On the Road to Exile, Every Child I Pick Up Is a Big Shot

[Farming, exile, adorable kids doted on by everyone, no romance, women's growth, ensemble cast, building wealth, face-slapping of nasty relatives, light political intrigue and overturning a wrongful case]

When Jiang Suisui opens her eyes, she's a nobody: a fire-tending maid in the household of a disgraced official, so unimportant that no one even remembers her name.

She isn't included in the confiscation, but she is named on the exile list. The 3,000-li journey to the Northern Wastes lies ahead, and all she owns is the tattered cloth bag her mother left her: a dozen or so seeds and a half-worn copy of Essential Techniques for the Common People.

The escorting officials skimp on rations, and her fellow exiles each have their own schemes.

Worse still, a string of unwanted little kids trail behind the group, staring wide-eyed at the half a bun in her hand.

"Big Sis, I can carry 300 jin. Just give me a bite."

"Big Sis, I never forget anything I hear, even just once."

"Big Sis, I can do accounts. I can split one coin into eight and make it stretch!"

Jiang Suisui smiles.

She breaks the bun into eight pieces. "All right. Stay close, and I'll take you to reclaim the wasteland."

The escorting official scoffs. "A bunch of burdens. You think you'll survive in the Northern Wastes?"

She doesn't look back.

Later...

While others fleeing famine chew tree bark, she grows golden treasures no one in the empire has ever seen.

Nasty relatives show up to take the fruits of her labor? The strongest kid knocks the door off its hinges with one hand. "Say that again?"

A prefectural official tries to steal the credit? The second kid recites, word for word, what he said three years ago when he embezzled relief grain.

Only when the kids' backgrounds come together as part of the same shocking old case does she realize...

She hasn't just taken in children. She's found a ladder leading straight to the imperial court, where the case can be overturned.

"My lord, you tore so many families apart back then. Now there are just as many eyes watching you from around my dinner table."