Raising the Chancellor

[Print edition updates: Weibo @Ningyuan430]

Tong Shaoxuan first met Tang Sanniang, Tang Jianwei, whose family had fallen on hard times, at the Princess Royal’s spring gathering.

She saw not only Tang’s peerless beauty, but also her silver tongue and duplicitous nature.

Tong Shaoxuan sighed. “Thank goodness the Tang family called off my engagement back then. Otherwise, wouldn’t the Tong household be in chaos, with no peace and quiet?”

Not long afterward, the emperor betrothed Tang Jianwei to Tong Shaoxuan.

Tong Shaoxuan: “...”

Tang Jianwei: “I know you find me annoying and frightening. Let’s just play our parts and mind our own business.”

Tong Shaoxuan: “That suits me perfectly.”

Three days later, Tang Jianwei set up a stall selling fried dough sticks at the back gate of the Tong residence.

Tong Shaoxuan, utterly baffled, asked, “My family may not be one of the grandest houses, but we are a family of scholars. Why are you selling food on the street?”

Tang Jianwei: “Oh, have you found the money for next month’s groceries, Madam?”

Tong Shaoxuan: “...”

A few months later, Tong Shaoxuan came trotting over, wagging her tail and carrying a bowl. “Madam, could I have another serving of that fish in vinegar sauce?”

Tang Jianwei: “...”

Tong Shaoxuan devotes herself to studying and passing the imperial examinations, while Tang Jianwei busies herself making money and opening shops.

One day, Tang Jianwei says to Tong Shaoxuan, “I’ll go to the capital with you for your exams.”

Another day, Tang Jianwei asks her, “Do you prefer a boy or a girl? Shall we have one, too?”

Later, Tong Shaoxuan rises through the ranks to become prime minister. She is unmoved by all the delicacies served to her each day, thinking only of the meat soup her wife cooks at home.

“Why did the emperor betroth you to me?”

“Is it not allowed for me to like you?”

Remembering that exchange on their wedding night, Tong Shaoxuan really wants to know how much of what Tang Jianwei said back then was true.

Life is short, love is long. Hand in hand, they make a life together.

Note:

A young prime minister raised by her wife, with a loving relationship.

A sharp-tongued younger top x a culinary master, scheming bottom.

Set a hundred years after "I Am Fish Meat". You don’t need to have read it to enjoy this story.

Same-sex marriage is legal, and women can serve as officials.

[An alternate world, so don’t nitpick the history. Many details are author inventions.]

Food, making money, court politics, bickering lovers, marriage first and love later, and everyday squabbles like schoolkids.

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Author’s Weibo: @Ningyuan430

[Coming soon: "Excessive Favor"]

[A melodramatic sister-in-law romance]

Chi Yu’s sister is dead. The cause of death is unknown, and no culprit has been identified. The prime suspect is her sister’s wife, Ran Jin.

Six years ago, when the mysterious Ran Jin was first brought through the doors of the Chi family home by Chi Yu’s sister, Chi Yu knew the woman was hiding a tremendous secret.

Over the next six years, her sister treated Ran Jin as a treasure, doted on her, helped her grow, and gave her everything best in life.

Beautiful and brilliant, Ran Jin seemed flawless. She rose to the highest heights of public attention, surrounded by love and hailed as “a gift from creation.”

Only Chi Yu knew that beneath the woman’s incomparable beauty lay a filthy heart.

Chi Yu leaves everything behind overseas and returns to the Chi family.

She swears to use every means at her disposal to expose Ran Jin’s true nature, take back everything that should never have belonged to her, and avenge her sister.

Chi Yu: “Everything my sister owned is rightfully mine to inherit, and that includes you.”

Ran Jin: “I do have a filthy heart. My only wicked desire is to possess you.”

Two strong leads, one-on-one, each other’s first love.

Modern alternate setting where same-sex marriage is legal.

[Melodrama, melodrama, melodrama. That’s how important it is.]

April 24, 2020. Details may change before the story begins.

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