Song Xiaoman, a village girl from the city, was sold by her own father for 68,000 yuan to marry into a wealthy family and bring good fortune. Her mother-in-law made life difficult, the concubine framed her, and the whole family waited for her to make a fool of herself. All she brought with her was a copper wok spatula wrapped with red thread.
The Fu family had plenty of rules, but an empty stove. Squatting in the woodshed over a cold fire, she cooked calming porridge that cured the old master's twenty years of insomnia, then silenced the whole household with a bowl of sour soup. When her mother-in-law cut off her food supply, she bought scallions on credit at the market and kept cooking. At a clan banquet, a fish bone lodged in the third uncle's throat, and she saved him with a bowl of vinegar. From then on, she had an ally in the clan.
The young master of the Fu family, Fu Chen, watched with cool indifference. Yet when she bought scallions on credit, he quietly paid the bill, and at the clan banquet, he handed her a clean pair of chopsticks.
The fire burned hot, but people's hearts were cold. She wasn't afraid of the cold, only that the fire might not be strong enough. With one pot and one spatula, she'd make the Fu family's stove burn bright and bring prosperity to their home.
This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.
