Shen Yue Zhu was the wealthiest young lady for miles around, blessed with talent, beauty, and an illustrious family.
So even though she was spoiled and domineering, fond of handsome men, and spent her days drinking and chatting with them, matchmakers still flocked to her home until they nearly wore down the doorstep. But Shen Yue Zhu was born proud and looked down on every suitor.
If someone she had rejected kept pestering her, she would openly humiliate him. The men she turned down would be furious with embarrassment, yet none dared say so to her face.
Then disaster struck. The once-adored Shen Yue Zhu instantly became a lowborn hussy in everyone’s eyes.
Shen Yue Zhu was carried out in a shabby bridal sedan chair and handed over to Fang the blacksmith by her stepmother. She didn’t even have a servant to accompany her.
They said Fang the blacksmith was a brute, illiterate, ill-tempered, and fearsome.
Now that she had arrived at the Fang home, Shen Yue Zhu steeled herself: Fine. If things don’t go my way, we’ll fight to the death.
The man who welcomed her was strong and muscular. He lifted her with one arm.
Even through her wedding dress, Shen Yue Zhu could feel the solid muscles beneath it. Her confidence faltered even more: Looks like I’m the only one who’ll die in this fight.
But after the wedding banquet, Fang the blacksmith turned out to be a little different from the rumors. At one point, Shen Yue Zhu even wondered if she’d stumbled into a mistaken-bride story from some play or novel.
When everyone heard Shen Yue Zhu had married Fang the blacksmith, they all waited gleefully for the drama. She had looked down on all the men who once pursued her, so she deserved to marry the blacksmith. A wanton, lecherous woman like her was sure to get a thorough lesson from that brute.
The day after the wedding, the villagers left their work undone and gathered at the village entrance to watch the show.
Passerby A: How long has it been? Why hasn’t she come out yet?
Passerby B: The blacksmith’s built like an ox. Did he beat her so badly she can’t get out of bed?
For a whole month, no one saw Shen Yue Zhu. So the villagers started spreading rumors that the blacksmith had tortured her to death.
Whenever they passed the blacksmith’s house, they’d remember her and start gossiping behind her back.
Passerby C: I think... I heard screaming from the blacksmith’s house last night...
Passerby D: Really? Was someone being beaten? Or were they cutting up a body?
The two were cackling over their gossip when a shovel suddenly came flying down and stuck into the ground right in front of them, nearly taking off their toes.
Not long after, the once-proud young lady rolled up her sleeves and went to work in the fields, learning how to tend crops. The burly blacksmith, meanwhile, started learning to read and write.
Everyone had assumed that a woman with Shen Yue Zhu’s many faults would suffer endlessly after marrying a brutish blacksmith. No one expected the couple to be so loving and harmonious, or their life to keep getting better. The villagers were astonished: It was as if smoke had risen from both their ancestral graves at the same time.
Reader's Guide:
1. No transmigration, no golden finger, no court politics. At heart, this is a farming story about the everyday ups and downs of family life.
2. Both leads grow as people. The heroine farms, and the hero works as a blacksmith.
3. The male lead is sexually inexperienced, but the female lead is not.
Theme: The simple, ordinary life is the truest kind.
