The Little Widower [Farming]

Coming soon: The Wicked Husband Takes Charge of the Whole Family Chen Qing has had a hard life, wandering from place to place until someone buys him for three taels of silver to be their husband. But on the very day he’s brought home, his husband is forcibly conscripted. They don’t even get to meet, and Chen Qing ends up marrying a chicken. Five years later, the war is over, but Chen Qing receives word that his husband has died in battle. He is now a widower. His mother gives him half the compensation money and tells him to remarry, but Chen Qing refuses. Quiet and intensely socially anxious, Chen Qing arranges his husband’s funeral and holds their tottering household together. He works from sunrise to sunset, tending a couple of acres of good farmland and a small courtyard. But the neighbor who has returned from the battlefield watches him with an increasingly intense gaze. Zhou Yuan returns from the battlefield with his life, receives three acres of land from the court, and settles in the village. He is tall and burly, the kind of man everyone in the village considers a good match. Yet his eyes are fixed only on Chen Qing, the widower next door. Wild game in spring, a rain cape in summer, wild fruit in autumn, silver charcoal in winter. And his whole heart. Even Chen Qing, slow as he is to catch on, understands what Zhou Yuan means. He looks toward his mother. His mother says, “Someone who has worked hard for half a lifetime has the right to pursue their own happiness.” From then on, the family of three lives in peace and contentment. Important notes: 1. The receiving partner is an extreme introvert, the kind who wants to walk through the sewers just to avoid going outside. He’s a weak receiving partner, and his personality is the reason. Please don’t read if that bothers you. 2. The characters are 195 cm and 170 cm tall. Don’t ask why. The author likes it. 3. Please don’t read if you’re very particular about character types. I hope everyone finds a story they enjoy. 4. There’ll probably be lots of family and village life. 5. The setting is entirely fictional, with lots of original worldbuilding. The author gets to decide which vegetables and fruits exist. 6. There’s a secondary couple. 7. There will be children, near the end. The Wicked Husband Takes Charge of the Whole Family Miao Ying has always been alone. Before transmigrating, he wished to the god of transmigration to experience the warmth of family. Sure enough, he transmigrates into a big family. A sharp-tongued grandmother, a gambling, hard-drinking father-in-law, a gossipy mother-in-law, a toddler brother-in-law, and a taciturn husband who couldn’t get a word out of him with three sticks. Miao Ying: Hah, just let it all burn! Damn fate, men can marry men now? Miao Ying goes on a rampage and passes out. In a dream, he sees the original owner’s story. The original owner stole his grandmother’s coffin money and eloped with a good-for-nothing from the neighboring village, only to be abandoned once the money ran out. He then shamelessly came crawling back home and spent every day stealing egg custard from his brother-in-law, who was still too young to walk. Miao Ying: Huh? I’m the bad guy? Miao Ying decides to turn over a new leaf and start over. Looking at the family’s three cramped rooms, he makes up his mind to improve their finances. Luckily, transmigration comes with its perks. He finds rapeseed while turning over the soil. He plants the seeds, learns to press the oil, sells fried snacks, and makes the family’s life better and better. Miao Ying takes control of the household finances and gets the old man, who loves drinking and gambling, to behave himself. He also wins over his grandmother and mother-in-law. He bundles up his brother-in-law, who has just learned to walk, and sends him off to school. As for his taciturn husband… Well, he’s not completely useless. At least he comes in handy at night. Miao Ying looks at his family with satisfaction. At last, he has experienced the warmth of family. Miao Ying: Perfect. Theme: Keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the stars.