Xiaoman’s Diary of Raising Kids in the Qing Dynasty

Lin Xiaoman, a modern pediatric emergency doctor, wakes up in the forty-third year of the Kangxi reign as the least noticed, low-ranking concubine in the Fourth Prince’s residence. The original owner fell into a well while rescuing an illegitimate daughter who had fallen into the water. But Lin Xiaoman wakes up with all her pediatric knowledge and a gift for soothing children.

When an old nanny calls swaddling a baby “nonsense,” she pulls out a thermometer to check the child’s temperature. When the young heir’s fever refuses to go down, she uses physical cooling and honeysuckle dew to dispel rumors of “black magic.” Even Honghui, the Fourth Prince’s legitimate son, frail and often ill, grows plump and healthy under her care with bedtime stories and craft lessons.

“Where is my consort?” “Reporting to Your Highness, Sister Xiaoman is giving the Seventh Prince a ‘no-pain shot’!”

The Fourth Prince goes from frowning and scolding her for being “improper” to secretly learning to make date-and-yam cakes. He goes from watching her soothe the children with a stony face to squatting on the ground and competing with them to use his court beads as marbles...

She uses modern parenting methods to navigate ancient rules and protects the younger members of the household with her pediatric knowledge. When Honghui passes the imperial examinations and throws himself into her arms, calling her “Mother”; when Yinqi holds up a medical book and declares, “I want to be like Mother”; and when the Seventh Prince asks in his baby voice, “Mother, do you regret coming here?”...

Lin Xiaoman smiles around a bite of date-and-yam cake. “Regret what? My Fourth Prince is here, and so are my three little rascals. Life here is sweeter than a fairy tale.”

No palace scheming in this Qing-era transmigration story, just the healing joys of raising children. See how a modern doctor makes life in ancient times feel like the warmest home imaginable.