Yuanbao's Life Among the Common Folk

💕 Set to open in October or November

Yuanbao transmigrates into the womb of a woman in ancient times and is born as a boy who can have children.

The Yuan family has five people, making ends meet with Father Yuan selling wontons and Mother Yuan doing laundry for others.

The family is dirt poor and can barely afford to eat.

His parents are always frowning, and his older brother and sister never smile.

When Yuanbao is just a month old, his father puts him in a carrying basket beside the wonton stall.

Little Yuanbao is round-headed, round-faced, and round-eyed.

So very round and cute.

His parents need to earn money to buy him goat's milk. Yuanbao wants to help, too. His age and lack of language skills won't stop him.

He beams at passersby with his round, shining eyes.

In baby babble, he chirps: Come have a bowl of wontons! (✿◠‿◠ ✿)

Before long, more and more people come to the family's little wonton stall, and business gets better and better.

At last, Yuanbao gets to drink goat's milk and grows up safe and sound.

At fifteen, Yuanbao falls seriously ill. His family sells the wonton stall to raise money and snatches him back from the King of Hell.

Father Yuan goes to the docks to haul cargo, and Mother Yuan takes on even more laundry work.

Yuanbao's big brother quits school, and his second sister says she will marry to save the family the cost of feeding her.

After his brush with death, Yuanbao's hazy memories of his past life grow clear.

Unable to bear seeing his family suffer, he returns to his old trade, selling all kinds of pastries and noodles.

With the whole family working hard, their little stall grows into a shop.

Yuanbao and Cheng Junzhu have been childhood friends, growing up together like bamboo horses. Now that they're old enough, it's time to discuss their engagement.

Their families agreed that once the imperial examination for boys was over, they would arrange the match, whether Junzhu passed and became a scholar or not.

But Junzhu passes the exam and gets engaged to a young master from a wealthy merchant family instead.

Yuanbao crouches beneath the pomegranate tree in the courtyard, his shoulders trembling slightly.

A low voice behind him offers an awkward attempt at comfort, stern but not unkind: "Don't cry. I'll beat him up for you."

Yuanbao stops picking at a pomegranate and looks up. So startled is he that he plops down on the ground.

The pomegranate rolls right up to a pair of black boots.

Lu Huaiqian, a junior officer in the Imperial Guards.

Famed for his cruelty, he is feared by all.

He's also the terrifying demon Yuanbao and Cheng Junzhu have feared since childhood.

Yuanbao stammers, "Hello, Cousin Lu."

Lu Huaiqian frowns. "I'm Cheng Junzhu's cousin."

Yuanbao tries again, cautiously. "Hello, Officer Lu."

Lu Huaiqian furrows his brow even more. "I've come to your house to ask for your hand in marriage. From now on, call me your husband."

What! He wants to marry Yuanbao?

Yuanbao bursts into tears.

Later, his childhood friend is made to call him sister-in-law by his husband.

Yuanbao nods, a little embarrassed. "Ah, little cousin."

[Reading Guide]

●○ Yuanbao's life from childhood onward, with a focus on everyday business and childbearing

●○ The pace is not fast. The story follows the family building their life from nothing, little by little.

●○ There is almost no involvement in court politics.

●○ The story begins when he is a little child. The romance comes later.

●○ Twelve-year age gap

Theme: Work hard to make every day a good one.