The Taotie Diner (Food)

[The novel in my column, "I Became the Prime Minister's Long-Dead White Moonlight," is now updating!]

Synopsis: Zheng Shuyin wakes up in the countryside. The mountains are lovely, the water is lovely, the scenery is lovely, but... there's hardly anything to eat.

She wants to live the easy life, but fate has other plans: from the start, she's destined to starve. Luckily, there's always a way out. After a chance encounter with a kind stranger, she makes her way to Luofu City, where a little restaurant soon opens its doors.

Soup dumplings, braised pork,

Huadiao wine chicken, glutinous rice lotus root...

All sorts of delicious aromas drift over Luofu City day after day.

Pei Xiuji comes following the scent, only to be led astray.

He muses to himself that the proprietress is a sly one. She must have drugged his food, making him want to keep coming back.

Later, Zheng Shuyin finds out. Smiling as she points at the stove, she asks, "Hmm? I hear someone thinks I've been putting drugs in the food."

Pei Xiuji looks up at the sky. "Who said that? A Yin, just point him out. This heir apparent will beat him until he can't show his face!"

That night, holding the lovely woman in his arms, Pei Xiuji cuddles close to her neck and murmurs contentedly, "A Yin, I'd be happy to let you punish me forever."

Note:

1. An everyday-life food romance with plenty of sweetness.

2. The dynasty in this novel is fictional, so please don't try to pin down the historical details.

3. Some dishes are made up, so proceed with caution if that bothers you.

Upcoming novel:

From the moment Shen Si was born, her parents doted on her, and she had wealth and privilege all around her. She had never suffered the slightest grievance.

But just after turning fifteen, she was pushed into marrying the childhood fiancé chosen for her long ago.

She was determined to resist to the death, but after meeting him and learning how peaceful his household was, she changed her mind and stopped making a fuss.

He seemed like someone she could settle for.

At least, she liked the way he looked!

She thought married life would be free and easy. Her husband would be preparing for the imperial exams, and there were no parents-in-law at home, so surely she could call all the shots.

But her husband, who seemed not to care about anything, turned out to be a pest.

After only a few days,

he wanted her there when he got up early to study,

he dragged her along when he went out to work on assignments,

and even made her join him for exercise...

Shen Si exploded and shoved the Four Books and Five Classics in his face. "Which one of us is taking the imperial exams, you or me?"

Cui Jiyuan lowered the book and replied solemnly, "Naturally, I am. But what can I do when my darling wife is so beautiful? Of course I want to be by her side at all times."

Shen Si: Flattery won't make me agree again!

Later, an illness made Shen Si realize that she had been a character in a book since before she was born.

Her husband would one day become the all-powerful prime minister, a true overpowered hero.

And she would be his first wife, who died young, the bane of every young woman in the capital. Even after death, rumors painted her as scheming: she had clung to her position as his principal wife while alive, then manipulated Prime Minister Cui from beyond the grave into never taking another wife. No wonder she died so young.

Shen Si was overwhelmed as she read. Pah! He was the one who'd promised her things. That scoundrel was just using her as a shield!

And wait, she doesn't have long to live??

But when she looked at her husband lying beside her, she couldn't help feeling that something was off.

Oh my goodness, she seems to have thrown the plot off course!

Theme: Learning is a lifelong journey, and cooking is an art worth studying. Keep learning for as long as you live; love life and work hard, and tomorrow will be better.