Life Running a Restaurant in Ancient Times

[My new novel, Everyday Eating After Divorce, is currently being updated.]

Synopsis:

A cozy, everyday food story!

Qiao Wei was born into another world, but became an orphan. Before her mother died, she gave Qiao Wei an old keepsake and told her to go to Shui'an Town to find her relatives.

Qiao Wei travels to Shui'an Town with her neighbor, Auntie Hua. She has no real interest in searching for her family, though. Instead, she sets up a stall and starts selling food.

For breakfast, she sells black rice balls and egg-filled pancakes.

For late-night snacks, she sells dried fish and fried pork chops.

She sells green rice cakes for the Cold Food Festival and milk tea drinks for the Dragon Boat Festival.

As spring turns to winter, Qiao Wei finally turns her little food stall into the Qiao Family Restaurant.

The restaurant out front is thriving. The aromas of fish in pickled cabbage broth, poached pork slices, hot pot, and crispy pork waft from one end of the alley to the other.

More and more people gather to eat in the restaurant's back courtyard: Auntie Hua's family, Hu Yu's family from the alley. Qiao Wei tilts her head. Why is the Zhao family constable, who used to be so cold toward her, stopping by to eat every few days?

1. This is a fictional setting, and the romance develops slowly.

2. The recipes are adapted from ones found online.

"Synopsis of my upcoming novel, Everyday Eating for the Fifth Imperial Consort"

After transmigrating as Tatara, the primary consort of the Fifth Prince Yinqi, Fuyin knows she's set for life.

This prince was raised by his grandmother and kept far from the fight for the throne. She doesn't have to worry about the tragic fate of being placed under house arrest or executed someday.

As the primary consort, she doesn't have to worry about being mistreated in the household.

And as for having no children: Fuyin thinks, could anything be better?

Why not eat, drink, and have fun while she can?

While the other concubines in the household try every trick to win favor, Fuyin thinks the egg tarts from her newly improved oven taste great.

While the other consorts outside the household keep up appearances and work their social connections, Fuyin thinks these grilled lamb chops really need cumin to taste their best.

While the other princes and their wives try to stand out in front of Kangxi's consorts, Yinqi sneaks away for some fresh air and runs into Fuyin in the imperial garden...

Eventually, everyone knows that the small kitchen in the Fifth Consort's courtyard turns out all kinds of delicious food.

When Yinqi visits his mother's palace to pay his respects, he gets fed a mouthful of soufflé, too. Even Kangxi, usually so stern, looks pleased. "Fifth Prince, your consort really is full of clever ideas."

Yinqi, tasting Fuyin's cooking for the first time: ...

Back at the residence, Yinqi hesitates at the entrance to the main courtyard. No wonder it's hard to enter the courtyard of the primary consort he has neglected for two years!

Theme: Stand on your own feet and be strong.