The Maid's Everyday Working Life

Lin Mianmian's experience as a dowry maid could be summed up in one sentence: working for a living is hard, and working for a married couple is even harder.

As her young mistress's dowry maid, she didn't just have to mediate between her mistress and her new husband. She also had to help her mistress play both the good cop and the bad cop, and come up with plans whenever the household's many women came calling.

Work was hard, but outside the door there was nothing but famine and bullies, so she had no choice but to lie low in the marquis's residence.

The residence was full of people and complicated rules. From the marquis down to the lowliest servant, everyone had their own little schemes.

And her mistress took over as head of the household as soon as she married in.

The daily routine went like this:

"Mianmian, we've overspent again this month. What should we do?"

"Mianmian, we can't collect this year's rent. What should we do?"

"Mianmian, you have to try harder. The young master keeps asking me for you every few days. I only managed to make him stop by telling him you could be a big help."

Lin Mianmian, who had been an executive at a major corporation, tore her hair out and was forced to step in.

She handled the servants, increased revenue and cut costs, managed social engagements, and took charge of crisis PR.

Her management skills finally earned recognition, and the dowry maid was promoted to the household's most capable head steward.

She thought she could finally take a breather, but then a distant relative of the marquis's family came to mooch off them and refused to leave.

Li Chengsi was smooth-talking and handsome, and had secured a cushy position in the residence by sucking up to people.

Lin Mianmian thought he was exactly the sort of person she hated most at work. She couldn't stand him.

But after the spring imperial examinations, Li Chengsi passed with flying colors and set up his own household.

Lin Mianmian wailed, "When will I finally get to be my own master?!"

Li Chengsi leaned close to her. "Hey, my residence still needs a lady of the house. Want the job?"

Here's a story coming soon.

"I Transmigrated as a Fake Prince Who Disguised Herself as a Man, and Got a Happy Ending with the Emperor"

Blurb:

A fake prince who disguises herself as a man and lies flat until she becomes a target x a scheming emperor who even factors his own feelings into his plans

Shen Zhao never imagined she'd transmigrate into a political scheming novel as the seventh prince, the character with the least presence in the story. And not just any seventh prince, but a woman disguised as a man.

She was also a powerless outsider in the imperial palace.

In the original book, this seventh prince appeared in just three scenes.

The third prince framed him, he took the blame for the third prince, and then the emperor killed him with a cup of poisoned wine. A complete tool character, so forgettable that even the readers didn't remember his name.

The first thing Shen Zhao did after transmigrating was claim to be sick and lie flat.

Her attitude was simple: Let the rest of you fight over the throne. I'll be a carefree idler.

Every day, she either watched cockfights and dog races or listened to opera and drank wine, turning "useless prince" into performance art.

Then, one night, a small sedan carried her into the palace.

The imperial study was brightly lit. The young emperor Shen Yan sat behind his desk and tossed a stack of secret reports in front of her.

They were all records of her "cockfights and dog races" over the past six months. They even listed how many taels of silver she'd tipped a theater troupe in the western part of the city.

Shen Zhao felt a chill run down her back. "Imperial Brother, have you been investigating me?"

"The entire court has been investigating you." Shen Yan tapped the desk with his fingertip. "The third prince wanted to know if you were pretending to be stupid. The fifth prince wanted to know if you had someone backing you."

"After investigating, I discovered you're actually stupid."

Shen Zhao: "...Thank you for your gracious praise?"

"Don't thank me too soon." Shen Yan looked up. "I need a target to put in plain sight, one who can help me draw out the big fish behind the scenes. Out of all the members of the imperial clan, after weighing my options..."

"Your face makes the best bait."

Shen Zhao: ???

From then on, the seventh prince was "favored." The emperor rewarded her with a mansion and beauties, and even praised her at court. The third prince was so jealous his eyes practically bled, and the whole court thought she was about to rise to the top.

So cups of poisoned wine and voodoo dolls started showing up at her residence, one after another, each more dangerous than the last.

She played the target by day, then went to the palace at night to go over the accounts with Shen Yan. They split the spoils fifty-fifty and worked together very happily.

Until, during the autumn hunt, a cold arrow flew straight toward Shen Yan's back.

Shen Zhao rushed forward without a second thought.

When she woke, she was already in the emperor's tent. The arrow wound on her chest had been bandaged, and the cloth binding her breasts had been folded neatly by her pillow.

Shen Yan sat by the bed, turning over the jade pendant that had fallen from her clothes. He stared at it for a long, long time.

"Shen Zhao," he suddenly said. "The crime of deceiving the emperor is punishable by death."

Shen Zhao closed her eyes. "...Can saving Your Majesty's life atone for it?"

"No."

"Then why are you only telling me now?"

"Because," Shen Yan said. He put the jade pendant back beside her pillow and tucked the blanket around her, "even before you took that arrow for me, I'd already been thinking..."

"How can I pardon you in a way that keeps you by my side for the longest time?"

Later, an imperial decree was issued.

The seventh prince "died suddenly," and the emperor and empress were married in a grand ceremony, celebrated across the land.

Only then did the ministers realize that the seventh prince was not only a woman, but not of imperial blood either. Most astonishing of all, she'd actually won over the emperor, who had renounced love. What a remarkable woman.

One-to-one romance, both leads are each other's first and only.

The leads are not related by blood.

Theme: Break through obstacles and move forward bravely.