The Three-and-a-Half-Year-Old Little Chef Feeds the Whole Village to Fortune

[Little Prodigy, Farming, Everyday Food, Ensemble Cast, No Romance, Making a Fortune, Imaginary Jiangnan Water Town, Feel-Good and Lighthearted]

Three-and-a-half-year-old Lu Jiaojiao opens her eyes to find herself the little daughter of the poorest food-stall family in Linshui County.

Her father, Lu Qingshan, is honest and has been cheated into debt by a crooked shopkeeper. Her mother, Shen Heniang, is ill but still has to wash dishes for others to help make ends meet. Her grandmother is fiercely protective, but penniless, and her brother is so hungry he secretly drinks rice water.

The whole family is on the verge of selling their stove to pay off their debts.

Hugging an iron ladle bigger than her face, Lu Jiaojiao chirps, “Don't sell the stove. Sell meals!”

A bowl of egg-drop rice soup brings back a regular customer, a pot of lotus-leaf chicken fills half the street with its aroma, and a jar of sweet fermented rice brings the county magistrate's wife right to their door.

While others laugh at the little girl playing in the dirt, she gets the whole village growing lotus roots, drying fish, making rice cakes, opening a night market, and putting on water banquets.

The crooked shopkeeper tries to steal her recipes?

Lu Jiaojiao plants her hands on her hips. “You can steal my recipes, but I'll steal your customers!”

Before long, everyone in Linshui County knows the Lu family has a three-and-a-half-year-old Kitchen God. Any family that follows her lead will be the first to fill its rice jar.

Later, sitting outside the newly opened Full Granary Eatery and watching the line of customers stretch all the way to the bridge, Lu Jiaojiao carefully counts her coins.

“Today, too, we're going to eat our fill and make lots of money!”