June, outside Chang’an.
The endless summer days were sweltering, with the constant drone of cicadas. Even though the Chu Wangfu’s manor estate was surrounded by water channels and backed by dense woods, it offered little relief from the heat. The oppressive warmth made everyone sluggish.
In a small side room at the western corner of the estate, the latticed window was wide open, allowing dappled tree shadows to spill into the room.
On the bed, Shen Hui lay reclined, pressing a cloth soaked in well water against her face. A few damp strands of hair clung to her temples. The icy chill of the cloth made her shiver, and she let out a comfortable sigh.
After sighing, she thought of her current predicament and couldn’t help but sigh repeatedly in distress.
Poor her—after staying up all night reading a novel and angrily cursing the clichéd plot of multiple births in one pregnancy, she had become so emotionally agitated that she fainted and directly transmigrated into the book.
The original character’s setup was classic: she was the malicious house-born servant supporting female character in the novel. Above her was a stepmother, Lady Jiang, who loved enforcing rules and used filial piety and propriety to torment her in every possible way.
This could be seen from the furnishings in the room.
The main room she shared with her younger sister was small and extremely plain. Beside the bed stood a small jujube wood table, old and dusty. Two chests for storing clothes had peeling paint and contained only coarse cloth dresses.
Naturally, there were no hairpins or jewelry. Her hair was simply tied into twin buns with hair ribbons. The only peace lock she owned was a birthday gift from her maternal aunt.
Suddenly, the sound of approaching footsteps interrupted Shen Hui’s solitary contemplation.
“Sister, why are you still lying down? Mother is looking for you. You’ve been bedridden for over ten days and haven’t paid your respects to her in a long time. Now that you’re about to recover, you should go.”
The newcomer wore a plain white coarse cloth skirt, with a slightly faded narrow-sleeved blue blouse. She had delicate features and a somewhat timid demeanor. Though she was already eleven years old, she was frail and shorter and thinner than other maids her age.
“My illness has flared up again. I’m dizzy and can’t go. Shen Wei, you’re so kind-hearted—please go and tell Mother for me. Thank you.” Shen Hui pushed aside her damp bangs and gave a forced, toothy grin.
She sized up her nominal younger sister, Shen Wei, and was left speechless.
Silly girl, you’re not some noble daughter of a marquis’ household, and our stepmother isn’t a distinguished lady either. Our whole family consists of servants managing Prince Chu’s manor estate. Who are we keeping up these rituals of paying respects for?
“Sister, please listen to reason. Although Mother is our stepmother, since Father married her, she has worked hard for our family. In the eyes of the world, she is our mother.” Shen Wei, taught by Shen Father to be obedient, was filled with notions of familial piety and filial duty. “Sister, get up quickly and stop being lazy. If you really can’t manage, just go and pay your respects. I’ll help you with the rest of the work.”
She took a few steps closer and gently tugged at Shen Hui.
Shen Hui remained unmoved, spreading the damp cloth over her eyes. “I’m unwell and need plenty of rest. You’d better not overwork yourself either—it’s easy to get heatstroke.”
“Sister, I can’t slack off. Mother said she’ll submit my name to take on duties, starting as a little maid in the manor estate and slowly working my way up.” Shen Wei hadn’t noticed anything amiss.
Shen Father was the estate’s steward, and Lady Jiang was his wife. The two were like local emperor and empress. If they merely wanted to assign their own daughter a position within the estate, why would they go to such lengths?
Looking at her sister’s naive expression, Shen Hui silently covered her face and rolled her eyes.
This doormat female lead was beyond saving.
The doormat was none other than Shen Wei, the female lead of the ancient farming and business novel The Koi Little Chef: Marrying the Duke with Six Consecutive Births.
She was originally a hereditary servant of the Chu Wangfu. After her entire family was freed, she partnered with her elder sister Shen Hui to sell wontons to earn silver, filially supporting their gambling-addicted father, reforming their selfish stepmother, and caring for their younger brothers. By the novel’s conclusion, she had become the second wife of the Duke of Zhao, securing her position as the principal wife by giving birth to triplets twice in succession.
Shen Hui, on the other hand, was gluttonous and lazy, greedy and obsequious, and wildly ambitious. In the end, after failing to seduce a noble young master, she was sent to a temple to live out her remaining days.
But now, Shen Hui’s core had been replaced.
She couldn’t just dash her head against a wall and die, so she had to make the best of her situation.
Admittedly, the original owner had done many bad things, but since she was borrowing this body for a second chance at life, she shouldn’t complain or criticize.
At this point, the most important thing was to quickly seek refuge with her aunt who worked as a wet nurse in the Chu Wangfu, escaping the control of her gambling-addicted father and selfish stepmother.
“Sister… sigh, alright, if you’re truly not feeling well, I’ll ask Mother again to allow you to rest and recover.” Seeing Shen Hui not respond, Shen Wei came over to feel her sister’s forehead. “Sister, you must stay healthy and live a long life. After Mother passed, you’re all I have left.”
With that, Shen Wei moved the medicine bowl from the small table beside the bed, set down the bamboo basket in her hand, removed the dark brown cloth covering it, and laid out the lunch she had brought from the main kitchen.
Their birth mother’s surname was Xu. She was originally an embroiderer in the Chu Wangfu, married off to Shen Father, and bore him two daughters before passing away from illness eight years ago. As soon as Xu died, Shen Father immediately married Jiang Shi as his second wife.
Hearing these words, Shen Hui secretly softened.
She wasn’t heartless.
During her previous illness, Shen Wei had taken care of everything in meticulous detail, ensuring that aside from losing some weight, she hardly looked haggard.
If Shen Wei wasn’t as foolishly filial as she appeared, she would be willing to take this silly younger sister with her.
“Ah Wei, you eat too.” She knew Shen Wei usually ate in Jiang Shi’s room and didn’t get to eat anything good. “There are some things I never told you before. Today, I’ll tell you, so listen carefully.”
Lunch consisted of mutton and radish soup, two hubing, and a plate of pickled shallots.
Pepper, cinnamon, dill, and other spices were expensive, so the mutton soup wasn’t heavily seasoned, and it was slightly light on salt.
The shallots, also known as scallions, are distant relatives of small garlic chives. They were pickled with vinegar and evodia oil to make a sour and spicy appetizer that helped cut through the gaminess of the meat.
The original book was set in a fictional dynasty called Qi, where people mostly ate mutton and chicken. Staple foods included hubing, botuo, suobing, yellow millet, and millet rice. Stir-fried dishes had been introduced to Chang’an from the south for some time but were still gaining popularity.
Shen Wei wanted to decline, but her stomach suddenly rumbled, embarrassing her into swallowing her words and nodding. “Thank you, sister, but I’ll just have some soup.”
Jiang Shi was snobbish and stingy, exceptionally biased. During meals, she would always pick meat from Shen Wei’s bowl for herself. She had thought of doing the same to Shen Hui, but the original owner was assertive and would eat everything in a few bites, even if it burned her mouth, leaving not a single scrap of meat behind.
Thus, although Shen Hui was only a year older than her sister, she was tall, healthy, and plump.
“Let me ask you, how old are you this year?” In the few days since arriving, Shen Hui hadn’t just idly rested; she had subtly inquired about many rules and pieces of information, already forming a plan in her mind.
“Eleven,” Shen Wei answered obediently.
“Good, then you should know that all house-born servants are expected to work from the age of seven, starting as helpers, and as they grow older, they are assigned proper duties. Helpers receive thirty wen per month, and after being assigned duties, they start from the lowest level as minor attendants, earning between fifty to eighty wen.” Shen Hui’s tone shifted. “Given Mother’s temperament, how could she possibly support anyone for free? She likely reported it behind our backs long ago and then withheld our monthly allowances.”
This was indeed true.
Shen Father was the manor estate’s chief steward, while Madam Jiang served as the accountant matron of the estate. The distribution of monthly allowances was entirely controlled by this couple, who had been secretly skimming from the allowances of the two sisters, Hui and Wei. Fortunately, according to the timeline, Madam Jiang had not yet given birth to a son, or else Shen Hui and Shen Wei would have had an even harder time.
However, as fate would have it, all the money Madam Jiang had schemed to save was gone, used entirely to pay off Shen Father’s gambling debts.
Prince Chu valued rules and had repeatedly issued strict prohibitions against servants gambling, including managers of external shops, horse farms, livestock farms, and manor estates. Anyone caught would be sold off immediately.
But a gambler rarely knows when to stop.
Shen Father repeatedly failed to mend his ways, and even Prince Chu, known for his virtue, could no longer tolerate it.
Two years later, the matter came to light. Prince Chu, considering that Shen Father had been a servant purchased when the estate was first established and had served diligently, showed leniency. He only ordered Shen Father to repay his debts quickly, gave him ten strokes of the cane, and returned the family’s deed of servitude.
Yet, even so, in the story, Shen Wei still supported Shen Father until his old age, resulting in a tale of reunion.
Shen Hui had no intention of being a fool and staging a grand drama of reconciliation. Instead, she used this to enlighten Shen Wei.
Shen Wei had clearly never given much thought to duties and monthly allowances.
“Could it be?” Shen Wei, though simple-minded, was not foolish. After pondering quietly for a while, disappointment gradually filled her eyes. “No… how could it be? Sister, I believe I have fulfilled my filial duties to Father and Mother. If they needed money, they could have just said so. I would never hide anything from them.”
“You show them filial piety, but they treat you like a maid who works for free and even pays them.” Shen Hui sat up straight and poked Shen Wei’s forehead.
While reading the story, Shen Hui had wanted to rush into the screen and curse. Now, she could finally teach the female protagonist a lesson herself, and it felt immensely satisfying.
Shen Hui was generally upright in character, but her temper was no better than the original body’s—impetuous and outspoken.
She grabbed Shen Wei’s ear and scolded in a low voice, “Since you love serving people so much, let’s go serve others from now on. It’s better than staying here, working for free.”
House-born servants had few options, and Shen Hui wasn’t delusional. She only planned to leave the manor estate first and then take things one step at a time.
“Alas, where can we go?” Shen Wei wiped the corner of her eye, still saddened by Shen Father and Madam Jiang’s deception.
Though pessimistic, she did not object to Shen Hui’s plan.
While gentle and obedient, Shen Wei had been indoctrinated since childhood with the virtues of obedience, speech, appearance, and skill, making her somewhat naive. But with a little guidance, she could see things clearly.
Serving Shen Father and Madam Jiang was a matter of filial duty, but following her elder sister Shen Hui was a matter of familial affection and personal desire.
“Let’s go to Chang’an to find Auntie and ask her to help us get work in the prince’s mansion.” Shen Hui tore off a piece of crispy yet chewy hubing while carefully observing the other’s expression.
If Shen Wei showed even the slightest disapproval, Shen Hui would simply pretend she didn’t have this sister and go seek out Auntie on her own.
Fortunately, Shen Wei only hesitated slightly. “Auntie did mention many times that she wanted to take us away, but Father always said it was just politeness.”
The sisters’ aunt was Madam Xu, the wet nurse of Prince Chu’s third son. She was decisive and strong-willed and had long disapproved of Shen Father.
Madam Xu felt sorry for the sisters and had expressed more than once her wish to bring her nieces into the prince’s residence.
However, whenever this happened, Jiang Shi would deliberately lock the original body away, not allowing her to plead with her aunt, while Shen Wei, deceived by Shen Father’s coaxing, repeatedly declined. Thus, a secure future was cut off.
Shen Hui took small sips of the lamb soup, breaking hubing into pieces and soaking them in it, patiently explaining to Shen Wei: “Not necessarily. Given Aunt’s current position, many people are eager to curry favor with her. If she didn’t truly care about family ties, why would she bring this up time and again?”
Prince Chu currently had three sons and four daughters. The Third Young Master, whom Madam Xu cared for, was ten years old this year, and his birth mother was Consort Zhao.
Consort Zhao was quite favored, having borne Prince Chu a son and a daughter. Unfortunately, the quota for side consorts in the rear courtyard was already full; otherwise, she would have been promoted long ago.
The Third Young Master, however, had been raised by the Princess Consort of Chu since childhood.
Loved by his legal mother, favored by his birth mother, and with the eldest brother having died young while the second and fourth brothers were not particularly liked by Prince Chu, the Third Young Master enjoyed unparalleled glory. This elevated Madam Xu’s status as well, making her the foremost among all the wet nurses.
“Then why did Father deceive me?” Shen Wei frowned tightly.
Shen Hui’s gaze was firm and sharp, as she stated decisively: “Because he fears that you and I will slip from his control, learn the truth about Mother’s illness and death, and refuse to support him in his old age.”