Transmigrated, I Made a Name for Myself Through Diving

Coming soon: A Food City on the Frontier. Blurb below.

Blurb:

Qiu Lan, a competitive diver, transmigrated to the Great Xi Dynasty and became Qiu Lan, an orphan whose parents had died and who lived with her neighbors.

Luckily, she discovered that a sport called "water swings," similar to modern diving, was popular in this dynasty. She decided to disguise herself as a man and make a living that way.

Disguising herself as a man brought plenty of dangers. Her biological father had once been a water-swing performer, but after making a grave mistake, his reputation was ruined.

His clan had severed ties with him, and the clan matriarch not only refused to acknowledge Qiu Lan, but did everything she could to make her disappear and stop her from performing water swings, lest she bring trouble down on the family.

Her neighbor urged her, "You should hurry up and find a good man to marry."

Qiu Lan refused. In the end, she earned a place at the most prestigious acrobatics troupe in the capital, where she could study water swings.

Who knew that after her modern-style platform diving caught Prince Rui's attention, her teammates and instructors would begin to ostracize her?

But in the face of overwhelming skill, all their scheming and exclusion amounted to nothing.

Prince Rui admired her and took her advice, promoting water-swing competitions throughout the Great Xi.

The troupe's leading performer respected her and was willing to swallow his pride and learn platform diving from her.

She became famous throughout the land, and even the emperor and empress knew of her renown.

As for the clan that had always wanted to harm her, they shamelessly tried to cling to her once she became successful, only for her to kick them aside!

What made others even more envious was that Prince Rui, who had known her identity all along, had already fallen deeply in love with her. At a crucial moment, he stepped in and publicly announced that she was to be his future princess consort, protecting her in the process.

"Prince Rui's consort?"

The day Sang Yuan, another water-swing performer, saw through Qiu Lan's identity, he cornered her against a wall. Suppressing the love in his heart, he gritted his teeth and demanded, "Does His Highness Prince Rui know you're my ex-girlfriend?"

"So what?" Qiu Lan looked up at him, seemingly unconcerned. "When feelings are over, they're over."

Reader's guide:

1. Both leads transmigrate. The heroine is a mature, fiercely independent woman who has grown up on her own and is focused on her career. The romance is a competition between a dramatic, clingy puppy of a young man and a gentle, refined young prince with a calculating mind. A little Mary Sue-ish? They both like the heroine~

2. Overall, it's lighthearted, with both a plot and a romance, plus high-stakes competition and clearing her father's name, among other things.

3. "Baixi" is a general term for folk performances in ancient times, especially acrobatics. Water swings really existed in ancient times and were popular in the Song Dynasty. Even the emperor went to watch, but the rules are hard to pin down. This is a fictional setting, and most details are the author's inventions, so don't take it too seriously. It's an alternate-history transmigration story, so just have fun~

4. The blurb may be tweaked a little, but the overall direction won't change. (Blurb archived.)

Coming soon: A Food City on the Frontier

Fiery beauty vs. musclebound warrior

Jin Luoyue closed her eyes, opened them, and found she'd transmigrated to ancient times, with nothing but a "rookie" post station to her name from the start.

A desolate frontier, a rundown inn, a cook who couldn't make edible food, a bookkeeper with dreadful math skills, a socially anxious waiter, and Jin Luoyue, the sole capable adult, struggling to raise her two young nephew and niece.

To make matters worse, it seemed she'd gotten married, but she couldn't remember who her husband was or where he had wandered off to.

Jin Luoyue: If I've done something wrong, punish me according to the law. Don't make me transmigrate here and suffer through all this!

The children wailed for food and drink, the landlord was on her heels demanding rent, and with life leaving her no choice, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

Jin Luoyue had no special talents beyond cooking. Spring brought seasonal delicacies, autumn its fruits, summer ice-cold drinks, and winter hot pot. It couldn't be that hard to get a little shop back on its feet.

She had enough staff, but each of them had their own shortcomings. She couldn't bear to fire them, but keeping them around was a bit of a burden.

Luckily, one day Jin Luoyue went for a stroll outside the city and found a formidable, brawny man in the yellow sand.

The man was tall and strong, with an impressive chest. He could do the work of three men and didn't even ask for wages.

The only problem was that he wasn't very bright. He had amnesia.

He hadn't forgotten everything. The moment he opened his eyes, he called her his wife. Each of them wore half of a matching jade pendant, so maybe it was true after all.

Taking in his handsome face, sexy physique, and hardworking nature, Jin Luoyue wiped away her drool. "I approve of this marriage."

Since we're both "amnesiacs," we might as well make it work. What else can we do, get divorced?

Before long, Luoyue Inn rose to prominence and crushed every other restaurant in the city. Its signature dishes included, but weren't limited to, big-plate chicken, beef noodles, pork knuckle, and whole roast lamb...

Alongside local dishes, there was a dazzling variety of food from elsewhere: mapo tofu, roast duck; fish maw soup with yellow croaker, white-cut chicken; pumpkin with salted egg yolk, seafood casserole; beef chow fun, oil-braised shrimp!

No one could leave without a full belly.

The young couple's life together was just as sweet, and they were so devoted to each other that they made love night after night. They might even have two children in three years. Jin Luoyue thought life would carry on peacefully like this, until one day she came home from walking the dog...

Armored soldiers were kneeling all around her husband. When they turned to see her, they shouted in unison, "We pay our respects to Her Highness, Princess Consort Ning!"

Jin Luoyue leaned back in shock. "Ning what now?"

Yu Jiangshu was Prince Ning of the Great Liang Dynasty, the new emperor's elder brother, and a man who bore the responsibility of protecting his country.

He had no interest in the imperial family's power struggles and had always worn his armor to guard the border. Last year, after his younger brother became emperor, he was introduced to Jin Luoyue, the daughter of a merchant, and married her.

The wedding fan was missing, so he saw his bride's face for the first time at the ceremony. But the two of them barely had time to exchange a few words before he donned his armor that very night and left for the frontier.

After that parting, both their lives changed. Who could have guessed they would meet again in this distant borderland?

Surely this must count as fate bringing two people together across a thousand miles.

His wife was beautiful and capable, with excellent cooking skills and a restaurant among the best for a hundred miles. Her only flaw was that she was far too career-minded.

The elite soldiers who once served under Prince Ning watched their lord turn from a lion into a kitten in front of Her Highness. He took her hand and asked gently, "My wife, when will you come back to the capital with me?"

The imposing woman looked up at the sky and sighed. "The weather's getting cold. It's time to put that restaurant west of town out of business."

The soldiers all fell silent, too afraid to make a sound.

Theme: Overcome adversity through your own hard work.