Ji Ning transmigrated into a family of nine in the Northern Song Dynasty.
With both elderly and young members in the household, the family worked all year round just to stay fed and clothed. While they had food on the table, meat was a luxury, and their clothes were made of coarse hemp, covered in layer upon layer of patches.
As a poor rural household, their future seemed set in stone from the start.
Ji Ning was not resigned to this fate. She rolled up her sleeves and decided to rely on her own two hands to change her destiny.
Making toys, working as a peddler, selling clothes—she saved up her money. With her heart set on more, she thought long and hard before taking over a small eatery in town for the family to run a little business.
Her elder brother was ambitious and passed the provincial exam to become a juren. He prepared to head to Bianjing.
Ji Ning fretted—her family had no background and absolutely no connections. Could her brother really succeed in the future?
Forget it, she would just have to work harder and figure out how to invent movable type printing!
No matter how high the sky of the Northern Song was, she was determined to lead her family to forge their own path!
–
Xie Luan’s parents died early, and the second branch of his family was scheming to take his inheritance, plotting to marry him off to a wife who would be easy to manipulate.
Who could have known that this man, who used to be as soft as a steamed bun, would suddenly change his face and temperament? He cursed out the neighbors, fought the second branch, and even declared that he would become a matrilocal son-in-law for another family.
What was most surprising was that he actually packed his bags and showed up at the Ji family’s door. Standing under the eaves, he asked the Ji family daughter in a low voice, “Every debit must have a credit, and debits and credits must be equal. Are you in need of a living-in husband?”
Looking at the beautiful Xie Luan, who was smiling with pure and harmless intent, Ji Ning agreed.
—It was definitely not because she wanted his large mansion and his thousand-guan dowry!
Reading Guide:
1.
Ensemble cast, slow-burn food novel. The map gradually expands from a small village to Bianjing.
2.
Semi-historical with some creative liberties. The timeline is around the Qingli Reforms. The romance plot appears later.
3.
An “economically practical” couple. The male lead is also a transmigrator. He is a genuine living-in husband; the matrilocal marriage industry (?) was quite developed in the Song Dynasty.
