Zhong's Little Eatery

*Ongoing: Historical transmigration novel "After Raising Three Children, a Powerful Figure Comes to Claim Them"

"In my last life, someone threw rotten eggs at you!"

"Then in this life, I'll make egg pancakes and earn all their money!"

Zhong Ling transmigrates into the adopted daughter of a wealthy merchant in the capital of an unfamiliar dynasty. But after making the wrong choice, she dies young on the execution ground and nearly ends up buried in the wilderness.

Fortunately, Heaven takes pity on her, and Zhong Ling returns to the moment when she has to choose. Without hesitation, she gives up the wealth and splendor of the capital and follows her suddenly reappearing, down-and-out father back to the countryside.

Zhong Ling: "I'm done with this! I'm going back to live an easy life!"

Back home, Zhong Ling looks out at the beautiful natural scenery, takes a deep breath, and prepares to build a life from scratch.

The fields are full of life, the mountains are lush with plants, and nature's generous gifts are everywhere.

Some people gather mushrooms, some hunt pheasants, and Zhong Ling finds an injured court official with a broken leg on the mountain.

The meticulous Qi Heng and the imaginative Zhong Ling get together and develop a new kind of breakfast never seen before in the capital.

Before long, Zhong Ling's little eatery is thriving, selling everything from tea eggs at a street stall to golden-fried fish in her restaurant, and from icy summer desserts to skewered roasts in the depths of winter.

At last, she's living the dream of making money while lying down!

Gradually, everything around Zhong Ling begins to improve.

Her once-down-and-out father, who used to drink every day and had only one arm, now strides around the eatery kitchen carrying a huge pot.

A deputy general who became a monk after the war and was unable to leave the temple because of his emotional wounds has become the eatery's supplier of mountain goods. Precious ingredients from the mountains arrive in the kitchen without end.

Her father's impoverished former comrades start running Zhong Ling's food stalls, taking them through the streets and building a thriving business...

The wealthy merchants who persecuted Zhong Ling in her previous life come all the way to her shop, expecting to laugh at her. But they find her eatery packed with customers, each one a powerful official or noble they could never hope to impress.

Merchants: ??? This isn't how I imagined it!

[Bonus Scene]

The powerful men who caused Zhong Ling's death in her previous life send a group of troublemakers to the eatery's back courtyard with wooden clubs.

In the courtyard,

a one-armed giant is chopping wood with an axe, his powerful muscles nearly bursting through his short jacket.

A bald man in monk's robes brings the mallet down hard. The sound of it cutting through the air rings out as the glutinous rice cake in the stone mortar is pounded into a mangled mess.

A young man squatting in the corner, picking through green beans, looks up. His bright crimson official's robe catches the eye.

Zhong Ling, who has been kneading dough, wipes her hands and rises with a smile. She looks at the troublemakers. "Can I help you?"

The troublemakers: "...W-we've got the wrong place. Sorry."

They scramble out, rolling and crawling, and even have the courtesy to close the door behind them.

A laid-back heroine X a workaholic hero

1. Set in a fictional dynasty

2. A satisfying business-building story (no angst)

3. The heroine has post-traumatic stress disorder (not severe)

4. The heroine experiments with unusual combinations to create dishes (not authentic)

5. Both the heroine and hero love building their careers (they don't only focus on romance)

Theme: Live earnestly and cherish your family