Chapter 1 I Want a Live-in Husband! "I want Qing-ge'er..."
"I want Qing-ge'er. I'll prepare a dowry for him when he gets married!"
"Pah! She clearly wants to pocket his bride price. Everyone in Linjia Village knows who you, Zhang Cuiping, are."
“My third son has always been overshadowed by you and your wife. You’re just bullying the weak and fearing the strong! You reaped so many benefits when your eldest brother and sister-in-law were still alive, but now that they’re gone, you’re unwilling to support their children. Bah… Have wolves stolen your hearts?”
At Lin Yongcheng's house in Linjia Village, two coffins had been carried to the burial site just two hours earlier. Two hours later, before the white canvas fluttering on the gate had even been removed, the second and third branches of the family were already arguing loudly.
"Alright! Stop arguing."
Seeing that the two families were about to fight again, the village chief spoke up to dissuade them, and the other villagers also split into two groups to stop the two families from fighting.
The village chief was so angry at the attitude of the two families that he was dizzy. He quickly came up with a solution: "Qing-ge and Yan-xiao are both your own nephews. They are both your flesh and blood. If you can't decide, draw lots! Whoever you draw, you can take away."
It turns out they were fighting for custody of the two orphans of the eldest son of the Lin family.
The two families fell silent for a moment, but then started arguing again.
They both disagree!
The courtyard was quiet all morning. Eleven-year-old Lin Yanfeng squatted on the ground, watching over his older brother who had been hit and knocked unconscious, his eyes red from crying.
Lin Qing'an had actually been awake for a while, but he was weak all over and his mind was hazy. He was listening to the sounds outside with his eyes closed.
His brain was also forced to accept some unfamiliar memories that did not belong to him.
The person in his memory shared the same name as him, Lin Qing'an, but their figures and appearances were completely different.
Lin Qing'an was actually very happy growing up. His parents were loving and doted on him and his brother.
What should have been a happy and peaceful life took an unexpected turn when the father fell from the roof while working outside, hitting his head and dying on the spot.
In order to get more work, he usually didn't sign any unexpected agreements with his employers, so the other party gave Lin Qing'an's mother ten taels of silver out of humanitarian considerations.
The village chief led some people to bring the body back in an oxcart, but on the way back, the ox suddenly got frightened. Overwhelmed with grief, Lin Qing'an's mother lost her footing and rolled off the oxcart. The ox's two hooves landed right on her chest, and she died before the doctor arrived.
And so, only the two brothers remained in the family.
The eldest brother's name is Lin Qing'an, he is a young man, and he is nineteen years old.
The second son is named Lin Yanfeng, a boy, eleven years old.
However, on the day of the burial, the original owner, Lin Qing'an, accidentally bumped into the stone steps and fainted during the shoving of his aunts. Although he fainted, he was actually dead, because the body he was in now belonged to was Lin Qing'an, not the original owner.
Finally regaining some strength, Lin Qing'an struggled to slowly open his eyes.
Lin Qing'an scanned the crowd several times. They were all wearing patched coarse linen clothes. The women all had long, jet-black hair, while the men all had their long black hair tied into a simple bun with a hairband.
If it weren't for the fact that his mind already contained memories that didn't belong to him, he would have just thought this was some filming location.
A sharp-eyed woman spotted Lin Qing'an awake and excitedly shouted, "He's awake! He's awake..."
The argument was completely interrupted, and everyone present looked in that direction.
"Qing-ge'er has woken up."
Lin Qing'an, the eldest son of the Lin family, had his eyes wide open, his expression unfocused, looking around as if searching for someone.
Lin Yanfeng called out "brother" several times but received no response. He then threw himself into his brother's arms and burst into tears.
"Brother, what's wrong? Don't scare me..."
Feeling the trembling in his arms, Lin Qing'an gradually pulled himself out of his thoughts.
"Qing-ge'er, how are you? Should we have Doctor Shen take another look at you?" the village chief asked Lin Qing'an with concern.
Lin Qing'an was still somewhat incredulous, completely disregarding everyone's gaze. He gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and slapped himself hard across the face.
With a loud crack, a burning pain shot through Lin Qing'an's forehead, spreading across her face and causing her to wince in pain.
I thought the images I saw in my head when I woke up were just a dream, but the pain in my face and forehead felt so real. And from the information I gleaned from the arguments that reached my ears, I was certain it wasn't a dream!
In an instant, Lin Qing'an recalled the novels he had read before going up the mountain, and a concept emerged in his mind.
Soul transmigration.
He might have transmigrated, into the body of someone with the same name as him but in a different world!
Moreover, in his memory, this strange world actually had a third gender, and he was that third gender—Ge'er!
This guy looks no different from a man, but his body is much thinner and more flexible. Most importantly, this guy can have children!
Lin Qing'an was incredibly troubled when he suddenly transformed from someone who had never tasted meat into a slender, thin man.
This disastrous start is really going to kill me!
No amount of shock and fear could change the facts; he had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep moving forward.
Holy crap, I really time-traveled.
After that one slap, his hands were tightly held by his younger brother, Lin Yanfeng, and tears and snot dripped onto his coarse mourning clothes.
The two families observed Lin Qing'an's every move closely. Seeing his dazed appearance, those who had been vying for him suddenly changed their tune and said in unison, "I want Feng boy!"
"I want!"
"It was originally meant for me!"
The two women started arguing again, and the two men, naturally thinking of their own interests, tacitly remained silent.
Everyone present, even those with a shred of conscience, felt sorrow for the two brothers.
Given Zhang Cuiping and Zhou Caixia's personalities, they probably won't have an easy time no matter who they marry in the future.
But they had no choice. After all, the family still had relatives. In this turbulent dynasty, taxes were rising year after year, and their own families were struggling to make ends meet. Kindness couldn't put food on the table.
The village chief was so angry he had a headache. Just as he was about to speak up again to stop them, a roar came out before him.
"It's so noisy!"
Everyone was startled by the sudden shout. Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw Lin Qing'an, who was being supported, forcefully pry his younger brother away from his arms, stand up abruptly, and yell at his second and third aunts, "We're not going with any of them. Ayan and I will live on our own!"
There was a moment of silence.
"What?" His second aunt, Zhang Cuiping, walked quickly towards him. "You child, have you been hit and lost your mind?"
Lin Qing'an glanced coldly at Zhang Cuiping, snorted, and then pulled Lin Yanfeng aside, saying to the village chief:
“Village chief, neither Ayan nor I want to follow anyone. I’m all grown up now. I can take care of him, and we can live on our own.”
Since God has given him a second chance at life, he is determined to make a name for himself!
Lin Yanfeng nodded repeatedly, wiping away her tears, "Yes...yes...I only...am with...my brother...sob~"
Lin Yanfeng, who had just stopped crying, couldn't help but burst into tears again, which made the aunties present wipe away their tears.
"well!"
The village chief sighed deeply and said gently to Lin Qing'an:
“Qing’er, it’s not that I don’t want to help you with this, but since ancient times, children who are orphans and unmarried must be fostered by their own relatives. Those who have no relatives must be sent to the town’s shelter to become monks. I have no choice.”
Aunt Zhao from the same village kindly reminded him, "Qing-ge, I heard that the work at the temple is very demanding and tiring, and there's no pay at all. You should think about it again!"
Lin Qingan felt like he had been screwed over. In his previous life, he was abandoned by his parents at birth, but luckily his grandmother found him and raised him to adulthood.
After serving as a beast of burden for more than a decade, he finally met his reclusive master and returned to the mountains with him. He managed to learn some Taoist arts and planned to set up a small stall and live a life of ease after his master ascended to heaven. However, on the day his master underwent tribulation, he was also struck by lightning. He thought he was dead, but unexpectedly, he ended up in this godforsaken place.
Having worked half his life, Lin Qing'an was unwilling to work as a slave to others, especially as a slave.
Now that God has given him a second chance at life, he is determined to rewrite his destiny and take control of his own life.
This time, please call him Niohuru Qing'an!
Seeing the extremely strange expression on Lin Qing'an's face, both Zhang Cuiping and Li Caixia's families hesitated in their hearts.
After all, if he really went, they wouldn't get any benefits; the people from the temple would come and sell all of Lin Qing'an's assets and take them away.
But they had only heard about these things and had never seen them with their own eyes.
Other aunts and uncles, fearing that Lin Qing'an had made a hasty decision, all wanted to offer their advice.
Lin Qing'an was indeed frantically searching for a solution in his mind; this disastrous start was truly...
Angstrom——
Suddenly, a few words flooded into Lin Qing'an's mind—live-in son-in-law!
Yes! I can find a son-in-law to live with me, that would solve this mess!
Lin Qingan clapped his hands and shouted excitedly, "I want to find a son-in-law to live with me!"
Villagers present: ...?!
Lin Qing'an had no time to care about everyone's reaction. He excitedly asked the village chief, "Village chief, do you mean that if I get married, I can inherit everything in the family and become the head of the household?"
The village chief shook his head: "That's not how it is. You're a boy, you're supposed to get married, unless Yan Feng..."
"What if I find a son-in-law to live with me?" Lin Qing'an interrupted before the village chief could finish speaking.
No one understood what he meant by "son-in-law who lives with his wife's family," but they were all pondering the meaning of the term.
The village chief thought for a moment before he understood and said, "You mean taking a husband who will marry into the family?"
"Ah, yes, yes, yes!"
Lin Qing'an then realized that what he had said was too modern and they couldn't understand it.
Lin Qing'an shouted again, "I want a live-in husband! I want to find a live-in husband!"
"Are you crazy?"
A man's voice rang out from behind Zhang Cuiping. He then stepped forward and glared fiercely at Lin Qing'an, saying, "In all these years, we've never heard of any young man or woman in Linjia Village taking in a husband as a son-in-law. Not to mention Linjia Village, we haven't heard of any such family within a radius of several miles. Only the upper classes have one or two such cases. How come you, Qing'er, are so capable!"
This is Lin Qing'an's second uncle, Lin Yongwu. He and his third uncle, Lin Yongxin, are both bloodsuckers. They usually indulge their wives in their unreasonable and domineering way of fighting for their elder brother's land and some belongings.
When Lin Yongcheng was around, he was used to doing favors and saving face for his elder brother. He often borrowed money because his elder brother was kind and honest, but almost every time he borrowed money, it went down the drain.
Lin Qing'an's fist hardened at the sight of this man. If it weren't for the fact that his current situation wasn't suitable for violence, he would have loved to go over and give this zombie a good beating.
After catching his breath, Lin Qing'an asked his second uncle with a grin, "Second Uncle, are you worried that I won't get a share of my family fortune after I find a husband and move in with him?"
One sentence shut down several people who were just getting ready to fight.
"Qing-ge'er, how could you say that about your second uncle? We are your closest relatives, would we harm you?"
Lin Yongxin still wanted to play along with him, but who was Lin Qingan? He had dropped out of school in his teens to work and make a living. He had seen all sorts of monsters and demons along the way. Would he let a bloodsucker of this level succeed?
Lin Qing'an took two steps forward and walked directly to his third uncle, Lin Yongxin. He looked up and stared intently into Lin Yongxin's eyes, asking, "Since you said we're all family, then I'll sell all of my parents' life's work and donate the money. Then you two can support us brothers! We're all family, it's just a matter of adding another pair of chopsticks, right? Second Uncle, Third Uncle, what do you say?"
"How could that be!" Lin Yongxin blurted out without thinking.
Lin Qingan suddenly laughed: "See, we say we're not after anything, but our lack of money gives us away."
Seeing that her husband was starting to lose his composure, Third Aunt Zhou Caixia hurriedly went over and pulled him away from the somewhat deranged Lin Qing'an.
He spat and cursed, "Madman!"
Lin Qingan didn't care about being scolded. Instead, he suddenly pounced on Zhou Caixia, which startled her so much that she stumbled back several steps, pulling Lin Yongxin along with her.
"Yes, I am a madman. The ten taels of silver I received as compensation, along with these houses and fields, were earned by my parents with their lives. If anyone dares to covet them again, don't blame me..."
Lin Qing'an stopped speaking and ran into the kitchen in a flash. While everyone was wondering what was going on, he swaggered out carrying the biggest kitchen knife in the house.
He yelled a stern warning, "Don't blame me for my knife being unforgiving!"
When he came out carrying a kitchen knife, everyone gasped in fright and backed away. No one expected that this usually quiet and gentle young man would be more ruthless than any man.
Lin Yanfeng wasn't afraid at all. He grabbed the back of his brother's shirt and followed, his eyes filled with growing hatred.
So, in the spacious courtyard, a bunch of people crowded to the wall next to the gate, while only two children dressed in white coarse mourning clothes stood in the middle of the courtyard.
Although Lin Qing'an was an adult, he was very thin and weak. Coupled with his fair and delicate baby face, if he weren't a little taller than other boys his age, he really wouldn't look like an adult.
The village chief hadn't expected things to escalate to this point. He gestured to Lin Qing'an, "Qing'er, calm down. Although there's no precedent for son-in-law marriage in Linjia Village, there's no law that forbids it."
Seeing that Lin Qing'an's expression had relaxed somewhat, the village chief slowly approached him and said, "How about this, as long as you find the right person, I'll take you to the village head to get the certificate." He patted his chest and assured him, "I will do my best to help you."
Lin Yongcheng did a lot of work for the village chief's family when he was alive without asking for any money. The village chief was a kind-hearted person, so no matter what, he would stand on Lin Qing'an's side.
Lin Qing'an then handed the kitchen knife to Lin Yanfeng behind him, gesturing for him to take it inside and put it away.
Then he said, "Okay! Everyone heard it, you said it yourself."
The village chief and the others, who were sweating profusely, finally stopped, afraid that they might say something that would offend someone. He nodded repeatedly and assured them again, "Yes, I said it!"
He then added, "But you can't delay this for too long; you need to resolve it as soon as possible."
Lin Qing'an naturally understood this principle; if this matter wasn't resolved, those few wolves eyeing him wouldn't give up easily, so...
Lin Qing'an suddenly crossed his arms over his chest and began pacing back and forth in the courtyard.
He focused his gaze on the people by the wall, searching through the crowd with the original owner's memories.
In the original owner's memories, there was a person named Wang Shu, the son of Wang Daquan from Linjia Village. He and the original owner could be considered childhood friends and often interacted. Most importantly, the original owner liked him, and Wang Shu seemed to have some feelings for him as well.
So Lin Qing'an wanted to ask this person if he was willing to marry into the family. As far as he was concerned, this marriage was just a marriage of convenience anyway, and it would fulfill the original owner's wish.
Despite searching high and low, Lin Qing'an couldn't find the person.
Then I thought of his mean-spirited parents.
Alas! Human hearts are unpredictable!
As Lin Qing'an sized up the men, they all felt a little intimidated.
It wasn't that they were afraid; normally they would have been quite willing. After all, Lin Qing'an lived a good life thanks to his father's skills, and was well-fed and clean-cut, with a handsome and charming appearance. In Linjia Village, there was no other boy as good-looking as him.
But with such a small fortune, plus a younger brother to worry about, and these two entangled uncles and aunts, everyone stopped watching the drama and some even started running out the door to avoid it.
As soon as the person ran, Lin Qingan's gaze followed, and he saw a large chestnut taller than everyone else.
No, it's not that exaggerated. It's just a tanned head.
Although his head was a bit dark, it had sharp features and was incredibly handsome.
Lin Qingan had his eye on her at first glance.
Lin Qingan quickly searched the original owner's memories and soon found information about this person among a pile of memories.
This man was a hunter living at the foot of the mountain in Linjia Village. He had fled from elsewhere to this place ten years ago during a famine. After helping the village drive away a herd of wild boars, the village head allocated him a house and land, and he settled down here.
This man, named Chen Gengnian, was already twenty years old. He made a living by hunting. His family was kind and gentle, and they often shared their prey with the villagers. There were only two people in his family, him and his mother. Not long ago, he was jilted by a man.
As for why the engagement was called off, Lin Qing'an wasn't quite sure, and she didn't remember this part of the story. Presumably, the gossip hadn't reached the original owner before it was sent.
He became lame after injuring the tendon in his left foot while chasing a wild boar. He was good-looking and had a lot of skills, and some girls and boys in the village were attracted to him, but because he had no land and was disabled, his parents extinguished all the budding romances.
Bingo!
Lin Qingan snapped his fingers, and after the crowd had moved away, he saw the man's figure. He was tall and burly, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Based on Lin Qingan's interest in studying men, this man was definitely a double-breasted man!
Lost in thought, he walked up to Chen Gengnian, who was leaning against the apricot tree outside the courtyard.
Chen Gengnian stared at the person approaching him, and felt inexplicably nervous.
After helping Lin Qing'an bury his parents, Chen Gengnian went home. He had just arrived home when he received a call from Lin Jing saying that he was being bullied. He rushed over and happened to hear Lin Qing'an shouting about finding a husband to marry into his family.
I was shocked at the time.
When he saw how easily he handled the rogues from the Lin and Yongwu families, he never expected that this seemingly weak young man could be so courageous and resourceful.
Lin Qing'an, emboldened by lust, sketched Chen Gengnian's face and figure from head to toe until he could no longer control his drooling before he hurriedly looked away.
"Ahem..." Lin Qing'an coughed twice to cover up the thoughts that were gradually changing color in his head, and looked up at Chen Gengnian's bright eyes to ask, "Chen Gengnian, do you want a husband?"
Chen Gengnian, leaning against the tall tree, suddenly slipped and nearly fell to the ground.
Some villagers who hadn't left yet also stopped to continue watching the spectacle.
A note from the author:
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This is a slow-paced, slice-of-life farming story with lots of everyday family life. If you don't like slow-paced stories, please proceed with caution! [heart emoji]
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