The County Office Canteen

Coming soon: The Little Farm Girl's Guide to Farming and Making a Fortune. Please add it to your collection! A cozy slice-of-life farming story. The blurb is at the end.

[This Novel]

After transmigrating, Xi Yan finds herself in the body of an unloved princess, soon to be sent to marry into a foreign tribe.

Xi Yan: What is there to think about? Run!

By imperial decree, Gu Xun is sent from the Imperial College in the capital to Qingyuan County for experience. He's fine, but his stomach isn't.

Gu Xun: Right, first I need to find a cook.

After Xi Yan joins the county yamen's little kitchen, the meals there are transformed.

Freshly made jianbing for breakfast, followed by fruit;

wood-fired roast duck for lunch, then afternoon tea;

hot pot for dinner, followed by a midnight snack.

Three meals and two snacks a day, so delicious you'll lick the plates clean!

After Xi Yan saves a beauty, she is left helpless herself, and Gu Xun happens to rescue her.

To hold on to her steady job in the little kitchen, Xi Yan seizes the opportunity to repay his kindness.

When Gu Xun is injured, she feeds him by hand;

when he's in trouble, she rushes to his aid;

when he's trapped, she risks her life to save him.

After Xi Yan diligently repays her debt, Gu Xun finally falls for her!

Xi Yan: Impossible. We're good brothers.

Sure enough, one day Gu Xun corners Xi Yan and confesses his feelings.

Gu Xun (trying to stay calm): "You're really not a woman?"

Xi Yan (used to hearing this): "I'm a real man."

Gu Xun (resolute): "I can look past your gender."

Xi Yan (shouting): "But I can't!"

Xi Yan: I thought of you as a good brother, and you went and fell for me!

[Little Scene]

Xi Yan: "My lord, the little kitchen... (daily business omitted)"

Gu Xun: "My courtesy name is Yuanqing."

Xi Yan: "My lord?"

Gu Xun: "Call me Yuanqing."

1. One-on-one romance, both leads have no previous partners, happy ending.

2. The male lead is straight. His falling for her is his own process of talking himself into it, and he'll be straight again later.

3. Blurb revised on February 27, 2024.

[Coming Soon: The Little Farm Girl's Guide to Farming and Making a Fortune]

The transmigrated farm girl Jiang Duiwan marries Meng Mingqin, a schoolteacher, and begins a cozy life of farming.

Rice, firewood, oil, and salt; three meals through the seasons.

Cattle, sheep, geese, and ducks; a home full of everyday warmth.

Music, chess, calligraphy, and painting; poetry, wine, flowers, and tea.

In winter, snowflakes swirl outside while warmth fills the house.

On the table sits a pot of rice harvested that season, rich with the aroma of wheat, and a bowl of slow-simmered lamb soup, milky white and savory. They are joined by sweet, sour, and spicy fish-fragrant shredded pork; tender, melt-in-your-mouth red-braised pork; red-braised eggplant, crisp on the outside and soft inside; and sweet-and-sour tomatoes with eggs. Jiang Duiwan has just finished setting out lunch when Meng Mingqin returns from chopping wood.

They change clothes, wash their hands, and take their seats together.

Meng Mingqin serves Shen Duiwan a bowl of hot lamb soup. "Four dishes and a soup. May my wife stay healthy."

Jiang Duiwan gives Meng Mingqin a piece of red-braised pork. "May we make a fortune and fill our storehouses with fish and rice."

The young couple smile at each other over their bowls. "Pop!" A roasted chestnut bursts open in the stove, filling the room with a sweet fragrance.

Theme: Ordinary people can shine brilliantly too.