Chapter 1 001 Fried Rice

"By imperial decree, Zhao Wu'er from the Imperial Tea and Food Office, Wen Fan, the Imperial Kitchen Maid, Wang Zhongbao from the Wine Storehouse, and fifteen others are to be imprisoned in the Shenxing Division for strict interrogation. If any illegal acts are found, there is no need to report back to me; they shall be handed over to the Chongming Palace for handling."

"Who told you to poison the Eighth Prince's food?"

"It's Aunt Fan! Aunt Fan is the Empress's person!"

"The palace maid Wen Fan has been found guilty of murdering the prince and is hereby given a white silk noose."

...

Wen Fan suddenly woke up from her dream. Even though she had been reborn for several days, she could still feel the suffocation she had experienced in her previous life.

The white silk was soft, but once suspended from the beam, it was no less powerful than a steel blade. She was tied up by her hands and feet and hung there, while the chief eunuch in Consort Shu's palace covered his nose in disgust.

"It's bound to get messy when people leave; you can come back and clean it up later."

The little eunuch next to her, wearing a quail-patterned embroidered robe, smiled obsequiously: "You don't know, Aunt Fan is the most stubborn. Look, she hasn't eaten or drunk anything for three to five days, and she's perfectly clean."

He spat after saying that, "This palace is full of innocent souls who died without knowing how. What does it matter if you received a name bestowed by the Empress Dowager? What good are your culinary skills? In the end, you're just blocking other people's way."

Wen Fanren was not yet dead. The white silk was deeply embedded in her neck, and the sensation of death made her choke on the word "injustice."

Then the head eunuch instructed the junior eunuch: "Are the flower jam and various fruit wines that Aunt Fan made by hand still there? Her Majesty just sighed about how regrettable it was. It doesn't matter if the person is dead, what matters is that the Emperor likes these things. Go and keep an eye on the junior eunuchs, and move everything to Her Majesty's palace..."

The little eunuch bowed and scraped: "Of course, Aunt Fan still has some unfinished sauces of various kinds, and my master is already trying them one by one... Oh dear, why is Aunt Fan so quiet?"

Wen Fan could feel himself gradually cooling down, and his hands and feet stopped struggling.

All the resentment had vanished by this moment, leaving only a deep-seated hatred. But this hatred instantly turned into smoke upon hearing the words of the young and old eunuchs.

If the white ribbon around her neck hadn't been tightened more and more, she would have almost laughed out loud.

Her things are not so easy to take away.

Whether it's flower jam, fruit wine, or various sauce recipes developed by oneself, if the storage or usage method is incorrect, the product can easily develop a musty and rotten smell. If you accidentally ingest it, you may experience vomiting and diarrhea at best, or even vomiting blood at worst.

The feeling of suffocation surged up like a tide, and Wen Fan's vision went black. But death was so long, and in the long darkness, all the past events surfaced before his eyes.

"My child, it's not that your mother doesn't love you, it's just that I have no other choice. If I don't sell you, how will our family get through this winter?"

"This little girl is clever. Here's three strings of cash. I'll do you a favor."

"You brat, it's your good fortune to be allowed to go to the palace in place of my son! Go quickly and stop making trouble."

...

I felt cold and hot all at once, and finally everything fell silent.

People came and went, and in the end, no one knew who brought her back. Incense and paper ash were scattered all over the world, and a mound of yellow earth remained. Wen Fan died and was reborn.

However, she was not the twenty-six-year-old Aunt Fan from the Great Xia Dynasty, but a seventeen-year-old girl who was still in school.

*****

Wen Fan sat on the edge of the bed. The sky was already turning a pale white, and the light shone through the white gauze curtains, illuminating the not-so-large room.

A few days after being reborn into this body, Wen Fan already knew the names of everything in the room.

For example, that transparent and smooth material, which is even harder than the glass presented to the emperor's palace from foreign lands, is called tempered glass.

The appliance that boils water by simply inserting the black triangular pin into the wall is called a kettle.

And then there's that magical little box that lets you talk to someone thousands of miles away just by pressing a number—that's called a mobile phone.

Wen Fan poured himself a glass of water and remained silent for a moment.

She had been awake for several days, but she still couldn't escape the nightmare.

She was repeatedly suffocated by the tight white silk binding her, and after waking up, she always needed to gasp for breath to regain a sense of reality.

Who exactly harmed her?

Wen Fan was also unclear about the truth, which caused her a terrible headache whenever she thought about it.

Since I have a headache, I'll stop thinking about it.

Wen Fan chuckled self-deprecatingly. After waking up, she clumsily tried to search for everything about the Great Xia Dynasty on the black box called the cell phone. However, after searching carefully, she discovered that the Great Xia Dynasty had never existed in the long river of history.

Even the emperor was overthrown a hundred years ago.

Although there is still a distinction between rich and poor, this era prohibits the buying and selling of people, and even ordinary people can enjoy various conveniences.

Despite this convenience, Wen Fan found himself with an extra book in his mind.

It's quite miraculous that this book seemed to appear out of thin air; it took Wen Fan three days to digest all of its contents.

The book tells the story of a love-hate entanglement between a man and a woman. At first glance, it seems interesting, but Wen Fan gradually finds it tedious. It's like the stories written by impoverished scholars who failed the imperial examinations, filled with inexplicable tales of talented men and beautiful women.

Wen Fan, who shares the same name as her, becomes a clown in the story.

Wen Fan frowned more and more as he looked at it.

The "Wen Fan" in the book is clearly the same person as the "she" in the present. This girl had no parents and lived in an orphanage until she was five or six years old before being adopted by her current parents.

Although her parents were poor, they created a fairly good environment for her.

Wen Fan entered a private high school and was in the same class as the male and female protagonists. Naturally, she fell in love with the boy and began to get closer to him involuntarily.

The male lead, on the other hand, was always arguing with the female lead. In order to stir up her heart, he also accepted Wen Fan's kindness and wavered between the two girls.

Perhaps being in love made her feel inferior, or perhaps Wen Fan, who came from an orphanage, simply lacked a sense of security. Over time, Wen Fan's behavior became increasingly outrageous.

Instead of focusing on her studies, she spent all her time preoccupied with the male lead, and over time, she neglected her education.

In order to buy the male lead a birthday present, she emptied all her New Year's money and even stole money from her parents. In the end, she bought him a pair of shoes that were supposedly "limited edition".

In an attempt to outshine the female lead, she lied and claimed to be the heiress of the XX Group, putting on airs wherever she went. Little did she know that within the male and female leads' social circles, her true identity was no secret at all.

In the end, it was the male lead's friends who made a bet, saying that if the male lead texted her and asked her to elope, she would definitely go.

—The original "Wen Fan" has indeed left.

But the male protagonist didn't care at all about her actions.

Wen Fan waited at the train station all night, while the male protagonist was busy comforting the female protagonist who was finally showing signs of jealousy.

No one paid attention to the girl's burning love, and she eventually went home despite her high fever.

Wen Fan transmigrated at that moment, frowning as he finished reading about the first half of "Wen Fan's" life.

In the second half of the book, "Wen Fan" becomes increasingly insane. The male protagonist's aloofness drives her crazy, and she commits more wrongdoings. In the end, she clears up all the misunderstandings between the male and female protagonists, but she herself jumps off a high building...

Wen Fan sighed deeply.

Admittedly, the original owner was not smart enough to see through the malice hidden beneath those so-called "youthful intentions".

However, the protagonist in this story is not necessarily any more noble.

The male protagonist and his cronies repeatedly outwitted the original owner of the body, with the male protagonist even using "Wen Fan" as a tool to provoke the female protagonist.

If anyone is at fault, it's everyone who is at fault, so why should only the original owner have to pay the price?

Wen Fan drew back the curtains. On the wall hung posters of the celebrities the female lead used to like. Wen Fan tidied up the room, leaving the original owner's things untouched. She only placed a glass of water on the desk with an unknown wildflower she had picked from outside in it.

Regardless, since she has taken over the other person's identity, she should naturally live well for them.

Wen Fan pulled her hair up and looked awkwardly in the mirror.

Ever since she transmigrated, she discovered that she looked almost exactly like the original owner of this body. Perhaps the only difference was...

Wen Fan frowned as he looked at the girl's golden hair in the mirror.

In order to fit into the male lead's group, the original owner dyed her hair a golden color with a hint of blue.

In Wen Fan's eyes, only foreigners would have such hair color.

Fortunately, it's summer vacation and school won't start for another month, otherwise she would definitely dye her hair back to black right away!

In her hazy memory, she clearly remembered that one of the school rules was that students were not allowed to dye their hair.

What Wen Fan couldn't understand the most was this aspect of the original owner.

In such a convenient world, she was willing to give up the opportunity to be educated, just for a man?

Wen Fan shook her head. The fact that a woman could read was something she had never even dared to dream of.

In this era, women could not only study, but also take exams to become officials, engage in business, and conduct scientific research...

Just thinking about it made Wen Fan's heart surge with emotion.

The door creaked open, and Wen Fan had already developed the habit of getting up early long ago in the deep palace.

Although she was older, her parents were even older.

Wen Fan looked at the still-warm breakfast on the table: a perfectly fried, golden-brown egg, a glass bottle of milk, and two slices of bread. There was also a note on the table.

The adoptive mother, Xia Yingzhi, wrote in messy handwriting: "Your father and I went to get some vegetables."

The adoptive father, Wen Tao, was only so-so at cooking, and the couple struggled to make ends meet with their small shop. Business was slow, especially recently during the summer vacation when they lost their student customers, making their income even tighter.

Wen Fan fell ill a couple of days ago, and the shop has been closed for two days. With their savings dwindling, how could the couple not be anxious?

To save money, the two of them went to the market early.

Wen Fan put the note away, peeked downstairs, and saw that her parents' tricycle hadn't returned yet. She thought for a moment, then went into the kitchen.

Although the breakfast prepared by Wen's parents was quite good, with just one bottle of milk costing seven or eight yuan, Wen Fan simply couldn't get used to drinking raw milk. Even in the palace, raw milk was mostly used for making pastries, and very few people drank it directly.

Taking out the few remaining dishes from the refrigerator, Wen Fan reached for the leftover rice from yesterday.

First, break up the leftover rice to make sure it has little moisture before frying it. Put half a spoonful of lard in the pan, add the broken rice, and stir-fry over high heat. Wen Fan only smelled the seasonings on the counter before adding them in boldly. The fried rice was dry and fragrant. Then, he added a small handful of chopped greens, stir-fried it evenly, and it was ready to serve.

A golden fried egg sits atop the rice, a simple fried rice dish that finally whets Wen Fan's appetite.

Just as we were about to start eating, we suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.

Wen Fan instinctively felt that it wasn't his parents. The other person seemed very familiar with the place, knocking on the door one after another and calling out his parents' names.

"...They've arrived."

Wen Fan opened the door, and a woman with slanted eyes was standing outside. When she saw Wen Fan open the door, she said irritably, "You child are really inconsiderate. I've been knocking for so long and you still haven't opened the door. Where are your parents? Let me tell you, your family is several days behind on rent. If you don't pay in the next couple of days, I'm going to take back the house."

It turned out to be the landlord coming to the door. Wen Fan frowned slightly and said, "Auntie, I didn't hear you just now."

The woman rolled her eyes, her gaze falling on Wen Fan's frizzy golden hair, which only amplified her disgust.

"You're not even answering the phone. Are your parents planning to renege on their debt?"

Defaulting on the debt? Wen Fan knew her parents weren't that kind of people. They probably just had too many expenses lately and were busy taking care of her when she was sick, so they forgot.

So she obediently said, "Auntie, my parents have gone out. Would you like to come in and wait?"

Just as Yang Hong was about to say something, a gust of wind blew in from somewhere, and a fragrant aroma wafted over.

"...What's this smell?"

Wen Fan lowered her eyes and said, "It's my breakfast, Auntie. Would you like a bowl?"

Before Yang Hong could refuse, Wen Fan turned around and went into the kitchen to serve the rice.

Yang Hong originally came to collect the rent, but after this little girl talked about it, her stomach started rumbling with hunger.

I thought to myself that I shouldn't go in and eat this food, but my feet wouldn't move on their own.

Wen Fan cooked a large pot of fried rice and invited people into the house. She then served them a full bowl of fried rice.

Yang Hong felt a little uncomfortable. Although she was fierce when collecting rent, she had never eaten food from tenants before. Suddenly entering someone else's home and being served by a little girl who looked like a frightened quail made Yang Hong even more uneasy.

"I'll wait until your parents come back..."

Before he could even stand up, Wen Fan came over with a bowl of fried rice.

Yang Hong was somewhat disappointed by the simple fried rice. She had expected such fragrant rice to be cooked with scallops and shrimp, or at least shredded meat and eggs. Who knew it would turn out to be such a simple, even bland, bowl of rice?

That's true, where did the Wen couple get the money to eat well? They even heard that the house they live in now was borrowed from relatives.

Since it wasn't expensive, Yang Hong didn't refuse. She said to Wen Fan in an annoyed tone, "Tell your parents that you have to pay by the fifth... a week at the latest. If you can't pay by then, I'll really have to take the house back."

Yang Hong wasn't afraid of changing tenants; business near schools comes and goes quickly, and it's common for tenants to change every year or two. The Wen couple's small shop wasn't doing well, and she had long suspected they would eventually go out of business.

Yang Hong angrily shoved the fried rice into her mouth, somewhat regretting that she had come so early.

Having been asked to give way once, she couldn't very well kick her out directly.

Yang Hong's eyes widened instantly upon tasting the bland fried rice.

"This...this was cooked by your dad?"

Yang Hong stuffed two large mouthfuls into her mouth. The oily fried rice paired with the crisp bok choy was just right. Even the slight pepper in it wasn't spicy at all; instead, it blended in perfectly, making her feel that fried rice should taste exactly like this! All the fancy fried rice dishes she had eaten before paled in comparison to this simple bowl of fried rice!

Yang Hong's eyes widened in disbelief.

What did your dad put in?

A note from the author:

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