Building a Food City from a Street Stall

Lin Yao, a modern food blogger who died from overwork, transmigrates into the body of a twelve-year-old girl with the same name in the declining Da Yan Dynasty. The original host was tricked by her aunt, Hu Shi, into becoming a concubine for a wealthy old man and died after hitting her head while trying to escape. Lin Yao wakes up in a desolate grove, inheriting the girl's tragic memories and a family plunged into poverty. Her father has been conscripted and likely died, her mother recently passed away from illness and despair, and her remaining relatives have seized their property, leaving Lin Yao, her fifteen-year-old brother Lin Cheng, and four-year-old brother Lin Song with nothing but three drafty thatched huts.

Facing starvation in a world ravaged by drought, floods, and oppressive taxation, Lin Yao resolves to use her modern culinary knowledge to survive. She recalls her experience as a successful food influencer and decides to start a small food stall. With only 120 copper coins saved by her brother from hunting, she purchases flour, lard, and eggs. She makes chive and egg pancakes, a dish unfamiliar to the locals due to the scarcity of oil and eggs in their diet. Her first day at the dock market is a success, selling out all forty pancakes and earning a significant profit after costs. The siblings work together, with Lin Cheng handling the heavy lifting and Lin Song assisting where he can, establishing a routine that slowly lifts their family out of immediate hunger.

However, their success attracts negative attention. Hu Shi, the aunt who attempted to sell Lin Yao, spreads rumors in the village that Lin Yao is possessed by an evil spirit because she survived her injury and continued her daily activities. The villagers, superstitious and fearful, begin to shun the family. Realizing the danger to her reputation and future business, Lin Yao devises a counter-strategy. She enlists the help of a local matchmaker, Zhang, who had previously been approached by Hu Shi to facilitate the sale. Lin Yao confronts the matchmaker publicly in the village, staging a scene where she pleads for help against her aunt's attempted trafficking. This public exposure forces Hu Shi to deny the allegations in front of the entire village, inadvertently admitting the attempt while discrediting her own character. The villagers' sympathy shifts back to the Lin siblings, and the rumors are quashed.

With their reputation restored, Lin Yao expands her business offerings. She introduces wild scallion egg pancakes to attract customers who dislike chives, increasing her daily sales and profits. She also ventures into the mountains to gather medicinal herbs, discovering cinnamon trees. Selling the high-quality cinnamon to a local pharmacy, she earns a substantial sum that allows her to invest in better equipment, including commissioning a custom iron griddle from a blacksmith. She uses her earnings to treat her brothers to meals and sugar figurines, strengthening their bond. The story establishes Lin Yao as a shrewd and resilient entrepreneur navigating the harsh social and economic landscape of ancient China, using her culinary skills and modern mindset to build a livelihood for herself and her siblings while dealing with the lingering threats from her exploitative relatives.