The County Magistrate's Kitchen Maid

While chasing a Star Wolf across the galaxy, Li Xiaoxiao somehow transmigrated to the Great Wu dynasty more than thirty thousand years in the past. She became a refugee fleeing the aftermath of a great flood. With no household registration, travel permit, or anything else to her name, she was hired by the family of the newly appointed magistrate of Miyang County because of her brute strength. She became a kitchen maid in charge of tending the stove. Mama Mao, the kitchen supervisor, breathed a sigh of relief. At last, she had found someone who could actually do the work. The only trouble was that the girl was perfect in every way except that she ate a little too much. Li Xiaoxiao said with conviction, “I eat a lot because I work fast. I can do the work of three people!” Watching her lift a huge vat weighing over a hundred jin by herself and finish a day’s work in an hour, Mama Mao had nothing more to say. Li Xiaoxiao was very pleased. Room and board were included, the food was unlimited, and she even got a monthly wage. Her grand dream of lazing around until she died seemed within reach. Had she celebrated too soon? Less than two days after she arrived, the magistrate fell gravely ill. His only son, Meng Guanqi, had merely passed the county-level imperial examination. If the magistrate really died, would the fourteen-year-old scholar be the first to sell her off? With no other choice, she secretly became a nursemaid and saved Magistrate Meng, so she could carry on with her peaceful life. But how could such a run-of-the-mill county office have so much trouble? Magistrate Meng offended his superior, Meng Guanqi crossed his superior’s wife’s nephew, the young lady’s maid ran off with the carriage driver and the household valuables, and Madam Liu was caught secretly pawning the family’s possessions... Li Xiaoxiao rushed around dealing with one thing after another and was dragged into the chaos too. Where was the easy life of eating her fill and waiting to die? How had she gotten so busy? And why did this fair-skinned young master seem to attract disaster? One moment someone was drugging him, the next he was caught up in an assassination case involving the crown prince. There was one conspiracy behind every other... Li Xiaoxiao had no choice but to keep throwing herself into the fray. And as she got more and more involved, ahem, she and the young master fell in love. People said they were a bad match? Li Xiaoxiao gave a cold snort. “Don’t talk about differences in status or skin color. We’re perfect for each other.” Because I helped the future emperor seize the throne. Meng Guanqi had always kept a low profile. He never competed for anything, did as he was told, and even wrote two copies of his homework: the good one for his father and the mediocre one for his tutor. Even so, he was driven out of the capital and had to follow his father to take up a post in Miyang County. He never expected this remote little county to be so dangerous. He was drugged, set up, and attacked, and every time, the maid at his side put herself in harm’s way to save him. He had never been close to another woman. He only knew that not everyone could be like Li Xiaoxiao: tough and unbowed in adversity, living freely and radiating vitality. People said she wasn’t good enough for him, but in his eyes and his heart, she was more confident and beautiful than a goddess from the heavens. She had saved him. He knew she disliked a life that felt like a cage and dreamed of being free to soar one day. So he resolved to become an imperial inspector and take her across the land, through rivers and mountains. Please add the next book, *The Yin Messenger of the Mortal Realm*, to your reading list. Yang Sui is a yin messenger. Her main job is to guide the souls of the dead through the gates of the underworld. Everyone in this line of work pulls the night shift. She started the job after graduating from university, earning a meager salary and scraping by because of her unlucky constitution. She used to think being a yin messenger was no different from any ordinary job. That is, until several major cases occurred in her district and several of her fellow yin messengers met violent deaths. Their deaths were gruesome. Yin messengers have a set lifespan, and those who die violently can easily become vengeful ghosts and wreak havoc in the mortal world. The underworld immediately dispatched an investigation team to the Hongkou Subdistrict Office to look into the deaths and collect the messengers’ ghosts. Since yin messengers know all the underworld’s tricks, their ghosts can exploit loopholes in the system to evade capture with ease. Once they make it past the seventh day after death, they turn into vengeful ghosts, becoming over a hundred times harder to catch. Yang Sui’s partner was one of those who had died violently. Qi Yu, the investigation team leader, was paired with her, and the two formed a team tasked with catching the ghosts of the yin messengers. Yang Sui studied her new boss, a pale, frail beauty who panted after only a few steps. How could someone so sickly have become the team leader? Did he have some astonishing power? Then one ghost escaped his grasp, then another, and even the weakest third ghost got away. Yang Sui was at a loss. At this rate, her wages wouldn’t even cover her social insurance. As an overworked office veteran, she had no choice but to rise to the challenge. A patron could fall, and people could run away, so she could only rely on her own godforsaken constitution to bring in more money. But once she started taking her career seriously, she seemed to get caught up in a vast whirlpool. Who was pulling the strings: her mysterious, prickly boss, or the vengeful ghost from Taoshan who had been on the run for over thirteen hundred years? Before joining the investigation team, Qi Yu had carefully reviewed the files of the Hongkou Subdistrict Office employees. One yin messenger named Yang Sui caught his attention. She was aloof and disdained sucking up to people. After five years on the job, she was still an ordinary employee and perpetually broke. She had a mysterious run of bad luck, yet always managed to escape danger. Qi Yu used his heavenly eye, but could never see through her fate. On a whim, he chose her as his partner and began their daily ghost-catching routine. He deliberately let ghosts escape in front of her time and again to test her, only to find that her power was like a spring whose limits he could never reach. He grew intrigued, then let his guard down and fell into her trap. The Judge returned to the mortal world with huge dark circles under his eyes to see his boss, only to stumble upon him passionately kissing a beauty in his arms. The ancient iron tree had finally blossomed, and the shock sent the Judge’s soul straight back to the underworld. Wait, now that you’ve started dating, are you still going to do your job as an official? Theme: What could compare to a love that grows with time, not even wealth and glory?