My Husband Is a Little Tagalong

This novel's blurb:

Li Wanli transmigrates into a book, becoming a scholar who dies as soon as he appears. From the start, he has a broken leg and is dumped at the home of the widowed female lead.

The original host was timid and weak. After being framed, he was terrified and shocked, and died that very night after catching a chill. A pushover may not go looking for trouble, but pushovers are easy to bully, and the original host's family of pushovers met a bad end too.

Li Wanli decides to make the best of things. First, he preserves the evidence, then proves his innocence, successfully turning the tables. Want to harm me? Not a chance. The villain's family will have to compensate me with every chicken they raise, and I'll take all the eggs too.

As the saying goes, bad students have lots of stationery. A scholar is the easiest person to make money from. Studying, taking the imperial exams, farming, making money, building a career: Li Wanli is busy.

But why does the female lead's little sidekick seem cuter the more he looks?

The female lead cried. Li Wanli: I'm no good with words and don't know how to comfort people, so I could only watch her cry.

His little sidekick cried. Li Wanli: Well, he'd helped me before. Maybe I should try to cheer him up?

Gu Qianyang grew up with Li Xiuyun and had been her little sidekick since childhood. Li Xiuyun was beautiful, and men would often come up to Gu Qianyang, making indirect inquiries about her likes and dislikes.

Gu Qianyang didn't care.

What's a stinking man compared to a good friend?

But why was this scholar, Li Wangou, coming over to talk too? Gu Qianyang had misunderstood Li Wanli. For the first time, someone had approached him for a reason that had nothing to do with Li Xiuyun.

A star doesn't shine when it's next to the moon.

But someone had seen the star and liked only the star.

Come to think of it, that scholar Li Wanli was pretty fair-skinned. And looking more closely, he wasn't bad-looking either.

Gu Qianyang was fifteen.

His family arranged for him to meet a potential match. The other family owned a big blue ox. His mother asked if he approved, and Gu Qianyang stammered, "The other guy's a bit ugly."

If we're talking about good looks, Li Wanli was the handsome one.

"A Minister of the Streets"

Blurb:

Xu Manxing's family owns ten residential compounds and several shops that they rent out. His hardworking parents run a tofu shop at the entrance to an alley, and business is booming.

Manxing is the only male in his family, adored by his parents. No other young man in the surrounding towns and villages is as handsome as he is. Before he turned eighteen, matchmakers nearly wore a path to his door.

He was born lucky!

It's just that his marriage prospects haven't gone well, and now he's twenty-two and still unmarried. There is always some sharp-tongued woman saying his family will die out without an heir.

Xu Manxing refuses to accept it!

That sour-faced scholar spouts meaningless bookish nonsense all day. He wants Manxing to marry into his family, care for his blind mother and mean little sister, and raise the ugly child who may be either his younger brother or his son. On top of that, he expects Manxing to be grateful and hand over his family fortune to fund the scholar's exams, so the man can rise to glory in the future.

The county magistrate's illegitimate son is fat as a pig, his rolls of fat wobbling three times with every step.

The young master of the restaurant is covered in pockmarks. He leers at Manxing and looks down on his family's tofu business, not realizing that his restaurant is rented from the Xu family...

Xu Manxing is dissatisfied with every one of them!

The men of Fengling are a collection of oddballs, each ugly in his own special way. Manxing can't even bear to think about marrying one of them without wanting to throw up last night's dinner.

Xu Manxing thinks his standards aren't high: at least seven cun tall and good-looking (though he can settle for someone a little less handsome than Lanling Wang). He doesn't ask for a fortune, since his own family already has one, but he won't accept anyone who wants to drain his family dry. He doesn't expect a top scholar, but the man should be able to read and write, and it would be even better if he could speak with eloquence.

Manxing is furious. He's lowered his standards this much, so why can't he find a suitable man?

The men who like him aren't to his taste, and the ones who aren't to his taste are blind. Xu Manxing likes them even less.

After choosing and choosing, he is nearly twenty-three before he knows it.

His parents grow more anxious by the day. They do nothing but arrange one meeting after another.

Xu Manxing is ready to give up. It seems he'll have to live as a pitiful young man with a vast fortune, spending his days eating, drinking, and having fun, but never marrying.

At the last meeting, Xu Manxing doesn't even look at the other man. He opens his mouth and goes straight for the man's sore spots.

"If you want to marry me, you must at least be a licentiate."

"The betrothal gifts must be a hundred taels of gold! No bargaining!"

"I won't serve my parents-in-law, and I love picking fights with annoying sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, and nephews."

As Xu Manxing waits for the man to fly into a rage and argue back, all he hears is a soft laugh.

Xu Manxing looks up. Oh no! The sky is falling!

How did his parents manage to find the man ranked number one on Fengling City's mothers-in-law's favorite eligible bachelors list for this meeting?

Most importantly, this eligible bachelor is handsome, tall, and long-legged, and Manxing has already fallen for him.

But now he's ruined everything. The man will surely think he's a greedy, vain young man.

Just as Manxing is despairing and about to run away, the eligible bachelor says, "Fine."

The eligible bachelor says nothing, only keeps agreeing.

The gossiping woman has barely had two days to spread the news before a matchmaker arrives at the Xu family's door with a proposal.

The procession carrying the betrothal gifts stretches from the front of the courtyard all the way to the end of the alley.

The gossiping woman is so shocked her jaw drops. Manxing really did get lucky. How can he have such a good life?

Xu Manxing is utterly triumphant. It's satisfying, and it makes him look good.

After the wedding, his husband is obedient and the two are deeply in love. Their little dumpling is mischievous but can take a beating.

Xu Manxing is even more triumphant!

Fengling City connects in every direction, its streets full of carriages and people, and its residents live in peace and prosperity.

In his spare time, Manxing joins in the fun at this neighbor's house and takes advantage of the commotion at that one. He couldn't be happier!

The carriages of Fengling come and go without pause. Through every morning and evening, Manxing loves only one person for his whole life!

Theme: Hard work brings prosperity