[A Kitchen Maid Earns Her Own Noble Title + Household Intrigue + Business Rivalries + Fleeing Famine + Farming + Natural Disasters + Ensemble Cast]
To help her family survive the natural disasters, ten-year-old A Fu sells herself in exchange for 30 jin of white rice.
There are no powerful noble families in the small county town, so A Fu is sold to the merchant Lin family and becomes a kitchen maid.
Aunt Liu, the cook, resents A Fu for taking her niece’s place and makes things difficult for her at every turn. Fortunately, A Fu is strong and quick on her feet.
Her fellow townsman Lu Chen, a sickly, sweet-faced schemer, looks out for her. She finally finds her footing in the household and even comes into a windfall, but then she gets into huge trouble and nearly loses her life.
That earns her the attention of the second young master, who brings her to his side as a “talisman” and raises her monthly wages.
She comes up with a profitable business idea for the second young master, and the reward money pours in as her savings grow by leaps and bounds.
She can almost see the day she’ll buy her freedom, leave the household, and regain her independence...
Then disaster strikes, and her masters flee in panic, without a thought for whether their servants live or die.
The journey to find refuge is harsh, but A Fu and Lu Chen support each other and manage to carve out a way forward... A Fu also wins herself a loyal puppy of a boyfriend.
At last they reach the borderlands. With no power or connections, the two ordinary people refuse to give in to fate and carefully build their lives. They make their fortune raising chickens, creating a new life from scratch in a strange place, with their own two hands. In the end, A Fu earns herself a noble title!
A warm, lively ensemble story about everyday life, family squabbles, and ordinary people. Not a wish-fulfillment story.
The heroine is rather weak at first. As she interacts with others, she learns little by little how to treat people and handle herself, eventually growing into a strong, independent woman.
A quick-witted maid full of vitality VS a sickly, double-standard carpenter (general), one-on-one romance
