I meant to schedule this in advance, but accidentally posted it. I haven't written much yet, so I was afraid a hiatus would ruin the reading experience. I'm working hard on building up a backlog and will start the story as soon as I can. Thanks for waiting, everyone.
Blurb:
Apricot Blossom Village has two "celebrities": an ugly ger who scares little children into tears, and a lazy man with a vicious temper.
The villagers often talked about the two of them together. They once joked that since the ger couldn't find a husband and the man couldn't find a wife, they might as well make a pair and spare everyone else the trouble.
Who knew the joke would come true? The lazy man's stepmother, eager to get him out of the house, went behind his back to propose to the ugly ger's family.
That did it. The whole village went to watch the spectacle.
Since the marriage had been arranged by their parents and matchmakers, neither the ugly ger nor the lazy man could refuse. Neither family was sincere about the match, and they didn't even hold a wedding banquet. The two were hurriedly married.
They hadn't been allowed to choose their marriage, but they could still choose how to live their lives.
On their wedding night, the ugly ger said to the lazy man, "If you find me hideous, I won't blame you. If you want, you can divorce me or end the marriage by mutual agreement. I'll accept either."
But the lazy man, faced with the ugly ger everyone in the village despised, said, "I've got a bad reputation. If you don't mind, let's just make a life together."
The lazy man knew the ugly ger's family didn't care for him. At least he had a broken-down shack of his own. If they separated, the young ger would have nowhere to go.
And so the ugly ger and the lazy man began their life together.
The villagers waited for a joke at their expense. Instead, a few months later, the ugly ger, whose face had once been covered in sores, seemed to have become quite handsome, while the tall man everyone called lazy spent his days working in the fields.
They repaired the shack and built a wall around the yard. They got chickens and ducks, and the ugly ger and the lazy man prospered. A year later, they even had a healthy baby boy!
Only then did everyone learn the truth about all those years...
The ugly ger wasn't ugly, and the lazy man wasn't lazy. It was people's hearts that were wicked!
2024.4.17
Theme: Seeing is believing, but appearances can be deceiving.
