The Little Chef of Chang'an

Unrestricted paragraph comments are open! Come chat, everyone! If you can’t post a comment, let me know in the comments section! On the first day after transmigrating, Jiang Shu was mistaken for a fugitive by negligent constables and beaten with a board, leaving him at death’s door. One month after transmigrating, Jiang Shu became a darling of the entire Court of Judicial Review. Everyone who saw him would ask, “What are you cooking today, young master?” Six months after transmigrating, Jiang Shu single-handedly made the Court of Judicial Review’s public kitchen famous throughout Chang’an. Officials from the Nine Courts and Five Directorates all wanted an excuse to visit the Court of Judicial Review for a meal, I mean, to conduct business. One year after transmigrating, Jiang Shu had made a name for himself in Chang’an as the owner of a restaurant. Ten years after transmigrating, every traveler who came and went in the Great Tang knew the Jiang Family Restaurant. - After transmigrating, Jiang Shu was mistakenly arrested and thrown into the Court of Judicial Review’s prison. He owed his escape to Wen Chao, the Court of Judicial Review’s Vice Minister, and his “keen discernment.” On the day their one-month agreement came to an end, Wen Chao saw him off at the Court of Judicial Review’s gate and said politely, “The Court of Judicial Review failed in its duty and caused you trouble, young master. We’re truly sorry.” Jiang Shu didn’t hold back in the slightest: “You’re right, Vice Minister Wen. You really should be sorry. Why not hire me as your head chef? Then we can be partners in crime, I mean, mutually benefit each other!” The prison wardens and clerks passing by shot Wen Chao frantic looks: What are you hesitating for? Hurry up and agree! We’re waiting for our food!!! The Court of Judicial Review’s kitchen had been famous throughout Chang’an for years for serving rice like stone and vegetables like iron. Ordinary wealthy families who were summoned for questioning would head straight to a restaurant afterward to calm their nerves. No one imagined that one day the kitchen’s reputation would be completely turned around. All kinds of delicacies began circulating in secret, and the clerks and record keepers ate so well they were glowing with health and happiness. Their casework efficiency kept reaching new heights. They say even the prison food improved a lot, so much so that some influential officials still found excuses to return and relive those old meals after they got out. Jiang Shu, the source of all these changes, hummed as he turned and walked into his newly opened little restaurant. “Hehe, I’ve finally saved enough to start my own business! I’m going to cook up a storm! I’ll seize the opportunity of the many nations coming to pay tribute and spread Chinese cuisine far and wide!” Years later, with Jiang Family Restaurants spread throughout Chang’an, the prison wardens of the Court of Judicial Review remembered that distant evening when they first met young Jiang Shu. The red sunset had fallen through the window onto his face, making him look like a stubborn wild weed, destined to thrive wherever life took him. - This is a little story about a young chef who works in the Court of Judicial Review’s cafeteria while also running his own street stall, and who, through hard work, opens his own restaurant and promotes food culture in the unfamiliar city of Chang’an (OvO)! It’s a semi-fictional Tang dynasty setting. I’ll put my historical references in the author’s notes~ Next up is the fourth treasure, “The Retribution System for Authors Who Miss Deadlines” Visit my profile to get it Love moves the sun and the other stars - Have you ever wanted to round up all the unscrupulous authors who miss deadlines, leave stories unfinished, or abandon plot threads, and force them to write day and night, punishing them severely if they don’t finish? Yu Shuci looks troubled. No! He doesn’t want that! He really doesn’t! Because he’s exactly the kind of unscrupulous author who misses deadlines, leaves stories unfinished, and abandons plot threads, the very kind who would be rounded up! QwQ Yu Shuci doesn’t understand. He only did what every professional ghoster in the world does. How did he end up being dragged into an infinite world as a player, or rather, as a plot-hole-filling laborer? Oh, so all the professional ghosters in the world got dragged here? In that case, never mind :) - [The Retribution System for Authors Who Miss Deadlines], an infinite world devoted to hunting down unscrupulous authors, forcing them to fill in their abandoned plotlines “with their own bodies,” and making them rack their brains to satisfy their readers. The authors who are dragged in must keep creating alongside their “keyboards,” accumulating reader satisfaction points to leave for good. But if they write badly, readers are dissatisfied; if they write well, readers won’t let them go. So far, not a single author has managed to make a clean getaway. After hearing the grim news, Yu Shuci looks down at his empty hands. B-but his keyboard abandoned him as soon as it took form and decisively flew solo. What should he do?! Following his companions’ information, Yu Shuci finally arrives, panting, at his keyboard’s side, ready to follow his friends’ advice and plead tearfully to win back its heart. But there, standing in the shadows, is his cold and handsome ancestor, his deep voice full of resentment: “Hah, he’s just a little liar who deceives me with sweet words. He said he only wanted me for the rest of his life, but then he went from one to the next. I was nothing but dust he could cast aside whenever he pleased...” Yu Shuci stops mid-step. Before he can decide whether to run away again, the world spins, and the next second he is pinned to a massive throne. Chu Yu’s long hair hangs loose, his gaze dark and crazed. Like the mad king of legend, he shackles Yu Shuci and himself together with golden chains. “...You came back.” Chu Yu holds him in his arms, pressing Yu Shuci against his heart like a dragon hiding its treasure beneath its belly. His voice trembles with overwhelming joy and a possessiveness that will never let him escape again. Yu Shuci listens to the burning, feverish beat of his heart and tightens his grip on the dagger meant for the assassination. We’re just acting out the script! Do you really have to take it so seriously, man?! Loosen your grip! You’re going to choke him to death! - Also known as “The Keyboard Spirit and His Hopeless Little Author” CP: Chu Yu × Yu Shuci Worlds already planned, with more to come: A tyrant who rose from the bottom and the beloved white moonlight who knew him best but could never have him A vampire and the caged songbird he keeps captive A mermaid who thrives in the wild after the apocalypse and the sole survivor of human civilization An all-powerful vengeful spirit and the young celestial master he raised himself An abandoned robot and the great scientist who was driven out Theme: Promote Chinese food culture.