A street urchin, and the God of Cuisine of the Great Ming!
Shen Xiaoman is an orphan who scrambles with stray dogs for scraps at a ruined temple in the capital. In exchange for a full meal, he becomes an apprentice to Zhao Wuji, a retired God of Cuisine. But on his deathbed, his master reveals a shocking conspiracy: for forty years, the Dark Cuisine Realm has controlled the imperial court with poisonous dishes, and even the late emperor died of chronic poisoning!
Armed with a cleaver and a copy of The Wuji Cookbook, Shen Xiaoman travels across the land. At Songhe Tower in Suzhou, he fells the Snake Hall master with a single stroke. In Yunnan’s Mushroom Valley, he uncovers the Spider Queen’s deadly web of poison. Along Fujian’s coast, he uses Buddha Jumps Over the Wall to treat the Qi Family Army. At Yuegang, he foils the Yaksha Hall’s scheme to enforce a maritime ban with a bowl of satay noodles!
Su Wan’er, the daughter of Laifulou, is a Sichuan cuisine prodigy and an arrogant young lady. After losing to his mapo tofu, she follows him across the land, cleaver in hand. “Shen Xiaoman, I’ll guard your wok no matter what!”
From the final years of the Jiajing reign through the Imjin War, he witnesses the Longqing Opening of Trade and Zhang Juzheng’s reforms. When the leader of the Dark Cuisine Realm, “Taotie,” sets a deadly trap using ninety-eight kinds of poison, the lives of the entire court hang in the balance...
Shen Xiaoman lifts a bowl of plain rice porridge and drains it in one go.
“The way of cooking is the way of humanity. I’ve guarded this wok, and I’ll keep guarding it.”
Today, he is no longer a street urchin.
He is the head chef of the Imperial Kitchen, the greatest cook in the land, the God of Cuisine of the Great Ming!
