Bai Wei had just transmigrated when her heartless parents married her off to the village's most notorious delinquent. Her two older sisters were secretly looking forward to seeing her make a fool of herself.
Bai Wei surveyed her surroundings. Her mother-in-law was nasty, her father-in-law was cold, her sister-in-law disliked her, and her husband had nothing going for him except his looks. What kind of hellish difficulty setting was this?
She took a deep breath and rolled up her sleeves, ready to get to work.
No problem. People make their own way in the world!
Her in-laws treating her badly?
No problem. Fried chicken, grilled skewers, hot pot, milk tea, roujiamo, hot and sour noodles, crossing-the-bridge rice noodles, stinky tofu, and pickled pepper chicken feet, coming right up! No one can resist the food culture of the 21st century!
Her husband couldn't afford to take the imperial exams?
No problem. Bai Wei turned the family's nearly bankrupt restaurant around. Today, it was braised pig intestines and oil-poached shrimp; tomorrow, spicy boiled pork and fish-fragrant shredded pork; the day after, crab roe soup dumplings and squirrel-shaped mandarin fish. She served a different dish from one of the eight great cuisines every day.
The restaurant also introduced unheard-of gimmicks. Today, they tried scarcity marketing, with only twenty servings available on a first-come, first-served basis. Tomorrow, they tried aspirational marketing, giving the dishes names that promised success in the imperial examinations, as if eating them would guarantee a passing grade.
Some time later,
her once-critical in-laws said, "Our Bai Wei really is a wonderful girl. Thank goodness it was you who married into our family!"
Her sister-in-law, who'd once treated her like an enemy, said, "Big Sister-in-Law is mine! Big Brother, go away!"
The restaurant's customers called out, "Boss Bai, what's on the menu today? Hurry up and bring it out!"
Her handsome husband, who had finally started working hard, followed behind her and said awkwardly, "I've finished today's reading. My dear, could you come home earlier and spend time with me?"
Bai Wei's parents and sisters were green with envy.
Bai Wei's restaurant took off, growing famous from Jiangnan all the way to the capital. She no longer had to worry about paying for her husband's exams.
Before he left, she packed his luggage with a smile, but her words carried a threat: "I don't ask much of you. Just pass the jinshi exam. Otherwise, don't come home. Understand?"
Her husband replied, "...Understood."
Later, a fellow villager returned with the good news. Bai Wei, her in-laws, and her sister-in-law went out to meet him. "Did he fail? Is that why he doesn't dare come home?"
The fellow villager took a deep breath and shouted, "He passed! He placed third!"
Bai Wei went from being a small-time restaurant owner to the wife of the third-place graduate, and the whole family moved to the prosperous capital.
The newly minted third-place graduate was handsome and well-read, and overnight became the dream man of countless young noblewomen in the capital.
The daughters of the great houses all said the only flaw was that he was too devoted to his wife, refusing to abandon the country girl who had stood by him before he made his name.
But only the third-place graduate knew that without Bai Wei, he would still be a little delinquent rotting in the mud, someone everyone could kick around, and he would never have found his present glory.
Every day, after coming home from work, what he looked forward to most was his wife bringing him a newly invented dish with a smile and gently calling him, "Dear."
(Blurb written on 2023.01.02)
Theme: Life is beautiful
