in the beginning, I thought it was hilarious that the MC asked her MIL to publicly berate her in front of their stall to gain sympathy and drive up their sales.

Even during their most difficult times she treats the MC like her own daughter and never tries to take advantage of her. When she realizes the MC is better at handling some situations than her, she is more than happy to take a step back and let MC take charge of their family affairs. She is protective of the MC because she cares for her but also sees her as an equal who deserves respect which is just so refreshing to see when so many of these types of novel like to demonize the MIL character. I wish we had more decent MIL characters in literature because it's so much nicer seeing women supporting other women rather than tearing them down for the sake of men.

I admire the author for putting in some suspense and "potential-dramatic" plots and characters, and then tossed them to the side, forgotten and occasionally mentioned.

There's a reborn person who has an instinctive fear about Gu Ye. I don't see how her role truly affected the plot and the other characters. She was an unnecessary addition to the story. Even the times when she appeared felt like an afterthought of the author.

Will say tho that the ML suggesting divorce first thing after reuniting with her made me wanna cough out blood. The actual first time they met (altho they didnt know each other's identity) had so much potential! I was really looking forward to the romance and ML just let me down!! I wish the MC actually made him squirm and struggle at least a little before giving in... she's too nice!!+will say that this novel has like two too many women vying for ML and he never really puts them in their place he just sort of ignored it???? lol MC does all the work which just makes him even more of a dissapointment in my eyes.

The ml's family and Gu ye obviously, her staff at the restaurant, the Xu family, the Ge couple and the imperial family.

That connection being they had encountered each other while the MC was a captive cook of the former Emperor. She had deliberately disguised herself by using ashes to darken her face and wore clothing too big so that none of the former Emperor's men (or the Emperor) would make a move on her.

The ML had arrived as a way to infiltrate the Emperor's men to try and assassinate him. He pretended to be deaf and mute while working his way towards his goal. Unfortunately, he almost got caught the first time but was saved by hiding in the MC's bed. She immediately lied to also further his alibi. The pair began to develop mutual feelings after that.

They would spend an undetermined amount of time stuck with the former Emperor and his soldiers (I believe the novel said months but time is really wibbly wobbly in this story) before getting free and developed mutual feelings for one another. Unfortunately, it still took a lot of time for them to progress.

Example is when she wanted to make iced drinks during summer. She hadn't stored up any ice during winter and it was too expensive to ship it in. But, it just so happens that she knew someone who had a cellar full of ice.

Or when she wanted to send a ship to get peppers so she asked the ML to request the Emperor's reward be a ship. Instead, he gives her a shipping guild. She also gains a pepper farm later in the story because the ML wins a polo match.

It literally ends on her daughter going to school in the Palace, her adopted son off to deal with some issue as the Crown Prince, her main business not requiring her to work there and apparently nothing else at home. This "emptiness" results in the ML taking her for a trip outside the capital to the town where she made her first restaurant. She gets busy there and then her daughter and adopted son arrive with one of their servants. And that's it.

For example Feng Yuan, Mother Qin, and that whole family. We don't see how the family was affected by the manipulation of the MC's adopted son. We just have the MC explaining to her son that he has to be careful with how he manipulates people because being able to do that kind of thing when he's not even seven is a bad thing and could possibly lead him to becoming twisted. There was so much potential here but it gets forgotten. Especially with Feng Yuan's concubine claiming that his legal wife caused her to miscarry but that gets glossed over.

Branching off from Feng Yuan's family, there is also his former wife who was kidnapped as a child. The MC manages to help her find her family and they all end up working for her in the capital. Yet... they never do anything about the cousin/nephew who went to jail for a short time for trying to intimidate the MC and her mother-in-law. This guy was from a family that put the title of family heir on him from the beginning, yet they never found it strange when his aunt and uncle sold the stall in one town and went to the capital.

The surviving competing restaurant in the first town doesn't ever really try to compete with them again before they go to the capital.

Same with the one in the capital, it's clearly losing money but it gets glossed over.

The marriage of one side character and the budding romance between two others is just left to fade out over the last few chapters with no resolution.

The guy she ends up gaining when she gets the pepper field. He wants to plant new crops and the like but he is never written about again after the MC meets him.

I'm sure there are others but I completely forgot.

She had medical skills and was taking care of the ML's father who had a stroke. In the previous life, she ended up in love with the ML. When she reached the end of her life in that timeline, he told her that he did not love her. So when she regressed, she decided she was going to marry his father and force him to call her mother (I... don't even understand that thought process, just saying).

Instead, everything falls apart because the ML's mentor reveals that her fate is being forced down by a noble person whom they all assume to be the MC (turns out that it's the adopted son leeching off her luck). The family cluelessly does everything in their power to help her recover but she ends up trying to destroy the relationship between the adopted son and his friend. Eventually, she realizes that she needs to do good deeds in order to stay alive (first time I've seen a regression with karma) but she still fails at that at the end.

She only does one major manipulation against the family before trying to go with the envoys to another kingdom. Only to get caught by the adopted son. He gets her to reveal everything about the other life so he informs the Emperor who decides that she is to be executed on the spot. She becomes a withered dead thing before the guards get to her.

so FL transmitted in ancient time in which she is widow and have a 5 years old brother in law and mother in law the story is very sweet how they support each other their interactions is also very sweet they open a stall and FL adopted a child and slowly and steady they develop in that area they opened a store and cook

later she met ML when both of them was in disguise {in around ch 202 -203} and defeated the previous monarch as ML was the rebel team's general later they get separated they both have some feeling with each other but they don't know their identity yet

later FL with her family go to their old village to rebuilt ML and his father grave where they met ML who thought FL and his family is dead met{ around ch 229-230} it's very funny and sweet reunion as they thought he is a ghost later he asked FL divorce as he got to know she has a 5 year old child he thought she is already married and had a child but when he see her face he got to know she is the women he had a feeling for and he change his mind even before he got to know that the child was adopted by FL and when he got to know he was very happy later they leave for capital where their new mansion was

there is also shen hanchun she got reborn in her previous life she love ML but he was indifferent towards her even in on her deathbed when she wanna marry ML he said no so in this life she take care of ML father who got many injuries and wanna marry him and be ml's mother so he won't be that indifferent towards her but when FL and her mil returned her plans got spoiled and she can't even do anything because she got scared of FL adopted child because she knew his identity he is the son of current emperor in her previous life FL adopted son was the notorious tyrant (well she doesn't have that much role in this story

later FL opened a big store in capital and she updated it very much

ok so now I am gonna stop spoiling anymore if you are interested give it a try

He is the "noble" that suppresses the doctor, Ms. Shen's fate. However, the family didn't know at the time and in order to help the Ms. Shen avoid illness, they chose him as the representative to visit her daily (to ensure she is taking her medicine?). Of course, they couldn't understand why that although they were staying away from her, she didn't get better. As she is a reborn character, she knows Gu Ye's real identity and is absolutely fearful of this little cute radish.