Su Qinghuan, a legitimate daughter fleeing an arranged marriage, carries her family's treasured Complete Guide to Qinghuan Medicinal Cuisine. Her silver needles can stop bleeding, and her medicinal soups can soothe the heart, but her family is forcing her to marry a wastrel. While fleeing through the rain at night, she strays into the imperial hunting grounds and rescues Xiao Jinghan, a gravely wounded war prince known as the "Cold-Faced Demon."
She uses astragalus to replenish his qi and angelica to nourish his blood, stabilizing his mortal injuries with three bowls of medicinal cuisine. But she accidentally discovers the secret of the plum-blossom birthmark on his chest. To hide his injuries and avoid the Empress Dowager's forced match, he offers her a three-month contract: "I will protect your freedom. You will be my wife in name and help me deal with trivial matters."
"Your Highness, medicinal cuisine nourishes both body and heart. With a disposition as icy as yours, you'll need sweet soup to warm you up."
"My princess is quite right. Then I must trouble you, my dear, to 'warm me up' every day."
When a charming, spirited medicinal chef meets a cold-faced war god, the fragrance of medicinal dishes in the kitchen collides with the hard-edged air of the battlefield. She wields herbs like blades, outsmarts arrogant rivals, and exposes poisoning plots. He shields her with his iron cavalry, keeps her safe, investigates her origins, and pampers her as the one and only darling of his household. On the day their contract expires, Xiao Jinghan pulls her into his arms, pressing a dragon-patterned jade pendant to her forehead. "Your medicinal cuisine can heal my body, but you must heal me for the rest of my life."
(A little scene: One night, Xiao Jinghan works late on official business. Su Qinghuan brings him a bowl of lotus seed and lily bulb soup, but he grabs her hand and presses it against his chest. "Only you can bring warmth to this place.")
