The Flavors of Bianjing

Next up: a contemporary romance, "Fallen at Dusk [Rekindled Romance]." Please add it to your reading list. The blurb is at the very bottom.

Blurb: Culinary genius Jiang Zhiwei transmigrates into the body of the second daughter of a tofu seller in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Gazing at Bianjing's glittering lanterns and bustling streets,

then looking back at her own family's leaky roof, her father so ill he can barely get out of bed, her two younger siblings crying for food,

and her mother, struggling alone until her hair has turned gray from exhaustion, she presses a hand to her forehead and sighs, "Good heavens, this is just too miserable."

Jiang Zhiwei has always been a devoted daughter. Once she learns why her family is destitute, she immediately makes it her goal to lead them out of poverty and into prosperity.

She starts by selling sizzling tofu at a night market stall, then goes on to serve crossing-the-bridge rice noodles, grilled pork belly, river-snail rice noodles, pork floss cakes, spicy crayfish, and more...

She sparks a food craze throughout Bianjing.

#May I ask where you're headed, guest?

By the old Cao Gate, to the Zhiwei Tower.#

*

Shen Xun entered government service through the youth examination and became a junior minister of the Court of Judicial Review at a very young age.

Unfortunately, he was born with a deficiency and has been unable to taste food since childhood.

Having also witnessed too much human suffering and felt powerless to help, he has grown listless day after day.

One day, leaving the Court of Judicial Review utterly exhausted, he randomly chose a stall by a bridge and sat down.

He expected yet another bland meal. Who could have imagined that one mouthful of rice noodles, sour, spicy, and full of flavor, would take his taste buds by storm?

After that

Soup dumplings, with thin skins, generous fillings, and broth spilling into your mouth, served up.

Drunken crab, sweet and fresh, silky smooth, with rich roe and tender meat, coming right up.

Sour cabbage fish, spicy blood curd stew, peppercorn-and-chili stir-fry, all brought to the table.

Shen Xun eats with relish, gazing at the cook who has brought him back to life.

Thanks to her arrival, even his insipid life has become rich with flavor.

Reader's Guide:

1. Set in an alternate Song Dynasty, with many invented details. Please don't nitpick the history.

2. A cozy story about food, business, and everyday life.

3. The government system in the early chapters is based on the period before the Yuanfeng reforms. Official titles given to supporting characters in the story are assumed to be actual positions.

4. Although the Court of Judicial Review appears in the story, there is almost no investigation or mystery-solving. The male lead's career unfolds elsewhere.

Blurb for the upcoming novel "Fallen at Dusk [Rekindled Romance]":

Reunion from the start | Rekindled romance | Sweet and bittersweet | Primarily urban setting | Two people who remain emotionally frozen in time

Blurb: Yu Yan sees Pei Qingyan again while on her way to visit a popular restaurant for a review.

The man stands with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall. His black utility jacket hangs open, casually revealing a fine silver chain at his collarbone.

His slicked-back hair, parted to one side, gives him a bold, dashing look, but his gaze toward the woman beside him is remarkably tender.

Yu Yan thinks back to the summer break of her freshman year.

Inside a seaside villa, he had looked at her with that same tender gaze, shamelessly clinging to her again and again, demanding more.

A gorgeous sunset over the sea behind them, their passion burning in front of it.

He had nibbled her earlobe and kissed her until she trembled, her fair cheeks damp and flushed in the fading sunlight.

Yu Yan turns to leave, only to unexpectedly meet the man's piercing gaze.

A stunned expression rises instinctively to her face.

She forcefully suppresses the expression she can't control, nods with a smile, and walks away with her camera, pretending to be calm.

Later, she is secretly relieved that the happy couple never saw her awkward escape after she turned the corner.

The two unexpectedly end up in the same frame at a college classmate's singles party.

Their classmates, aware of their past, are curious about their relationship now.

Pei Qingyan shakes his head with a cold laugh, looking at Yu Yan with bold amusement.

"We're obviously on separate paths. After all, I'm not as heartless as Ms. Yu. You walked away back then without a second thought, leaving me no room to save face."

Everyone thinks that the once reckless, flamboyant rich young man who pursued love without restraint has made it clear, by coldly laughing and bringing up the past in front of so many people, that the two of them will never get back together.

Someone as proud as Pei Qingyan could never go back to a woman who dumped him in public and left him humiliated like that.

No one sees Pei Qingyan get turned away at Yu Yan's home on a stormy evening.

The golden boy everyone admires is drenched to the skin. With his expensive leather jacket beneath him, he ignores the complicated, strange looks from those around him and sits motionless on the dusty stairs outside her door all night.

At dawn, they find the man, freezing and delirious with a high fever. Even then, he still remembers to grab his leather jacket and keep up his cool image.

The first thing he does after waking up in the hospital is shamelessly lean against the person beside him:

"I was too young and too impulsive back then. Saying yes to your breakup doesn't count. Yan Yan, will you give me another chance?"

On her birthday, Yu Yan starts a livestream for the first time in ages.

Pei Qingyan, fresh out of the shower, accidentally appears on camera.

His damp hair curls against his ears, and his body, clad in a sheer racerback tank, is sharply defined. The droplets of water at his hair tips obediently follow the movement of his fingers as they slide down to the hidden place at his waist.

The comments instantly go wild.

Yu Yan turns around in shock, and the man bends down to give her a deep kiss, which she meets without missing a beat.

The man's elite background is exposed that very night. At the same time, another video trending online goes viral as well.

The first half of the video is taken from Yu Yan's restaurant-review vlog. Pei Qinghe appears on the street, glancing toward the camera with an apparently casual look.

The second half seems to explain the chance encounter.

He runs wildly through the streets, then, when he reaches his destination, remembers to ask the person beside him for permission before striking an irresistibly seductive pose.

#Love means choosing one person for life, and planning it all along#

Cool and stubborn heroine x roguishly handsome, scheming hero

Theme: Hard work is the most precious thing