A livestream puts Chen Yiguo on display for the whole internet, accused of passing off “pre-made food” to his customers. He is branded a “culinary hack,” and even his daughter, Chen Xiaoyu, is doxxed. But no one knows that someone switched out the food. Three years later, he returns to the night market with a beat-up food cart and his five-year-old daughter. He sticks to the cheapest scraps and uses “loopholes in the rules” to cook dishes that even food critic Bai Lu has to admit are better than hers. Bai Lu follows him around, cursing him, but the more she does, the hungrier she gets. Night market supervisor Zhou Daguo finds fault with him every day, yet sneaks out to buy his fried rice late at night. Chen Yiguo has one rule: he sells only ten portions of each dish, then closes up. Whether you get to eat depends on your luck. He uses expired soy sauce to bring out the flavor, industrial jelly powder to make desserts, and fish heads others throw away to simmer a golden broth. Every time he “cheats,” there is a price to pay: he might burn his fingers or get reported by a competitor. But just as the whole internet waits to watch him fail, he uses a single iron wok on livestream to bring the restaurant group that framed him years ago’s dirty secrets to a sizzling boil. Bai Lu suddenly posts “I Was Wrong” on her official account. Zhou Daguo hands him an old recording, while Uncle Tie smiles and offers him a knife. Chen Yiguo knows the true battle of culinary gods has only just begun. And Chen Xiaoyu quietly hits record on her phone. She is going to use her dad’s wok to make the whole internet cry with hunger.
