Sweet Soup in Lingnan

Cui Linlang was an orphan raised by her entire clan. She had played the obedient girl for over a decade, waiting for the chance to use the Cui family's influence to make her mark. Then the Cui family... collapsed. At the bottom of the exile roster, squeezed in crookedly in tiny writing, was a line: Distant relatives of the Cui clan are to be punished as well. What a disaster out of nowhere! She bundled up her belongings, grabbed a woodcutting knife, and marched off with the exiles, full of fight. Just after they left the capital, a man joined their group. Word was, he was the grandson of Physician He An, and he too was being sent to Lingnan to suffer. His wrists were as pale as peeled sugarcane, and his skin looked so tender it seemed you could squeeze water from it. He was the very image of a pretty young actor stepping off the stage. Cui Linlang's eyes latched onto him and refused to let go. One night, a frog hopped onto his bedding. She reacted in a flash, scooped it up with both hands, and caught the big frog alive! Shen Huaijin's voice rose for the first time. “How shameless!” The next day, Cui Linlang dug up a huge taro and was about to roast it with the frog when he gently stopped her. “That's an elephant ear. It's poisonous.” Her hand shook, and the taro rolled into the mud. She marveled, “Educated people really are different. You even know all your plants.” On the road to exile, she led the young and old of her clan through the mountains, gathering wild greens, picking August melons, digging for Chinese olives and five-finger fig roots... Somehow, they managed to survive! Of course, their number one lifesaver was Shen Huaijin, their very own traveling physician. To show her gratitude, she roasted a nest of bamboo worms and cheerfully brought them to him. “Doctor Shen, try one. See if it's poisonous?” He chewed with his eyes shut, then opened them and asked, “...Are there any more?” She grinned. “Sure! Trade me some mugwort balm! A mountain leech crawled up my leg...” As he applied the medicine, he held her ankle, his cool breath brushing over her skin. Her grin stretched from ear to ear. “Take your time. I'm in no hurry.” His ears turned crimson, but he didn't pull his hand away. Lingnan was humid and fever-ridden, but Cui Linlang could smell money in the air. She led her clan in reclaiming the land: cassava planted on the slopes, lychees and longans weighing down the branches. Wood ear mushrooms grown on rotting logs, sugarcane more plentiful than grain... At first, they traded dried goods for salt. Later, traveling merchants came all the way to find them, exchanging half a string of cash for a basket of dried wood ear mushrooms. Three years later, the Cui family had set up a food stall. Fruit fritters, pickled sour snacks, herbal jelly, cassava balls, sweet drinks... The clansfolk had put on weight, and silver ingots filled their pockets. On the day the imperial decree arrived, she stood atop a hill and turned to ask him, “Are you going back?” He shook his head. “I'm staying. I'll stay by your side...” The air was full of the sharp, sweet scent of cassava leaves. She smiled, her eyes curving like crescent moons. Good. He wasn't going back. There was farmland here, sweet cassava soup, and him. Upcoming Novel Preview 【Archived 2026/8/19】Expected launch: October Late one night, food delivery rider Tang Mingtang was delivering a meal when the elevator plunged, dropping her into a disaster-instance. “You have a new delivery order!” : Player “Yinchuan” requests one medical kit at the second floor of the ruins in Zone C of Wanhua Base. Delivery fee: 20 points. Time limit: 30 minutes. She looked down at herself: a yellow kangaroo uniform, and a medical kit that had appeared by her feet. Then she looked up at the distant horde of roaring zombies. She fell silent... Did she really have to keep delivering food even after landing in the apocalypse? Her phone screen lit up again: 【29 minutes until the order is overdue.】 She stared at the words, cursed, and took off running! : From now on, she wasn't taking any orders more than three kilometers away! Later, she discovered she was the only delivery rider in the entire instance... While everyone else was fighting tooth and nail for supplies, she pulled out her phone to check the orders. “Who ordered braised chicken? It's on the roof of Ruins Building Three. I'll get docked if it's late!” She traveled between the players' various strongholds, delivering water, food, and ammunition, and racked up points faster than combat-focused players. A rich lady tipped her generously, the number-one player on the points leaderboard was one of her regulars, and Uncle Liu, a struggling survivor, loved joining group orders for shared delivery... When the instance ended and players rated her service, she consistently scored 4.9. The comments were full of “Delivered on time,” “Packaging intact,” and “You saved my life”... Theme: Hard work brings prosperity