Returning to Ancient Times to Become the Richest Man

[Please add The Royal Kindergarten and 90s Food Fortune to your reading list]

Transmigrated overnight, with a house in ruins? Parents both dead? A child bride?

Xu Yichi: What an extreme start.

No matter. I'll start by opening a cooking school and see how it goes.

Who knew that hot pot, barbecue, crayfish, rice noodles, cold noodles, and jianbing guozi would take me from a street stall to a shop, then from one shop to a chain?

And before I knew it, I'd become the richest person around, with a whole bunch of powerful people working for me?

Xu Yichi: I really never saw that coming.

-

An Ge has had a child bride since he was little. He wakes up one day to find that she's a different person inside.

Before, she was always scowling and criticizing him.

Now, it's "An Ge, you're so amazing! You're incredible!"

An Ge:

On the outside: Stay calm. It's no big deal.

On the inside: Chi Niang praised me! She praised me again! I'm so happy!

*Short skit

On the day An Ge passed the imperial exam, he rode through the streets in high spirits, showered with fruit, and was kidnapped by matchmakers looking for a husband.

A friend came to tell Xu Yichi, fuming with indignation.

Xu Yichi replied coolly, "Oh."

Her friend grew anxious. "What if they take him away...? What will you do?"

Xu Yichi: "Let him go, then. There are plenty of men out there."

An Ge returned in a hurry, then stopped in his tracks... It's over!

A few notes:

1. This is a fictional setting with many original details. Please don't nitpick the historical accuracy.

2. The plot comes first, but I'll try to make the logic hold together.

3. A slow-paced story about food and building a career.

[The Royal Kindergarten is available to add to your reading list]

Lin Nuo transmigrates into a tragic romance novel.

Her parents are the ones caught up in the tragic romance, while she and her many siblings are like a bunch of pitiful little cabbages, left to fend for themselves at the Imperial Academy. Later, they're all wiped out by the future Grand Secretary, and meet a tragic end.

Thinking of the ending in the book, Lin Nuo feels weak, helpless, and pitiful.

To change the story's ending, life at the Imperial Academy takes a new turn:

Facing her perpetually irritable, book-hating eldest brother, Lin Nuo claps her little hands and praises him with shining eyes: "Big Brother is amazing! Nuo Nuo admires you most of all. Let's memorize our lessons together today, then sneak off to slurp noodles and gnaw on pig's trotters, okay?"

The future tyrant's expression softens. "All right. We'll do as Nuo Nuo says."

Facing her playful, overbearing second brother, Lin Nuo blocks the people who've come to punish him and defends him, her small body standing in front of his. "My second brother is the kindest, best brother in the whole world. He would never hit anyone."

The future wastrel's heart softens, and he threatens everyone behind her back: "Anyone who bullies Nuo Nuo from now on is picking a fight with me."

Facing all the future nobles, officials, and young ladies, Lin Nuo clenches one fist and holds it beside her ear, speaking with conviction: "As classmates, we should help and support one another. We must never abandon anyone! Remember, our motto is..."

All the students shout together: "Leave no one behind! Abandon no one!"

*

The future Grand Secretary, Gu Xingyuan, notices that the willful, spoiled little girl has changed. She's gentle, polite, adorable, and smiles at everyone as beautifully as moonlight, but she avoids him in particular.

Gu Xingyuan: ????

At last, he can't take the thunderous pounding of his heart anymore. He stops her at the door and asks the question that's been puzzling him for so long.

"You smile at everyone. What about me?"

"We're all classmates. Didn't we promise not to abandon anyone?"

Lin Nuo: ?????!

[Please add the food novel 90s Food Fortune to your reading list]

Shen Chenxi is reborn.

In her previous life, after her parents died in an accident, her young siblings were sent to live with their uncles.

Her younger brother left school after middle school to work, severed one leg in an accident, and became disabled at just eighteen.

Her younger sister dropped out early and married. Her husband drank and beat her, and before her postpartum confinement was even over, she was up before dawn and working late into the night.

As for Shen Chenxi, she traveled from place to place to learn how to cook. At last, after mastering the craft, she planned to open a shop, only to have her partner swindle away all her money. When she was desperate, her younger brother gave her all of his compensation money, and her sister helped her set up a stall and find a location. They only wanted her to have a bright future, unlike them.

Given another chance, she would never let her siblings be fostered out again. She would help them escape the tragic fate of their previous lives.

With a wok, a stall, and a beat-up tricycle,

she sets out on her legendary journey.

Revised December 6, 2020. Screenshot saved.

Theme: Addressing unemployment by helping people find new jobs, starting with learning a trade.