Chapter 2

He served as a book boy for the rest of his life. During that time, Xie Ning's skin never improved, and no one came to propose marriage.

Only after Zhou Jinian got drunk at a banquet and spent a passionate night with Xie Ning in his arms was Xie Ning taken in as a concubine and kept at the Zhou residence. It was not until he was poisoned and Ninglang traded his own life for his that he understood Ninglang's feelings.

Zhou Jinian stopped reminiscing and changed the subject. "Dad, what is Xie Ning's character like?"

Lin Jin replied, "He certainly used to be one in ten thousand..."

"Used to be? Has he turned bad now?"

"Ah, more or less. A few days ago, quite a few people saw him jumping into the river like a madman. They say the skin on his face and neck is almost gone. I'm afraid he doesn't have long to live... Jinian, listen to your dad. However good Ning-ge'er used to be, that was all in the past!"

"He... has a long life ahead of him." A trace of grief came through in Zhou Jinian's low, hoarse voice. If not for saving him, Xie Ning would have had a long life ahead of him.

"What?" Lin Jin had not heard him clearly.

"His looks are merely disfigured. Dad, he's the one I want!" Zhou Jinian spoke those last words with deep feeling, emphasizing every one.

With all the books he had read, he refused to believe he could not find a way to cure Ninglang! But for now, the first priority was to bring him home and care for him where he could keep an eye on him.

When Zhou Dafeng heard that his mother had helped him resolve the trouble left by his son breaking off his engagement, he naturally cooperated wholeheartedly and handed over the silver without another word.

Four generations of the Zhou family lived together without dividing the household. Each branch contributed labor to farming. Once they finished tending the fields assigned to them, if they earned money from other work, they only had to hand half over to the main household and could keep the other half for themselves.

Thus, half the cost of Zhou Jinian's marriage should have come from the main household, and the third branch should have paid the other half themselves.

But since the third branch was cleaning up the first branch's mess, the first branch would pay that other half.

Author's note: This is a slice-of-life story set in ancient times, with marriage before love. Please don't come up with conspiracy theories. If you can't keep reading, don't force yourself. Please be kind, thank you.

Recommending my friend's

insect race

novel, "After Transmigrating into a Male Insect, I Was Bent." It's pretty interesting, hahaha.

One,

Lin Xius died in a motorcycle racing accident and transmigrated into the male insect Xius.

In this insect race world overrun with gay men, Lin Xius, a die-hard straight man, was the first to object!

He would rather die of pent-up frustration! Kill himself! Die out in the streets! He would never get involved with these men.

Then he met the breathtakingly beautiful Liya.

Liya smiled at him and crooked a finger. "Do you like me?"

Xius: "...Yes! Yes!! Very much!!"

Two,

Liya had a fiancé, but he scoffed at this arranged marriage partner he had never met and pondered how to break off the engagement.

Then a red-haired male insect caught his attention.

His team of professional racers actually lost to a red-haired male insect disguised as a female insect!

Behind the podium, Liya pinned the male insect against the wall and exposed his trick. "I know you're the male insect Xius."

Xius was panicking inside, but remained calm on the surface. "So?"

Liya smiled faintly and lifted the red-haired male insect's chin. "As long as you become my male insect, I'll absolutely keep your secret."

Xius: "I refuse!"

Liya raised an eyebrow. "Take your pick of any motorcycle on the market."

Xius beamed. "Throw in a mecha!"

Liya moved closer to Xius and answered coolly, "Deal."

Three,

Going bent is impossible. I'll never go bent in this lifetime!

Bang! Ah, he died. That lifetime went by so quickly.

Then, oh, nice! Sure enough, he went bent in his next life.

Character types:

Cold, scheming

yandere

ruthless female insect shou × goofy, motorcycle-loving, die-hard straight male insect gong

Chapter 2

"Ah!!!"

A woman's shriek rang through the farmhouse courtyard, frightening the chickens in their coop into a flurry of wings and sending the family's dog running. A step behind the four-legged animal, the Xie family rushed to the water vat in the courtyard and saw someone inside...

"Ning-ge'er!!!" Xie Dashu's eyes widened. The person submerged in the water vat was none other than his second son, Xie Ning.

The moment Xie Yao heard his father's voice, he put down his writing brush and ran into the courtyard. When he first heard his stepmother Madam Xie Sun scream, he could still pretend not to have heard, but if his father was panicking too, something must have happened to his younger brother!

"Father, what happened to Ning-ge'er?!" Without waiting for his father's answer, Xie Yao pushed past the others and saw the person in the water vat for himself.

Xie Yao hurriedly reached in to pull him out. "Hurry, give me a hand!"

Only then did Xie Dashu come to his senses. Father and son worked together to lift Xie Ning out of the vat.

"Go get Physician Hu, hurry!" Paying no heed to his soaked upper body, Xie Yao picked up his younger brother and carried him back inside.

It was early autumn, and a cooling mat covered the wooden bed in the room. Xie Ning was laid flat on the mat, revealing his face. His straight brows were dark as lacquer, and with his eyes tightly shut, only his long, fine lashes could be seen. His full lips were utterly bloodless. Judging by his features alone, he was a handsome young man of exquisite grace.

Yet his mottled skin was truly frightening to look at. It was not just his face and neck; even his exposed, slender fingers were the same.

Once the moisture evaporated, his skin would look as though it were covered in white feathers as thin as cicada wings. The lightest scratch would make them fall away, but cracks would immediately form in his skin.

Of course, Xie Ning had not been born this way. It had started because of his older brother, Xie Yao, and it was a long story...

In the thirty-second year of Qingyuan, Xie Ning was twelve years old, a little ge'er renowned throughout Great Well Village for his beauty. From as far away as Clearwater Town to as near as his own village, matchmakers commissioned to propose marriage practically wore through the Xie family's threshold.

The Xie family counted as wealthy farmers in the village. Xie Dashu chose a good husband for Ning-ge'er, settling on Zhou Wenshu, the son of Zhou Dafeng from the Zhou family in the same village.

The Zhou clan was flourishing. More people meant more hands to work, and labor drove prosperity. They could be called the richest family in the village.

First, this marriage was a match between families of equal standing in the village. Second, Zhou Wenshu, the chosen groom, was a tongsheng who did well in his studies. Everyone in the village said that Xie Ning might well become a xiucai's husband the moment he married into the family.