Cheng’s Little Snack Shop

A clever cook with a charming smile + an arrogant young master who hates eating.

Cheng Sui'an transmigrated here with one simple plan: work hard as a maid, save up some money, and turn her life around as soon as possible. Who could have guessed that the young master of the household would go mad and insist she become his concubine-in-waiting, with little pay, plenty of work, and a duty to warm his bed!

What a capitalist! No one cuts costs and squeezes out more work as ruthlessly as you do!

Realizing the family she worked for was up to no good, and that staying would only get her killed like the original owner of her body, Cheng Sui'an promptly set up the kitchen bully as her scapegoat and made a clean getaway. She hurried back to the original owner's dirt-poor family in the countryside.

Three thatched cottages, a rented plot of mountain land, and a small patch of farmland: that was all the family owned. They were so poor they could barely afford to eat! But Cheng Sui'an wasn't one to be daunted. She gathered the family's resources, took her younger sisters into the mountains to pick mushrooms, and set up a bamboo-stove stall to sell snacks.

Ten days was enough to feed the family. In a month, they could rent a roadside shop. In three months, she could start planning to build them three tiled-roof houses.

But on the second floor of the elaborately decorated inn next door to the landlord's house, a slender young gentleman was always sneaking glances at her. Whenever she ran into trouble, all he had to do was sit by the window, and the problem would vanish as if cured.

Cheng Sui'an took him for a benefactor, and whenever she came up with a new dish, she would have her younger sister bring him a portion.

Before long, rumors began to spread around the county. The noble young master of the Lu family, who had come from Bianjing, was so smitten that he practically wanted to marry into the Cheng family and become the shopkeeper's wife...

Theme: Make a living through your own skills, not as an accessory to a man in ancient times.