RUHIP Chapter 001

Lately, quite a few things have happened in Yunjia Village.

Two months ago, a family surnamed Lin moved into Yunjia Village. There were only two people in the family—an elder and a youth. It was said they had fled from somewhere else and settled their household registration in Yunjia Village.

The elder of the Lin family, who wasn’t actually that old, was called Lin Chunfeng. He was a ge’er¹T/N: There is no females in this world. A man who can give birth to a child called Ge’er and they usually associated with qualities like fair skin, delicate and weak body, similar to Omegas in ABO world in his thirties whose eyesight wasn’t very good. He looked quite good, but unfortunately, his hair had turned gray at a young age.

The younger one was named Lin Ye, a very handsome youth who looked around seventeen or eighteen. Tall and slender like jade, he easily attracted affection from others.

In just the short span of two months after arriving, he had already stirred up quite a few rivalries among the local ge’ers. It brought a lot of amusement to the otherwise peaceful Yunjia Village.

Another incident was that Yun Jiu, from the family of Yun Dali, had been kicked back from his government-assigned husband’s household. Yun Jiu didn’t originally have a name; being the ninth child in his generation, everyone just called him Yun Jiu.

Here, men over the age of twenty-two, or ge’ers over eighteen, who had yet to marry, would be assigned a spouse by the government.

Those who were matched by the government were either ugly, old, disabled, poor, or had issues with their character. In short, they were all kinds of people with all sorts of problems.

When such people were forced together, life was simply unlivable.

Yun Jiu had been different since childhood. He wasn’t good-looking and was a gloomy, silent type. He usually worked without a word and was even more capable than the average man from ordinary households.

Yun Jiu’s A-mo²T/N: Ge’er Father; Mother was sharp-tongued and mean person. He always thought Yun Jiu was too ugly and would never marry into a good family, and thus wouldn’t be able to help the household. Because of that, he treated him with an even worse attitude—either beating or scolding him every day.

The Yun Dali family had four children in total—one man and three ge’ers. Yun Jiu was the eldest in the family, so all responsibilities naturally fell on him.

Yun Dali doted wholeheartedly on the family’s only man and had no regard at all for this quiet, honest ge’er.

Perhaps because they were used to seeing how their father and mother treated Yun Jiu, the other three children in the family often ordered Yun Jiu around to do this and that, treating their older brother completely like a servant.

Because Yun Jiu had labored under the sun for so long, his skin was dark and rough—at a distance, he looked just like a man. If not for the shougongsha³T/N: shougongsha（守宫砂） refers to a red mark to indicate virginity or ge’er identity on his wrist, people might really have mistaken him for a man.

As Yun Jiu gradually grew up, the reputation of him being ugly began to spread. Even by the time he was fifteen or sixteen, no one had come forward to propose marriage.

But Yun Jiu was a good child—honest and hardworking—so some poor families with sons still liked him quite a bit. Later on, when Yun Jiu was sixteen, a family surnamed Liu from Yunjia Village came to propose marriage. Unexpectedly, Yun Jiu’s A-mo, Yun Xushi, opened her mouth like a lion and demanded five taels of silver as bride price.

Even now, people in Yunjia Village still remember what Yun Xushi said:

“So what if Yun Jiu is ugly? He can work! Even buying an ox costs seven or eight taels of silver—Yun Jiu can not only work, he can bear children too.”

Who would compare their own ge’er to an ox?

From that point on, even those who had intended to marry Yun Jiu couldn’t help but give up the idea.

With five taels of silver, one could marry a good-looking ge’er—who would still want to bring home someone that dark and ugly?

And just like that, time dragged on, and Yun Jiu turned eighteen in the blink of an eye.

Once you turn eighteen, a ge’er must undergo government-matched marriage.

Yun Jiu was assigned to someone from the neighboring village—a medicine pot⁴T/N: refers to chronic invalid / sickly person who clearly didn’t have much time left to live. Marrying him was basically no different from becoming a widow.

Sure enough, not even half a year after the marriage, that medicine pot died. People said that he had wanted to consummate the marriage with Yun Jiu and leave behind a child for his family, but ended up dying right during the consummation.

That medicine pot’s surname was Liu, and his name was Liu Shun.

His parents died when he was still very young—no one knew exactly what happened, but they passed away while outside. The young Liu Shun was raised in turns by various relatives. Since they weren’t his real parents, those relatives didn’t care much for him, which led to him developing chronic health issues from a young age.

Because of this, he had been sickly for years. The moment he went without medicine, he would be on the verge of death. Due to taking medicine all year round, the little money his family had was all used up.

Someone like that could never hope to marry a ge’er, so he could only wait until he was of age to receive a government match.

But in a way, he was lucky—to be matched with someone like Yun Jiu, who could endure hardship. Yun Jiu was a very diligent and meticulous person. Under his careful care, Liu Shun’s health slightly improved, and he was finally able to eat hot meals.

Later, Liu Shun wanted to consummate the marriage with Yun Jiu, hoping to leave behind an heir for the Liu family. But his body simply couldn’t handle it, and yet he insisted on going through with it.

In the end, the marriage wasn’t consummated, but the person died.

Liu Shun’s relatives then used the excuse that Yun Jiu had brought misfortune to his husband, and drove Yun Jiu out. But Yun Jiu was someone with affection and loyalty. Even though the two had only lived together for half a year, he still helped with Liu Shun’s funeral arrangements.

After Liu Shun was buried, they didn’t even allow him to observe mourning. Liu Shun’s eldest uncle found all sorts of excuses to kick Yun Jiu out. Anyone with a bit of sense could tell—they just wanted to take over Liu Shun’s house and land.

But Yun Jiu, an outsider ge’er with a different surname, couldn’t possibly win against that entire family. In the end, he had no choice but to take a divorce letter and return to Yunjia Village with nothing but his belongings.

The day Yun Jiu returned, heavy snow was falling in thick goose-feather-like flakes.

When Lin Ye saw him, he was shrinking his neck against the cold, standing in a daze under the big banyan tree at the village entrance. If not for his sharp eyes, Lin Ye would have almost mistaken him for a snowman.

Yun Jiu carried a large, bulging bundle on his back. It looked like it held many things, but it was actually just some of his old clothes and a worn-out quilt.

He was wearing a dark grey, heavily patched, old cotton-padded jacket. With the way he trembled in the cold, he looked just like a scruffy beggar from who-knows-where.

Lin Ye had a habit of getting up early to chop wood, so he had come out early in the morning. Some ge’ers who knew his routine also got up early and waited by their doors.

When Lin Ye saw Yun Jiu, the three ge’ers following behind him also noticed. At first, they didn’t recognize Yun Jiu and timidly hid behind Lin Ye.

It wasn’t until one of them pointed at Yun Jiu and said, “That looks like Yun Jiu.”

The one who spoke was Yun Xiaohua. He was fourteen this year, with a very cute appearance. His big round eyes and small tiger tooth that showed when he smiled made him quite adorable.

Hearing Yun Xiaohua’s words, the other two ge’ers tilted their heads and looked carefully at Yun Jiu. Once they confirmed it was really him, the two of them ran over. One of them immediately gave Yun Jiu a shove and said, “Yun Jiu, move aside, don’t block Brother Lin Ye from collecting firewood!”

The little ge’er who had pushed Yun Jiu was even younger—only thirteen years old and quite short. When he tried to push Yun Jiu, not only did Yun Jiu not move, but he himself stumbled back several steps.

Lin Ye couldn’t help but let out a “puchi” laugh, and his handsome brows and eyes instantly became as lively as a gentle spring breeze.

That little ge’er who pushed people was called Chen Yinling. He had a very innocent temperament. Even when Lin Ye laughed at him, he didn’t get angry—instead, he stomped his little feet and began to act spoiled.

“Brother Lin Ye is teasing me! Hmph, I’m not going to talk to you anymore!”

Lin Ye inwardly laughed: Best if you really don’t talk to me.

Lately, he had been driven nearly crazy by these overly enthusiastic little ge’ers.

Back when he had just arrived in Yunjia Village, Lin Ye had already attracted quite a bit of trouble because of his outstanding looks. Families with ge’ers would often find excuses to visit Lin Ye’s A-mo, and while chatting, they’d somehow steer the conversation toward Lin Ye’s marriage prospects.

Lin Ye’s A-mo had already stated more than once that Lin Ye didn’t have anyone he liked yet and was planning to consider marriage after another two years. Later, Lin Ye got so annoyed that one day—while there were lots of people around in the village—he publicly said that while all the ge’ers in Yunjia Village were very nice, none of them were his type.

However, the ge’ers felt that just because he didn’t like them now didn’t mean he wouldn’t in the future, and they continued clinging to him enthusiastically.

Although this was a farming village, the ge’ers were all raised delicately. Every one of them was small, with little bodies and tiny hands.

Every time Lin Ye saw them coming close, he couldn’t help but hold his breath, afraid that with just one exhale, he might accidentally blow them away.

Recently, Lin Ye had come to understand that the best way to deal with these little ge’ers was to ignore them. He couldn’t very well beat them up, nor could he insult them.

When Lin Ye looked over at Yun Jiu, Yun Xiaohua gave a hum and said, “His name is Yun Jiu. I remember he got married half a year ago.”

Lin Ye’s face twitched slightly, then he looked Yun Jiu up and down again from head to toe. No matter how he looked at this person, he just seemed like a grown man—and the word “married” really did feel… a bit off when used on him.

As Lin Ye was sizing up Yun Jiu, Yun Jiu was also sizing up Lin Ye.

Yun Jiu had never seen such a handsome man before. Not only was the person good-looking, but he was also very tall. Yun Jiu himself was also tall, and because of his height, he had been mocked by many people. Everyone said he was a dumb tall guy—“How can someone taller than a man get married?”

Because of this, Yun Jiu often didn’t dare to stand up straight, thinking that if he did, he would look even taller.

But in front of this person, Yun Jiu unconsciously stood straight. He discovered that even when he stood up fully, he still wasn’t as tall as this man.

Lin Ye was indeed tall—at 1.88 meters, he would be considered tall even in his original world.

Lin Ye didn’t continue looking at Yun Jiu. Instead, he walked around him—he still had firewood to collect.

But just as he was about to pass by Yun Jiu, that Yun Jiu suddenly went crazy and grabbed Lin Ye’s wrist.

Yun Xiaohua and the others reacted like cats that had their tails stepped on—they instantly screamed and rushed forward to push Yun Jiu away.

None of them had ever even held Lin Ye’s hand—how could this dumb, ugly giant possibly touch Lin Ye’s wrist?

In an instant, the scene became filled with a strange and tense atmosphere.

Lin Ye didn’t think much of being grabbed. He just found it odd—why did Yun Jiu grab him?

Even as he was being attacked by three little ge’ers, Yun Jiu didn’t move at all. He simply lifted his head slightly and looked at Lin Ye’s handsome face that was so close at hand.

Yun Jiu didn’t understand what was happening to him. He just inexplicably wanted to grab hold of him, not wanting this extremely good-looking man to disappear from his sight.

Yet he didn’t understand why. He simply stared blankly into Lin Ye’s eyes—those eyes that were unusually black, yet deeply captivating.

He felt his heart thumping chaotically, but he just couldn’t bring himself to let go.

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Translator has something to say:

Hello everyone, We meet again!! Welcome to a new journey!!!

In the quiet corners of an ancient village, where time moves to the rhythm of wind and earth, two souls—wounded and wandering—find one another. This is their story. A tale of mistakes made and mended, of burdens shared and hearts slowly healed. If you’ve ever longed for a second chance, or believed that even the most broken things can bloom again—Then you are exactly where you’re meant to be.

I hope you all like this novel. Thank you for your love and support!!