The third year of Xuanhe, Bianjing.
He is Wang Heng, a modern-day wage slave who worked himself to death from overwork, only to open his eyes as the young master of a run-down tavern in the late Northern Song dynasty.
The prosperity depicted in Along the River During the Qingming Festival is at its height, and the Jingkang Incident is just six years away.
No System, no golden finger, just a family clay pot, half a recipe for Dongpo pork, and a fiery mother who keeps the books with a feather duster in hand.
He ties on an apron and takes his place at the stove.
Dongpo pork, glossy, tender, and falling apart; fish-and-mutton soup, milky white and rich with flavor; a bowl of “Meeting an Old Friend” that warms Bianjing’s autumn through and through. He draws customers from every corner with good food and uses his wits to outmaneuver all sorts of scoundrels. As the prosperous age nears its end, he tends the fires of the Zuixian Tavern and looks after everyone around him, keeping their lives warm and vibrant.
This is a lighthearted story about a fat man cooking, slimming down, outwitting unscrupulous merchants, and surviving in the late Northern Song dynasty.
It is also a long, blazing song of Bianjing’s last days.
