Everyday Life in Song Dynasty Streets

Completed: "Little Eats of Bianjing"

New story now underway: "The Marquis's Household Maid by Birth," see below.

Yun Tao transmigrated to the prosperous Great Song Dynasty, but ended up in the countryside.

With only a young girl for company, Yun Tao sold off her rural land and property and set out for Bianjing to seek help from her uncle.

As luck would have it, her uncle's family had just been sent away to serve as officials. Yun Tao and her little sister settled at Guanyin Convent in the outskirts of the capital.

Before they arrived: The convent is small and poor. We can't afford to take in two young ladies.

After they arrived: Miss Yun Tao, don't go! We can talk this out!

With her excellent cooking, Yun Tao managed to establish herself at Guanyin Convent. Gradually, the convent's vegetarian meals became quite famous, attracting many wealthy families from the capital.

Even the dilapidated little convent started drawing a thriving flow of worshippers.

From a small convent on the outskirts to Sweetwater Lane in the inner city, Yun Tao used her own skills to build a rich and satisfying life.

Goose breast with rouge, fish with pickled cabbage in golden broth, braised fish head with crab roe, old duck stew with dried bamboo shoots, chicken braised with five-fingered peach root...

Later, Yun Tao took a liking to the third son of the Wei family from Chicken Crow Village at the foot of the mountain. He was tall and strong, and a real hand at hard work, so she simply married him into her family.

In the bustling Song Dynasty capital of Bianjing were shrewd street vendors, a chubby young monk sneaking snacks, a butcher woman at the market, and a musician clutching a pipa at the entertainment quarter...

(Half farming and half business management. The Song Dynasty here is fictional, and ingredients that didn't exist back then may appear. Don't get too hung up on historical accuracy.)

---New story: "The Marquis's Household Maid by Birth"---

I've transmigrated!

Good news: I've landed in the wealthy Marquis Anping's household.

Bad news: I didn't become a noble young lady. I'm a hereditary maid!

Lin Chunjin was depressed. No, why was her transmigration different from everyone else's? Where was the promised invincible hero's life? Where was the promised wealth and glory?

In her last life, she'd worked like a beast of burden. In this life, she was a beast of burden again, right from birth! Lin Chunjin wanted to cry. Why did she still have to work after transmigrating?

Her whole family were lifelong servants of the marquis's household. Her father was a minor steward in the manor, her mother a second-rank cook in the kitchen, her older brother a stable hand, and she herself had been demoted to a lowly cleaning maid after making a mistake.

Time to get moving! All of them, get moving! She was going to rise from a common maid to a trusted aide to the management, save enough money, and escape her servant status before the marquis's household was confiscated!

And she wasn't going to do it alone. Her whole family had to get moving too!

She'd help her mother become the kitchen manager. Her unruly older brother needed to make a name for himself in front of his masters, even if all he did was raise horses. And she wouldn't let her little brother off the hook either. She'd find a way to get him into the marquis's household!

It's tough getting ahead at work. Some colleagues make life difficult for you, others ostracize you, and the madams and young ladies are even harder to please. Lin Chunjin served them carefully, hoping to get her servant status revoked and escape the marquis's household as soon as possible.

Years later, when the once-prosperous marquis's household fell apart and its members scattered, the former little maid had settled down and become a small landowner of her own...

Theme: Hard work creates a beautiful life