Chapter 1: A World Apart
February 6th, the Awakening of Insects.
The spring breeze is gentle, and the midday rest is pleasant.
Inside the chicken coop in the center of the grass village, there was a dark, narrow compartment used to store thatch for covering the chicken coop. A girl in a yellow linen dress was taking a nap in the haystack, with an egg basket beside her. Her face was covered by thick bangs, making her look rustic and ugly.
The chicken coop was quiet, and the thatched roof stood silently.
Suddenly, the door to the cubicle was pushed open, and the wind that came in made the thatched roof spin wildly several times.
Liu Jiao only heard a sharp clicking sound beside her ear, followed by the girl's piercing laughter.
She woke up with a start and looked over when she heard the laughter.
The dark-skinned, thin fifteen-year-old girl looked smug. Holding a pair of scissors in her left hand and half a braid in her right, she grinned broadly, her eyes brimming with the excitement of having successfully tricked someone.
The person in front of her was Yinxing from the same village, Xiulian's loyal little follower, who often bullied her on Xiulian's behalf.
Liu Jiao felt a chill run down her spine.
She reached out and touched it.
She was furious.
Ginkgo cut her long, black pigtails into a mess.
She left it untouched for eight years!
Although she's a village girl who raises chickens, she still loves beauty!
Liu Jiao immediately retaliated.
She touched the rotten egg she had just picked up from the henhouse that morning, exclaimed "Eh!", weighed it, and was about to smash it on Ginkgo's head.
This taste... wow, it's guaranteed to be unforgettable for Ginkgo.
With a sudden burst of strength, just as he took out the basket—
A pair of middle-aged woman's hands, calloused from embroidery, pressed Liu Jiao's hands firmly into the basket.
A snap.
The rotten egg broke in Liu Jiao's own hands.
Not only did she not throw it away, the rotten egg remained in Liu Jiao's hand, emitting a foul odor. The yolk slid down, causing her mouth and nose to ache.
"Please, I'm begging you, please don't cause any trouble for our family..."
The middle-aged woman holding her down appeared frail, her brows furrowed as if shrouded in sorrow; even the most beautiful woman would appear pitiful. Yet, the hand holding Liu Jiao possessed the strength of someone who had toiled for years.
She is Liu Jiao's mother.
She was carrying a red lacquered food box and had come to deliver food to Liu Jiao and her father; it was a coincidence that she ran into them.
"What do you want to do?!" Realizing that Liu Jiao was going to hit her, and seeing that Liu Jiao's mother wasn't standing up for Liu Jiao, Yinxing felt smug and her morale soared, raising her voice several notches.
Upon hearing this, her mother smiled broadly and comforted Ginkgo, appearing virtuous and kind, "Jiaojiao is being unreasonable, Auntie apologizes to you..."
Liu Jiao interrupted, telling the truth: "Mother, there's no need to apologize. It was my braid that was cut to pieces first!"
The person who came was Liu Jiao's mother.
"Please, I'm begging you, go, go quickly..." The mother wouldn't listen and just kept twisting Liu Jiao's elbow to make her move.
Liu Jiao wasn't going to let it go. Her mother wouldn't let her stand up for herself, but she was going to stand up for herself.
She assessed the situation: her mother was frail and weak, and her daughter was short.
Liu Jiao was a silly, simple-minded child. A rotten egg hitting her hand would make her want to vomit, but she didn't care. After holding her breath, she quietly picked up another rotten egg. Taking advantage of her mother thinking she was behaving herself, she immediately broke free and ran towards Ginkgo with her head down.
She was like a little calf, about to smash the ginkgo tree on its head.
In her mother's shocked gaze and in Ginkgo's suddenly contracting pupils—
Liu Jiao did not succeed.
Suddenly, a wall of people rose up in front of her, a full head taller than Liu Jiao, like a child who had wandered into a cornfield.
Liu Jiao's head collided squarely with the person who came in.
She covered her forehead and looked up, only to see a tall, strong man with a full black beard, looking fierce and menacing.
Oh ho ho.
It was her father.
This commotion attracted my father, the chicken coop accountant.
"What are you doing now?!" Dad snatched the rotten egg from Liu Jiao's hand and threw it on the ground.
Egg liquid splattered everywhere, leaving a mess.
"Go home!"
"Don't cause me any trouble before I marry Tie Niu next spring!"
Once he arrives, Liu Jiao will have absolutely no chance to resist.
It wasn't because he was the father, but because of his physical condition.
He looked impatient and scolded, "It's not like your braids won't grow back. Young girls just love to show off like this!"
The situation has been settled.
Dad held up the two pieces of cured meat in his hand and handed them to Ginkgo, looking generous and kind: "It's just kids playing around, I didn't take it to heart. Here, I just cured them at home!"
"Listen to your uncle, from now on, you will turn hostility into friendship."
The mother nodded obediently and softly echoed, "Take it quickly!"
Liu Jiao was blocked by her father's taller figure, but she could vaguely see the provocative look that Yin Xing was giving her.
Liu Jiao's forbearance is entirely someone else's fault.
It's all for the sake of peace and harmony.
Well, neither egg was smashed.
My parents are really something, afraid of even the smallest things.
The stench of the rotten eggs in her hands was overwhelming. Liu Jiao ripped off the tattered cloth covering the rotten eggs from the basket, wiped her hands, and looked up at the sky with a troubled expression, recalling the first half of her life when she was tricked.
She was a typical village girl who worked in the chicken coop, taking care of the chickens and receiving a monthly salary.
Earthy, ugly, poor.
It's not that my parents didn't try; it's that they tried too hard.
Before she was five, Liu Jiao remembered her family being quite wealthy for a time. It was a large, six-courtyard mansion, a large family with hundreds of households; her parents were both dressed in fine clothes and fine silks—in today's terms, they were sons and daughters of wealthy families…
But for some reason, my parents suddenly went to the grass village to raise chickens and do embroidery.
Two families squeezed into one house, with a thatched roof and mud walls filled with foxtail grass. The father became the chicken coop accountant, and the mother sewed and mended clothes. The family was destitute. After she grew up, she followed her father to work in the chicken coop and became an egg collector.
Liu Jiao wondered if their home had been raided. She wasn't sure.
She didn't feel anything when her home was ransacked. After all, she was too young at the time. She was still a naive child, easygoing and easily satisfied.
But the blow to his parents was quite severe; they seemed to be terrified and now only ask for a peaceful life.
For the sake of stability, they wanted to integrate into the grass village.
After arriving in Caocun, he endured everything silently, contributing money and effort to the village when it was in trouble, and welcoming hardship with a smile.
They live the most, yet are the poorest.
Even though the village chief lived next door for protection, they still believed in the principle of "endure what you can, be patient what you can, and if you can't endure, small things will turn into big problems."
The villagers, seeing that the two simpletons were easily fawned over, naturally greeted them with smiles. It was worth the parents' money, effort, and meticulousness; they finally gained the villagers' "acceptance."
But not only did they tolerate it, they also dragged Liu Jiao into it.
Caocun itself is a typical cluster of villages in the Jiangnan region, where the villagers all share the same ancestry and are extremely xenophobic.
Adults might be concerned about saving face, but children are openly wicked, and bullying Liu Jiao is commonplace.
They were forced to drink spicy river water, and then they were made to skip stones in the river...
At first, Liu Jiao agreed with her parents' words and was brainwashed into believing that forbearance was a great wisdom. But later she found that the more she forbeared, the more they would take advantage of her, while when she fought back, no one dared to bully her.
After she fought back, her life was peaceful for a while.
Aside from situations like today, when her parents were alive, she was bullied.
There will be no trouble at other times.
But her parents definitely wouldn't want her to be happy.
Recently, they found her a fiancé named Tie Niu, a local from Caocun.
She said she would marry him and completely integrate into Caocun!
She had just started to feel better, happily collecting eggs and earning money, when he insisted on marrying her off.
Tell her to stop doing chicken coop work all day and go be someone else's hardworking housewife!
Everyone says that parents are there to support you, but her parents were just lifting her up and then smashing her around for fun.
My thoughts returned to normal.
Before her eyes, Ginkgo took the cured meat, deliberately shaking her head and glancing sideways at Liu Jiao, loudly boasting, "Thank you, Uncle!"
Liu Jiao dismissed Yin Xing's madness and wouldn't listen.
She silently wiped the egg wash off her knuckles, and even had the leisure to strike up a conversation: "Dad, I remember you're usually quite stingy, why are you being so generous this time, sending me cured meat directly?"
Dad confidently revealed his wine-stained, yellowed teeth: "You don't understand, that's true wisdom!"
"Not only that, when your fiancé Tie Niu left our house just now, Dad gave him five pieces of cured meat and three bottles of good wine as a greeting gift, to show how good he is!"
"This is all for you. Your father has been so good to you!"
Liu Jiao was dumbfounded.
Good heavens, doesn't Dad know how low the monthly salary for the accountant is?
We're so poor! How many patches have been sewn onto your clothes?!
She wiped the egg liquid clean, then looked displeased and turned to leave.
Springtime is unpredictable, and at this moment, a clap of thunder resounds.
Dad was bewildered: "It's about to rain, where are you going?"
Liu Jiaoli replied, "The chicken coop. This commotion is really delaying my work."
Father pointed and said, "Going home and waiting to get married is what you should be doing!"
Liu Jiao finally turned around.
She glanced at her father's empty hand after handing over the cured meat and sighed helplessly, "With your spendthrift ways, how could this family survive without me!"
She truly bears a heavy responsibility and is under immense pressure.
father:"……"
"You little brat! You stop right there!!"
Liu Jiao simply kept leaving, offering only perfunctory replies: "Yes, yes, you're right..."
*
Chicken coop.
The sunset glow faded, leaving only a faint light; as the clouds rolled and unrolled, the sky lost its color and night fell.
Apart from the rooster crowing, all was quiet, leaving only Liu Jiao to clean up the mess.
She still had two thick black braids, heavy bangs, and two childishly and carefully worn little chicken wing clips, one blue and one yellow, on her head.
The braid was barely fixed, but it used to reach her waist, now it's only up to her shoulders.
The egg liquid was also washed clean with soapberry.
Liu Jiao was checking on the chickens and, after confirming they were alright, she picked up a cloth bag that was hanging diagonally on the pole. The bag was embroidered with two lifelike chicks, one pink and one blue, pecking at rice on the green grass.
Time to go home and sleep!
He immediately broke into a radiant smile, a natural expression of his satisfaction after finishing his work.
Her long braid swayed back and forth as she happily tidied her hair clips and strands, admiring herself by the sink.
Just as he turned to close the door—
Good heavens!
Two furtive figures were in the backyard, one tall and one short.
They're not here to steal chickens, are they?! Even if you're stealing her, you can't just steal chickens.
Liu Jiao narrowed her eyes warily, looked around, grabbed the shovel used for shoveling chicken manure with one hand, bent down, and carefully approached the backyard.
The closer you get, the more you can hear strange sounds from men and women, sobbing and then making soft, squeaking noises.
Liu Jiao's heart pounded, and she moved even closer.
Only after crouching behind the fence in the backyard could I finally see the scene clearly:
The man and woman, presumably having cried, now resembled a pair of star-crossed lovers, kissing each other's tear-stained lips, oblivious to the world around them.
True love prevails in the end, how wonderful!
Normally, the kind-hearted woman would happily congratulate them.
The problem is, the two people in front of her, who are so inseparable, are Widow Qian from the village entrance and her fiancé Tie Niu, with whom she has just been engaged!
That Tie Niu who took five pieces of cured meat and three bottles of fine wine from her spendthrift father!!!
These gifts were even left beside Tie Niu's shoes.
He accepted gifts from his in-laws one day, and then had an affair the next.
My heart aches. She would have to collect eggs for half a year to earn this much money!
Just moments ago, Liu Jiao was meticulously tidying her hair and looking pretty, but now she boldly picked up a large, smelly chicken manure shovel.
Liu Jiao was naive and simple-minded; she didn't want to be clever or calculating. She simply raised her hand high and cleaved it between the two of them with a single, powerful blow.
The two who were making kissing noises were startled and instinctively jumped away to the left and right like frightened birds.
Although they didn't hit them, their mouths were still open, with some white spots on them, and the smell of chicken manure from the shovel poured straight into their throats.
They both felt nauseous, and then vomited simultaneously.
I reckon they'll remember this taste every time they taste it in the future.
Widow Qian was the first to recover. After vomiting, she wiped the white splatter from Tie Niu's vomit while glancing at Liu Jiao and subconsciously saying:
"Isn't that barbarian?"
"Manzi" is a term used to refer to outsiders who have fled from the countryside, and many people in the village have been secretly calling Liu Jiao that.
Liu Jiao, still brandishing a chicken manure shovel, asked, "Brother Tie Niu, what are you and her doing?"
Tie Niu turned his head away in disgust.
Seeing that he and Widow Qian had been discovered, he remained calm, displaying an expression that suggested he didn't want to see Liu Jiao, and coldly said:
"Don't interfere in what's between me and her. Since I've decided to marry you, I will."
"Don't meddle in other people's business."
Liu Jiao was confused: "But you're all so close..."
Widow Qian, impatient with the interruption, spoke sarcastically:
"Alright, it's good enough that Tie Niu is willing to marry you, what are you making a fuss about?"
"It's normal for men to be fickle; they're naturally promiscuous. If you have to blame someone, blame yourself for not being good enough to win their heart."
These aggressive words only made Liu Jiao seem immature.
Unexpectedly, Liu Jiao did not respond.
She looked completely bewildered and asked sincerely, "What does 'fickle' mean? And what does 'romantic' mean?"
Widow Qian and Tie Niu: "..."
Forgot that this village girl was illiterate.
Seeing them choke, Liu Jiao felt no shame whatsoever. After thinking carefully for a while, she suddenly realized:
"Oh! So you don't want to marry me? After all, Father said that marriage is about one person for life, not just one. It's about three people being husband and wife, so what about the extra..."
"Is Brother Tie Niu not human?"
Tie Niu immediately retorted, "Of course not! No... I'm a human...! Fine, I won't argue with your unreasonable arguments!"
Liu Jiao: "I also think that you, Brother Tie Niu, are thinking of breaking off the engagement?"
"You should have said so earlier!"
Liu Jiao looked magnanimous.
As she spoke, Liu Jiao placed the iron ox on the fragrant wine and large piece of cured meat in the corner of the fence.
"you!"
Widow Qian truly loved Tie Niu and was extremely protective of him. "Don't be ungrateful! It's your family's honor to marry Brother Tie Niu! How dare you try to break off the engagement!"
"Your dad is smarter than you."
"Ha... Back then, you forcibly separated me and Tie Niu, and now, during the spring planting season, you shamelessly used a cow as a dowry to force Tie Niu, who had no cow to plow the land, to marry you! After all, your father knows that you are ugly, stupid, uneducated, and a barbarian from out of town. Who would marry you!"
Her eyes reddened, and she said with heartache, "The only way is to force Tie Niu..."
Tie Niu, who had always had a sour expression, smiled when he heard Widow Qian defend him, and nodded in agreement.
“That’s right. And although I’m not superficial, I’m still a man. Compared to you, Liu Jiao’s breasts are too small.”
"If I were her, I wouldn't even dare to call myself a woman."
The young lovers faced the enemy together, exchanging a smile.
Liu Jiao does indeed wear thick bangs all the time; her mother cut them for her, calling her the most rustic and ugliest girl in the village.
As for her figure... Liu Jiao didn't know if she was considered big or small, since everything was hidden under her clothes, so she couldn't compare to others in terms of size, but she certainly couldn't compare to the widow Qian who had given birth to two children.
That's so true!
Liu Jiao hummed twice, but didn't know how to refute it.
There was unusual activity in the chicken coop at this time.
The gate was open, so anyone could come in.
A woman and a man, one in front and one behind, walked straight towards the backyard.
Liu Jiao's gaze was firmly drawn to it.
There was no other reason than that the two were exceptionally handsome, a world apart from the people of Caocun. Liu Jiao had never seen such appearances before.
The woman in front of him was no ordinary person; her skin was as white as a rice cake, her face as red as brown sugar, and her green silk skirt resembled a lotus leaf, making her look like a fairy.
Hehe, Liu Jiao thought of brown sugar rice cake.
But she only caught a fleeting glimpse before her gaze was firmly blocked by the man following the fairy.
He wouldn't let me see it.
This man... looked rather fierce.
He looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old. Although he had striking features like sword-like eyebrows, bright eyes, red lips, and white teeth, making him an extremely handsome and well-proportioned beauty, there was an extremely frightening aura and coldness in his eyes.
Holding a sword, with a golden crown in her hair, she held her head high with pride.
White feathers covered the left side of his face, concealing a faint scar, which was paired with his all-black outfit.
Like a majestic eagle.
With their looks and bearing, these two could easily be princesses or princes, or at the very least, members of a noble family. How could they possibly end up in some godforsaken, desolate village?
Eagle Brother protected the fairy behind him and came to Iron Ox's side.
He didn't even give him a second glance.
To be precise, nothing in Grass Village caught his eye.
His voice was cold:
"Get out of the way."
Upon closer inspection, and comparing him to the shorter Iron Bull, it became clear that Brother Eagle had an excellent physique, with broad shoulders, a narrow back, and a nine-headed figure.
Especially that place, even without it standing upright, you can tell it's huge.
Tie Niu... uh.
He was also a man.
Liu Jiao suddenly understood how Tie Niu's figure was compared to hers and the widow's.
He is indeed quite bad.
The ox is blocking the way; we should let it pass.
However, he clearly didn't want to. Not wanting to lose face in front of a woman, he stubbornly retorted, "Why should I step aside? Ha, you bunch of aristocratic scions are the most hateful, bullying men..."
...
"ah--"
A scream.
Tie Niu, who had been chattering incessantly just moments before, lay sprawled on the ground like a dead pig, passively shutting his mouth and making way for them.
Liu Jiao didn't even see how Brother Ying made his move.
Tie Niu wanted to say something more, but before he could speak, Brother Ying had already guessed it.
His expression was cold: "Say one more word, and I'll kill you."
The sword flashed with a cold light.
The iron ox fell silent.
The sound of a needle falling from the henhouse is enough to make it fall.
"feasible."
Brother Eagle personally cleared the weeds from the alley ahead to prevent them from pricking his shoes, then let the fairy behind him go first, while he followed closely behind.
When facing the fairy, Brother Eagle's coldness and irritability subsided, and his sharp phoenix eyes became delicate, naturally revealing his seriousness.
Backlighting
They were elegant and beautiful, like a perfect couple.
Liu Jiao had a chicken feather stuck to the tip of her nose at some point, making her look like a silly little chick.
Dull-witted and ugly, a world apart.
Brother Eagle's back was almost straight and sharp, his steps were like the wind, and his clothes fluttered... Even the buckle on his waist was spotless, bringing with it a fresh fragrance of flowers and grass.
As Eagle Brother passed by Liu Jiao, who was standing on a chicken manure shovel with one foot and still smelled of chicken, he glanced at her indifferently, even though he hadn't paid any attention to anyone else.
However, in Liu Jiao's eyes, that look was extremely cold, contemptuous, and disgusting.
It seems to be saying:
idiot.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Happy first post! [Milk tea][Milk tea]
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