Modern food blogger and inheritor of traditional Chinese medicine Lin Wan unexpectedly transmigrates into the body of Liu Afei, a chubby farmer’s wife in Qingxi County of the Great Jing Dynasty. The original Liu Afei was lazy, greedy, and mean. She mistreated her paralyzed, unconscious scholar husband, Liu Yanzhi, and tormented her two younger brothers-in-law, leaving the Liu family destitute and disgraced.
In her darkest hour, Lin Wan uses her culinary skills to turn coarse grains and wild vegetables into delicacies. First, she wins over her family and turns around their reputation. Then, her unique recipes bring her into contact with Shen Muyan, the young master of the town’s Weixiangzhai restaurant. The profits she earns give her the funds to buy medicinal ingredients for Liu Yanzhi. With her skill in traditional Chinese medicine, she cares for him until he awakens, then helps him recover and renew his ambition to pursue the imperial examinations.
After that, Lin Wan leads her brothers-in-law in reclaiming wasteland and building a business, expanding her food venture from a humble country stall into the nationwide chain Wanxiang Pavilion. With her support, Liu Yanzhi passes the imperial examinations one after another and rises through the political ranks, weathering countless ups and downs before becoming the dynasty’s chancellor. Shen Muyan falls for Lin Wan’s talent and character. He never marries, instead turning Weixiangzhai into an international trading network and quietly staying by her side.
From a home with nothing to a life of splendor in the chancellor’s mansion, from being despised by all to earning everyone’s admiration, Lin Wan makes a living with her cooking, helps the world with her medical skills, and protects her family with her wisdom. She and Liu Yanzhi support one another through thick and thin, weathering hardship alongside their family and brothers while making a host of benefactors and close friends. Amid farming, escaping poverty, political intrigue, and commercial ventures, she writes a legendary tale of a “chubby cook who helps her husband rise to chancellor.”
