A Humble Girl's Rise to Glory on the Road from Famine

Tang Jin, a master's graduate in agricultural science, opens her eyes to find herself a farming girl on the brink of starvation while fleeing famine. Her father is ill, her mother frail, and her grandparents play favorites. Her younger siblings are crying for food, and strapped to her chest is a stingy pocket dimension that trades a pound of dirt for a pound of moldy rice!

Tang Jin grips her chipped axe. What a terrible transmigration experience!

Luckily, she has professional expertise. She gathers wild herbs, identifies medicinal plants, and improves crop varieties, carving a path to survival for her whole family in a chaotic world strewn with corpses.

Then one night, as wolves surround a temple, she runs into Shen Cang, a discharged soldier with a scar on his face. He's tough and says little, and he's great in a fight, but he keeps getting hurt. Tang Jin grumbles, “The male lead in this story is so much work,” while gritting her teeth and using the last of her salt to clean his wounds.

The washing reveals a military token from the northern frontier, and brings to light a major conspiracy involving embezzled military provisions and the framing of loyal officials.

Well, their flight-from-famine story has turned into a political intrigue plot in no time.

Forced to team up, they flee for their lives while investigating the case. He takes a blade for her; she beats a drum to demand justice for him and gets flogged for it.

He says, “Once things settle down, I'll build you a house.”

She rolls her eyes. “Let's just make it out alive first!”

They collect their rewards, return to Qingzhou, buy fields, and build up production. Shen Cang guards the border with his general's title, while Tang Jin rolls up her sleeves to farm and do business. Sweet potato yields double, oil mills spring up across the north, and the emperor personally grants her a plaque reading “Merchant of Virtue.”

The woman who once fled famine has become “Half the City Shen.” Shen Cang smiles as he grinds ink for her. “My lady, our accounts are thicker than the military supply ledgers.”

Twenty years later, the Shen family is a renowned clan in the northern frontier.

Their eldest son passes the imperial examinations and rises through the ranks to become Minister of Revenue, a pillar of the court.

Their youngest daughter enters the palace as empress, ruling alongside the emperor and ushering in a golden age.