer from a terrifying condition that made everyone avoid him.

He had long since given up hope, but fate did not fail him, and he met the second daughter of the Sun family.

The closer he got to her, the more deeply he fell in love. He was willing to kneel at the hem of her embroidered skirt, begging her to show him kindness and hoping they could stay together forever.

She had ambitions of her own. Zhou Yan respected and loved her, and was willing to be a pampered husband at home, helping her grow into a towering tree.

"A story about success in both career and love."

"A couple who help each other thrive."

"Life isn't all romance, but also rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea."

"Marriage has more than one definition. A husband at home and a wife in the world can be happy, too."

Content warnings:

* A folk doctor from ancient times and a veteran who works as a bookkeeper. The male lead has mild PTSD.

* I'm planning to finish "The Clever Wife Runs the Household" before I start updating this one.

* Both leads are virgins, but the female lead considers several options early on, so don't read if that's not your thing.

* A lighthearted, sweet story to enjoy. Don't overthink things. If you don't like it, please leave quietly.

[More from the author's page]

"The Great Tang's Female Culinary Ancestor" completed: a little food-focused story.

"After Being Reborn, I Fell for the Crown Prince" completed: a short palace romance.

Theme: Build wealth through hard work and strive for a moderately prosperous life.