Capital City, Su Residence of Great Yun Kingdom
“Miss, are you awake?”
“Yes, I’m awake. Come in.”
A young maid, Qiu Yu, walked into the room carrying a washbasin and began helping her young lady get ready.
“Miss, you look so beautiful in this light green flowing dress!”
The girl smiled silently after hearing that, her round bright eyes staring at herself in the bronze mirror.
Looking at the reflection, Su Lele saw a fair-skinned young woman with snow-white skin, large watery eyes, a straight delicate nose, curved willow-like eyebrows, a small oval face, and a graceful figure. Only then did she begin to accept the unbelievable fact that she had transmigrated into this world.
The original owner of this body was also named Su Lele, aged seventeen.
She had suffered from a form of intellectual disability since childhood—quiet and docile, with the mind of a five-year-old child.
Fortunately, the Su family had always been harmonious and loving. Everyone treated the original owner very well. Even the youngest sister cared deeply for her, always saving delicious food for her.
When she was seven, her parents and grandfather once took her to Putuo Temple to offer incense, where they happened to meet a resident abbot.
The master said: there was no need to worry—the girl’s soul had simply drifted elsewhere, and when the time came, she would naturally recover and become well. She would have great fortune in the future, blessed with both wisdom and virtue.
After that, the family finally felt at ease. Aside from giving her medicinal meals daily, they did not force her to learn the skills of a noble lady such as music, chess, calligraphy, or painting. Instead, they let her grow up freely like an ordinary child.
Three days ago, the original Su Lele was playing in a side courtyard at night when she was frightened by a wild cat and fell. She hit her head on a stone and fainted.
At that same time, in the modern world, the unlucky Su Lele—who ran several snack shops—was preparing to launch a new dried fruit product line. She personally went to a rural mountain orchard to inspect fruit quality.
Her snack business mainly relied on both homemade and sourced products. Because of its excellent quality and affordable prices, it attracted many customers.
This time, she planned to produce dried fruit snacks herself, so she came to inspect the orchard. Unexpectedly, an accident occurred—she slipped off a cliff and died, her soul transmigrating into the body of Su Lele in the fictional Great Yun Kingdom.
She went from 26 years old to 17. Not only did she become younger, she also became prettier.
Was that a gain or a loss? Su Lele didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Fortunately, her mentality was good. Since she had already come to this world, she could only accept it calmly. After all, ever since her parents divorced, they hardly cared about her anymore, and both had already started new families. Even if she were gone, they probably wouldn’t be too heartbroken.
Luckily, the original owner was not a poor peasant girl who struggled to survive day to day. Her family was kind and well-off enough. Her father was a ninth-rank official—low in rank and income—so the Su family was only considered modestly wealthy, but Su Lele was already satisfied.
She had been in this world for three days. Through her very talkative maid Qiu Yu, she quickly learned about her family members, customs of this dynasty, the ruling system, and even various gossip stories from the capital.
When Qiu Yu talked about gossip, her expressions and gestures were so animated that she seemed like a textbook extrovert.
Her grandfather, Su Dong, was a former clerk in the Dali Temple. After retirement, he became a “tour guide” type elder. He rarely stayed home, often traveling with a group of powerful retired officials like dukes, grand secretaries, and ministers. They could be found everywhere—teahouses, taverns, theaters, and small restaurants.
Recently, they even started going fishing at nearby estates, taking day trips to Putuo Mountain, and planned to travel across various prefectures in the future.
It was hard to believe that a man of relatively low official rank had become the leader of such a powerful group of elders. Truly impressive—an ultimate social butterfly personality. Su Lele seriously suspected Qiu Yu had been influenced by him.
Su Dong had two sons and one daughter: Su Qinghe, Su Qingqing, and Su Qinghai.
Su Lele’s father, Su Qinghe, was a ninth-rank official working in the Ministry of Personnel. He had two sons and two daughters.
Her second aunt, Su Qingqing, married a wealthy merchant in Pingzhou named Li Youcai and had two sons.
Her third uncle, Su Qinghai, was a county magistrate in Meilin County under Nanzhou Prefecture and had two sons and one daughter.
“Miss, Madam is already waiting in the dining hall for breakfast.”
“Alright, let’s hurry so we don’t keep Mother waiting.”
When Su Lele arrived at the dining hall with small quick steps, she saw a graceful woman with gentle eyebrows smiling at her—this was her mother, Wang Huilan.
It turned out the original Su Lele inherited her mother’s good looks.
“Lele, are you feeling better? Does your head still hurt?” Wang Huilan asked nervously.
“Mother, I’m fine now, look.” Su Lele said while spinning around to show her.
“Good, good… my dear daughter.” Wang Huilan said, hugging her and crying. Ever since she learned her daughter’s condition had improved, she had already cried several times, and now she couldn’t hold back again.
“Mother, where is everyone else?”
“Your father went to court. Your little sister is still asleep. Your eldest brother is on leave today, staying at the estate with your sister-in-law. Your sister-in-law has been vomiting a lot since she became pregnant, and your brother is very anxious.”
“I’ve already sent someone to inform your third brother. He will come back in two days when Qing Shan Academy has a break.”
The eldest brother, Su Yixing, was last year’s top scholar (Tanhua) and works at the Hanlin Academy. He is married to Li Chuyun, the daughter of the academy headmaster.
The third brother, Su Yian, studies at Qing Shan Academy and will take the imperial exam next year.
The fourth sister, Su Tongtong, is eight years old and has started learning embroidery, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
Breakfast in the Su family was simple. Over the past few days, Su Lele had mostly seen meals like rice porridge with side dishes, steamed buns, and noodle soup with shredded meat.
She had not seen fried or stir-fried dishes yet, and she was already getting tired of it.
Looks like if she wanted fried food, she would have to make it herself.
Luckily, she was a foodie and often researched recipes while running her snack business, so she had decent cooking skills.
“Mother, I’ll go check on sister-in-law.”
“Alright, Qiu Yu, take the young lady there. I’ll go see if your little sister is awake. She keeps sleeping in, and Teacher Zhang has complained several times. Your father and grandfather spoil her too much—they can’t bear to scold her, so I end up being the bad one.”
Although Wang Huilan complained, her tone was full of affection.
While Qiu Yu led Su Lele toward her eldest brother’s courtyard, they ran into Butler Chen, who was carrying two large baskets toward the side hall.
Curious, Su Lele walked over—and saw… hawthorn fruit?
Qiu Yu said in disgust, “Butler Chen, why did you bring back so many of these red fruits? They’re so sour they make your teeth ache. Even dogs wouldn’t eat them.”
In this world, hawthorn was called “red fruit.”
Su Lele thought: Dogs don’t eat them? I do!
At that moment, her mind was already filled with thoughts of sugar-coated hawthorn, hawthorn fruit leather, hawthorn cakes, and hawthorn candy…
She had to stop thinking—she was about to drool.
Butler Chen said, “These were picked by farmers from the outskirts mountain estate. The mountains are full of them. Although they are very sour, poor rural families and children often eat them as snacks.”
“I brought them back because the young madam is pregnant and likes sour foods. I thought she might enjoy them, but the children from the village picked far too many.”
“Are there really a lot of these red fruits in the mountains?” Su Lele asked.
Her eyes lit up.
Money. That was money everywhere.
Although the Su family had two officials, their income was not high. Expenses were large, and the younger siblings were still studying. They only owned a small estate and about fifty mu of farmland, all rented out.
In ancient times, snacks were extremely rare.
It seemed her road to wealth could depend entirely on snacks.
And just like that—her business empire began to form in her mind.