Transmigrating to Ancient Times: Escaping Famine and Building a Fortune

After Jiang Sheng, a female general from the apocalypse, died, she transmigrated to an ancient era ravaged by famine. In a year of severe drought, locusts swarmed everywhere. The people had no food to eat or clothes to wear, and corpses of the starving littered the land.

Her family was on the verge of starving to death, and her biased grandfather even wanted to sell her and her little nephew at the human market as “two-legged sheep.”

To keep from being eaten, Jiang Sheng resolutely led her family on the road to flee the famine.

Along the way, Jiang Sheng showed off her many skills, earning food and silver.

The journey to escape famine became a path to prosperity.

The undeveloped south was a land of towering mountains and intersecting rivers, overrun by bandits and thick with miasma. In outsiders’ eyes, it was a fine place to become an outlaw and rob households, but famine refugees who went there would be lucky to survive.

But in Jiang Sheng’s eyes, it was:

Perfect for reclaiming wasteland! Farming! Infrastructure! Trade!

Ji Heng came from an illustrious family. He had made a name for himself at a young age and possessed extraordinary talent, yet he was demoted to magistrate of a remote county.

The local terrain was treacherous, the people fierce, agriculture backward, and productivity low. Bandits occupied the mountains and nearly stormed the county office to capture the previous magistrate alive.

As the new magistrate, Ji Heng had little hope of returning to the capital, and might even lose his life.

He had no choice but to seek help from the local upstart strongwoman, Jiang Sheng...

Please add my upcoming story, The Bandit Chief’s Little Cook, to your reading list!

Blurb:

Jiang Dongxue transmigrated into a book.

The good news: She became the daughter of a wealthy merchant, albeit a concubine-born one.

The bad news: Bandits came into the city and ransacked her family’s home. Her good-for-nothing father ran off with his son and daughter-in-law, leaving the concubine and illegitimate daughter to be kidnapped by the bandits and taken to their stronghold.

But Jiang Dongxue knew that the bandit chief, Lu Xiao, was actually the original novel’s male lead.

And the original version of her was Lu Xiao’s doomed, cannon-fodder wife of the stronghold.

Looking at the rough, unkempt man before her, who looked every bit a bandit, Jiang Dongxue couldn’t accept it. She had even less desire to follow the plot.

Lu Xiao felt rejected.

“Your old man respects women. But look at you, useless at everything. If you don’t become the chief’s wife, what else can you do?”

Jiang Dongxue picked up a spatula. “I can cook.”

*

The bandits in the stronghold loved drinking and eating meat in huge quantities, but unfortunately, their cook was terrible. The food was too salty, tasteless, bitter, tough, undercooked, or even poisonous.

Lu Xiao wouldn’t let them go down the mountain for a decent meal, either. How were they supposed to live like this?

But recently they noticed a young, beautiful cook had arrived at the stronghold.

She made Dongpo pork that made their mouths water, as well as braised pork hock, red-cooked pork, lion’s head meatballs, and pork belly with preserved mustard greens. Her cooking smelled so good it could make half the mountain swoon, and everyone was about to cry from hunger.

They also noticed that the chief, who had never cared about his appearance, had started shaving, bathing regularly, ordering new clothes, and learning his manners. He was becoming quite the gentleman.

*

As a bandit chief, Lu Xiao had principles.

He was gallant and generous, robbing the rich to aid the poor. He only robbed wealthy landlords and corrupt officials who oppressed the weak and preyed on the people.

At first, he looked down on Jiang Dongxue. She was the concubine-born daughter of a wealthy family, delicate and frail, cold-tempered, and useless at everything. Her own father was a crooked merchant. He’d sooner marry a sow than her.

But later, every bandit in the stronghold was left dumbfounded.

The chief, who never bowed to anyone and always fought back, was completely under the little cook’s thumb.

“Dongxue, I shaved and took a bath. Don’t believe me? Touch me, smell me. Don’t ignore me, waah...”

*

[Short Extra]

Lu Xiao joined the army, and Jiang Dongxue reluctantly followed him to the frontier to eat sand. She opened a restaurant in a small town outside the military camp.

Other soldiers’ wives liked to brag that their husbands were strong, skilled fighters, favored by their officers, and had bright futures.

“Dongxue, what’s so special about your man?”

Jiang Dongxue’s mouth twitched. “He... can eat a lot.”

That night, Lu Xiao sat there sulking and refused to eat.

Jiang Dongxue was baffled. “What’s wrong with you?”

Lu Xiao said, “You ruined my image. They’re all laughing at me for being a glutton. How am I supposed to lead my men now? I’ll starve myself to death so you’ll feel sorry for me!”

Jiang Dongxue said, “Oh... so you’re not eating the roast lamb chops tonight?”

Lu Xiao: “...I’ll eat.”

Reading Guide:

Cool, aloof heroine x wolf-dog male lead

In the original story, the male lead did not force the original version of the heroine to become the chief’s wife. She chose it herself.

Theme: Treat others with a sincere heart