After Marrying a Star-Crossed Scholar (Food)

Qiao Yunxi transmigrates into a book as a sacrificial character who survives for only one chapter. From the start, she faces certain death.

Sold by her greedy second aunt, she is about to be forced into a ghost marriage with a landlord’s dead son, a tragic fate that will leave her dead young.

The landlord is powerful, and none of the neighbors dare intervene. But just as she is bound into the bridal sedan and about to be carried away, a cool, clear “Stop” abruptly cuts off her doomed fate.

A slender scholar stands amid the rain and mist, citing the law with ringing conviction and forcing the tyrannical wolves to back down.

Everyone in the village knows Pei Qi is a jinx.

Born beneath a blood moon, he brought about his parents’ deaths and drove away his teachers. The ten-year betrothal arranged for him in childhood fell apart overnight. With a cursed fate and misfortune dogging his every step, anyone who gets close to him is doomed to bad luck.

For years he has lived alone, with no one willing to get close. He has become someone the entire village is desperate to avoid.

But Qiao Yunxi knows the truth: this unlucky scholar, shunned by the whole world, is upright and kind. He passed the county-level imperial exam at fifteen, and later will pass the provincial and metropolitan exams, enter government service, and become an official.

Sadly, he will die at just twenty-five while traveling to take up his post. It is a heartbreaking loss.

To repay him for saving her life, and to secure his protection, Qiao Yunxi spends hours in the kitchen despite her illness.

When the rain stops and the crowd disperses, she appears at the gate of his dilapidated courtyard, carrying a plate of crisp, fragrant wild-vegetable cakes. Her gaze is bright and stubborn:

“The world fears your misfortune, but I’m tough enough not to believe in it. I have a knack for cooking. From now on, I’ll shield you from gossip, and you’ll help me make a place for myself in this world. If you ever fall for someone else, we’ll divorce. How does that sound?”

The scholar gazes at her for a long time with clear, dark eyes, then finally nods.

From then on, Qiao Yunxi uses her outstanding culinary skills to defy fate and change her life:

She makes flour, simmers sauces, and ferments bean curd; she cooks fish with pickled vegetables, crispy taro duck, and stuffed pumpkin; clay-pot stew, hot-and-sour noodles, candied sweet potatoes, snowflake red bean paste, egg-yolk pastries…

Step by step, she builds a business, eventually becoming famous far and wide and taking the capital by storm.

The sacrificial character, once as fragile as paper, makes a complete comeback.

And Pei Qi’s fate quietly turns around, too, warmed by the glow of their everyday life.

Everyone says his luck has finally changed and he has defied fate.

Only Pei Qi knows that all his good fortune has always come from her alone.

[Bonus Scene]

At dusk, Pei Qi returns home after work.

The composed, dignified Lord Pei, who never smiles in court, heads straight for the bedroom as soon as he walks in. “Wife, I’m hungry.”

Qiao Yunxi sets down what she’s doing and turns toward the stove, gently coaxing him. “Rest for a bit first. There’s chicken soup simmering on the stove.”

She has barely taken a step when an arm suddenly tightens around her waist.

A broad, warm palm clasps her waist as a faint, cool scent of ink envelops her.

Before she can react, a tender, burning kiss lands on the corner of her lips.

After a long, lingering kiss, his ears flush red and his voice turns husky and clingy:

“I’m not hungry. I just… missed you.”

* Both leads are virgins: a clever, nimble-fingered cook who loves to flirt, and a gentle, pure-hearted scholar known as a “jinx.”

* She builds a food business, he studies for the imperial exams. A cozy, sweet farming romance.

Theme: Eat well