The Kitchen God's Monster Restaurant

[A clueless, adorable Kitchen God who's never known love X a refined, depraved old monster with overwhelming possessiveness]

(Next up: The Retired Emperor in His Prime. Please, all you beautiful and kind readers, add it to your wish list. Mwah~ Sending you an air kiss!)

Irreverent blurb:

Mo Sang was the least productive deity in all the heavens, and she had spent centuries slacking off in the Ninth Heaven on the strength of her thick skin.

Finally, one day, the Jade Emperor caught her in the act and banished her to the mortal realm. She was forced to open a restaurant just to get by.

One day, she found a dying young boy at the entrance to her restaurant.

The boy had a beautiful face and was so frail he could barely walk without stopping to catch his breath, which made her feel terribly sorry for him.

The boy could host guests and cook, and was good with children and old folks alike. Men loved him and women loved him even more. He was beloved by all, and young unmarried women in town came to the restaurant just to catch a glimpse of him.

Mo Sang was delighted with this excellent employee who had doubled the restaurant's income. One day, she called him over and asked if there was any reward he wanted.

The frail boy suddenly grew strong. He twisted her arms behind her back and pinned her beneath him.

Smiling seductively, he leaned close, rubbing his lips against the tip of her ear again and again.

With a soft laugh, he said, "How about giving me you, the owner, as my reward?"

Only then did Mo Sang realize that from beginning to end, the only thing this boy had ever wanted was her.

He was an old monster. He couldn't even remember how old he was.

One day, a filthy little mud ball appeared before him. He was a neat freak, so he threw her away, but this little thing was unbelievably thick-skinned. No matter how many times he tossed her out, she wouldn't go away.

As a powerful monster, he had a very, very long life, and never bothered keeping track of the passage of time.

Fine. She was a very good cook, so he might as well keep her around for now.

He only planned to keep her for a year. After that, he'd chew her up and eat her.

A year passed...

She was a little thin. He'd fatten her up before eating her.

Two years passed...

She'd come down with a fever. She probably wasn't better yet. If he ate her, he might catch it. (Ran off to buy her medicine.)

Ten years passed...

(The old monster rolled around, acting cute and clingy.) "Wife, boo-hoo, hug me!"

The first year after he lost her, he became aware of the passage of time for the first time.

He had never believed in gods or Buddhas, yet he never imagined he'd one day visit every temple.

He knelt in utmost reverence and prayed to all the gods and Buddhas in heaven, begging for another chance to see her.

Finally, one day, she appeared before him again, safe and sound, with the same smile as before.

This time, he would never lose her again.

Serious blurb:

An old legend has long been told in Lingu City, on the banks of the Huai River.

It says that long, long ago, the Kitchen God was banished to the mortal realm and opened a restaurant here.

The Kitchen God was a young girl in a pink gown with crescent-shaped eyes, and a sickly boy followed at her side.

From then on, the monster-haunted city of Lingu was never troubled by monsters again.

Before the Kitchen God left, she gave Lingu City countless recipes for delicious dishes.

She distributed them to every restaurant in Lingu City.

She said each dish carried an emotion, and that the cook should take the time to understand it.

So the back of every recipe recorded a story.

Even today, those stories are still told throughout the streets and alleyways of Lingu City, alongside the delicious dishes.

The stories are short: a person's whole life can fit on the back of a recipe card.

The stories are long: hundreds and thousands of years may pass, but there is still romance to be found in the daily necessities of life.

The Huai River flows quietly, and the Kitchen God Temple on Dongming Mountain is as bustling as ever.

If you want to see the Kitchen God, be sure to bring puffed rice candy, peanut brittle, sesame candy, and glutinous rice dumplings.

If you are lucky, you may find a girl in a pink gown standing quietly beside you, asking softly if you have any unfulfilled wishes.

A monster-and-food episodic novel, about love, friendship, and family.

The leads have a central storyline: separated in their past lives, reunited in this one. In his previous life, the male lead spent some time acting like the heroine's mother. (He's arrogant and would rather die than admit it. Male lead: Author, stop spreading lies! Everyone, don't believe her!)

This novel follows the seasons and their foods, and is divided into eight short stories.

Spring: Plum Blossom Soup Cakes, Chrysanthemum Sprouts Stir-Fried

Summer: Honeyed Cherries, Fish Wrapped in Lotus Leaves

Autumn: Moonlight Cakes, Spring Orchids and Autumn Chrysanthemums

Winter: Steamed Mutton in a Bowl, Fragrance from the Mountains

Blurb for The Retired Emperor in His Prime:

Scheming usurper heroine X cool, noble retired emperor

In her previous life, Song Jianan came from a poor family and had seen the suffering of the world since childhood.

She fought with everything she had to survive, stopping at nothing, until she rose step by step to the highest ranks of the court.

The young emperor became her puppet, and the realm lay in the palm of her hand.

She was a demon from hell, the most vicious serpent in the Great Yin Dynasty.

Until one day, she met the retired emperor, who rarely left his residence.

He was younger than she had imagined, with a face of extraordinary beauty.

He smiled at her, as gentle as a clear breeze beneath a bright moon, piercing her damp and shadowed heart.

Song Jianan imprisoned him in her residence, making him her plaything and humiliating him in every way, demanding whatever she wanted.

He played along, and she played her part. By the end, she almost believed their act was real.

In the end, he joined forces with the court ministers to lay a vast trap for her and drive her into a desperate corner.

As she died, she begged him to spare her, but he killed her with his own sword. Her body was left without a proper burial.

In this life, she became the daughter of a merchant family, five years after her death in her previous life.

The young emperor had secured his power, and everyone praised the retired emperor for patiently enduring humiliation and killing the treacherous minister.

All she wanted in this life was to live quietly, run a business with her parents, and enjoy the rest of her days. But then her family fell into ruin and became buried in debt.

She was sold to a brothel. Unwilling to entertain customers, she clutched a knife and waited for the first person to enter her room.

She stabbed him, only to discover it was Cheng Xu, the retired emperor.

She was about to run, but he pulled her into his arms.

Cheng Xu gripped her wrist and asked through the pain, "Who taught you to use a knife?"

Reading Guide:

Both leads are sexually inexperienced.

The male lead isn't immortal, and the young emperor isn't his son.

The heroine wasn't particularly virtuous in her previous life. She's a little better in this one, but she's no delicate, innocent flower.

Theme: Nothing should be let down, neither good food nor love.