Picking Up a Husband
"Lily Evans, you wretched girl, get out here! Today, you’re marrying whether you want to or not!" Helen Parker barged into the tattered thatched hut with two hired thugs, looking fierce and menacing.
"Sister-in-law, how could you bear to send your own niece to become the seventeenth concubine of old Mr. Miller, who’s already half in the grave at over sixty?" Margaret Evans rushed over in tears, kneeling and clutching Helen’s leg. "Sister-in-law, Lily and I were kicked out of the Evans family three years ago and severed all ties. I decide my daughter’s marriage—I’d rather die than let her fall into that pit!"
"Pah! You shameless old hag, how do you still have the nerve to show your face? Everyone knows about your scandal three years ago—widow seducing the third uncle and getting thrown out!" Helen Parker kicked Margaret Evans hard in the chest. "The old lady wants her granddaughter married off. Who are you to meddle, you old hag? Get out of the way!"
"I won’t marry! I’d rather join my father in the afterlife than marry some old man!" Lily seized the moment and dashed out, running straight to the riverside where her father drowned, and jumped in with a splash.
When Lily was pulled out of the river, her body was ice-cold. Margaret Evans hugged her all night in their shabby hut, crying until dawn, when Lily finally opened her eyes.
But this time, the soul inside that body had changed.
Lily blinked, looking at her tearful, cheap new mother and the bare, crumbling hut, and sighed.
Just yesterday, she was the direct heir of a renowned culinary family in China, her future limitless, flying abroad to compete in a top chef contest. Who could have known she’d get caught in a plane crash, and wake up as a fourteen-year-old poor farm girl named Lily Evans in Clearwater Village, in some unknown dynasty?
Armed with top-tier culinary skills, Lily believed she could turn her life around. But for now, how was she supposed to survive this forced marriage crisis?
A few years ago, Lily’s father drowned in the river. The Evans elders, unwilling to support Lily and her mother, accused Margaret of seducing the third uncle and nearly drowned her in a pig cage, and tried to sell Lily to a brothel. Luckily, Margaret was always quiet and honest, and without evidence, the village chief took pity on them and let them live in a dilapidated hut at the edge of Clearwater Village.
"Just wait a bit longer, Mom!" Lily was making a simple farm meal, but with her top chef skills, even plain dishes became mouthwateringly fragrant.
But Lily’s cooking didn’t just make Margaret hungry—it also lured in a living person.
At the kitchen door, a man appeared at some point, clutching the door and pitifully staring at the food in Lily’s hands: "Wife, I... I'm hungry."
Night fell. Lily curled up under her quilt and slept soundly, completely unaware that just behind her house, a deadly chase was unfolding in the mountains.
Alexander Hayes was covered in blood, his dark eyes glinting coldly. With a swift motion, he plunged his sword deep into the last assassin’s chest and kicked the man, sword and all, off the towering cliff. He quickly stripped off his bloodied outer garment and tossed it down the cliff to cover his tracks, then hurried down the mountain.
His breath grew more and more erratic, his head splitting with pain—Alexander knew the poison was about to take hold! His gaze turned colder. He was always cautious; only those closest to him could have managed to poison him. Who was behind this?
Was it his personal bodyguard? The head of his guards? Or... her?
Ahead lay the rundown thatched hut at the foot of the mountain. Alexander’s vision went black, and he collapsed onto the haystack behind Lily’s house, unconscious.
At dawn, Lily got up to make breakfast—after all, you need a full belly to deal with troublemakers.
Margaret was wiping the table inside when the delicious smell wafted in. She stuck her head out toward the kitchen, calling, "Lily, what are you making? It smells so good! You’re making me drool over here."
"Just wait a bit longer, Mom!" Lily was making a simple farm meal, but with her top chef skills, even plain dishes became mouthwateringly fragrant.
But Lily’s cooking didn’t just make Margaret hungry—it also lured in a living person.
At the kitchen door, a man appeared at some point, clutching the door and pitifully staring at the food in Lily’s hands: "Wife, I... I'm hungry."