Lin Chen inherited an old villa that seemed ordinary enough. But one late night, he discovered something strange about a kitchen cabinet: when he opened its door, he found a passage through time connected to the ancient world.
After losing his job, he was slurping down his last bowl of instant noodles to stave off hunger. He casually set the bowl beside the passage and turned to fetch some water. By the time he turned back, the bowl had vanished into the passage. Soon, cries of surprise came from the other end. Peeking inside, he saw that the bowl of instant noodles had been picked up by the head chef of an ancient tavern. The sizzling sound of hot oil poured over the noodles and the rich aroma of the seasoning left the ancients, who had never seen such “instant deliciousness,” utterly amazed.
From then on, Lin Chen began a remarkable life, using modern food to “make inroads” into the ancient world. He used instant noodles to get things started, watching the ancients marvel at the packets of dehydrated vegetables and seasoning powder. He solved an army’s supply problems with self-heating rice meals, earning a general’s praise. Milk tea, cakes, and other desserts won over the imperial court, and soon he was the “oddity” the noble consort specifically requested to meet.
As his dealings with the past deepened, he gained both fame and fortune in the ancient world. He also discovered that the villa’s time passage didn’t lead to just one place: sometimes it opened onto a market in the Qin and Han dynasties, sometimes a tavern from the Tang or Song, and it could even reach the streets of the Republican era. The culinary traditions of different eras sparked new ideas. He taught the ancients to improve their cooking with modern methods, while drawing inspiration from ancient recipes to bring back to the modern food industry.
But trouble followed in turn. Some coveted the secret of the passage, others questioned where his “marvelous goods” came from, and feelings that crossed the boundaries of time left him torn. Lin Chen had to protect the villa’s secret while balancing life in two eras. In the end, he grew from a down-on-his-luck young man into
This book is very well written! The characters are delicately carved and the story has twists and turns. It's really great!
The books are written in a weird and bizarre way, very attractive and very beautiful.
Alternative time travel stories