I Picked Up a Little Cook [Farming]

A transmigration, farming, and food-filled slice-of-life story

World-weary Empress vs. transmigrated little chef

Chu Lingshuang, empress of an entire generation, has somehow developed a world-weariness disorder.

The dazzling palace is a nuisance to live in; the gorgeous silk brocade is too flashy to wear; the fragrant, exquisite dishes make her feel sick just smelling them...

She has grown tired of everything in the world.

-

Chu Lingshuang decides to get away for a while. She leaves the palace and heads into the mountains, wearing plain clothes, eating wild fruit, and drinking rainwater.

Her peaceful days don't last long.

One day, she finds a strangely dressed young woman by a stream.

To keep the woman from being eaten by wolves, Chu Lingshuang decides to be kind and take her in for the night.

But when the young woman wakes up, her eyes fill with tears. "I'll repay you."

-

Hua Zui is a modern-day chef who has transmigrated to ancient times by a twist of fate. Naturally, she decides to repay her benefactor with her cooking.

On her first day in the house, she gets up early and makes steaming-hot jade buns.

Chu Lingshuang: "...I won't eat them."

On her second day, she catches a rabbit and makes fragrant, spicy rabbit heads.

Chu Lingshuang: "...I'm a rabbit in the zodiac."

Hua Zui hurriedly explains, "I really wasn't trying to eat you!"

-

[Bonus scene]

On the Nth day of taking in the little chef,

Chu Lingshuang returns from a hunting trip and takes off her outer clothes.

She lifts the covers and sees a round head poking out from the bed. Hua Zui wriggles out, eyes curved in a smile. "Surprised? Bet you didn't expect that!"

Chu Lingshuang lowers her eyes. "I'm delighted."

She accepts this repayment.

She found herself a little chef.

Later, the little chef became her wife.

-

It wasn't the world Chu Lingshuang was tired of. It was a world without Hua Zui.

Because with her, there are a thousand and one reasons this world is worth living in.

[The blurb was written a long time ago, and may be revised before the novel starts.]

Theme: Even an ordinary, peaceful life can be passionate and extraordinary.