Sweetheart's Honeyed Delight (Food)

When Wei Jinyun transmigrates to the Northern Song, the original owner of her body has been dead for less than half an hour. White mourning cloth hangs everywhere. At home, only her elderly grandmother and two young sisters remain. Her uncles and other relatives put on a few fake sobs, then turn red in the face arguing over how to divide the family's old tiled house. Her grandmother has a tiled house that came with her dowry. It stands by the river, right in the heart of Pingjiang Prefecture. The streets here are bustling and prosperous, alive with the warmth of everyday life. With a location this good, how could she just hand it over? Wei Jinyun drives off her relatives, heads south to Pingjiang Prefecture, cleans up the shop, and gets back to her old trade. At dawn, firecrackers crackle without end. The people of Wu discover that the old tiled house, once covered in cobwebs, has opened for business. The young proprietress, Wei, stands graceful and poised, sleeves rolled halfway up her arms as she hangs the signboard. Its flowing calligraphy reads: Fragrance from the Clouds. Dingsheng cakes, spring-water pastries, cloud-slice cakes, smiling pastries… The cakes are laid out on the counter, some studded with dried fruit, some shaped like flowers, and others pure white, round and smooth as jade beads. The people of Wu love sweets. Weddings, birthdays, visits to friends and family, tea and opera: none are complete without pastries. And the pastries at Young Madam Wei's shop are fragrant, sweet, soft, and glutinous, with the rich aroma of butter. Whoever tries them can't help but praise them. * The people of Wu make their living weaving brocade and fishing. With fish and rice to eat, no one goes hungry. This is thanks, first, to the incorruptible prefect, and second, to Lu Lan, the patrol inspector who hunts down thieves and apprehends criminals. Inspector Lu is stern and impartial, always standing by what is right. They say that at night, anyone passing the patrol office can hear terrible screams from inside, like ghosts wailing. While investigating a case, Lu Lan happened to pass a pastry shop, where a sweet fragrance filled the air. He had a sweet tooth, so he stepped inside. One step in, and he ended up getting himself caught up in the whole affair. The townsfolk crane their necks and whisper to one another. “I swear I saw a ghost! This morning I saw Lord Lu in Young Madam Wei's shop, pounding dough with his fists!” Daoist Wuyadao comes down the mountain to visit his disciple, glaring and stroking his beard. “You ingrate! I taught you that saber technique so you could carve flowers on pastries?” The prisoners released from jail become extra careful from then on. “Terrifying! He was interrogating someone while smiling and eating a flaky pastry! Take it from me, always obey the law!” But right now, the Lu Lan everyone talks about is holding half a pastry and speaking softly. “A Yun, I've been sifting powdered sugar for half a month, and I've even drawn up a design for the Dingsheng cakes. Give me a proper title, won't you?” Reader's Guide: 1. The heroine's story is about running a food business. The hero's side will involve a few small cases. It's a sweet, everyday-life story with more than just pastries and plenty of other food. 2. An alternate-history Song dynasty. Wu is in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region, and life there is prosperous. Everything is made up. 3. One-on-one romance, with both leads devoted only to each other. 4. This blurb was written on 2024.9.20 and has been screenshotted. After transmigrating, Shen Fenghe is married off in someone else's place to Lu Jin, a junior minister at the Court of Judicial Review. On their wedding night, he says he's busy with official duties and never returns to their room. The next day, a new young cook with extraordinary skills starts work in the Court of Judicial Review's kitchen. The food in the Court of Judicial Review's kitchen has always been more of a headache than the cases. Shen Fenghe expertly tosses her wok. Steamed cured meats glisten with oil, while fish fillets cooked with fermented rice wine are tender and savory. At mealtimes, the kitchen comes alive with fire and smoke, and the rich aroma of oil drifts through the air. An old clerk mixes braised pork with fermented bean curd into his rice and eats four bowls before everyone begs him to stop. “You can't eat another bite!” A certain secretary finishes a salt-baked chicken leg, then frantically writes ten pages of praise. “This is the food of the God of Literature, dipped in ink!” Shen Fenghe thrives as a cook at the Court of Judicial Review, saving money and playing with cats and dogs. It's just that her husband in name only is very strange. * By day, Lu Jin is a gentle, refined junior minister who helps the young cook up after she trips. “Careful, Madam Shen.” But by night, he's a cold-faced demon king, pinching her chin as he demands, “Who sent you to the Court of Judicial Review? Speak!” Shen Fenghe grips her soup ladle, close to tears. Husband, can medicinal cooking cure your split personality? What kind of bizarre interrogation technique is this? - Lu Jin has a secret: another person lives inside him. The two have completely different personalities, and switch places at sunset and sunrise. He knows the new cook at the Court of Judicial Review is his bride. She is bright and clear-eyed, clever and charming. It's just that… Today, one of his colleagues asks how old the cook is. Tomorrow, a young scholar from the alley turns red and brings her a hairpin. And she even smiles sweetly at him: “My lord, when are we going to divorce?” The junior minister, who is jealous every day, stays up all night. After making peace with the other man inside him, they agree on a common goal: Keep outsiders away first, then settle their own differences. [Bonus Scene] At a late-night banquet at the Court of Judicial Review, Shen Fenghe is pinned against the kitchen door, his breath hot against her. “You steal my stomach by day, and steal me by night… My wife, you have quite the talent.” Shen Fenghe thinks: Oh no, it's happening again. Outside the door, the employees of the Court of Judicial Review crowd together, trying to eavesdrop: “Madam Shen, when's dinner?” “Lord Junior Minister, are you done interrogating her? The salted pork and fresh bamboo shoot soup is still simmering!” Written on 2025.8.10 and screenshotted. To be revised. The hero has a split personality, and the heroine was born into this world. A sweet food-themed romance about a marriage that turns to love, with a few small cases. Theme: Live life with a positive attitude, and make sure it's sweet, too.