1.
Just when Zhou Cuo had finally managed to escape a wasteland novel, she accidentally transmigrated into an ancient-era one.
Desertification? Not a thing! There are vast tracts of fertile fields and forests yet to be cultivated, with lovely scenery and prosperous people.
Radiation from nuclear war? Not a thing! This is still the age of cold weapons: swords and blades, no nuclear weapons.
Extreme weather? Not a thing! People here still pass down songs about the twenty-four solar terms.
A zombie outbreak? Not a thing! Young and old alike live in peace and contentment.
After spending some time adjusting to her new life, Zhou Cuo summed things up in two points:
The good news: There is no survival crisis this time, and her reward for clearing the wasteland has already arrived.
The bad news: This book is way too old-fashioned. They still eat coarse rice.
After going hungry for three meals a day, Zhou Cuo finally couldn't take it anymore on the fourth day. She loaded herself with all kinds of seasonings, climbed ninety-nine stone steps, and went to apply for a job at Yunzhong Academy.
As the academy most admired by students across the Great Liang Dynasty, Yunzhong Academy boasts not only renowned scholars and a library encompassing every field of knowledge, but also picturesque sights such as the misty dawn over the willow pond, rosy clouds over the peach grove, the evening fragrance of lotus blossoms, and secluded paths beneath the parasol trees. It is truly without equal.
Alas, nothing is perfect, and the academy's dining hall is unbearably bad.
The rice is hard and sour, the meat is so tough you can't chew it, and even plain old leafy vegetables somehow taste of the natural earthy aroma of the ingredients themselves. As a result, all the students are sallow and thin.
Until one day, a wisp of cooking smoke climbed toward the setting sun, curling into cloud after cloud and bathing the western hills in dusky gold.
One student actually bowed their head and wept at the scent coming from the dining hall.
It smelled so good.
It smelled unbelievably good!
Every student put down their books and looked up at the sky in contemplation.
So that's what it means to remember how hard it is to come by every bowl of porridge and every grain of rice!
Juices from meat soaked in sauce streamed golden from fist-sized buns. The toppings spilling over five-colored noodles piled high with lamb were creamy white. Steamed pork with rice flour, spicy chicken, Dongpo pork knuckle: even the mists that had lingered around Yunzhong Academy for years seemed to have turned into the aroma of braised beef.
2.
Half a year later, the academy closed for its annual holiday.
In the back courtyard of Yunzhong Academy's little dining hall, where no one ever came to visit...
Wei Xun, a teacher who had always thought highly of himself, leaned against the stove, eyes brimming with tears as he watched the scallion-oil chicken about to come out of the pot. He couldn't help tugging at Zhou Cuo's sleeve and begging softly,
