The Top Scholar's Gentle,
Obedient Young Husband
[Farming]
By Yu Xingmian
“The Top Scholar's Gentle, Obedient Young Husband [Farming] / Author: Yu Xingmian”
“Status: Complete”
“Synopsis:
One day, Lu Wanzhou transmigrated and became an impoverished boy whose parents had died, leaving him dependent on others for shelter.
His uncle and aunt were eyeing the last house and fields his family owned. They even wanted him dead. With nowhere else to turn, he could only cast aside all pretenses of family harmony and insist on separating their households.
Afterward, he had nothing to his name. His rice jar was empty, and he had a simpleminded, rather foolish young man named Yu Mian tagging along beside him. Unable to fight his way out of trouble, Lu Wanzhou had no choice but to rack his brains for ways to make a living.
The villagers all watched coldly, waiting to laugh when he fell into poverty and desperation. But to everyone's surprise, Lu Wanzhou turned his fortunes around with his superb cooking:
His silky, flavorful, spicy tofu pudding cost five copper coins a bowl, and even the county magistrate sent servants to compete for it.
He ground the wild fern roots growing unnoticed all over the hills into fine fern-root starch, and every restaurant in town clamored to place an order.
His life grew ever more prosperous, and copper coins poured in. He bought an ox cart and then a spacious residence in town. Meanwhile, Lu Wanzhou devoted himself to his books, advancing triumphantly through the examinations—from child scholar to licentiate to provincial graduate—until his name finally appeared on the list of successful candidates.
He cherished the once-scrawny Yu Mian, tending him with such care that the boy grew fair-skinned, delicate, and soft, with exquisitely pretty features. He was no less lovely than the pampered young husbands raised in town, and before long everyone had taken an interest in him.
Lu Wanzhou kept a close eye on him, terrified someone might steal his precious darling away. Instead, his protectiveness stirred Yu Mian's rebellious streak, and in a fit of temper the boy secretly ran away.
Half angry and half amused, Lu Wanzhou went after the little bundle himself and brought him home.
Knowing he was in the wrong, Yu Mian curled up in the carriage with reddened eyes, rubbing against him affectionately. "Big Brother, don't be angry. I was wrong this time. Next time, I'll make sure to run farther away."
Lu Wanzhou had intended to wait until the little fellow was older and then protect him for the rest of his life. But Yu Mian remained utterly oblivious to the danger, chattering away every day about getting married and leaving home.
Despite all his precautions, Lu Wanzhou could not suppress the feelings in his heart. Looking at the flushed cheeks and slender waist of the person in his arms, he finally lost his restraint, gathered him tightly against his chest, and teased him to his heart's content.
The next day, sore and weak all over, Yu Mian accused him through tear-filled eyes of forcing himself on him.
Lu Wanzhou chuckled and held the soft little bundle close, coaxing him gently. "If I forced you, then what am I to do with the white jade hairpin, the pearl necklace, and the entire chest of betrothal gifts I've prepared? If Mianmian won't accept them, they'll have to sit in storage gathering dust."
Yu Mian's loud, tearless wailing stopped abruptly. He lifted his head in bewilderment. "Betrothal gifts… they're all for me?"
"Who else would they be for? Do you still say I forced you?"
Yu Mian immediately melted against him, hugging his waist and nuzzling him as he wheedled softly, "I've always loved Big Brother. You were only exercising your rights a little early."
Later, Lu Wanzhou took first place in the imperial examinations. Tall, aloof, and exceptionally handsome, he had the lovely Yu Mian at his side. Behind their backs, the villagers gossiped, calling him a top scholar who had abandoned his faithful lover the moment he found success.
What none of them saw was that the reserved, unsmiling top scholar, so self-possessed in public, would turn around and patiently coax the darling in his arms with a great gold bracelet.
"Sweetheart, do you like this one?"
The alluring little beauty's round eyes sparkled. "Mm!"
The villagers: "Ptooey! A faithless man and a little fox who seduced him!"
The utterly devoted Lord Lu and his obedient little Yu Mian: ??? Who are you talking about?
Upcoming novel: “Taking My Little Drama-King Husband to Sit the Imperial Examinations”
Xu Lang transmigrated into a farming novel and became a frail scholar too weak to lift a finger in a fight.
Right from the start, the difficulty was hellish: a sickly mother, an honest but slow-witted father, an outrageously biased grandmother, and a little child bride who followed him everywhere and only made trouble.
His young betrothed was a world-class expert at wasting a family's money.
On the first day after arriving, he tried to wash the dishes and nearly burned down the kitchen.
On the second day, he went into the fields to hoe the soil and trampled more than half the vegetable seedlings to death.
In just three days, he almost managed to ruin a family that had been poor to begin with.
Seeing his life descend into utter chaos, Xu Lang finally came to his senses.
His grandparents were cruel and played favorites? Then he would decisively separate the households and make a decent life with his parents.
His young husband was clumsy and wasteful? Then he would simply work his hardest to earn money.
As long as he earned it quickly enough, his family would never go bankrupt!
From that moment on, Xu Lang started from nothing.
He set up a food stall selling crispy pancakes, crackling roast sausages, and five-spice fried skewers. His little business flourished, and the money he earned from snacks bought his family a house, a cart, and a shop.
As his business prospered, he also raised his little husband into a fair, chubby, healthy young man.
At first, he had thought casually that, since he was already here, supporting another young man would not cost much. He might as well keep him around for amusement.
But as the days passed, he watched the little cabbage he had so carefully nurtured grow fair and clean, sweet-looking and docile, with an irresistibly soft manner. Xu Lang fell completely in love. The longer he cared for him, the more interesting he found it.
His young husband's name was Li Ruan, and although it sounded sweet and soft, the person himself was no pushover. Beneath that obedient appearance lay a head full of schemes. Every day he dreamed up ways to ruin Xu Lang's reputation so that he could pack his little bundle and go back to his parents' home.
The young husband was a born actor. Sometimes he crouched at the village entrance, wiping away tears in the wind; at other times, he pretended to be grievously wronged in front of strangers. He successfully cast himself as a pitiful child bride tormented beyond endurance, as fragile and helpless as a willow bending in the wind.
After a hard day's work away from home, Xu Lang would return to the village and hear all manner of rumors. His world seemed to be falling apart.
Xu Lang told Li Ruan to take his medicine. What the villagers heard was that the poor young husband of the Li family wasn't even allowed to eat at the Xu home.
Xu Lang told Li Ruan to cut back on snacks. What the villagers heard was that the poor Li boy had been beaten just for eating a snack, so badly that he could barely walk.
Xu Lang told Li Ruan to stay out of the kitchen. What the villagers heard was that the pitiful child bride of the Xu family still had no say in the household after years of marriage; they guarded the kitchen against him as though he were a thief.
He knew perfectly well that his young husband was spreading outrageous "rumors" and playing the victim, yet whenever he came home and saw that sweet, gentle face, every reproach died on his lips.
Could he really throw away the little "black-hearted cabbage" he'd raised himself? He might as well keep him around for amusement.
Author: "Brother Xu, why did you decide to raise a child bride?"
Xu Lang: "For amusement."
Author: "Just like that? You seem to have raised your darling rather well."
Xu Lang: "I raised him for fun when he was little. Now that he's grown up—I'll play with him."
Author: "Oh~ Play with him? Can you write about that kind of play on the literature platform?"
[Note: The child-bride arrangement belongs to a fictional feudal setting inspired by ancient times. It is purely part of the story and should not be taken as real.]
Upcoming novel: “My Pretty Young Husband Causes Trouble Every Day”
Wen Jing was reborn. In his previous life, as the youngest son, he had watched his parents favor his elder brother. He had thrown tantrums and caused trouble until, in the end, he died young.
Only after his death did he discover that his elder brother was not their biological child. His parents had favored him merely to repay a debt of gratitude.
Reborn, Wen Jing looked at his elder brother, every inch the refined gentleman, as graceful as a cool breeze beneath a bright moon, and could not help feeling jealous.
Didn't Father and Mother have such high hopes for him? Fine… then Wen Jing would drag him straight down into the mud.
But no matter how much he acted up—going to the privy whenever his brother ate, singing whenever his brother studied—his brother ignored the disruptions and continued behaving like a benevolent elder sibling.
"Big Brother, you look so handsome today."
Affection points: +1
"My big brother is the most handsome of all—tall, elegant, and dashing."
Affection points: +7
"I love Big Brother most."
Affection points: +20
!!! Wen Jing understood now. So this was what the male lead liked? In that case, he would infiltrate the enemy camp first, then deliver a devastating blow.
When his elder brother acted affectionate, Wen Jing obediently played the role of a good younger sibling. He clung to his brother, demanding to be fed at meals and held while he slept, sticking to him day and night.
Their parents believed the brothers were very close. Only Wen Jing knew what he was plotting. He hated how his parents had favored his brother in his previous life and envied his brother's lofty, untouchable manner.
He would make his parents see just how disgraceful their precious good son really was.
On the day his elder brother passed the provincial examinations, in what should have been a moment of triumph, Wen Jing drugged him, and the two were discovered together in bed.
Facing his parents, he put on the pitiful expression of someone who had been schemed against. His elder brother was subjected to the family punishment and made to kneel in the ancestral hall. Watching that untouchable beauty fall into the mire filled Wen Jing with delight.
Afraid of retaliation, he fled with his servants that very day. But before he could even get out of the city, his elder brother caught him.
The male lead looked at him with dark, shining eyes and sneered, "Little Jing, what are you running for?"
"I… You have improper desires for me. Your thoughts are filthy… It's against the natural order. Father and Mother won't let you off.”
