I Became the Rural Fiancée of a Powerful Man in a Period Novel

[Upcoming novel: The Beautiful Doctor on the Seventies Island. Please add it to your collection! Synopsis below.]

Synopsis: Xia Wanqing spent her whole life disguised as a man while serving as head imperial chef. Then she transmigrated to the 1980s.

Before her grandfather, who had raised her alone, died, he used every last bit of his influence to secure two things for her: a betrothal to the Lu family and a job as a chef at a state-run restaurant.

In the novel, Xia Wanqing's urban fiancé not only stole her job, but also used her identity to enter a cooking competition. He invested her savings in a chain of restaurants, built a thriving business, and became a nationally renowned private entrepreneur.

Xia Wanqing, meanwhile, was cast out once she was no longer useful and died of depression.

After reading the story, Xia Wanqing sighed, packed her little bundle, went into the city, and headed straight to the state-run restaurant, where she handed in her letter of introduction and started work.

When Xia Wanqing won a major prize in the national cooking competition on behalf of the restaurant, her heartless fiancé was idling around as a street loafer.

When her first restaurant opened and the city's wealthy and influential people came to congratulate her, the little eatery run by her worthless fiancé was being investigated for using substandard ingredients.

When Xia Wanqing, now the richest person in the city, spoke confidently on a talk show, her shameless fiancé was on the run, dodging his debts.

Xia Wanqing: In this new society, men and women are equal. Instead of helping a man become a big shot, I might as well become one myself!

Lu Wangting met his country fiancée when he was very young. The little girl had big, round eyes, and when she smiled, they curved into two crescent moons. She would sweetly call him "Big Brother."

He planned to bring her to the city and build a life together as soon as he graduated from university. But in the blink of an eye, she became his cousin's wife, and devoted herself entirely to his cousin.

Not wanting to ruin someone else's happy family, Lu Wangting chose to leave.

When he returned, it was for her funeral. His cousin was openly bringing a flamboyantly dressed woman into the family home.

Only then did Lu Wangting realize what he had done wrong.

Given another life, he wouldn't give way again. He would protect the woman he loved.

[Upcoming novel: The Beautiful Doctor on the Seventies Island]

Synopsis: Lin Chenxin, a promising young doctor, transmigrates into a 1970s novel about a military wife raising children on an island. She becomes the cannon-fodder foil to the heroine.

The original heroine is hardworking, kind, virtuous, and patient. She's not only the male lead's capable partner, but also raises his three fallen comrades' orphaned children with painstaking care. In the end, she wins an enviable, happy life.

Lin Chenxin, the foil, is spoiled, lazy, and greedy, always trying to compete with the heroine. She makes trouble at every turn and ends up despised by everyone.

After reading the plot, Lin Chenxin thinks: Are the seafood not delicious enough, or are the handsome young men not attractive enough? Why would anyone be so foolish as to volunteer to become somebody's stepmother?

So:

While the heroine works herself to the bone doing laundry and cooking for the whole family, Lin Chenxin relaxes and tells a handsome young officer to help haul water and plant vegetables.

While the heroine's life is thrown into chaos by rebellious, willful children, Lin Chenxin sits peacefully in a rocking chair, drinking tea, reading, and snacking on treats she's made herself.

While the heroine tries to feed three children on the male lead's salary, carefully splitting every penny in two, Lin Chenxin is on a fishing boat just back from sea, carefully choosing abalone and giant lobsters.

Lin Chenxin thinks she's doing a pretty good job as the foil...

Shen Yan is just like his name: passionate and fiery. He was sent to live on the island because he refused to follow orders, but he quickly found his feet in this vast new world.

Until he met Lin Chenxin, his natural nemesis, who turned him from a free-spirited young man who loved doing whatever he pleased into an excellent bricklayer, carpenter, farmer, and chef!

Oysters, scallops, giant lobsters, sea snails, crabs, and golden abalone: ever since he met her, the island's quiet life has become flavorful and vivid.

A little scene: One stormy night, in the island's only operating room, which has very basic facilities, Lin Chenxin's heart wavers in the storm as she faces the badly injured Shen Yan.

Shen Yan takes her trembling hand, his gaze firm. "Lin Chenxin, I'm putting my life in your hands."

Theme: Carrying forward the traditional culinary culture of the Chinese people.