The Farmer's Little Darling

[Farming + Marriage Before Love + Everyday Family Life] [Delicate Young Woman x Rugged Man]

(1) Li the Butcher and his wife had been married for years, but had no children.

He was nearly thirty when they finally had a daughter, but his wife died in childbirth.

A rough, uncouth man, Li the Butcher spent more than a decade playing both father and mother, somehow raising the tiny baby, who had been smaller than a piglet at birth.

But the girl had been weakened from birth. She was sickly and dependent on medicine from a young age, and even at fifteen or sixteen she was still frail. The time had come for her to start looking for a husband.

The villagers always said that when looking for a wife, you should find a woman with a round waist and a full bottom, since she would be good at having children.

Someone like Li You'an, who could barely take care of herself, was a poor prospect, even though she was beautiful and the Li family was among the few well-off families in the village.

The constant need for medicine alone was enough to scare off countless suitors.

Li You'an knew her situation well and had no intention of marrying.

Then disaster struck: her father, the only family she had, injured his leg. Lying in bed, he kept saying that he could die in peace only if someone was there to look after her.

By chance, Li You'an went out one day and found a man at the foot of the mountain, riddled with arrows like a hedgehog.

The man had lost his memory and was dull and slow-witted. Perhaps because she was the first person he saw after waking, he would listen only to her.

Thinking of her father's worries, Li You'an gritted her teeth and brought the man home.

(2) Their hasty marriage soon became the subject of village gossip.

Li the Butcher, however, was very pleased with the son-in-law they'd picked up:

Broad-backed and powerfully built, he had an imposing presence even when he wasn't angry.

He looked like a natural at butchering pigs!

Now someone could take care of both the old Li family's pork stall and its precious little treasure!

The villagers had little faith in the match, especially since everyone in the Li family seemed to be either sick or injured. They couldn't imagine how the family would get by.

Who could have guessed that a year later, the pork stall would be back in business?

Three years later, the Li family had built a spacious, bright house of gray bricks.

Ten years later, Li You'an was radiant and healthy.

Even Li the Butcher benefited from his daughter's good fortune, dressing in silk robes fit for a wealthy landowner.

(3) Lately, Li You'an had been feeling rather troubled.

At some point, the man's eyes had grown clearer and more determined. He was no longer as easy to fool as before.

Whenever she asked if he had remembered anything, she never got an answer. Instead, he would drag her into the bedroom.

Her delicate wrists would be left with little red marks if she wasn't careful.

Without her realizing it, those hands, which had never done farm work and were as soft as jade, had replaced the flashing blades of his past life as the most vivid presence in his heart.

Theme: Moving forward hand in hand