My Mom Came from the Imperial Kitchen [Period]

Peng Xiangnan knew from the time she was little that her family was different from other families.

Other children were so hungry they were skin and bones, and never got enough to eat.

She had braised shark fin with rice, stir-fried phoenix tongues, pork tenderloin wrapped in egg... She ate until her belly was round.

When adults in other families lost their jobs, they wailed and complained bitterly.

When her mother lost her job, she simply hopped on a tricycle and set up a street stall.

"Come take a look! Steamed lamb, roast duck, braised goose, chicken in a jar, braised white eel, fish fillets in gravy, sea cucumber stew... We have it all!"

Every time Peng Xiangnan tried to get to the bottom of it, she asked, "Mom, why do we have so much food at home?"

Her mother, a woman of few words who meant business, would say, "Zip it. Just eat."

Peng Mandong was supposed to become a palace maid in a royal kitchen food novel, but one careless mistake sent her into a Period novel as the doomed original wife of a powerful man who ran away while pregnant.

Life was hard, but fortunately, her Food System was still there.

"Mom, all the other kids get cupcakes for their birthdays. I want..."

On her birthday, Peng Xiangnan got a lavish three-tiered cream cake, and her little friends were green with envy.

"Mom, all the other kids bring snacks to school. I want..."

During recess, Peng Xiangnan pulled out potato chips, snowflake crisps, and pork jerky. Her classmates were green with envy.

"Mom, all the other kids have dads. I want..."

Peng Mandong said, "No, you don't."

Peng Xiangnan pouted and lay in bed, secretly feeling sad all night. The next day, her mother dressed her in a new outfit, took her hand, and knocked on the door of the richest family in town.

Coming soon: The Hong Kong City Tycoon's Spendthrift Wife [Period]. Please add it to your collection!

As newly minted tycoons in Hong Kong City, the Xu couple had been troubled lately.

Their son, Xu Jingnian, spent his days watching shows and drinking tea, visiting flower markets and betting on horse races, throwing money around and living in outrageous luxury.

If this continued, he would squander the family fortune they had worked so hard to earn.

After some thought, the couple decided to move forward with the marriage they had arranged back in the countryside on the mainland.

They had heard that the Lu family's young daughter, Lu Qingying, was thrifty and careful with money, a woman who knew how to manage a household.

Maybe after they married, Xu Jingnian would learn to rein himself in.

When the young woman came in from the countryside, she was dressed simply, with two holes in her socks. The couple were delighted and grew more pleased with her the longer they looked. They hurried to finalize the wedding arrangements.

But the very next day after the wedding, their daughter-in-law dropped the act.

"The mattress is too hard. Get an imported one. The gold bracelet is too thin. Get me one set with diamonds. What? My monthly allowance is only three thousand? No way. Add two zeros to that."

The old couple were both dumbfounded.

Lu Qingying had long known her fate. She was the cannon-fodder original wife in a male-lead-centered novel.

The male lead would transform from an idle playboy into a Hong Kong tycoon who built his fortune from scratch, after suffering a devastating family downfall along the way.

That was the key turning point in his life, and no one could change the plot.

So on the morning after the wedding, while serving tea to her in-laws, she came clean: "The family is bound to go bankrupt sooner or later, but it'll make a comeback afterward. So we'd better squander the family fortune as soon as possible. From now on, I'll run the household extravagantly and live comfortably, so we can enjoy our wealth and splendor while we still can."

The old couple thought: Suddenly, their son's profligacy didn't seem so hard to accept, because their daughter-in-law seemed to have something seriously wrong with her head!

Theme: Women can hold up half the sky