A Qing Dynasty Retiree's Snack Shop

You can find my upcoming stories in my author profile: "Has Yinti Won Over His Brother Today?", "The Workaholic Yinzhen Is Back," and "The Thirteenth Prince's Gacha System."

Blurb: After transmigrating, Li Shulan, a food blogger with a million followers, discovers that she has become Uya Shulan, the Virtuous Consort De, who is still a palace maid.

Emperor Kangxi's Virtuous Consort De was born into the bondservant class but remained favored throughout her life. She had three sons and three daughters, one of whom would become the future Yongzheng Emperor. She seemed to have been dealt a winning hand, but in the end four of her children died young, her eldest son became estranged from her, her youngest son was imprisoned, and she died of depression.

After painful reflection, Uya Shulan decides to get close to powerful people, raise her children with a scientific approach, and use food for health and wellness, heading off tragedy at the source.

Years later...

Empress Dowager Tongjia: Dear sister, I finished the rose sauce you made for me last time. Could you make some more?

Grand Empress Dowager: You're such a filial child. The birthday banquet you put together last time was wonderful! If that boy Xuanye bullies you, your grandmother will take care of it!

The princes and princesses: Consort De, I want egg tarts! I want pudding! I want almond milk!

The Imperial Medical Academy: Your Highness, could you explain that dietary remedy for childhood colds you mentioned last time in more detail?

The Imperial Household Department: The "MSG" Your Highness developed is worth its weight in gold among the people! This year's revenue has increased by this much!

Kangxi: Hmph. No matter how much you praise her, I've seen every kind of divine consort and celestial beauty.

Kangxi, watching Consort De develop tiramisu in the back courtyard: Hmm, I really haven't seen one like this before.

[Reading Guide]

1. This is a partly fictionalized setting. The heroine will do everything she can to protect the people around her, so history will change. There are original additions.

2. The heroine starts out as a palace maid.

3. The timeline in this parallel world begins in the fifteenth year of the Kangxi reign, before the first grand investiture of the imperial harem. The later, familiar system of one empress, one imperial noble consort, two noble consorts, four consorts, six concubines, and unlimited numbers of noble ladies, first-class female attendants, and second-class female attendants was not officially established until the first grand investiture of the harem in the sixteenth year of Kangxi's reign.

The system will be formalized after the first grand investiture, and everyone will receive their own titles and official ranks.

Thank you all for your support.

[Upcoming Story 1] Yinzhen spent his whole life struggling against his biased mother, his long-lived imperial father, and himself.

Why did she only have eyes for other people? Is it really true that the child who doesn't cry gets no milk?

He spent a lifetime struggling and cleaning up messes, then died young just when he was about to make his mark.

As he pored over the register of the emperors who came after him in the underworld, he beat his chest in frustration. "These unworthy descendants! How could they spend all the savings I scraped together over the years on seven trips to Jiangnan? I never even got to go!"

Then he saw that in the future, tiny countries like England and Germany would spring up like mushrooms after the rain, trampling back and forth across the territory of the Great Qing and bullying his people.

No! He wouldn't allow it!

When he returned to life, he found himself back in the bleak days of his youth, short and soft-voiced, always having to rely on others.

No matter. The Yongzheng Emperor, workaholic, and historical spoiler Yinzhen would take action.

People in the palace noticed that a faint purple aura seemed to surround the unremarkable Fourth Prince, a sign of a future dragon.

After going through the hellish script of the Nine Princes' succession struggle and the Yongzheng Emperor's reign, the troubles before him were like an open-book exam. He cut through them effortlessly: Not even a challenge! They're all just experience points for me.

Wait. Why has that old man, his imperial father, declared me Crown Prince Regent? Why are both the Empress and my mother competing to treat me well? Why are all these troublesome younger brothers clinging to me?

Having worked himself a little too hard, Yinzhen stared pensively at the vast realm he'd built, the advanced machinery thundering away, and the fleets sailing across the waves.

[Upcoming Story 2] Has Yinti Won Over His Brother Today?

Yinti transmigrated into a Qing prince born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His father was the great emperor Kangxi, his mother Consort De was greatly favored by the emperor, and even his adoptive older brother would become the next emperor.

Wait. His adoptive older brother... was called Yinzhen?

He knew this history well. The original Yinti didn't even get close to the throne, and was imprisoned to death by his own brother!

Fortunately, he awakened the "Favorability System," which showed a number over each person's head indicating how much they liked him.

His mother's favorability toward me: 100. His Imperial Majesty's favorability toward me: 80. Fourth Brother's favorability toward me... Why is there only a glaring minus sign?

"This lousy System is bugged?"

"Host, the other person's favorability toward you is too low for the System to display."

The young man before him had sharp brows and bright eyes, but couldn't hide his disgust when he looked at Yinti.

No one else could tell, but Yinti understood perfectly and felt a headache coming on.

All right. To survive, he would start by winning over his older brother!

But a brother's heart was as hard to fathom as the depths of the sea. Yinti was trying his hardest to be his brother's lackey, yet nothing improved. That huge minus sign still shone just as brightly.

Forget it. If trying hard doesn't work, why not just give up? Yinti decided to do less and make fewer mistakes. At the very least, he could secure a sunny, comfortable house arrest for himself in the future, right?

Just as his adoptive older brother raised his hand with a cold expression, ready to hit him again, Yinti braced himself. But when the slap came, his face felt wet.

He looked up and saw the young man with red eyes, tears pattering down onto his face.

Huh? Huh? Brother, don't cry!

And on top of the young man's rabbit-like eyes, a +1 flashed.

How had his brother really come around?

Yinti, aspiring darling of the Forbidden City, was dumbfounded.

[Upcoming Story 3] The Thirteenth Prince's Gacha System

Yinxiang got a second chance at life and became the famous Prince Yi, Yinxiang.

That's right, the only good brother Emperor Yongzheng ever acknowledged, a man whose status was like that of a deputy emperor, whose iron-capped princely title would be inherited by his descendants in perpetuity, and who enjoyed boundless glory in life and after death.

Everything was great, except he died young.

Thinking of those ten years under house arrest and the illness that had plagued him, Yinxiang couldn't help shivering.

No thanks! What's so great about the Nine Princes' succession struggle? Isn't developing the country and farming much better?

Fortunately, he brought a gacha System with him when he transmigrated. One ten-pull could yield an SSR steam engine, an SR sweet potato cultivation technique, and even an N card could make food and wine rain down from the sky.

Just as he was about to try another ten-pull, the System spoke in a trembling voice.

"Host, I forgot to mention: the number of pulls is exchanged for your life force..."

Yinxiang's vision went black. He could practically see Granny Meng beckoning to him from the other side of the river.

"Why didn't you say so sooner!"

"Host, don't rush to hit me... This System can also exchange supplies for life force!"

Looking at the exchange rates in the shop, Yinxiang called the System a swindler and started working himself to the bone to earn more life force.

Yongzheng: Worthy brother, you have shouldered half the Great Qing all by yourself. Wherever you go, the seas are calm and the rivers clear, and the people live in peace and contentment. I am deeply gratified!

Yinxiang: What? I just want to live a few years longer!

Theme: Stay positive in both good times and bad.