Little Husband Dongdong

Coming soon in my author collection: The Prince's Household Man's Everyday Gourmet Cooking. The blurb is at the end!

[Synopsis]

A flood hits Hexi County, leaving Dong homeless and helpless. He follows his grandmother, his only remaining family, to seek refuge with relatives, but they drive the two of them out, leaving them with nowhere to go.

To pay for his grandmother's treatment, Dong has no choice but to hang a little sign around his neck and sell himself.

A passing man buys him on the condition that Dong become his husband.

The man promises to pay for his grandmother's treatment and support her, too. He's just tall and intimidating, and Dong is afraid of him. Still, with tears in his eyes, Dong gathers his courage and follows him home.

Xiao Yi is twenty years old. Men his age already have children running around.

He has no interest in any of the village girls or young men. The only one who catches his eye is a young man wearing a sign and selling himself. Xiao Yi thinks he's good-looking and filial, so he pays two taels of silver to take him home and pays for his grandmother's treatment, too.

The only problem is, the young man is so afraid of him that he watches Xiao Yi's expression even when bathing or eating, and trembles whenever Xiao Yi touches him.

The villagers have their eyes on Xiao Yi because he's an orphan with ten mu of good farmland. They scramble to marry their daughters and sons off to him. But Xiao Yi turns them all down and even drives the matchmaker away.

Then they hear that Xiao Yi bought a young man on a whim in the street. The young man came with his whole family, and his fertility mark is faint. A young man who can't bear children will be cast aside sooner or later.

But they wait and wait, and all they see is Xiao Yi gently soothing his unhappy husband, too reluctant to touch even a single hair on his head.

[Reading Guide]

1. The first few chapters focus on the plot, so they may not be very slice-of-life.

2. Mpreg. The uke is timid and delicate.

3. Please add to your collection, hehe~

Blurb for The Prince's Household Man's Everyday Gourmet Cooking:

As a concubine husband sent to the prince's residence in place of someone else, Lin Qiuqiu is assigned to the most remote, dilapidated courtyard the moment he arrives. Everyone thinks he'll spend the rest of his life there and waits to see him make a fool of himself.

To their surprise, Lin Qiuqiu turns even the rundown courtyard into a lively place. The wall collapses? He rolls up his sleeves and rebuilds it. No one gives him food? He provides for himself, cultivating a vegetable patch and digging a fish pond. No money? He cuts a hole through the rear wall of the prince's residence and sells snacks. Lin Qiuqiu lives a full and satisfying life.

His little restaurant opens and draws a steady stream of customers, much to everyone's dismay.

Then one day, heretofore only a figure of rumor, his husband, the tall and elegant Prince Changling, appears before him in splendid robes, every inch the picture of unmatched nobility.

"I heard today's bowl of jade-green lotus seed soup was made by you?" His husband looks him up and down.

Lin Qiuqiu raises an eyebrow and smiles, holding out his grimy hands. "Ten taels of silver for a bowl."

Prince Changling chuckles. "How interesting." He reaches out and takes the hand of the concubine husband he has never met before.

In time, the Prince Changling whom the world adores and envies will cradle his husband's dirt-stained hands and bend his head to wipe every fingertip clean.

In the morning, a bowl of plain noodles with a crisp, sweet baby bok choy blanched on the side.

At noon, a pot of spicy, savory red-silk noodles.

At dusk, they walk hand in hand to Zui Xiang House to enjoy a bowl of lamb soup.

Three meals a day, the two of them side by side, with beautiful days through every season.

Theme: Love life, and don't let your thoughts consume you