Hello, my name is Shen Xi. I used to be the son of a down-and-out merchant family in Jiangnan.
I'm so angry right now!
Here's what happened.
Ten years ago, when I was nine, I met a little beggar by the roadside.
My family was poor back then too, but the little beggar had teary eyes and was really good at playing the sympathy card. My heart softened, and I couldn't help bringing him home.
Merchants don't have much social status these days. My father always wanted me to study, become an official, and pursue a career in government. So he reluctantly agreed to let the little beggar stay as my book attendant, and even gave him a name: Shen Heng.
But I really wasn't cut out for studying, and I couldn't handle the hardship. I was much more talented at cooking.
So I secretly had Shen Heng study in my place.
To my surprise, the teacher said Shen Heng was a prodigy and incredibly gifted at studying. So I persuaded my father to set up a food stall and open a restaurant, and our whole family supported his studies.
Sure enough, he sat for the imperial exams, and passed every time.
After he passed the provincial examination, he asked my father for my hand and married into my family.
Doesn't it all sound like a happy ending?
Well, it's not!
After we married, Shen Heng went to take the palace examination. The emperor saw how much Shen Heng resembled him and froze.
Then word got out that the new top scholar, Shen Heng, was actually the real crown prince, who had been switched at birth with a cat.
The emperor wanted to bring him back to the palace and was even going to find him a crown princess.
Find him a princess, my foot!
Who would have thought that this bookworm, who blushed even when we kissed at home, was secretly a heartless Chen Shimei!
I, Shen Xi, am a renowned master chef, with plenty of money and restaurants to my name.
The Duke of the State comes to my kitchen before dawn to watch me make a bowl of fish fin soup in a crispy pastry shell. The Chief Councilor's legitimate daughter and the marquise's wife pull each other's hair in my restaurant to fight over my braised duck with three treasures. The Empress Dowager, whose teeth aren't in good shape, loves nothing more than the rice I make with red-flower fish fins, and keeps finding ways to bring me into the palace as an imperial chef.
Why would I pine after a scumbag prince?
So what if Shen Heng is the crown prince? Does being the crown prince mean he can toy with people's feelings?
Hmph!
I'm going to appeal directly to the emperor, expose his misdeeds, then pack up, divorce him, and marry someone else.
There are so many men who like me, Shen Xi. I don't need Shen Heng!
In response to the accusations above, the other party, Shen Heng, had this to say:
1. Divorce is out of the question.
2. I wasn't playing for sympathy. He said I was born with puppy-dog eyes, so I naturally look innocent and pitiful.
3. I only blushed the first time we kissed.
4. Finding a crown princess is just an excuse to bring him into the palace.
5. Marry someone else? Who is he planning to marry? The heir of the Duke of Qi? The younger son of Minister Li? Or the young general from the Cavalry General's household? Dream on. As long as I, Shen Heng, am alive, none of them will take my wife away!
P.S.:
The blurb is in first person, the main story is in third person. Bottom, pregnancy, cozy daily life, childhood friends-to-lovers, farming and food-business story.
Theme: The many delicious flavors of life are each wonderful in their own way
