Chapter 1: Husband and Wife (Catching Insects)
A Good-for-Nothing Pretty Boy Father?…

The Great Liang Dynasty, the twelfth year of Jingrui.

It was a summer night, and it had just rained. Fanjiazhuang in Xichun Town, Jiangping County, Lingzhou, was low-lying and dotted with ponds and paddy fields. The croaking of frogs filled the air outside, and the sweltering heat made people inexplicably irritable.

The villagers of Fanjiazhuang, having toiled all day, were already deep in slumber. However, a faint yellow light still flickered from the window of a house at the eastern end of the village. A woman, holding a palm-leaf fan, gently swayed a simple wooden crib. Dressed in a coarse summer gown, she had delicate features and a gentle, serene expression. Unhurriedly, she fanned the crib to ward off mosquitoes for the infant inside, seemingly unaffected by the oppressive summer heat.

On the crude desk stood a chipped porcelain bowl with a wick burning in rapeseed oil, casting a dim, yellowish light. The oil in the bowl was nearly depleted, having burned for a long time. A man sat at the desk, intently writing something. The flickering light danced across his deep-set brow and refined, handsome features, yet he remained entirely focused, undisturbed.

Seeing that the infant in the crib had fallen asleep, the woman continued to fan gently. She leaned forward slightly and called out to the man in a hushed voice.

“Third Master, it’s late. You should rest now.”

The man set down his brush softly and turned around. Half of his handsome face was illuminated by the flickering light, and a gentle smile curved his lips. “Why does my wife address me so formally, unwilling to call me by my name?”

Lin Guilan’s face flushed instantly. Her beautiful eyes, soft as water, gazed at the man as she parted her red lips and whispered, “Nianchen, it’s time to rest. You can continue your studies tomorrow.”

Jiang Qingshi stood up and walked over with light steps. Though slender, he was tall and well-proportioned. Even dressed in coarse linen, his figure and demeanor were like that of a man who had stepped out of an ancient painting.

Even after more than two years of marriage, Lin Guilan still felt a rush of shyness at the sight of his ethereal handsomeness. It was his striking appearance that had first caught her eye, leading her to defy her family’s objections and insist on marrying Jiang Qingshi, a man with little to his name.

Her family had initially arranged a match with a prosperous butcher’s family in Xichun Town. The butcher’s household was one of the wealthiest in the area, with several pork shops and over a dozen employees. But by then, Lin Guilan had already set her heart on Jiang Qingshi. The sight of the butcher’s fleshy, round face only solidified her resolve. She was determined to marry Jiang Qingshi, even resorting to a hunger strike to protest the arranged marriage.

Lin Guilan’s father had passed away early, leaving her with a indecisive mother and an older brother and sister-in-law. Her brother, ten years her senior, had practically raised her. Concerned for his sister’s future, he initially refused to let her marry Jiang Qingshi, whom he saw as a good-for-nothing pretty boy. But seeing her suffer from the hunger strike, his heart softened, and he reluctantly agreed to the marriage.

People in the town were baffled, thinking Lin Guilan had lost her senses.

Lin Guilan stared at Jiang Qingshi’s chest, exposed due to the heat, and even her usually bold and straightforward nature couldn’t stop her from shyly averting her gaze.

Life was something she had to live herself. Only she could truly know its warmth and cold. As long as she felt it was good, that was all that mattered.

Jiang Qingshi embraced Lin Guilan from behind, his warm breath gently brushing against her fair, slender neck.

“Then as my wife wishes.”

Lin Guilan felt a tickle on the back of her neck and couldn’t help but raise a hand to stop him.

“Our little Miao has just fallen asleep, be careful not to wake him…”

“Damn it, I woke up from a nap and found this oil lamp still burning. Who are you trying to impress with this late-night studying act? Do you really think the Jiang family can produce a scholar? Take a look at yourself—are you even cut out for it? You laze around all day doing nothing, yet you don’t mind burning this expensive rapeseed oil! It’s only because others are slaving away that you don’t feel the pinch! If it weren’t for our father’s kindness, refusing to divide the family, we’d all be stuck supporting this freeloading idler!”

Before Lin Guilan could finish her words, she was interrupted by a rough female voice outside. The voice was so loud it could probably be heard not just in the Jiang family’s modest rooms but throughout the entire neighborhood.

Though Lin Guilan was gentle and considerate in front of Jiang Qingshi, before marriage, she was never one to take insults lying down. Hearing these words, her expression instantly darkened, and she stood up to confront the person outside, only to have Jiang Qingshi grab her wrist.

Lin Guilan was frantic with worry: “Husband, how can we let her slander you like this? Our food, clothing, and expenses clearly come from my dowry. That family of bloodsucking leeches has the nerve to make baseless accusations!”

Jiang Qingshi remained calm, as if the shrew outside wasn’t cursing him at all. He gently covered the ears of the infant in the rocking cradle, his eyes serene and untroubled. “This isn’t the first time. Arguing with her would only waste more time. The night is short and precious—why spend it on someone like that?”

Lin Guilan was taken aback. If it were anyone else, she would have thought them weak and yielding, but when it came to her husband, she instead caught a glimpse of something unintentionally revealed in his eyes… disdain?

It was as if he existed in this noisy, dusty world but didn’t belong to its filth and chaos. He stood above it all, looking down on the masses, disdaining to bother with ants.

Lin Guilan’s face flushed even redder. Before, she hadn’t wanted to admit it, but now it seemed those outsiders weren’t wrong—she was truly infatuated with her husband, seeing perfection in him everywhere.

“Hey, can’t you ever keep quiet? Don’t make a spectacle for the neighbors to laugh at…”

Another male voice sounded outside, seemingly pulling the still-cursing woman away.

Finally, silence returned, but Lin Guilan still couldn’t swallow her anger. “Husband, you’re well-read, generous, and kind. As a mere woman, I don’t understand such virtues. I have a fiery temper and never take insults lightly. If Second Sister-in-law causes trouble like this again, I will definitely confront her and settle this…”

But Jiang Qingshi took her wrist and pulled her into his embrace. Lin Guilan was still speaking when, somehow, she found herself sitting on his lap. How could her frail scholar of a husband have such strength? She looked up, and the tip of her nose brushed against his straight, elegant bridge. His long lashes fluttered, his eyes gentle—truly more delicate than a woman’s.

“Guilan, marrying me has brought you hardship. In truth, she wasn’t entirely wrong—our household is entirely supported by you. I haven’t contributed at all.”

Lin Guilan blushed and lowered her eyes, feeling the man’s warm breath against her ear. He carried a pleasant scent of pine, unlike other men who grew foul-smelling in the summer heat.

“I’m not aggrieved. I’ve been thinking—once Miao Ge’er is a bit older, I’ll go out and sell tofu. I can’t let this skill go to waste, can I? I’ve noticed the tofu in Xichun Town isn’t as good as what my family makes. If I earn some money, we’ll be able to stand a little taller, and you can focus on your studies without worry.”

“Even before marriage, you were known as the ‘Tofu Beauty,’” Jiang Qingshi said, his eyes darkening. “In the end, it’s my fault for being so useless that I have to rely on a woman to support me. But Guilan, in the future… I will not let you down.”

“Why speak so formally? I’ve never studied and don’t understand such elegant words…”

Suddenly, the room fell into silence and darkness as the lamp oil burned out. Jiang Qingshi’s slender fingers groped quietly in the dark, but Lin Guilan pressed his hand, her voice shy and hesitant: “Don’t. Miao Ge’er is still in the same room with us. He’s just recovered from his illness—we need to be careful with him. It’s not appropriate to do such things in front of the child…”

Jiang Qingshi forcibly stopped his movements, lifting the little child from the cradle and placing him on the bed between them. The man lay down as well, still fully clothed, but his gaze in the darkness grew profound. Being so constrained and cautious was truly inconvenient, and he could see that Guilan wasn’t at ease either. It seemed… the process of dividing the family needed to be hastened.

…

Jiang Zhimiao breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Although his parents’ love story was touching and poignant, he only had the shell of Jiang Zhimiao—inside, he was already a teenager.

Besides, he really didn’t have the habit of peeping on others’ intimate moments… He had been thinking that if they were about to do something indescribable, he would make some noise to interrupt them. Unexpectedly, the parents he’d been assigned in this life truly cherished their child, caring for his health and preferring to restrain themselves rather than disturb him.

Perhaps because he was in a child’s body, Jiang Zhimiao indeed felt very drowsy these days. But since his consciousness was nearly adult, he had already woken up when the second daughter-in-law of the Jiang Family came to make a scene earlier. To avoid worrying his parents, he had pretended to be sound asleep.

After an accident in his previous life, he had crossed over and woken up inhabiting this one-year-old toddler. While most transmigrators ended up in wealthy families, he had been reborn into a poor farming household—looks like he’d gotten a “farming life” script!

But gazing at the loving parents beside him, Jiang Zhimiao felt content. In his past life, he had been an orphan, raised in a welfare institute without ever experiencing parental love, and he had died at seventeen or eighteen saving a drowning child.

Perhaps Heaven had pitied his loneliness and, in recognition of his good deed, granted him a pair of kind parents in this life.

Though he felt somewhat guilty for occupying the body of their real son, he was determined to fulfill filial duties on behalf of the true Jiang Zhimiao.

With these thoughts, Jiang Zhimiao drifted back into dreams…

Early the next morning, the third son of the Jiang Family and his wife rose. Jiang Qingshi, of course, got up to review his books, while Lin Guilan was ordered by her mother-in-law to cook for the entire large family.

Lin Guilan stood by the stove, coughing from the smoke. From afar, she could see her mother-in-law had already finished washing up, yet she made no move to help, leisurely sipping tea at the large lacquered wooden table instead.

The Jiang Family’s household structure was somewhat complicated. Old Master Jiang had married three times. His current eldest and second sons were born to his first wife. After over a decade of marriage, his first wife passed away, and the old man married a second wife, who gave birth to twins. However, the wife died not long after childbirth. The boy was Jiang Qingshi, and the girl married out two years ago, living quite far away and only returning to visit a few times a year.

As for the current mother-in-law, she was Old Master Jiang’s third wife. Having lost two wives in succession, Old Master Jiang gained a reputation for being a wife-killer. By then, he was nearly forty. Although the family had once been fairly well-off, raising children and arranging marriages had drained their resources over the years. No respectable family was willing to marry their daughter to him, and he felt it beneath him to marry a widow with children.

Later, while out delivering goods, Old Master Jiang returned with his current wife. He claimed she was a girl from a decent but impoverished family whom he had encountered selling herself to bury her father. Touched by her filial piety, he arranged her father’s funeral and brought her home.

But after Lin Guilan married into the family, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this mother-in-law didn’t seem like a proper girl from a respectable family. Her mannerisms sometimes gave Lin Guilan inexplicable chills. Some village women gossiped even more harshly, saying the Jiang matriarch carried herself like a brothel worker, though they only dared whisper behind her back. After all, without solid proof, it was unwise to offend the Jiang Family, who had once been prominent in the village.

Wiping sweat from her brow, Lin Guilan reflected that although she disliked this stepmother-in-law, she desperately hoped the woman’s background was truly clean. Her own husband aspired to take the imperial examinations—if his mother had indeed been involved in disreputable work, he would be disqualified from sitting for the exams.

The old woman had just turned forty. After marrying into the family, she gave birth to a younger son, named Jiang Jinyao, who became the apple of her eye, doted on and pampered endlessly. Though Jiang Jinyao was only two years younger than Jiang Qingshi, he received all the best things, while Jiang Qingshi got nothing.

The matriarch insisted it was a Jiang Family tradition for new brides to prove their diligence by handling all the cooking, claiming the duty would pass to the fourth son’s wife once he married. But the fourth son was a true idler, lacking even Jiang Qingshi’s good looks, and with a difficult mother to boot… it was unclear when he would ever find a wife.

Though the eldest and second sons weren’t her own, the matriarch maintained surface civility with them. Their wives, shrewd as monkeys, aligned with her to bully Lin Guilan. Lin Guilan was no pushover herself, but her husband already held little standing in the Jiang Family. If she provoked conflict, his situation would only worsen. After weighing her options, she had endured this treatment for over two years.

With a large household to feed, Lin Guilan struggled to lift the large pot to pour the soup when suddenly she felt the weight ease. Turning her head, she saw Jiang Qingshi helping her.

“Husband, a gentleman stays away from the kitchen. How can you come to such a filthy place like this?”

Author’s Note:

Upcoming novel “Seizing the Pearl,” check my column for details~

The Luo family had three daughters, all cultivated in literary grace and possessing breathtaking beauty.

Everyone knew how difficult it was to win a Luo daughter’s hand. The eldest daughter was dignified and graceful, a model for all noblewomen in the capital, though she was already married. Now, the Luo family still had their second and youngest daughters waiting to be betrothed.

The second young miss, Luo Zhuyue, was exceptionally intelligent, while the third young miss, Luo Zhuyu was charmingly spirited. Young nobles in the capital flocked to them, vying to win these beauties’ hearts.

Then Prince Su rebelled. The emperor fell critically ill, and Prince Qi, who held military power, was assassinated. The court fell into chaos.

Countless officials were imprisoned in the palace by the tyrannical Prince Su. The capital lived in fear, like startled birds, terrified that the rebellious minister might crush them to dust on a whim.

A youth claiming to be Prince Qi’s surviving heir then emerged. He took command of the army, defeated Prince Su, supported the young emperor’s ascension, and was enfeoffed as the Regent King to assist in governance. In no time, he wielded overwhelming power.

Numerous prominent families sought to curry favor with this newly risen Regent King, but he was cold and ruthless, indifferent to women. Moreover, this mysterious youth had appeared out of nowhere, making it impossible to find a path to alliance through marriage.

Just then, the Regent King sought marriage with the Luo family.

While sighing with regret, everyone had to admit that only a Luo daughter was worthy of the Regent King’s current status.

No one knew whether he wanted to marry the intelligent second young miss or the lively third young miss…

Little did they know that in the magnificent palace, the youth pulled a woman onto the dragon throne, his rough movements disheveling her immaculate robes as he buried his face in her neck like a fierce beast.

Tears welled in the woman’s eyes, yet she refused to abandon her inherent dignity. Her voice hoarse, she questioned the youth.

“What have you done to my husband?”

The youth’s eyes were crimson, his curled lips like a hellish demon as he gently took her little finger, seemingly oblivious to the disgust in her eyes.

“He refused to grant you a divorce, so I had no choice but to kill him.”

“From beginning to end, the one I wanted to marry was you, Luo family’s eldest daughter, Luo Zhuhua.”

#Really want to write a forced love story now#

#Male virgin, female non-virgin, age gap, size difference#