The imperial chef Liu Zhichun had a long dream. In it, she transmigrated into an era called the Nineties and became a young woman who, on the eve of her college entrance exams, was set up by her cousin and spent the night with a man. She became pregnant out of wedlock and, in despair, took her own life.
When she woke from the dream, she had become the girl who shared her name.
Liu Zhichun touched her still-flat belly, overcome with both joy and surprise.
She loved children more than anything!
So what if she didn't have a husband? With her cooking skills, could she really not support a little one?
She got right to work, first selling boxed meals and then opening a restaurant. In this era of equality between men and women, she thrived.
Dongpo pork knuckles and crab roe noodles, kung pao chicken and stir-fried liver tips, abalone and chicken-wing Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, and rice-stealing pork with preserved vegetables!
Discerning diners came back again and again. One taste of these dishes was enough to remember them for a lifetime.
Food experts came by of their own accord to sample her signature dishes. "Hasn't this dish been lost for ages?"
Foreign guests at state banquets gave her a thumbs-up. "This tastes absolutely wonderful!"
Her food business was booming, and she was on the verge of reaching the top, when the child's father suddenly showed up at her door.
"Honey, had your fun? It's time to come home."
A crowd of diners stared, stunned, at the outrageously handsome man before them.
What? The man behind Boss Liu was actually the movie star Huo?
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Next up: My Mom Is a Culinary Goddess in the Nineties
After winning the Culinary God gold medal three years running, Lin Yuemei woke up one day as the cannon-fodder first wife in a story set in a bygone era.
Her husband had been sent abroad on a government assignment and hadn't been heard from. Her husband's family had taken over her home and made her serve the whole family, while her sister-in-law from her own family had kicked her out.
Lin Yuemei picked up her three-and-a-half-year-old son, rented a little street-front shop, and opened a small restaurant.
The crispy pork belly was fragrant and golden; the spicy chicken was hot and savory; the braised pig's trotters had silky skin and tender meat; the lamb soup's aroma carried for miles.
Before long, the little restaurant outside the residential compound had become famous.
A picky child won't eat and keeps crying and making a fuss? One meal will fix that!
A rebellious teenager is so obsessed with video games that he won't eat or drink? One meal will set him straight!
A young factory worker is slacking off and has a bad attitude? A meal out will solve all her problems!
Lin Yuemei ran her restaurant, cooked delicious food, made money, and raised her son, busier than she could be.
She thought she would be happy if life just went on like this. Then one day, a handsome man in military uniform suddenly showed up at her door.
"Yuemei, why are people outside saying you told them I died overseas?"
Her chubby son saw the strange man and charged at him, ramming him with his head and knocking him into a squat.
"Bad guy! Don't bully my mom!"
Seeing the man who had come back from the dead, Lin Yuemei's face turned white.
"Stop hitting him, son! That's your dad!"
Theme: Love and good food are the only things we must never let down.