Learning to Cook to Stay Alive [System]

Min Qingzhou came back from the dead in the morgue.

Min Qingzhou had a terminal illness. He died, and while lying in the morgue, he suddenly heard, "Ding! The selected target has been confirmed as the Host. Congratulations, Host, you have successfully bound with this System!" At that moment, Min Qingzhou sneezed and sat upright. He thought he might freeze to death right after coming back to life.

System: Host, you need to cook delicious food and earn points. Once you get a perfect score, the System will cure your illness and bring you fully back to life.

Min Qingzhou: I can stay alive just by cooking? That's a pretty good deal.

System: The System will also assign you tasks to help others. You'll need to make the foods they want to eat.

Min Qingzhou: Oh, helping people and doing good deeds to earn merit? Sure!

But it turns out he can't just cook a few meals. He has to master all eight major culinary traditions and make at least one dish from each. How is someone who can only make instant noodles, dumplings, and tangyuan supposed to learn to cook such complicated food? And he has to put his heart into it? What's there to feel when you're eating? As long as it's tasty, that's enough!

To make matters worse, this ridiculous System won't let him cancel the contract or slack off. Otherwise, it'll make him experience the agony of his final breath all over again! Min Qingzhou has no choice but to embark on the arduous path of learning to cook.

And that's not all. While he's earning merit, one of the customers who books his services is someone he doesn't want to see: his first love, who went abroad after he hurt them! Help, why are they back?

P.S.:

1. This story isn't entirely about food. It also features the relationship between the two leads.

2. The title, blurb, and writing style don't quite match. The story as a whole is fairly understated, and both leads are rather introverted.

3. The leads already know each other before they appear in the story. They were high school classmates, so there will be some scenes from their school days later on. Those scenes aren't very related to food.

4. There's a yuri couple in the story.

Formal notice:

Unauthorized reproduction or adaptation of this work in any form is prohibited.

Theme: Food and culture are things we must never let down.