[Transmigration] [Portable Space] [Stockpiling Food in a Famine] [Exile as a Substitute] [Building a Business and Getting Rich] [Master-Servant Role Reversal]
The night before the Pei family was arrested and their property confiscated, the madam brought out a set of fine silk clothes and forced Shen Man, a kitchen maid, to impersonate the eldest young lady and go into exile in the north.
The eldest young lady had escaped in the middle of the night, so why should Shen Man suffer in her place?
The madam said, "It's your good fortune to take the young lady's burdens upon yourself."
Shen Man smiled. "Fine. First pay me the wages you owe, give me back my contract, and prepare provisions for the journey."
What a joke. Why should she pay out of pocket to suffer for someone else? She wasn't stupid!
No one knew that this usually inconspicuous maid had already quietly saved up dozens of pounds of grain, and was hiding a portable space that could keep things fresh and store them.
A famine was coming, and grain prices were soaring. Along the thousand-mile road into exile, the former masters who had once lived in luxury were going gray with worry over getting a single hot meal.
But with the provisions in her space and her excellent cooking, Shen Man managed to make even the hard times enjoyable.
While everyone else was busy surviving, she was busy saving money.
From one hot cooking pot to a food shop, from a roadside stall to a north-south trading company, her business grew and her earnings piled up.
By the time the Pei family finally remembered the little maid they'd once ordered around, she already had houses, land, money, and food. She'd become Shopkeeper Shen, someone everyone was eager to do business with.
**She used to serve meals to the Pei family. Now, if they want even a bite of her food, they have to hope she's willing to sell it to them!**
