This isn't just a food novel. [Everyday Life + Stories + Food + Making Money + One Female Lead + Lighthearted + Career Advancement]
1. Exaggerated, hilarious situations and dialogue
2. Fresh and fantastical worldbuilding
3. A lighthearted, heartwarming emotional core
4. A brisk pace and a steady stream of punchlines
The Great Emperor of Fengdu, dressed in a Zhongshan suit, drifted into the courtyard. "The underworld is fighting tooth and nail for your cooking."
The emperor opened a Book of Life and Death glowing faintly green. "We'll take ten percent of your merit coins as the meal fee. Our paper offerings exchange for yuan at a one-to-one rate. You cook, we pay."
Black and White Impermanence took orders on electric tricycles plastered with windproof talismans, the aroma from their insulated food boxes wafting for miles.
The "Yellow Springs Express" app flashed nonstop: a starving ghost ordered Dongpo pork, and 300 yuan arrived in the living world; a Republican-era ghost in a qipao tipped for a video of a wok toss.
Zhang Yiding figured out what the ghosts liked. Some souls preferred a "savory, salty taste with a hint of bitterness," so he added dried tangerine peel and licorice to balance the soup. He even took on managing the underworld.
The most ingenious offering was the "Ancestor Worship Set Meal." The paper menu was burned along with the spirit money, and the descendants received a yellowed recipe on their phones: "Grandpa's braised pork."
With no special powers or cheat abilities, he made ghosts weep as they cradled steaming dishes. "This bowl of noodles tastes just like the ones my mother made for me before I left to find work."
As cooking smoke from the living world drifted across the Yellow Springs Road, he used a cleaver to carve a path to riches between the worlds. Feeding the ghosts was serious business. The underworld's KPIs and GOP were the least of his worries.
Relaxation, good food, and a storyline