The Cui Family's Little Restaurant

New novel, Ascending to the Azure Clouds (Imperial Exams), now updating

Coming soon: A Noblewoman and Her Amnesiac Brother-in-Law. Please add it to your library!

After transmigrating, Cui Susu became the daughter of a poor family in ancient times. Eight people crammed into a small courtyard on the outskirts of the capital, with the family's livelihood resting entirely on the two strings her eldest brother earned as a clerk. Their life was stable, and the family got along well, but they were desperately poor.

Thin rice porridge and pickled vegetables, a leaky roof and threadbare clothes. Used to having hot pot, milk tea, and grilled snacks, Cui Susu was so hungry she couldn't sleep every night. With her sister-in-law about to give birth, another mouth soon to feed, and two taels of silver owed for medicine after Cui Susu caught a cold, while her sisters were clamoring for food, she steeled herself. She scraped together what little money the family had left, bought ingredients, and began selling savory sauce pancakes, hawthorn cakes, and roasted chestnuts from a basket. Business turned out to be remarkably good.

Cui Susu had always loved experimenting with food, so she expanded her menu, adding braised dishes, roujiamo, cold skin noodles, mixed vegetables, takoyaki, and grilled sausages. She also set up a stall by the city gate. Anyone entering or leaving the city was tempted by the aroma, and people lined up to get a serving.

Business flourished, and these humble street foods even found favor with the city's wealthy. Cui Susu expanded again, found a shop, and moved her food stall into the city. She had thought that was the finish line, but it turned out to be only the beginning. Under her step-by-step management, the Cui Family Eatery gradually grew into a food city.

In the past, when festivals came around, the people of the capital would go on spring outings, see the lanterns, admire the scenery, and enjoy wine. Now...

"I heard the Cui Family Food City just launched a seasonal drink called Refreshing Fresh Orange. It's worth a try! Let's go!"

"Splendid! Their braised goose feet are exceptional. I was just thinking of buying some."

A child nearby quickly chimed in, "Dad, buy a few of Sister Cui's cream puffs too!"

My ongoing novel, Ascending to the Azure Clouds. Please add it to your library!

Wei Xi transmigrated into the posthumous son of a poor farming family. His family was destitute.

Fortunately, he had a photographic memory. If he studied for the imperial examinations, he could climb step by step from student to licentiate to provincial graduate, eventually changing his family's fortunes and soaring to success.

*

The villagers all said the Wei family was cursed with bad luck. By Wei Xi's generation, the child had lost his father before he was even born, and the family's pillar, Old Man Wei, had broken his leg while hunting. The whole family barely scraped by on a few acres of poor land. Just as they were about to be reduced to beggars, another absurd thing happened: Wei Xi wanted to study and take the imperial examinations.

The Wei family was delusional, weren't they? Had they lost their minds?

A country bumpkin dreaming of passing the exams and becoming an official?!

Mockery and ridicule crashed over him like a tide. Wei Xi had argued back and gotten angry, but he never put down his pen or stopped moving forward.

If they wanted to see him make a fool of himself, he would give them a face-slapping comeback!

Years later, at the spring imperial examination, Wei Xi of Lingnan made a name for himself in the capital, passing the highest examination with flying colors and becoming the top scholar. As he returned home in glory, the people who had once mocked him now wore ingratiating smiles and even bowed and scraped before him.

Ha! You looked down on me back then. Now you can regret it!

Theme: Work hard and build yourself a bright future.