The Glamorous Female Chef of the 1970s

Su Nuannuan, a culinary god, transmigrates into a novel set in an earlier era and becomes a cannon-fodder supporting character whose job is to make the heroine shine.

The heroine is her cousin. The whole family favors her, while the only person who takes Su Nuannuan's side, her grandmother, is painted as a villain and meets a tragic end.

Su Nuannuan decides to split from the family with her grandmother and live their own quiet life.

Her biased relatives watch, eager to see her make a fool of herself. They think she'll come crawling back sooner or later, begging them to take her in.

Instead, Su Nuannuan's life just keeps getting better.

With her exceptional cooking, she supports herself and her grandmother, and builds the prettiest brick house in the whole village.

She earns the admiration of the manager of the state-run restaurant and becomes a master chef everyone clamors to see.

With local support, she opens the first private restaurant in town.

Years later, not only have Su Nuannuan's former relatives failed to see her fall on hard times and beg them for shelter, they regret splitting the family with her, because they can't share in the glory of having a nationally renowned culinary goddess in the family.

And the cousin they doted on not only gives them nothing in return, but repays their kindness with betrayal and runs off with all their belongings.

Everyone laughs at them for mistaking a fish eye for a pearl and throwing away a real pearl.

*

People used to say that a lazy, ugly, slovenly girl like Su Nuannuan should be grateful if any man was willing to marry her. Yet she had the gall to set her sights on Leng Yan, the village's most promising young Party secretary, and became the laughingstock of the village.

But once Su Nuannuan becomes a culinary goddess everyone adores, there are so many men hoping to marry her that the line stretches as far as the eye can see.

People change their tune, saying that whoever marries Su Nuannuan will have ancestors smiling down on them. Nobody says she's not good enough for Leng Yan anymore.

Then everyone sees Leng Yan, who is so busy he barely has time to eat, making time to visit the cemetery every day.

Leng Yan: "I'm just checking whether my ancestors' graves are giving off auspicious smoke."

Theme: If you live your life earnestly, you'll be rewarded