After I Picked Up a Stray Man by the Road

Yu Miao transmigrated into a life with a wonderful start: loving parents, a protective older brother, and a family restaurant with a modest reputation in town.

In spring, they picked fragrant new tea. In summer, they drank chilled sour plum soup.

In autumn, they gathered osmanthus blossoms to make honey. In winter, they chopped wood and grilled meat.

She was perfectly content, and life was full of simple pleasures.

One day, Yu Miao and her older brother rescued a badly wounded, barely breathing young man on the mountain.

Grateful for their kindness, he was happy to stay on and work at the restaurant to repay them.

After suffering a great upheaval, the young man was withdrawn and rarely spoke. Afraid he'd grow lonely, Yu Miao tried all sorts of ways to cheer him up.

Gradually, he began to soften whenever he faced Yu Miao, his ears turning red. He'd quietly hold her fingers beneath the table, heedless of the noisy crowd around them.

Yu Miao discovered the sweetness of first love and was overjoyed.

But just as the two were about to become engaged, the young man suddenly left without a word. He didn't even leave a letter, and all news of him vanished.

Yu Miao was so furious she fainted. When she woke, she found herself back on the day they had first met.

Looking at the dying man below the hillside, Yu Miao sneered. This time, she just wanted the heartless man to get as far away from her as possible.

*

After years of wandering the martial world, Yuan Ye believed his greatest regrets were the Yu family of Yunfu Town and Miaomiao, who was always in his thoughts.

Even as he lay on his deathbed, the image before his eyes was still the girl's flowerlike smile.

When he awoke again, Yuan Ye realized he had returned to the moment when he was gravely wounded and near death. He secretly vowed that, given another chance at life, he would never let Miaomiao down again.

But in this life, the girl who should have gently helped him to his feet ignored him completely. She even coldly told her brother to throw him farther away.

Yuan Ye: ?

*

Yu Miao had no choice but to watch Yuan Ye move into her home again.

She was cold as ice and never smiled, yet the Yuan Ye she remembered seemed to have become a different person.

Whether she ignored him or mocked him, he always smiled warmly and did whatever she asked.

No matter how cold a face she put on, he always called her "Miaomiao" in a saccharine voice.

Unable to take it any longer, Yu Miao demanded, "What exactly do you want?"

Yuan Ye was at a loss. "Miaomiao, I just want to stay by your side."

"Please don't send me away, okay?" he pleaded.

Yu Miao froze.

The dewy look in his eyes as he said that... He really did look like a big puppy.

*

Reading guide:

1. The heroine transmigrates and is reborn; the hero is reborn. One-on-one romance, both are virgins.

2. All dynasties and place names are fictional.

3. Food, daily life, running a business, and a little martial-world adventure.

Theme: Eat well and keep moving forward every day.