I Picked Up a Down-and-Out Crown Prince to Farm, Who Knew He'd Get Hooked

[Shrewd, money-loving country girl × devoted prince with a surprising side] Jiang Tang became a mother without the labor pains. She woke up as a village girl in ancient times who had eloped, had a child, and then been abandoned. Her reputation was in tatters. She was also a fat, cruel, lazy glutton who mistreated her son. Looking at the rickety thatched hut and empty yard, Jiang Tang wilted. She had no money or food, couldn't get enough to eat or wear warm clothes, and was bullied by the neighbors. So she decided to get rich in one fell swoop: A limping imperial merchant? Bring him home. The crown prince? Bring him home. The prime minister's legitimate daughter? Bring her home. And when a newly appointed prefect came along, Jiang Tang gritted her teeth and brought him home too. Who knew the imperial merchant was bankrupt, the crown prince was being hunted, the prime minister's daughter had been kicked out of her home, and even the newly appointed prefect was a fresh-faced official forced out of the capital by his rivals? Looking at a houseful of impoverished nobles with nothing to their names, Jiang Tang was at her breaking point. She gritted her teeth and decided to make it on her own. Farming! Farming! They could all work for her. The crown prince, once a force to be reckoned with at court, was forced to hoe the fields, glaring at Jiang Tang as if he wanted to dig a hole straight through the earth. The wealthy merchant was made to plow, haul manure, and water the crops, constantly itching to quit. The prime minister's daughter jumped three feet in the air as chickens and ducks chased her around. The newly appointed prefect pinched his nose and scrubbed the chamber pots with a toilet brush, his face icy. Jiang Tang called it working off their debts. They all had to get to work. But as they went on, the crown prince's grip on his hoe grew gentler, and the merchant let go of his resentment and started following Jiang Tang around, bowing and scraping... Before long, they were all more eager to head into the mountains and farm than she was. One day, Jiang Tang counted the money in her hands. “You've all paid off your debts. You can leave now.” The crown prince was the first to object. “No way. Not unless I'm dead!”