Yan Yan's Power Grab

Reborn on the day she was sold into the mountains, Lin Wan swallowed her tears of blood and set her sights on the lifeblood of the entire village: its communal feasts. From an unnoticed dishwasher by the stove to the "clever daughter-in-law" in charge of the banquets, she turned every dish into a chess piece. Sweet soup could stir up the clan chief's buried memories of an old love, medicinal cuisine could be traded for precious news from beyond the mountains, and a bowl of rice cake could break down a guard's defenses. In this closed-off mountain village, where food determined power and banquets judged right and wrong, she seemed to chew meekly through every humiliation, but had already savored the taste of power beneath the banquet table. When she served the final dish, "The Five Flavors of Life," at the ancestral worship feast, yesterday's diners became pieces on her board. This time, she would bring down this cannibalistic banquet, one bite at a time.