The Rugged Man and the Sweetheart

※ A rough, taciturn general who is ruthless when it counts x a girl who gets emo from time to time

Before her mother was framed and killed, Jiang Yueyuan was the cherished daughter of the Jiang family of Jinling, raised in luxury and pampered from birth.

Then, in a single day, she fell from the clouds. Even getting enough to eat and wear warm clothes became a struggle. Worst of all, every Tom, Dick, and Harry dared to bully her.

The fifteen-year-old young lady was worn out from fending them off, tottering in a world full of danger. Then one day, someone struggled out of the darkness and stood in front of her, shielding her from the storms of the whole world.

Synopsis from the heroine's perspective:

A man moved into the farm next door. He was tall and powerfully built. In the thin clothes of summer, his pectoral muscles bounced when he ran.

Every day, he sat beneath the eaves drinking. His figure in the sunset looked dejected, like a beast trapped in a cage with no will to better itself.

There were lotus roots growing in his pond and fish swimming in it. Grapes hung heavy from his trellis. Nobody looked after any of it.

I wanted to sneak over the fence on a dark, windy night, dig up his lotus roots, grill his fish, pick every last grape, then sit on his lap and raise a ruckus.

Synopsis from the hero's perspective:

That girl was suspicious. Every day she passed by his fence, she stared at him without blinking. At first, she knew to be discreet, but later she did it openly and even dared to come over and strike up a conversation.

She was full of life, like a rice paddy growing wild. At first, he wanted to take the long way around. Later, he only wanted to wade in and straighten each lively new shoot.

In the end, all he wanted was to take her away, climb the highest and most dangerous peaks, cross the clearest and quietest streams, and grow old together in some gentle, fairyland-like place.

A little scene:

In the summer of the third year after she was abandoned at the estate, Jiang Yueyuan finally found a small source of amusement: the man who drank every night would go bathe in the stream in the woods in front of his house after getting completely drunk.

She made an excuse about looking for a cat and barged in recklessly, just in time to catch a clear drop of water running down his well-defined abs

After that, she often snuck a peek. The cat got used to it too, lounging lazily by his wicker chair. He seemed to notice, or maybe he simply didn't care. Every so often, he'd rub the little cat's head, his hand moving through its soft fur like he was sinking into a quagmire.

As summer was drawing to a close, she came over with the cat in her arms, but another cat was lying by the man's feet. When it saw her, it gave her a languid glance, then turned away without a care.

"You have a new kitten now..." she said awkwardly, backing away to leave.

So what? He turned to look at her and smiled. "It's not a cat I'm waiting for."

Reader's guide:

1. Household rivalries, plot, sweetness.

2. Set in an imaginary world.

※ This synopsis was screenshotted from Weibo on May 17, 2022.

Theme: Find strength in adversity and find light in the darkness.