The County Office Canteen

When Gu Xianzhu transmigrated to Bianjing, the original owner had just returned from exile in Lingnan.

The family home had been confiscated, and her two younger brothers were crying out for food.

Gu Xianzhu picked up a hammer and set to work, putting together a little food cart.

From then on, there was always a long line for buns beside the West Market archway.

On her seventh day selling food, people from the county yamen came and hauled her and her cart away. Their reason? The buns Gu Xianzhu made smelled so good that they had to contain some kind of banned ingredient.

In jail, Gu Xianzhu overheard the guards complaining that lunch was yet again boiled cabbage in dishwater. After asking what ingredients they had, she directed them to make a pot of chicken gongbao stew.

Everyone at the yamen ate until they were streaming with tears and snot. They recommended her to the new county magistrate, pleading with the honorable magistrate: Please, have mercy! Get us a different cook for the yamen! If we keep eating this food, we'll lose all our courage and strength.

The day Gu Xianzhu was acquitted, she landed a big order: deliver three hundred buns to the county yamen every morning.

At first, Gu Xianzhu wanted to turn it down. She counted fifty people at the yamen. Could each person really eat six buns?

She eventually gave in, because the county magistrate alone could eat ten in one morning.

After earning her first pot of gold, Gu Xianzhu went from a little cart to renting a storefront, then buying a thriving four-story shop. Her business kept growing.

[Male Lead's Perspective]

Li Jin lost his chance at promotion because he misspoke at a palace banquet.

Food was the cure for his troubles, but no matter how many cooks the county yamen hired, none could make anything that matched the taste buried in his memories.

Until he met Gu Xianzhu. But she didn't remember him.

I've made quite a few covers, so I might as well make a section to show them off.

Theme: Eat well and grow big and strong