[Food + Sweet romance + Palace intrigue + Farming] [See how a modern cook uses a spoon and spatula to stir up the Qing Dynasty] [Modern nutrition × Qing imperial kitchen] [Michelin chef × cold-faced Fourth Prince]
Lin Xiaoxiao transmigrates.
She becomes the Imperial Kitchen’s most miserable fire-tending maid, and on her very first day, she ruins Consort Yi’s bird’s nest soup.
She quietly draws on her knowledge of modern nutrition and promptly makes a bowl of bird’s nest stewed with papaya.
Consort Yi tries it. “Come by often from now on.”
The head of the Imperial Kitchen says, “Make sure she stays stuck washing vegetables!”
Fine, she’ll wash vegetables. It’s a perfect chance to learn from the other cooks.
But before long, her secret culinary lessons bring tears to Dowager Consort Wen’s eyes. A plate of colorful dumplings leaves the old woman, lonely for most of her life, misty-eyed.
They also win over Kangxi’s appetite. A bowl of nourishing congee makes the emperor remember a palace maid called “Little Lin.”
And then she wins… the Fourth Prince’s heart.
That cold and aloof Fourth Prince starts showing up outside her woodshed every night, though no one knows when it began.
“Is there any of that congee from the other night left?”
As he says this, his eyes hold a warmth she has never seen before.
Only later does she learn that her bowl of congee warmed the heart of a man who had never known affection as a child.
Only later does she learn that this cold and aloof man would place an entire empire at her feet.
“My empire is half yours.”
Lin Xiaoxiao looks at the patch of chili peppers in the imperial garden and smiles.
“Then… shall I cook for you for the rest of my life?”
