I Picked Up a Fool to Be My Husband

- A skilled husband-tamer, a young female doctor vs. a pure-hearted young general -

Bickering sweethearts | Silly-dog romance | Married first, love later | Lighthearted daily life | 1v1 HE

Shen Yu was an ordinary young village doctor. Though her family was poor, she was hardworking and clever, and knew how to make the best of a modest life.

Her only real worry was that she had neither parents nor anyone to help arrange a marriage for her. At seventeen, she still had no match in sight.

Then one day, she found a fool on the mountain.

He was both blind and mute, but at least he could hear. He was obedient and quick at chores, so after thinking it over, Shen Yu decided to keep him.

She was only a village doctor and never expected to cure him. Whenever she had any leftover medicine after filling a prescription, she would boil some up for him.

Unexpectedly, the fool gradually began to improve. When he was lucid, he would even protect her.

From then on, whenever she had time, she taught him to write and read, and to recognize herbs and fill prescriptions. She thought that living together with him someday would be rather nice.

The more she thought about it, the more sensible it seemed. She planned to marry herself off on her eighteenth birthday.

As Shen Yu held the fool's hand and guided him stroke by stroke as he wrote their wedding invitation, she still had no idea he was a young general.

-

Qi Yuan joined the army at sixteen. In less than five years, his reputation as the handsome young general had spread throughout the capital. Countless noble families wanted him as a son-in-law, but his heart belonged only to his cousin, the princess, who had already been promised to someone else.

On the day the princess married, Qi Yuan volunteered to guard the border and quell a rebellion. But he was ambushed, badly wounded, and fled into the mountains. He lost consciousness, and when he awoke, he was lying in a farmhouse.

The red wedding curtains were crude, the candles cheap, but at least the quilt was soft.

He suddenly sprang out of bed and discovered that he was completely naked.

Behind him, a languid, gentle voice said, "You silly fool, you kept me up half the night. Why are you awake so early today?"

[Reading Guide]

This is a fictional setting. The medical treatment scenes are made up based on research. Readers who demand strict historical accuracy, please look elsewhere. Do not trust the folk remedies in this story.

Next book: Floating Pleasure, Debts of Love

When Xue Yuan first met He Huai Nian, she was an apprentice musician at a pleasure house.

She ran between three venues a day, wore coarse cloth that cost a string of cash, tied her guqin to her waist with a strip of cloth, and had a kitten she had just picked up trailing behind her.

He Chi Nian wore fine clothes and rode in a carriage. He was the young master of the prestigious He family and a newly appointed top scholar, as lofty and untouchable as the moon.

Xue Yuan unexpectedly got a ride home in He Chi Nian's carriage. The smell of his fox-fur coat made her dizzy and nauseous, as if reminding her that she and He Huai Nian belonged to two different worlds.

Xue Yuan had never thought of crossing that line.

All she wanted in life was to earn enough money to buy her freedom, then throw the silver at her parents and escape that cramped home.

That was all.

She didn't care where she went.

*

He Huai Nian didn't think of himself as a gentleman. He was simply good at hiding it.

That was until he met Xue Yuan.

Xue Yuan wasn't someone he ought to look after. She performed in public, got drunk and cried and made a scene, and even argued with him.

He Huai Nian was clearheaded and prudent. He knew that if he wanted a concubine, he should choose someone perceptive and considerate. If he wanted a legal wife, she should be his social equal.

Xue Yuan was neither.

And yet he indulged her, turned a blind eye, and even led her into deceiving him.

After one wild night together, He Huai Nian wanted to tell Xue Yuan to stop performing. He would provide for her.

*

Xue Yuan didn't understand why He Huai Nian was so good to her.

She was mud on the ground, and mud could never reach the moon in the sky.

She still wanted to take the money and go live her own quiet life.

After that one night together, Xue Yuan considered things settled between them.

With silver notes in hand, her guqin on her back, and her cat in tow, she ran off to the Qinhuai River in Jinling. In no time, she had become the proprietress of Langyuan.

And He Huai Nian?

She considered him a benefactor from her past. Whenever a guest caused trouble and ignored the rules, she would invoke his name to put them in their place.

They laughed at her, saying she had some nerve, daring to invoke the governor's name.

Xue Yuan smiled and took out a fan she had kept hidden away. It bore He Huai Nian's inscription and red seal.

Then one day, another musician came tearfully begging Xue Yuan to help her. Xue Yuan pulled out the fan again, but the other person didn't even glance at it. Instead, they splashed a cup of tea across it, ruining the inscription.

Furious, Xue Yuan was about to drag the person to the yamen.

But the other person turned around, face dark.

"Are you sure you want to sue me, a government official?"

Theme: Sincerity and love can heal anything.