The Grand Secretary Raising Game

[Pre-release: The Chief Secretary's Hunter Wife. Please add it to your favorites!]

A cousin named Yun Ling arrives at the Yongping Marquis's residence to seek refuge with the Old Madam.

The servants whisper among themselves that this cousin is so poor she can't afford a needle or thread, and relies on the marquis's household for every bite and sip. She's obviously just here to sponge off them.

Yun Ling, carrying banknotes worth one hundred thousand taels, nods enthusiastically. "You're right. I'm so poor I can't afford a needle or thread."

Why spend your own money when spending someone else's is so much more satisfying?

Even better, Yun Ling's phone came with her when she transmigrated.

Though the only thing left on it is the chief secretary training game app she downloaded just before transmigrating, completing tasks earns rewards!

All she has to do is grind. She has servants to dress and feed her every day, so time is the one thing she has plenty of.

Horse riding? Max it out.

Reading? Max it out.

Guqin? Max it out.

Martial arts? Max it out.

Bedroom skills? Max it out.

Wait, she can skip that one, can't she?

What? It gives you a pill that makes you immune to all poisons?

Who could resist grinding for that?

*

Cui Jiuchen, heir to the Yongping Marquis, thinks he's been haunted lately.

He rides more than ten laps around the racecourse until he's panting with exhaustion.

The moment he gets off his horse, a thought pops into his head: [One more lap!]

The moment he gets off his horse, another thought pops into his head: [One more lap!]

The cycle goes on and on. By the end of the day, Cui Jiuchen's legs are as soft as noodles, and his attendants have to carry him home in a sedan chair.

*

A few days later, with nothing better to do, he decides to paint a picture of the osmanthus tree in his courtyard, titled Autumn Osmanthus.

Then, for no apparent reason, he spends the entire day painting over a dozen pictures of Autumn Osmanthus. The next day, he can't even pick up a brush when he goes to the Imperial College.

And there are many more incidents like that.

Clearly, something is wrong. But the ghost is only playing pranks on him for now and hasn't hurt anyone, so he decides to keep calm and wait to see what happens.

That is, until his mother, the Marchioness of Yongping, tries to arrange a marriage for him. He hates the idea, and mother and son part on bad terms.

He goes to the back garden to clear his head, where he accidentally runs into Yun Ling, the cousin staying at the marquis's residence.

He thinks, "If I have to marry someone and keep her around as a decoration, this cousin of mine would do. She's clever and quick-witted, and won't let herself be taken advantage of. She'd definitely put up a good fight against Mother."

But the ghost's voice suddenly rings out in his mind: [No, Yun Ling isn't suitable.]

Cui Jiuchen curls his lips. Heh, it seems he's found the "ghost" that's been tormenting him all this time.

He sneers inwardly. "Not suitable? Then I'll just have to make it work!"

Reader's Guide:

1. Both leads are virgins.

2. The heroine has a golden finger.

3. A sweet, feel-good slice-of-life story with no angst.

Pre-release: The Chief Secretary's Hunter Wife. Please add it to your favorites!

Blurb: The good news: After dying from overwork, Ling Shuang transmigrates to ancient times with a city-building System.

The bad news: She's a village girl from a remote mountain valley. Saving up the 1,000 taels needed for the System's initial startup funds? Maybe in her next life.

Fortunately, her beginner's gift pack includes a genetic serum that greatly increases her stamina, strength, and agility. With the mountains at her back, she can make a fine living as a hunter.

Then comes a bolt from the blue: if she isn't married by the age of eighteen, the authorities will force her into a marriage...

Ling Shuang considers her options around the village and finally sets her sights on the nephew of Second Uncle Wang, who lives at the eastern end of the village.

Though Lu Dailang is disabled in both legs, he has a face as handsome as jade, and he's literate. Isn't he a hundred times better than those country bumpkins?

As for his legs, that's no problem at all. She can support him, and he can lie flat and be a pretty boy who lives off her.

After that, the Wang family courtyard is visited every few days by hunting spoils in all manner of gruesome conditions.

Perhaps worried that the two men won't know how to prepare them, she later starts sending over delicious meat dishes instead.

Wang Er looks at the two shiny green vegetable dishes on his family's table, then at the glistening plate of fried chicken beside them, and realizes he can't stomach this meal.

He tentatively suggests, "Master, how about you just give in and marry that Second Miss Ling?"

Lu Yuncheng is furious. "Do you think I'm that shallow?"

But he does give in.

He says, "It's not about the food. I have to leave someone to carry on the Lu family line, don't I?"

*

Later, the Lu family is exonerated. Ling Shuang hears that Lu Yuncheng has connections at court, so she tentatively asks, "If your wife here does something big, you should be able to cover for me, right?"

Lu Yuncheng, former Chief Secretary and eldest son of the Lu family, a prominent family with a century of history in the capital, nods without hesitation. "I can."

He figures that a village woman like her couldn't possibly do anything that big.

Then he nearly drops his eyes out of their sockets.

No, wait. A whole city springing up overnight is a world-shaking feat! How am I supposed to cover for you over something like that???

Does this woman think way too highly of me?!

Reader's Guide:

1. Both leads are virgins, one-on-one, happy ending.

2. Farming in the early chapters, infrastructure development later. They never change locations and keep building a city in the mountain valley.

Theme: As long as you work hard, you can have anything.