[Dream of the Red Chamber] Madam, Come Home for Dinner

Zhao Qingxue transmigrates into Dream of the Red Chamber as Aunt Zhao, the shrew who throws tantrums and rolls around on the floor, and gets two children thrown in for free.

Zhao Qingxue looks down at her eldest daughter, Jia Tanchun, who is glaring at her with exasperation, and at Jia Huan, who is just learning to talk. Gritting her teeth, she throws dignity to the wind and puts on a full-blown street-shrew performance in front of Lady Dowager Jia, Jia Zheng, and the others, successfully leaving the Jia household with both children.

After leaving the Jia household, Zhao Qingxue tells everyone that her husband died of illness, then settles in a mountain village and starts a street stall selling spicy hot pot.

For her children's education, she opens an academy.

The hot pot business thrives, and the academy gets on track. Then she watches coldly as the Jia family falls apart.

There's just something odd about the teacher at the village school. He often comes to her stall for spicy hot pot, and even helps her look after Tanchun and Jia Huan.

He's such a good man! He's willing to work as her family's cook, and even to marry her as a live-in son-in-law.

What's more, this cook is not only handsome, but also a wonderful chef. He's good to Tanchun and little Huan, too, and Zhao Qingxue starts getting ideas.

A cook this good? She'd be doing herself a disservice if she didn't make a move.

Wen Zixuan is tired of all the scheming and intrigue at court. At a young age, he gracefully retires from public life and becomes a teacher at a rural academy for a salary of just five taels a month.

The academy is quite interesting, and even more interesting is that the person who opened it is a widow with children.

The widow is young and beautiful, and especially charming when she gives people a tongue-lashing.

The first time he met her, that Mrs. Zhao was scolding a rogue. She even picked up a stool, her slender, willow-leaf eyebrows drawn up. She was quite a force to be reckoned with.

So Wen Zixuan stayed on at Mrs. Zhao's academy, and little by little, he fell for her.

The trouble was that this woman just wouldn't get a clue. After a great deal of effort, he finally gained entry into her home and became her live-in son-in-law.

From then on, he enjoyed a happy life of following his wife's lead.

An old friend laughed at him. A dignified Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince had actually become a widow's live-in son-in-law.

A tender light flickered in Wen Zixuan's eyes. "She's an extraordinary woman. You wouldn't understand. That's enough of that. I must take my leave."

His friend asked, "Why are you going home so early?"

Wen Zixuan waved a hand. "I'm calling my wife home for dinner."

A heroine who focuses on supporting her family, but occasionally gets a little lustful VS a scheming, green-tea former Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince who is happy to be the family cook

Reader's Guide:

1. The writing really is quite amateurish. The logic depends on the author's intelligence.

2. Updates follow the rankings before the story goes premium, then settle into daily updates. It depends on the stockpile: six chapters a day when there's plenty, three when there isn't. There won't be any hiatuses.

3. There are some authorial liberties, and it's also a career-focused story.

4. The female lead is not a virgin; the male lead is.

Theme: Women can stand tall and hold up the sky, too.