TOFUH – Chapter 2 – That boy is handsome

Receiving such memories, Jiang Zhen felt extremely constricted and had a nauseous feeling that he could not swallow or spit out.

This Jiang family is really annoying. While giving all his family’s work to this Eldest Jiang, they can still curse at him and think that he is the star of suffering.

Jiang Zhenwei was so evil that, as a 26-year-old man, he was crushed to such an extent that he didn’t even know how to resist! They know he’s doing all the work at home. Can’t even he get some food to eat and fill his stomach? Even if you don’t put up a fight, nowadays, when you are so hungry and someone passes you by, cry out for help so you will not lose your life!

Jiang Zhen, who was always unwilling to suffer losses, could not understand Eldest Jiang’s actions, but after a moment of anger, he became silent.

He guessed that this Eldest Jiang did not want to put up a fight and was, as a result, forced to suffer problems within his mind. That should be the case.

Jiang Zhen didn’t know much about mental illnesses, but after careful consideration, he found that many of the symptoms Eldest Jiang exhibited were similar to depression, which was often mentioned.

Jiang Zhen, a rough old man who had lived for a long time, could not understand the feelings of “depression,” but he was not unfamiliar with psychological problems. He had even seen a psychiatrist himself.

In the past, he was in the special forces. When he was on a mission, he was used to have a lot of blood on his hands, and his life was different from that of ordinary people. When he retired from the army, he was afraid that people like him would have problems when they returned to ordinary society directly. So he asked the psychiatrist to chat with him and help him adapt to normal life. He had to say that those psychiatrists are really useful. At least, he was not so violent when they brought him back into society.

It was also the psychiatrists who helped Jiang Zhen understand psychological problems.

Eldest Jiang had not said a word in a year. He was silent. He was starving to death and did not cry for help. It was clear that he had psychological problems. He didn’t want to live anymore.

Also, forced by family members to become like this, how can normal people want to live?

Jiang Zhen was a little annoyed at the thought of this, but at the moment, he had no time to think about Eldest Jiang’s matters. He just wanted to live now.

While he was rescuing people before, he had received two bullet wounds and several knife wounds. But he didn’t go to see the King of Yama. Now he has a chance to live again. Vaguely hearing a voice outside, Jiang Zhen immediately began to cry for help. “Help!” 

He was so thirsty that he was unable to move his throat, and this body had not spoken for a long time. Jiang Zhen’s voice was not very loud. It was so small and hoarse that he was disgusted with himself.

But soon, there was a deep but very pleasant voice outside, asking, “Who is it?”

As the voice rang out, the other person marched towards the house. At the sound of his footsteps, Jiang Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and lay on the ground peacefully without any further struggle.

The broken-down house had no doors at all, so it was blocked by reeds tied together and opened as soon as it was pushed. After the visitors pushed the reeds in, Jiang Zhen saw the other person’s appearance.

It was a young man in his early twenties. He was very tall, dressed in coarse cloth, dark but handsome with thick eyebrows and big eyes; and he had a deep scar on his brow, which added to his manliness . . . He is Jiang Zhen’s favorite type of man.

That’s right. Jiang Zhen likes men. Unfortunately, he was embroiled in the army his entire past life. He couldn’t hit on his brothers. Later, he died not long after he retired from the army, so he could not find himself a companion. 

“Give me something to eat.” Jiang Zhen took a look at the other’s appearance and weakly asked for help. Although the man’s looks was to his taste, right now, he wanted something that could fill his stomach. 

“Eldest Jiang? Why are you here?” Zhao Jinge looked at the man lying on the ground and frowned. “Today is the day the Jiang’s third son is getting married, you . . . ” Jiang’s family is very lively nowadays. Why is Jiang Zhenwei lying alone in a broken house?

“Give me something to eat,” Jiang Zhen said again. He was so dizzy that he almost fainted again.

Zhao Jinge also saw that Jiang Zhen’s situation was not quite right. After taking a look at Jiang Zhen’s clothes, his voice became even angrier. “Are you still wearing the clothes you were wearing when you fell into the water? Your family . . .”  He looked at Jiang’s crumpled clothes and the dilapidated hut before him and thought that, even though he had been beaten in the head and bleeding, he had never shouted in pain. But now he asked for food at his own initiative. . . He couldn’t help sighing.

“You haven’t eaten anything these days?” Zhao Jinge picked up Jiang Zhen from the cold and wet mud and quickly placed him on a pile of straw inside the thatched hut. Then he said, “I’ll get you something to eat.”

After that, Brother Zhao Jinge left without looking back.

He moved so fast that the man had disappeared in the blink of an eye, but Jiang Zhen was relieved. He found out from the memory of Eldest Jiang who this man was and knew that he would not deceive him.

That man is called Zhao Jinge, a child of the Zhao family living near the thatched cottage. It was Zhao Jinge who saved Eldest Jiang after he fell into the water. Unfortunately, he saved the Eldest Jiang’s life, and in a twinkling of an eye, it was ruined by the Jiang family. Eldest Jiang was dizzy and could not move. The Jiang family did not even change his clothes. As a result, how could he not have a fever?

After Jiang Zhen remembered Zhao Jinge’s identity, he had a better impression of him, but he went further along the memory of Eldest Jiang. And suddenly, he learned something extraordinary.

He crossed over, but not to any of the dynasties he knew. The place where he is right now is called Daqi, and it has existed for hundreds of years that ordinary people, who have not gone to school, are completely unaware of the previous dynasties and of the war. Of course, that is not the point. 

The point is . . . in addition to men and women, there is another kind of person in this place known as ger.

According to the birth population, about 50% are men, about 40% are women, and the remaining 10% are the ger. 

They look the same as men, but they have a cinnabar mole between their eyebrows. They are much weaker than men. They are as small as women and can have children like women.

Because of this, for a long time, gers are raised like women, raised to marry, and their status in Daqi is the same as that of women.

And this Brother Zhao Jinge is a ger.

Some men can have children in this place . . . It must be said that Jiang Zhen was shocked. He learned about Zhao Jinge through Eldest Jiang’s memory.

Zhao Jinge’s father, Zhao Fugui, is an ordinary farmer in Hexi Village. He married a woman surnamed Liu from the same village. His life was not good or bad. He had two children in total. His eldest son, Zhao Jinhu, is a man, and his second son, Zhao Jinge, is a ger.

Zhao Jinge’s parents fell sick when he was a child, but with his brother, life was very good. When he was six or seven years old, his parents had already told him to have a good marriage. Although it was much more difficult for a ger to have children than women, it was not easy for a countryman to have a wife. Even the gers are scrambled after. 

However, in this world, there are always all sorts of accidents. 

Zhao Jinge’s brother, Zhao Jinhu, drowned when he was sixteen years old while swimming down the river. When he was fished out, he had already lost his breath for some time.

The son, who had grown up, has disappeared. Zhao Fugui and his wife have been hit hard. Liu became even more ill and nearly died. In their helplessness, the Zhao family could only sell the few acres of land they own to treat Liu’s illness. 

The Zhao family’s lifestyle has fallen sharply. At that time, the family that had been engaged to Zhao Jinge suddenly backed out from the engagement. The family’s son had a good woman, and they would soon see the children. What’s more, the Zhao family was in a very bad situation at that time, and they didn’t want to marry such a drag.

Zhao Jinge was only twelve years old at that time, and his brother was dead. Naturally, he couldn’t do the same work as in the past. In order to support his family and cure his mother’s illness, he followed Zhao to work everywhere. When he was busy with farming, Zhao would take him as a part-time worker.

Generally, both of them are thin and small, just like women, but Zhao Jinge worked all day long and looked more and more like the men, being even stronger than ordinary men.

After the death of his eldest son, Zhao Fugui thought it would be easy to recruit a man for Zhao Jinge to go with them and continue the Zhao family line.

Families with many sons in the countryside are often unable to arrange a daughter-in-law for every son. Men who have not given their family a daughter-in-law will work at home all their lives, In the future, they will be given to the children of their brothers. They will not have a warm bed, and yet, if they are too old to do anything, they will probably be driven out by their nephews. Compared to being an old bachelor, many men are more willing to go to other people’s homes, even though their children will not bear their surnames, they are their own children. And then, they can sleep with a wife in their arms!

Therefore, although it’s a bit disgraceful to become a son-in-law, there are still many old bachelors willing to become son-in-laws, even those with better family backgrounds. Some poor male bachelors at home take the initiative to find a person to choose. The shame of being a son-in-law is better than being hungry at home.

However, the Zhao family is not well-off. Zhao Jinge is not a woman. He is a ger who looks like a man.

Most men still like women. It’s not impossible to see a couple like Zhao Jinge, but Zhao’s family is still very poor. Since they still go hungry after joining Zhao’s family and there are no women to warm their beds, those old bachelors are naturally reluctant to join Zhao family.

Zhao Jinge left it like that.

Last year, Zhao Jinge, 24, who is old and single, living in the countryside, knows that he has no hope of marrying a man. He can’t marry for his parents. He simply cut off his cinnabar mole with a knife, and completely treated himself as a man. This year, he went to a rich family to work as a longtime laborer. Though earning money, since his mother, Zhao Liu, remains in poor health. from time to time, he has to spend some money on medicine. His family will also always lack money.

Edited by : Faro


This Post Has 18 Comments

  1. sachyan

    Oh〜 so we have a gong protagonist…!

  2. Zo Arai

    Geez…
    It’s like all the protagonist needs to have such a difficult situation.
    Sigh…
    But then again, I think it’s necessary so the both of them can support and understand each other?
    I don’t know who’s the ugly husband, tho’.
    Thanks for the update ❤️
    I’m looking forward to what will happen next.

    1. BlueMidnight

      I believe the ugly husband is supposed to be Zhao Jinge since the ideal for gers’ is to look small and dainty like a woman here, but because of his circumstances he was forced to physical labor, this ger looks like a man’s man, thus not conforming to the ideal.

  3. Random duck

    Thanks for the chapter! This looks so interesting.

  4. Robin

    Interesting start! I feel bad for the original, but looking forward to what happens next

    1. lajnaa72

      Thank you for commenting 😉

  5. xiaoxiuer

    Ohhh! A manly shou!..ger.. yeah.
    But their backgrounds.. 😭

    Can’t wait to see their development in the future! Thank you!

  6. sanctirei

    I like this ger already. Shou tend to be written as “feminine” but I really like manly shou’s..

    Thanks for the chapter 🙂

  7. Blood

    Thanks for the chapter! ^ ^

  8. Katie_WanderingFujoshi

    Thanks for the chapter 😊😍

  9. ShDill

    Gosh I can’t really express how I L.O.V.E manly, muscle bottoms 😂

  10. Cocole

    Love your work- awesome translation 🙏🌹🌻💜🌈

  11. Awl

    Yes yes yes, marry into the Zhao family.

  12. Muthoni_Murira

    This story is eerily similar to “my favourite manly husband’. However, I checked and this one came first…

  13. Nikolasorq

    This nee

  14. Maddy

    Dammm he met tan charlie puth

  15. Darkn3ss

    Well since beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

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