Military region guesthouse.

Yan Zhouzhen and Wang Cuier had large and small bags piled up in the room, with several flailing old hens, a duck, and a full-month-old cat tied up at their feet.

I was utterly disliked by everyone on the train.

Wang Cuier was shy and kept apologizing to people. Yan Zhouzhen, with a stern face, said in a fierce voice, "What? City people don't eat chicken or keep cats anymore? We all have to buy tickets anyway. I'm just bringing some local specialties for my daughter-in-law. Do you think I should be so disrespectful?"

He reeked of chicken manure.

When they arrived, Wang Cuier said that if the chickens were starved for a day, they wouldn't poop on the train.

But Yan Zhouzhen flatly refused.

He said, "That won't do. How can we present the chickens to our daughter-in-law if they get too thin? I'll bring some millet to feed them on the way. I'll carry it myself."

I received a lot of disapproving looks when I was feeding them on the train.

He didn't care.

But when Zhou Wen took him to the guesthouse, he immediately got water and wiped his clothes with a towel again and again, afraid that he would smell and displease his daughter-in-law.

Wang Cuier complained, "I told you not to feed him, not to feed him. His back is covered in poop and pee. You should change your clothes. He smells bad wherever he goes."

Yan Zhouzhen is a stubborn person.

He grumbled that he could complain if he wanted, but he still subconsciously listened to Wang Cuier, rummaged through a snakeskin bag, and took out a slightly newer coarse cloth shirt to change into.

Then, he took a handful of wood ash from the cloth bag, filled a bucket with cold water, and washed his oily hair until it was clean.

As soon as Zhou Wen arrived, he grabbed the young comrade's hand and asked, "Do I still smell? Do I stink? Will our daughter-in-law be able to stand it? She's a city girl, she's definitely very clean."

"Uncle, it's very clean now, and there's no smell."

Zhou Wen was both amused and exasperated.

Yan Zhouzhen is old, but you can still vaguely tell that he was a handsome man when he was young. Although Wang Cuier is a village woman, she is still a village beauty in terms of her eyebrows, eyes and nose.

I just don't know why, but I gave birth to an ugly son.

Besides the secondary injuries from the battle, Yan Lin's face was also marred by a congenital black tumor, which was quite shocking.

Yan Zhouzhen was unhappy.

He sternly patted Zhou Wen on the shoulder and said, "Young comrade, you need to be honest. Don't try to make the old man happy by spouting nonsense. Don't you know how clean city people are? I've seen it on the train before."

"..." Zhou Wen.

How can he possibly explain that?

My hair has been washed, my clothes have been changed, and the water on my face hasn't even dried yet, so what smell could it possibly have?

"Old man, just say less," Wang Cuier said.

Remembering what the village official had said, she whispered to Zhou Wen, "Do you think the girl has hands and feet?"

“Yes, there is.” Zhou Wen said, puzzled.

"Does she have a nose and eyes?"

"some."

"So... is there anything extra?"

"Extra, extra?"

Zhou Wen was scared.

What kind of question is this, and how should he answer it?

If he says yes, then he doesn't know either.

If he says no, how did he know?

It's a problem with no clear solution.

Zhou Wen pinched his nose and said awkwardly, "Uncle, Aunt, Comrade Xu Manzhi is almost at the guesthouse. We'll see her soon. Shall we go and ask her ourselves?"

Ask him personally?

Wang Cuier turned pale with fright.

She hurriedly shook her arms and said in a dry voice, "No, no, that's not true. I'm just asking. As long as the two children are happy living together, that's all that matters. We're just here to show our concern."

*Snap*

The moment she finished speaking, Yan Zhouzhen dragged her around in a circle. His wife said sternly, "Shut your mouth. Don't bring up things that are hard to talk about. She's taken a liking to my ugly daughter. Just for that, she's a heroine. What are you asking about?"

"Ah, yes, yes, it's my fault, it's my fault, that mouth deserves a beating."

Wang Cuier patted her mouth.

She was very flustered.

It was the first time the ugly in-laws had met their daughter-in-law, and she had never experienced anything like it before. She didn't know how to act, or if she would displease her daughter-in-law and affect the young couple's marriage.

“Comrade Xiao Zhou, to tell you the truth, my son is ugly, really ugly. Even the girls in the countryside wouldn’t want him. I never expected that a city girl would take a liking to him. When I first heard about this, my legs were shaking. I didn’t sleep all night and smoked my pipe all night. Just thinking about it makes me feel like I’m dreaming,” Yan Zhouzhen said.

Therefore, he decided to come to Haicheng early on.

If the Lu family hadn't taken me to Beijing, I would have gone back to my hometown long ago, packed up some local products, and hurried into the city.

He wanted to personally thank the heroine who had accepted his family's shameful possessions.

She has no idea that she is accumulating good deeds.

Zhou Wen couldn't stop smiling.

He waved his hand and said, "You two are overthinking it. Our Yan Lin is just as good. Men don't rely on their looks to make a living. Being a little rough or not good-looking is fine, but we know how to manage a household and are good at it."

"That's different."

Yan Zhouzhen didn't believe in that.

From the moment Yan Lin was born, his infamous reputation spread far and wide. People secretly called his son "evil star" and "disaster star." Rice was stolen from the village, clothes disappeared, dogs vanished... all misfortunes were caused by this ugly thing.

During the most severe public denunciation session, Yan Lin was subjected to a barrage of accusations. The entire Yan family pleaded for his life, and they managed to have him bound and paraded through the streets at the denunciation rally.

At such a young age, he was stripped naked and trampled on, called a scourge to the entire village and town, and said to have brought shame upon his ancestors for three generations.

As long as he lives, the disaster will not end.

That ugly thing has been ripped off a lot...

I remember one time, he had just come home from school and there were three rusty iron nails nailed into the soles of his feet, and blood kept flowing from the three holes. It made him cry and broke his heart.

But once he hardens his bones and gets into a fight, Yan Lin will be injured even more severely next time. Instead of nailing him in, he will be tied up with ropes, dragged behind an ox, and whipped repeatedly as he is dragged along.

His skin was torn off, revealing bright red flesh. Wang Cuier hadn't slept for a month, shedding tears every day, applying medicine to her son in the middle of the night.

They were furious and went to discuss it with the villagers.

Then, the youngest daughter was pushed off the mountain and nearly mauled to death by the mountain wolves...

Therefore, they had no choice but to harden their hearts and either scold him or send him up the mountain, leaving Yan Lin to hide there alone and not come down.

They will only allow Yan Lin to descend the mountain once the situation eases slightly.

Yan Lin was bullied, driven away, and scolded by his younger siblings, but he never shed a tear and remained silent, as tenacious as a straw.

It's already a miracle that he survived.

Throughout his childhood, no one saw him, affirmed him, or accepted him. No matter where he went, he was always alone.

Perhaps the stray cats in the mountains are the only ones willing to approach him and not look down on him.

If a girl is willing to be close to him, he and Wang Cuier are willing to be grateful to her for the rest of their lives, no matter if she is a fool, a cripple, or even unable to have children, it doesn't matter, she only needs ugly things.