Smoke Rises from the Kitchens of Chang'an

# Absurdist Historical Comedy # An Everyman's Rise # A Guide to Workplace Life in the Tang Dynasty # Unemployed Youth Find New Jobs # A Survival Guide to the Common Streets # Subverting Historical Tropes # Dark Humor # Ensemble Cast # An Lushan Rebellion Fan Fiction # The Last Sparks of the High Tang

In the final years of the Tianbao era, the An Lushan Rebellion breaks out. The day Zhang Silang, a palace cook, loses his job, his wife runs off and his money is gone. All he has left are two copper coins. Desperate for a bite to eat, he joins the refugees crowding Guangde Ward, where he meets a scholar in a tattered green robe. One big pot simmers with porridge, and keeps a whole group of people alive. Zhao Daniu, who sells hu cakes; Madam He, who has lost three sons; Cuiniang, his ex-wife who ran away and then came back: these laid-off workers in a chaotic age only wanted to survive, but somehow they end up exposing a massive military-grain corruption case. Chang'an is vast, and they are small. But the smoke rising from that pot smells like home.