The Little Kitchen Maid of the Northern Song Dynasty

Chen Yuan transmigrates into the Northern Song dynasty as the ten-year-old third daughter of the kitchen maid in an official’s household in Bianjing.

The household has hundreds of people.

Her whole family is fiercely ambitious. Her parents and sisters are determined to get into the service of the household’s most powerful masters.

Chen Yuan has spent ten years as an overworked drudge and has no desire to compete. Her family isn’t rich, but at least they have enough to eat.

Her mother wants to work in the main kitchen as its supervisor. A supervisor earns three strings of cash a month, not to mention all the gifts she’d receive from her subordinates.

Chen Yuan: Being a supervisor sounds great. She should find a way to help her mother get the job. Then she’ll have money to buy cheese ice bowls from the Zhang family’s dairy shop.

Her eldest sister wants to work in the First Lady’s quarters as an embroiderer. Her monthly pay aside, even the fabric the First Lady gives her is a hundred times better than anything from the market. She could sell a single bolt for several strings of cash!

Chen Yuan: The First Lady’s quarters sound great. Eldest sister wants to go, so she’ll find a way to help. Then she won’t have to worry about having new clothes.

Her second sister wants to work in the senior madam’s quarters. She’s the ultimate overachiever, and she’s had her sights set on the big boss from the very beginning.

Chen Yuan: The senior madam’s quarters sound great. Second sister wants to go, so she has to help. If her sister becomes the senior madam’s right-hand woman, she’ll benefit too.

And her father? Blushing, he says he wants to work for the prime minister.

Chen Yuan: …That’s the prime minister.

Dad, you really have some nerve.

What can she do? Of course she has to figure something out. If her father gets a job with the prime minister, she’ll be able to throw her weight around among the servants. Sounds good to her.

As for herself? She just wants an easy job with little to do, so she can lie flat and eat and drink to her heart’s content. Unfortunately, her mother won’t agree.

Her mother has been pushing her to excel since she was little. The moment she could pick up a kitchen knife, her mother started training her to become a cook…

*

Wang Ruochang spent his childhood locked away in a cramped courtyard, with only a deaf and mute old servant woman for company. As a result, at ten years old he still couldn’t speak clearly. He spent his days painting and sleeping, each one much like the last.

One day, a round-faced young maid peeked over the wall and stared at the lamb on his table, drooling.

His lonely life was stirred by her arrival. To keep her around, he offered her every temptation he could think of.

The blurb has been lightly revised.

Theme: Eat well and live well.