Transported to the Three Kingdoms: Chancellor, Please Have a Meal!

This story is complete. The extra scenes are in the author's notes for the Xiangyang arc. I've finished writing, so I'm off!

+

New stories: "Lying Flat in Cao Cao's Backyard" and [Harry Potter] Beyond Time (Sirius fanfic)

+

Coming soon: "I Transmigrated into a Hengdian Three Kingdoms Drama Production". Please show it some support!

+

Blurb:

+

Jian Xi is a Three Kingdoms fan, and her favorite is the Shu chancellor, Zhuge Liang. She feels sorry for him, working day and night and eating only one bowl of rice a day. So she designs a game where players do everything they can to cook for the chancellor, help Zhuge Liang get stronger, extend his life, and avert the tragedy of the Autumn Wind at Wuzhang Plains.

+

To test a character card, Jian Xi transmigrates into the game and becomes a culinary novice with both beauty and cooking skills... in theory.

+

Game objective:

Cook for Zhuge Liang, help the chancellor get stronger, and extend his life!

+

Game rules:

If Zhuge Liang gets sick, can't sleep, or skips a meal, the player loses health.

If Zhuge Liang laughs heartily, the player regains a little health. (A sneer, a mocking laugh, or a laugh that shows contempt for an opponent does not count.)

If Zhuge Liang has an extra serving, the player regains a little health. (An extra serving doesn't count unless he finishes it.)

If Zhuge Liang has a sweet dream, the player regains a little health. (He must wake up in a good mood. Waking up feeling down doesn't count.)

If Zhuge Liang dies, the player is eliminated.

If the player fails to take good care of Zhuge Liang and runs out of health, they are eliminated.

If the player dies unexpectedly in the game and runs out of health, they are eliminated.

Player's starting command: "Chancellor, please enjoy your meal!"

Don't get a single word wrong, or countless bugs will come swarming!

Rules explained. Good luck with the game!

+

This is a story about knowing the ending can't be changed, yet insisting on rewriting it anyway.

Jian Xi thinks: It's just a game. I can let my imagination run wild and change anything I want.

Zhuge Liang: Are you sure?

When Zhuge Liang promises to marry her with all the proper betrothal gifts and ceremonies, she is completely dumbfounded. Oh no, this is such a huge bug. Have I really been self-inserting as his love interest that much? Is lightning going to strike me?

When Jian Xi tries to sacrifice herself to change Zhuge Liang's fate, the System chimes in: The player has broken the chancellor's heart. Health depleted. Game over!

Jian Xi is baffled. How is she supposed to change this ending?

Jian Xi: Believe me. Even if I've "died" again and again, I'll still come back to you. I swear!

Our secret phrase is: "Chancellor, please enjoy your meal!" As long as I can say those words, you'll know it's me!

+

+

1v1 + HE

The setting is entirely made up. History in the game world is just window dressing. As long as players don't get struck by lightning, they can change whatever they want.

++++++

Coming soon, story 1: "Lying Flat in Cao Cao's Backyard"

+

Madam Ding vs. Cao Cao

+

She transmigrates into Madam Ding. Yeah, not a great role to be stuck with.

+

Ding Yao knows about Cao Cao's peculiar tastes in women, and she's more afraid of this historical figure than she is in awe of him. So she decides to give up and lie flat.

+

Go ahead, chase beauties and take concubines. Instead of letting a house full of secondary wives give me grief, I'd rather grow flowers, cook, and study how to stay healthy in the backyard. If I can't take you on, I can at least stay out of your way, can't I?

+

One day, Cao Cao finally asks about Madam Ding.

+

"What do you think of the new secondary wife I've taken into the household?"

+

A servant happily replies, "The madam is gracious. She treats them like sisters, and they get together every day to drink tea, look at flowers, play mahjong, and gossip."

+

Cao Cao's face immediately darkens.

+

The servant is bewildered. Isn't peace in the backyard a good thing? Does Lord Cao want the whole household in an uproar?

+

Cao Cao thinks: Exactly! I want them all at each other's throats. I want to see Yao Yao get jealous. Why is she so calm?

+

After the battle of Wancheng, Cao Cao nervously comes to Ding Yao's door and stays there alone for three days and nights. A servant comes to inform him: "Lord Cao, the madam has already... passed away. Please accept our condolences."

+

Cao Cao flies into a rage. "Nonsense! Drag out the slanderer and cut off his head!"

+

Later, he discovers that Madam Huan, who had never mattered much to him, has suddenly changed. This once charming, utterly devoted beauty has become cold and distant, and has started tinkering with strange little things in the backyard again.

+

Cao Cao rushes over excitedly and embraces her. "Yao Yao, you're back?"

+

Ding Yao: A good horse never returns to old grass. What does a man matter, even if he's Cao Mengde?

+

I, Ding Yao, must have terrible luck. I've transmigrated into your wife again and again. Either you let me go, or I'll make trouble in your courtyard until you do.

+

Later, Cao Cao cradles their newborn and smiles so widely his eyes disappear. "Let's name him Cao Chong."

+

Ding Yao: No! Even Cao Ding sounds better than Cao Chong!

+

He seizes the chance to tease her. "Looks like you can't live without me, my lady. Even our child bears both our surnames."

+

Ding Yao: Get lost! Chancellor, keep your promise and let me and my child leave.

+

Cao Cao thinks: Not a chance.

+

It'll probably be a HE. Cao Cao might get redeemed, or the heroine might choose to stand on her own, but she and the hero won't have a complete falling-out. To be decided.

+++++++

Coming soon, story 2: "The Great Eunuch Fang Wenqing"

+

Fang Wenqing always thought his life would be one smooth ascent to success.

+

He passed the imperial examination at fourteen and placed among the top three at seventeen, becoming the pride of the whole city. He even married a beautiful, wealthy official's daughter. He had both fame and fortune, and a beautiful bride in his arms. Everyone envied him!

+

But he failed to make his way in the world of power and money, and his beautiful wife was unfaithful. This once brilliant young man ended up as a penniless scholar selling calligraphy and paintings on the street, with a green glow above his head.

+

One dark, windy night, enraged, he killed the adulterous couple and fled home. From then on, he searched for a path to an official career elsewhere.

+

Later, he entered the palace and became a trusted favorite of a princess, with authority over everyone in the imperial court. But he never expected that he... would become a eunuch! Even if he eventually became the chief eunuch, he was still a eunuch, damn it!

+

+

The heroine, Xiao Yu, is an unloved princess who has loved military strategy and swordplay since childhood. Her father sends her to guard the border.

+

It's a place even men don't want to go, yet this young woman thrives there.

+

Later, she meets Fang Wenqing. With his help, she wins back her father's favor and is allowed into the palace to stay by his side.

+

Fang Wenqing: "If you want to establish yourself in the palace, Your Highness, you can't do it without me."

+

Xiao Yu: "You have blood on your hands. I can't make you one of my attendants."

+

And then a chief eunuch appears at Xiao Yu's side, ruthless and cruel as a tyrannical official, yet tender and considerate only toward her.

+

Xiao Yu: "This princess will not become your sworn companion."

+

Fang Wenqing smiles. "Your Highness may marry whoever she wishes. But if you give him your heart, this servant will kill him."

+

Xiao Yu hooks a finger under his chin, her threat tinged with flirtation. "Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"

+

Fang Wenqing answers with confidence. "You can't bring yourself to do it."

+

This is a story about a forbidden love between the hero and heroine.

+

The hero is a real eunuch. (He isn't one at first, but castrates himself later to save his life.) The heroine is an illegitimate princess of the Great Liang, who later makes a comeback as a female general.

Warnings: The hero was married before and is not sexually inexperienced. The heroine later marries someone else by imperial decree, but she remains chaste for the hero.

1v1 + HE

Theme: The one you love may be beyond mountains and seas, but all mountains and seas can be crossed.