The Little Maid of the General’s Manor Becomes a Court Lady

[Alternate History, Slow Burn, Female Growth, Everyday Family Life, Male Lead Appears Late, Ensemble Cast, Light Political Scheming]

Theme: Keep striving and never give up.

She should have been this year's top humanities student.

Clutching her report card, which ranked her third in the whole city, Lin Meishuang did the math in the July sunshine: a kind benefactor had paid her first year's tuition, and if she tutored children for two months over the summer, she could cover her living expenses for freshman year.

Children raised in orphanages know how to make every penny count. She had even worked out how to save up her tutoring fees: two lessons a day, thirty yuan per lesson, over two months...

"Bang."

When she opened her eyes again, she had become a little maid in the Great Qian Dynasty.

Nine years of schooling, wasted.

No, not wasted. The most valuable thing in the world has always been a sharp mind.

She began calculating all over again: save money, buy her freedom, get her brother out of trouble in this life, and find somewhere nobody knew her. Farm the land or set up a stall, whatever it took to lie flat.

But the young lady clutched her sleeve and refused to let go. "Shuang'er, don't leave."

The maid who worked alongside her wrapped her arms around her leg. "If you're leaving, take me with you."

Before she could even start worrying about it, someone else appeared beneath the covered walkway.

The young general, said to be decisive and ruthless, gazed at her with shadowed eyes. "Stay at the manor. I can give you the security you want."

Lin Meishuang looked at the hand clutching her sleeve, then at the arms wrapped around her leg, and finally at the person waiting beneath the walkway for her to say yes.

She suddenly smiled. A swan could never be confined to one small corner of the world.

She thought, it was time to recalculate the whole plan.

Content warnings: 1. There are some ensemble-cast elements, so proceed with caution if that's not your thing.

2. This is not a wish-fulfillment story. The heroine's growth is gradual.