After Losing My Job, I Became a Culinary Cultivation Maniac, and the Whole Internet Went Crazy Learning from Me

After losing his job, Li Wei started livestreaming his “unorthodox cooking” tricks, like braising pork in a thermos and baking pizza in a microwave, and unexpectedly became an online sensation. He and Shen Yizhou, a Huaiyang chef devoted to culinary tradition, go from clashing over their methods to working side by side. Using the most practical techniques, they teach office workers and renters how to make warm, home-cooked meals.

After winning the title of “People’s Home-Cooking Culinary God” and a million-yuan grant, the two stay true to their original purpose and turn their attention to the mountains. They donate rice cookers to Xiangyang Primary School in Guizhou, teach the children to make brown sugar steamed cakes with simple kitchen tools, and raise funds to build a community kitchen. When online haters accuse them of using charity for publicity, they respond with transparent expense records and moving footage of children eating hot meals. They even win the skeptics over, inspiring them to join the cause.

Students in Dorm 302 modify their kitchen appliances to meet power restrictions, square-dancing grannies organize a charity fruit-picking drive, and a retired teacher plants jujube trees, hoping to harvest fruit for cakes next year... Countless ordinary people are brought together by “unorthodox cooking,” spreading warmth through small acts of kindness.

This isn’t a legendary tale of a culinary god, but a relay of kindness wrapped in the fragrance of rice. From a livestream in a rented apartment to a classroom atop a mountain, the sweet aroma of steamed cakes made in a rice cooker crosses mountains and seas, carrying the warmth of everyday life and heartfelt compassion to every corner in need.