Starting with Spicy Chicken Skewers (Food)

Qiao Xu, the top woman of the apocalypse, dies and is reborn in ancient times. With no father or mother, she gains a mother, two sisters, and... a sickly husband who comes to live with them.

Her sickly husband was bought for one tael of silver, so he was cheap and his “quality” is questionable. Buying a husband also leaves the already poor family on the brink of poverty, with a pile of silver in debt.

But there’s no need to panic. Qiao Xu has plenty of ways and means.

She has a pocket dimension.

She has special abilities, too.

There are countless roads to riches.

After trying this and that, Qiao Xu finally settles on the perfect retirement-friendly business: opening a shop and becoming its proprietor.

Starting with Bobo chicken and eventually opening a hotpot restaurant, she invents milk tea and makes iced jelly. Her business keeps growing, quickly taking the entire capital by storm... The noble young ladies and gentlemen send their servants to line up for a taste.

As Qiao Xu’s purse grows heavier, she buys a new house, acquires more shops, and even purchases farmland, leading her whole family toward a comfortable life.

Just as people are envying Qiao Xu’s wealthy lifestyle, the imperial examination results are posted, and Qiao Xu becomes the wife of the top scholar overnight.

Her frail husband, who can neither lift nor carry anything, actually passed!

(Food takes center stage, with the imperial examinations woven in.)

A little scene

One of Qiao Xu’s favorite things is teasing her thin-skinned husband after making money.

Even the lightest kiss leaves her husband, who strictly observes etiquette, cooped up in bed for half a day, turning into a quail.

And that’s nothing compared to the times she makes him take off his clothes so she can play with... his abs.

But then.

One day, she notices that her husband is acting more and more strangely, looking at her with something else in his eyes.

Qiao Xu doesn’t understand.

Until... on the day the examination results are announced, Qiao Xu is pinned down on the bed, watching as he takes off all his clothes and then picks up a book.

The Illustrated Manual of Erotic Positions

Qiao Xu: ...

“Don’t panic. Once I’ve studied it thoroughly, I’ll take care of you, husband.”

The man’s eyes curve gently, his face bearing the familiar blush of shyness.

A few things to know before reading:

1. Not 4i; it’s simply their personalities. A beautiful, capable heroine x an antique, sickly hero.

2. Making money, teasing her husband, and feel-good wish fulfillment. (The logic is improving.)

Theme: Food is the people’s first necessity