The moment Shen Yinli opens her eyes, she finds herself in a nightmare from the start:
The house is bare and drafty, the rice jar is emptier than her stomach, her sickly older brother is barely clinging to life, and the twins are so thin you can count every rib. They don’t even have the strength to cry.
The original owner was cheated out of her last two taels of silver by a crooked scholar, then hit a wall and died in despair, dumping the whole family’s mess on Shen Yinli.
Outside, creditors pound on the door and curse her. Pay up today, they threaten, or they’ll sell the children and the house!
Shen Yinli rolls up her sleeves, utterly unruffled:
Starving until your vision goes black? She hikes up her pants, fishes in the river, and gathers vegetables in the mountains. She lifts the lid of the battered clay pot, and the delicious aroma makes the whole family swallow hard. Soon the two little ones have round, rosy cheeks.
Her brother is frail? She gathers herbs and prepares medicinal meals, snatching him back from the King of Hell. Then she teaches him to take charge of the household.
And that crooked scholar who swallowed the money meant to save their lives?
Shen Yinli gives a cold laugh and pays him a visit. He’ll cough up every last coin, and as for what he owes, she’ll make him repay it with interest, double!
From a drafty thatched hut to a grand house with brick walls, from scraping by on bran to meat at every meal, she raises children, puts scoundrels in their place, and builds the family fortune with her own two hands. She raises the twins into a female general and a top scholar!
My new work is out! You’re welcome to read it on Tomato Novel. I hope you’ll enjoy it. Your support inspires me to write, and I’ll do my best to tell every story well!
