TATLC Chapter 04 – Fierce Little Brother-in-Law

“I’m going to the mountains,” Chen Xiaomi said as he stood up.

Chen Xiaocai nodded and promised, “Da-ge, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of our little brother and keep an eye on this guy too.”

When Chen Xiaocai mentioned their youngest brother, his expression was gentle, but when he mentioned Lu Lin, his expression turned fierce.

Chen Xiaomi was quite satisfied with his capable and obedient younger brother. “I’m counting on you.”

Chen Xiaocai nodded seriously. “Understood.”

Looking at his big brother, Chen Xiaocai thought he was the most powerful person in the world. When he grew up, he also wanted to hunt in the mountains, earn money to support the family, and lighten his big brother’s burden.

No matter how the villagers gossiped about Chen Xiaomi, in Chen Xiaocai’s heart, his big brother was an unparalleled hero.

Shortly after Chen Xiaomi left, Lu Lin opened his eyes.

With the legendary Chen Xiaomi, who was said to have killed a tiger with a single punch, around, Lu Lin didn’t dare to open his eyes. Now that Chen Xiaomi was gone, Lu Lin finally opened them.

Lu Lin blinked. Today was supposed to be his wedding day, but there wasn’t the slightest hint of celebration.

Looking at the dilapidated mud-tile house, Lu Lin sighed in his heart.

To think he had transmigrated to such a place. This family looked so poor!

Chen Xiaocai looked at Lu Lin with disdain. “So you’re not dead after all! If you don’t want to die, get up and eat something. If you want to die, go die outside. This house cost my big brother a lot of money, and I won’t let you dirty our place.”

Lu Lin: “…” Chen Xiaocai looked about seven or eight years old. Although somewhat frail, he had quite the imposing manner, perhaps influenced by his tiger-fighting brother.

In this world, Shuang’er were relatively rare. Among the three Chen family members, the eldest and youngest were Shuang’er, while only the second child, Chen Xiaocai, was a boy.

Lu Lin frowned at Chen Xiaocai and said, “I don’t want to die anymore. I’d like something to eat.”

Chen Xiaocai gave Lu Lin a look that said “smart choice” and continued, “My big brother spent ten taels of silver to buy you, so don’t even think about acting all high and mighty just because you’re a man. My brother could crush you.”

Lu Lin: “…” In this world, men were superior to women. During family meals, women couldn’t even sit at the table, let alone Shuang’er, whose status was even lower than women’s.

Chen Xiaomi appeared intimidating and feared by all, but in reality, if he showed even the slightest weakness, he might be bullied to death by the ignorant villagers or manipulated by the Chen family.

Chen Xiaocai had always stayed by Chen Xiaomi’s side, so he understood his brother’s difficulties. With Lu Lin joining the household, Chen Xiaocai felt it necessary to make him understand the situation.

“I understand,” Lu Lin said.

Lu Lin thought to himself: This brat is so fierce at such a young age. With this attitude, how will he ever find a wife?

Seeing that Lu Lin got the message, Chen Xiaocai’s attitude softened slightly.

Chen Xiaocai brought Lu Lin a bowl of coarse rice porridge and warned, “We don’t feed idlers in this house. Get better quickly. Winter is coming soon, and we still need to prepare food for the cold season.”

Chen Xiaocai was secretly worried. They had spent a lot of money buying a person this year, adding another mouth to feed. Without making arrangements, they might not survive the winter. They needed to earn money, especially since they had no farmland.

The more Chen Xiaocai thought about it, the more dissatisfied he became with Lu Lin. Buying him costed ten taels – ten taels that could have bought a lot of grain.

Chen Xiaocai decided that once Lu Lin recovered, he would send him hunting with his big brother or to town for temporary work. Such a grown man couldn’t just do nothing.

Lu Lin frowned as he ate the porridge. In his previous life, people always worried about eating unhealthily, with GMOs, pesticides, chemical fertilizers… But at least they could eat their fill! In ancient times, whether food was healthy or not wasn’t important. Having anything to eat was already good enough.

The coarse rice tasted awful, almost like sand. Eating the coarse porridge, Lu Lin silently complained how many people from his previous world pursued “all-natural” things, but not everything natural was good. Actually, instant noodles weren’t so bad.

Lu Lin couldn’t help showing his disgust, which seemed to anger Chen Xiaocai.

Chen Xiaocai cursed, “If you don’t want to eat it, then don’t!” He stormed off angrily.

Lu Lin watched Chen Xiaocai’s retreating figure and scratched his head. Although he wasn’t richin his previous life, he never lacked food or clothing. Now that he’d been thrown back to pre-liberation times, they should at least give him time to adjust.

Seeing that Chen Xiaocai had left, Lu Lin took out a bottle of Nutri-Express¹ from the convenience store and began drinking it.

Lu Lin thought to himself: His wife was violent, and his family was the type to eat people without spitting out the bones. If he wanted to survive in this place, he needed to recover quickly.