After transmigrating, I became the city tyrant.

Lingnan, early morning.

As dawn broke, the market in the small town was already bustling with activity.

The fishmonger stood barefoot in the puddle, calling out his wares. Silver fish scales rippled on the cutting board, and the smell of fish mixed with the scent of mud wafted over.

Yan Zhiwei carried a bamboo basket on her back, her gray-white skirt fluttering across the muddy ground, yet not a single stain remained, as if even the dust avoided her.

"The shopkeeper is here very early today." Seeing Yan Zhiwei's reflection on the stall, Old Wang, who sells tofu, quickly looked up and greeted her with a trembling voice and a forced smile.

The young woman in his line of sight had slightly narrowed phoenix eyes and a small mole on her left cheek, making her look delicate. However, half a month ago, she had pierced his tofu, which was mixed with bean dregs, with a finger and almost cut his cheek with a silver hairpin.

Old Wang was drenched in cold sweat and dared not speak.

Yan Zhiwei's calloused hands stroked the bright, square blocks of tofu on the cutting board. With a press of her fingertips, the raw smell of tofu filled the air.

"Old Wang," Yan Zhiwei suddenly chuckled, "was today's tofu made from last night's soybean dregs?"

“This is so watery, you could raise fish in it.” Yan Zhiwei frowned and slammed her hand on the table.

Sweat beaded on Old Wang's forehead as he awkwardly chuckled and pushed out another slab of tofu hidden underneath: "You, you're joking. I just... I haven't finished loading the goods yet. This is freshly ground this morning..."

Yan Zhiwei didn't respond, but turned and walked towards the newly built vegetable stall next door.

The stall owner was a dark-faced man who was craning his neck to boast to a passing woman about his fresh and delicious cabbages.

"They were just pulled from the ground this morning, the dew is still on them!" the dark-faced man shouted.

Yan Zhiwei glanced at the slightly protruding belly of the woman passing by.

Before long, she bent down, picked up a cabbage, and gently scraped away the outer green leaves, revealing an unnatural waxy sheen between the veins.

The broken vegetable stalks oozed a milky white sap, which greasy stuck to my fingertips.

Yan Zhiwei picked up a vegetable leaf and shook it, and sure enough, she found some wormholes in the sunlight.

"Brother, this cabbage of yours has probably been soaked in alum water, hasn't it? It's riddled with worms, and you've just used alum paste to make it look presentable."

Yan Zhiwei whispered to the passing woman, "Alum syrup is just mineral mud. Eating it will definitely cause stomach upset, and it might even kill someone."

Upon hearing this, the dark-faced man's expression changed drastically: "Young lady, don't make false accusations! If you don't want to buy, fine, but how can you so easily slander someone's innocence?"

The dark-faced man's voice was so loud that it drew the attention of the surrounding vendors, who chuckled and watched the spectacle.

After all, which vendor hasn't had a few tricks up their sleeve? Insiders know this but say nothing. Unfortunately, they ran into this living devil.

The crowd looked at the man and then at Yan Zhiwei.

Yan Zhiwei remained calm, pulling over a wooden bucket from the side of the stall and immersing the cabbage in water.

In a short while, a layer of turbid, flocculent material rose to the surface of the water, and the insect holes on the vegetable leaves became densely visible, like an old woman whose makeup had been removed.

"Anything else to say?" Yan Zhiwei asked with disdain, leaning against the stall.

The crowd erupted in uproar.

The dark-faced man blushed and tried to snatch the wooden bucket, but Yan Zhiwei grabbed his wrist: "The government has explicitly banned the sale of poisonous vegetables. Am I going to take you to see the officials... or are you going to pack up your stall and get out of the market now?"

The man's Adam's apple bobbed, and cold sweat slid down his neck and into his collar.

In just a short while, the stall was empty, leaving only a mess of vegetable leaves on the ground.

The people in the market applauded sincerely when they saw Yan Zhiwei subdue the villain in no time. Yan Zhiwei raised her head, gestured to the crowd, and accepted their praise with a flushed face.

In the second year after her soul transmigrated to the Great Zhao Dynasty, Yan Zhiwei had integrated into the local life.

Yan Zhiwei recalled that she was originally the eldest sister from a remote rural area. She was not good-looking, but she was good at studying. However, she dropped out of school to help support her family. At the age of sixteen, she found a job at a farmhouse restaurant, where she raised fruits and vegetables and also learned cooking skills.

Ten years passed in the blink of an eye. After finally learning some skills, she planned to open a shop. A luxury car drove up on the road. Yan Zhiwei felt her breathing gradually become rapid, short, and then uncontrollable, and finally she lost consciousness.

When she woke up, she found herself in a village in Lingnan, a place she had never heard of before.

The good news is that she now has a pretty face. While she wouldn't be considered a great beauty, she would still be rated a 7 out of 10 in her previous life, which made up for her past feelings of inferiority.

The bad news is that she transmigrated into the body of a concubine's daughter from a declining noble family, the kind who was abandoned in a rural town.

In short, with no one to discipline her, no one to care about her, no savings, and so thin that her bones creaked, and she was born with a weakened immune system, this was Yan Zhiwei's disastrous start.

Fortunately, Yan Zhiwei had some skills. She sold her valuable clothes and accessories to raise start-up capital, gradually developing from a small stall to a well-known business, and eventually opened a restaurant.

As for the rest, there's nothing worth mentioning. Oh right, once when she went up the mountain to pick wild vegetables, she picked up a pretty boy on the way...

No, actually it's not very white.

Yan Zhiwei's thoughts were still wandering when suddenly cries and screams erupted from the east end of the market.

A disheveled man carrying several pieces of red meat charged around recklessly, knocking over Yan Zhiwei's bamboo basket in his panic.

Fresh green peppers fell to the ground, some of them trampled and splattered with juice, which stuck in the cracks of the bluestone slabs, like the splattered fluid from tiny green worms.

Those were top-quality peppers that Yan Zhiwei had painstakingly selected, meant for making a special version of shredded pork with green peppers!

People from Lingnan are not used to spicy food, nor do they like bitter food, but they still want some flavor in their mouths. Most green peppers on the market cannot meet this requirement.

Yan Zhiwei finally found a farmer who had planted some green peppers that met her requirements. She spent a lot of money to buy them in preparation for researching new products, but before the dish could even be served, they "died" right in front of her.

Yan Zhiwei frowned slightly, a glint of silver light flashing, as the man's collar was hooked by the tip of the hairpin. Yan Zhiwei gripped his neck with her left hand, while her right hand held the surviving green pepper seedling in front of his eyes: "Pay money or pay with your life."

"Pick one for me!"

The shrewish roar from the east bank of the river, coupled with the threat to his safety, made the man tremble like a leaf. Before he could beg for mercy, his arm was pressed painfully by another strong hand.

It's Zhu Mingyu! The pretty boy Yan Zhiwei picked up.

Zhu Mingyu's large eyes met Yan Zhiwei's gaze. He stared blankly with his mouth agape. His tough physique was complemented by a delicate face, tanned skin, deep-set eyes that were not harsh, and a slightly rounded jawline.

It's been almost half a year since I took Zhu Mingyu in. This guy has lost his memory and can't remember his background, but he still strangely remembers his own name.

However, Zhu was a common surname in Da Zhao, and even dogs on the street could be called "Little Zhu," so I don't remember much about it.

Yan Zhiwei saw that he was honest, had a refined appearance and was literate, and was strong enough, so he kept him on as a laborer, helping out in the kitchen on weekdays.

Zhu Mingyu is here today because he was sent by Yan Zhiwei to buy pork from butchers.

When Zhu Mingyu saw that it was Yan Zhiwei, he flashed a wide grin, his white teeth practically reaching his ears.

Yan Zhiwei looked him up and down and saw that he had a half-empty basket on his shoulder, his hair was messy, and his cuffs were covered in mud. She understood everything.

"Zhiwei..." Zhu Mingyu had just opened his mouth when Yan Zhiwei's gaze stopped him.

"I asked you to buy some meat, and someone robbed you of it." Yan Zhiwei stepped on the thief's clothes as he tried to slip away. "If I hadn't been here today, wouldn't we have lost both our goods and our money?!"

Yan Zhiwei sneered: "Why weren't you stolen along with the meat?"

Zhu Mingyu scratched his head: "I'm so big, he can't move me even if he wants to."

"So you're just going to let him run away like that?"

"Aren't we chasing them..."

"What the hell are you chasing!" Yan Zhiwei was so taken aback by Zhu Mingyu's naiveté that she reached out and touched his ear.

Taking advantage of Yan Zhiwei's distraction, the thief tried to push her down to break free, but tripped over the red flesh that flew from Zhu Mingyu's hand and fell face-first into the mud.

Zhu Mingyu bent down to pick up the meat, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

The screams were incessant.

Zhu Mingyu released his grip on the thief's leg and whispered in his ear, "Seeing that you're dressed in rags, I was going to let you go, but there's a limit to everything, don't you think?"

"I...I...I know I was wrong, sir!" The pain from just now was still vivid in his mind, and the thief dared not say more. He kept kneeling down and kowtowing to Zhu Mingyu.

Seeing that Zhu Mingyu did not react, the thief quickly turned around and begged Yan Zhiwei for mercy.

"I was wrong, Grandma!"

"Don't let me see you again." Yan Zhiwei rolled her eyes as she swept her hand over the thief's skeletal hand.

——

South of the city, at Yan Zhiwei's home.

Yan Zhiwei and Zhu Mingyu stared at each other, sighing as they looked at the pile of trampled green peppers.

The theft has been dealt with, and the red meat has been recovered, but there's still more than half a basket of damaged green peppers to be dealt with.

Yan Zhiwei rubbed her aching scalp, thinking that stir-frying shredded pork was out of the question, but these green peppers had cost a lot of money to buy from farmers, and it would be a pity to waste them like this.

Zhu Mingyu caught a glimpse of Yan Zhiwei's somber face, his hands clasped together, and he dared not speak.

It wasn't until the aroma of food wafted from next door, so enticing that Zhu Mingyu's soul seemed to wander, that he quietly raised his head.

"Zhiwei, shall we sit down and rest for a while?"

Zhu Mingyu rubbed his hands together: "Why don't you have some water? I'll go start a fire and cook."

"Aunt Fang next door just delivered a jar of her homemade fermented bean curd the other afternoon. I'll go get some to try and see if it tastes good."

When Yan Zhiwei had nothing to do, she would study cooking at home. Her neighbors had all been fed by her, so they would reciprocate by sharing whatever they had with her.

Zhu Mingyu sighed, poured Yan Zhiwei a glass of water, and walked towards the kitchen.

Yan Zhiwei's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Fermented bean curd," Yan Zhiwei murmured to herself, "How could I have forgotten about that?"

Fermented bean curd is made by pickling with salt. People in Lingnan also like to eat pickled vegetables. Why not pickle these green peppers with salt and then seal them in jars to make salt-pickled green peppers?

Yan Zhiwei was overjoyed, but then she realized that there were too many green peppers and that the family might not have enough salt and jars.

It was almost noon, the salt market was far away, and the vendor selling the jars was in the opposite direction. The rotten green peppers had a short shelf life, and she couldn't race against time on her own.

Yan Zhiwei frowned, staring at Zhu Mingyu's strong back. Then, she suddenly jumped up from her chair, hugged Zhu Mingyu's back, and said, "I really can't live without you."

You can't live without me...

Zhu Mingyu was taken aback.

His hands froze in mid-air, and the tips of his ears were so hot they could fry an egg on them.

"Zhiwei, aren't we...aren't we getting too close..." The scent of hibiscus mixed with the spiciness of green peppers from Yan Zhiwei's hair wafted into Zhu Mingyu's nostrils, making his Adam's apple bob. In a daze, Zhu Mingyu even saw a scene ten years later—

Yan Zhiwei, wearing an apron, was simmering soup at the stove when he pushed open the door, carrying a freshly caught crucian carp. Two or three children with pigtails rushed up, calling him "Daddy." Beside the cutting board were several jars of fine wine, each labeled "Special Supply of Yan Zhu Restaurant" in red paper…

Thinking of this, Zhu Mingyu's face flushed, and he was speechless for a moment.

How wonderful it would be to live like that.

Zhu Mingyu's eyes gleamed, and the corners of his mouth turned up, but then he lowered his lips again, as if thinking of something.

"What are you spacing out for!" Yan Zhiwei suddenly changed her expression and slapped him on the lower back.

"I'm telling you to go buy jars, thirty of them, I need them to pickle green peppers."

"If you make another mistake this time, I'll chop you up, pickle you along with the green peppers, and hang you on the roof beam to smoke cured meat."

Zhu Mingyu was so frightened that he took several steps back. He knew that Yan Zhiwei was not joking. If he made another mistake this time, he would either die or at least be sent to the dark woodshed to cultivate a relationship with Brother Rat.

After realizing his situation, Zhu Mingyu broke out in a sweat and awkwardly moved towards the door, but then inexplicably turned back just before leaving.

"Knowing the subtle."

Zhu Mingyu wanted to plead for himself.

With tears welling in his eyes, he asked in a trembling voice:

"If you're going to marinate me... should I use Sichuan peppercorns or star anise?"

A sparrow under the eaves knocked over a bowl of water with a "plop".

Yan Zhiwei grabbed a broom and threw it: "Use arsenic!"