My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 1 Getting Married Right After Arrival

I have some great news to share!

Zhou Jiye is getting married!
I have more bad news to share!

Zhou Jiye was forced into it!

……

"I know you're from another time!" This was what Lin Zhaodi whispered in Zhou Jiye's ear on the day he arrived in this era.

Zhou Jiye, who had just transmigrated, was quite frightened. He was completely dumbfounded and speechless for a moment.

"Don't worry, we're 'fellow townsmen,' so I won't expose your secret. But you have to do something for me!" This was the second thing Lin Zhaodi said to him. Zhou Jiye finally managed to calm his pounding heart and asked with a complicated and nervous expression, "What do you want me to do?"

"It's very simple." Lin Zhaodi smiled, raising her hand to smooth her slightly yellowed hair by her ear: "Marry me! Have your father propose to my family. The proposal is tomorrow, and we'll get married the day after. Oh, and remember to give my father thirty yuan as a bride price when you propose. Also, have your father arrange for my eldest sister to be the team's scorekeeper!"

"Propose...proposal? Marriage? Between you and me?"

Zhou Jiye could hardly believe his ears. He never expected that the little girl in front of him, dressed in patched clothes and looking no older than a middle school student, would make such an outrageous request. He instinctively shook his head: "This... how can this be..."

"It's not an option, it's a must!" Lin Zhaodi glared fiercely. "There's no room for discussion! If you don't agree or try anything funny, I'll tell everyone about you. Don't blame me for not warning you. Everyone will know you're not the original Zhou Jiye anymore. If you don't want the villagers to think you're possessed by a ghost, or to capture you and dissect you for research, then do as I say!"

Zhou Jiye's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but ask, "What good will it do you to expose me? And aren't you afraid I'll reveal your secrets too?"

Lin Zhaodi rolled her eyes: "You and I are not the same? Do you know how long I've been here? If I don't say anything, who will believe me? But you are different. You just arrived and are a complete greenhorn who doesn't know anything about this era. Do you think people will believe me or you?"

"I..." Zhou Jiye never expected that the pale and thin girl in front of him would be like this. Despite her frail appearance, she spoke the most ruthless words. The fierceness revealed in her bones made Zhou Jiye feel uneasy, and he dared not gamble at all.

"Marriage is a big deal, you should let me think about it, right? Besides, we've only just met, I don't even know your name, and... and, shouldn't we date before getting married? Isn't it inappropriate to get married without even dating or holding hands?"

"Dating?" Lin Zhaodi looked Zhou Jiye up and down, who had a bitter face, and then burst out laughing: "You weren't a single dog before you came here, were you? The kind who's never been in a relationship before?"

"Nonsense! This is slander! Utter slander!"

Zhou Jiye blushed and vehemently denied it.

Lin Zhaodi looked at Zhou Jiye meaningfully without saying a word, a smile gradually curving her lips.

"I'm a virgin, marrying you won't be a loss for me. You should be happy about this, and stop talking nonsense."

Lin Zhaodi's face instantly darkened as she spoke, and she said seriously, "I'm giving you one day. If your father doesn't come to my house to propose marriage by noon tomorrow, don't blame me for being impolite!"

"I……."

"Zhao Di! Zhao Di!"

Just then, a voice calling for Lin Zhaodi came from outside.

Lin Zhaodi turned around and quickly responded to the outside, then lowered her voice and said to Zhou Jiye, "I have to go. Remember my name is Lin Zhaodi, the second daughter of the Lin family at the east end of the village. You can try to decide whether to do this or not. Don't say I didn't warn you!"

After saying that, Lin Zhaodi got up and left. Her small, thin figure swayed out of the cave. Soon, the sound of her talking with others could be heard outside. The sound gradually faded away, leaving Zhou Jiye sitting there dumbfounded.

The second daughter of the Lin family? Lin Zhaodi?
Zhou Jiye clutched his injured head and racked his brains, finally managing to recall who Lin Zhaodi was from the remaining memories of the original owner of the body. The Lin family was just an ordinary farming family in the village; there were only two differences between them and other farmers.

One is the characteristic of poverty. Farmers in the Great Northwest are actually poor, and this era was not wealthy to begin with. Being poor is normal, and the poorer you are, the more glorious it is. Being rich is abnormal.

But the Lin family was really poor, extremely poor. Compared to other villagers, if the Lin family was second poorest in the whole village, then no one else would be number one.

Another reason is that the Lin family has a lot of children, especially girls.

Lin Zhaodi's parents had a total of seven children, the first six of whom were girls, and the last one was a boy.

Compared to the Lin family, Zhou Jiye's Zhou family was much stronger.

Zhou Jiye's father, Zhou Furong, was the village's Party Secretary. Zhou Jiye had two older brothers: the eldest, Zhou Jijun, was the production brigade leader, and the second, Zhou Jimin, was the commune's militia company commander. With such a powerful background, the Zhou family was not only prominent in the village but also in the entire commune. Compared to his two successful brothers, Zhou Jiye, the second-generation village scion, although as tall and strong as his brothers, lacked their composure and ambition, spending his days idly and causing trouble.

He doesn't make any major mistakes, but he's constantly making minor ones, getting into fights and causing trouble every few days, which is a real headache for Zhou Furong. But this youngest son is spoiled by his mother and protected by his wife and his two older brothers, so Zhou Furong, as his father, can't do anything about him.

Today, Zhou Jiye got into a fight with some boys from the neighboring village. He was ambushed and hit hard on the back of the head with a stick. That's how Zhou Jiye became the Zhou Jiye we know today.

After gradually absorbing the original owner's memories, Zhou Jiye finally understood why Lin Zhaodi was in such a hurry for him to do this. It was because the Lin family was really struggling to make ends meet, and in order to ease the burden on the family, Old Lin planned to arrange a marriage for Lin Zhaodi.

With nine mouths to feed, Old Lin's family simply couldn't support them with their limited work points. Desperate, Old Lin decided to consider marrying off one of his daughters. After much thought, he concluded that this was the best solution: one less person to feed and the opportunity to receive a dowry.

Originally, the eldest daughter, Lin Laidi, was to be married off. But no one knows what Old Lin was thinking in the end, but he decided to marry off his second daughter first. As for the person to marry off, he had already decided on Zheng Laosan, the cripple from Zhengjia Village.

Although Zheng Laosan was lame and more than ten years older than Zhaodi, he was a skilled bricklayer with a solid financial background. Marriage was a practical arrangement, and Zhaodi wouldn't be treated unfairly. Besides, Zheng Laosan had promised to give Lao Lin a dowry of twenty yuan. Don't underestimate this amount; in those days, rural people couldn't save much money throughout the year. Twenty yuan was enough for Lao Lin's family to escape their current predicament.

"You little wench! You should have married that old cripple!" Zhou Jiye cursed inwardly, but he dared not gamble. Only he could help Lin Zhaodi escape the fate of marrying Zheng Laosan. What if he didn't do as Lin Zhaodi said and she really got angry and exposed his past?

Zhou Jiye recalled the ruthlessness Lin Zhaodi had shown earlier, and her large, dark, bright eyes that seemed to see right through him, and he couldn't help but shudder.

As evening fell, the Zhou family members returned home from work one after another. By then, Zhou Jiye had accepted the fact that he had traveled through time.

"Getting a wife? Getting a wife is good, getting a wife is great!"

As soon as Zhou Furong entered the house, he heard Zhou Jiye's request to get married, and he was overjoyed. His youngest son was indeed of marriageable age.

Since finishing junior high school, his youngest son has been idle and irresponsible, causing trouble every few days, which gives Zhou Furong a lot of headaches. If he gets married and settles down, maybe his temper will calm down a bit. Once he has children, he will truly be an adult, and Zhou Furong can finally rest easy.

Zhou Furong asked Zhou Jiye with a smile which family's daughter he had taken a fancy to. Actually, it didn't matter which family it was. With the Zhou family's wealth and influence, any girl who married into the family would be blessed. How could they possibly refuse?
When Zhou Furong heard that Zhou Jiye actually wanted to marry Lin Zhaodi, the second daughter of the Lin family, he was stunned at first, and then shook his head vigorously, refusing to agree no matter what.

"Any family will do, but the Lin family is absolutely out of the question!" This was Zhou Furong's resolute statement. As the Party Secretary, how could Zhou Furong not know the situation of the Lin family? The family consisted of nine people, seven women and only two men, one of whom was a three-year-old child. They were dirt poor. Marrying their daughter would be like marrying into a family that was extremely poor. As the in-law, he would be caught in the middle of the Lin family's messy affairs, and he would be in a dilemma. Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?

"Isn't the Qian family's youngest daughter your classmate? She's pretty and has a big bottom; she looks like she'd be good at bearing children. And your Uncle Liu's eldest daughter from the next village is also quite nice; her aunt is the commune's women's director. You're both a good age, so why don't you choose one of these two?"

"No! I don't want anyone else, I only want Lin Zhaodi! I've got my eye on her!" Zhou Jiye swore in the most sincere tone, against his own conscience: "I will marry no one but her in this life! If you don't let me marry Lin Zhaodi, I'll be a bachelor for life!"

"You... why won't you listen to advice? What's so great about Lin Zhaodi? She has no figure, no butt, and looks like a washboard. Everyone in the village knows how poor the Lin family is. If I marry their daughter, where will I put my family's face?"

"No! I want her! I want her!" Perhaps it was due to the original Zhou Jiye's personality, but Zhou Jiye not only insisted on marrying Lin Zhaodi, but also used the unique supernatural power of the original Zhou Jiye - rolling on the ground and acting like a rogue.

The "child," weighing over 160 pounds, lay down on the ground, rolling and tumbling, kicking his legs and crying and screaming that he had to have Lin Zhaodi, looking like he wanted to die. Zhou Furong was so angry that he was about to grab a weapon to teach his unruly child a lesson when his wife arrived with his mother.

"The second daughter of the Lin family is clever. She's been wronged in the Lin family. Since Jiye has taken a liking to her, let's just go along with it." These were the words of the family's matriarch, Zhou Jiye's grandmother, Zhou Wangshi, and Zhou Furong's mother.

“Mother, others may not know what kind of family the Lin family is, but don’t you know? Besides, Zhao Di looks like she has no flesh on her bones…”

Before Zhou Furong could finish speaking, Zhou Wangshi gave him a cold glance, and Zhou Furong couldn't finish his sentence.

"Juanzi, aren't you going to try to persuade her?" Zhou Furong said to his wife, who was standing to the side, when he had no other choice.

"I'll listen to my mother."

Zhou Furong was speechless. When his mother pulled her beloved grandson Zhou Jiye up from the ground and said with a smile, "Third son wants to get married. He's grown up, that's a good thing! Zhaodi is a good girl, she's a bit thin, but the Zhou family's conditions are what they are. Once she's married, surely she'll have enough to eat? As long as Third son is happy, that's all that matters. Grandma has made the decision today, so we'll go along with Third son's wishes." At that moment, Zhou Furong knew that all was lost and sighed helplessly.

The next morning, Zhou Furong personally went to the Lin family's door to propose marriage, bringing thirty yuan as a bride price and promising that after Lin Zhaodi married into the family, the eldest daughter of the Lin family would become the scorekeeper.

The Lin family never imagined they could be betrothed to the Zhou family. They never expected such a great windfall to fall from the sky. Zhou Furong was a village secretary and cadre, and the Zhou family's conditions were worlds apart from their own. As for who the Zheng the Cripple they originally had their eye on was, the Lin family had completely forgotten.

The marriage was agreed upon and completed with lightning speed.

Getting married in this era wasn't as complicated or cumbersome as it would be decades later. All you had to do was register at the commune and get a certificate. For Zhou Furong, the village secretary, this was no big deal at all. As for banquets and such, frugality was encouraged these days. Ordinary families would treat everyone to a nice meal, distribute some wedding candy, and the bride and groom would wear big red flowers and bow in front of the portrait of the great man—that was enough.

And just like that, Zhou Jiye and Lin Zhaodi became husband and wife in the blink of an eye. After going through the ceremony in a daze, as if being manipulated by puppets, and entering the bridal chamber, Zhou Jiye finally realized that he was a married man.

(End of this chapter)