Qin Lang, head chef at state banquets, woke up one day
as Shen Yan, a destitute man in Nanpu City of the Great Sheng Dynasty, drowning in debt and waiting to die.
The stove was cold, the pot was broken.
Outside, creditors held knives. Inside, an old friend lay unconscious from hunger,
and at the bottom of the pot was a lump that could have been porridge or charcoal.
Everyone was waiting for him to starve to death.
Then he got the stove going.
A bowl of twice-cooked pork sent its aroma halfway down the street; a spoonful of rich stock brought a life back from the brink;
a plate of cabbage in clear broth had the city's dignitaries lining up to beg him to start serving meals.
They said he was the Kitchen God reborn.
But he knew the truth: he was just a cook who wanted to make good food.
Until the wanted notice from the capital was posted at the entrance to his tavern.
The person in the picture had exactly the same face as him.
And in a military dispatch about food shortages on the northern frontier, someone had specifically asked for him.
In troubled times, whoever can feed a city can command it.
His name is Shen Yan. All he wants is to cook.
But these troubled times simply won't leave him in peace.
