The Little Chef of the Dali Temple

[Gourmet / Both Leads Are Virgins / One-on-One Romance / Happy Ending]

In the twenty-second year of Guanghua, the Inspector of Yunzhou was found guilty of treason and his entire clan was executed.

In the chaos that followed, nobody noticed that the Inspector's seven-year-old daughter had disappeared.

Ten years later, Ming Shuangxu arrived at the gates of the Court of Judicial Review with a bag of river shrimp in hand, determined to clear her family's name.

The Court of Judicial Review's former head cook retired. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, then gasped.

They were relieved they wouldn't have to eat that mushy stewed cabbage anymore.

But they gasped because, for all its faults, that mushy cabbage hadn't sent them running to the latrine with their guts in turmoil.

The Court's Assistant Minister, who had never cared for a fuss, made a bold decision:

"Simple. We'll hold a cooking contest."

Once the notice went up, applicants streamed in without end.

The officer in charge could only smile bitterly.

"My lord, we don't have enough silver to hold a contest..."

"Simple," replied the usually frugal Assistant Minister, writing in grand strokes:

"Contestants must bring their own ingredients."

"Bring your own ingredients?" The girl disguised as a boy stared at the notice in dismay.

"Is the Court of Judicial Review really so broke?"

"Not at all," said the officer guarding the notice, with great conviction. "We're testing how deeply everyone loves the Court."

[We're broke. So broke we can't even afford food.]

The disguised girl heard the officer's unspoken sobs loud and clear. Sympathetically, she patted him on the shoulder, then pulled down the notice.

"Court of Judicial Review, here I come!"

Ming Shuangxu always believed in doing what was right. Once she decided to do something, she would see it through.

For instance, she never forgot that she had to clear her parents' names.

But whether she went through life smiling or frowning, the days would pass all the same.

Why spend every day glaring at everyone as if they owed her a hundred taels of silver, just because of what happened in the past?

So Ming Shuangxu went about things with a smile. She cooked meal after meal, fed one hungry soul after another, cleared her parents' names, and even sorted out her own marriage...

Wait, she never meant to sort out her marriage!

Theme: Eat well and live well.