Qin Shi Huang Loves Guoba Pork

(Coming soon: After I Married the Heir to Bring Him Good Fortune. Please add it to your reading list!)

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[Blurb]

Ji Yao thought she was going to die for sure, but a bowl of Guo Bao Rou made the emperor stop in his tracks for her.

Food blogger Ji Yao transmigrates to the Warring States period. She just wants to lie flat, but thanks to her sweet-and-sour sauce, she accidentally wins both the stomach and the heart of Qin Shi Huang. The cold emperor instantly turns into a foodie.

He conquers the six states and unifies the land, a ruthless overlord who nevertheless acts like a stubborn young man in front of Ji Yao.

They argue over ideals and clash over the times they live in, yet every time their eyes meet, their hearts skip a beat.

Watch as the cold tyrant manages to win himself over.

Ji Yao is a woman with a very busy inner monologue. After transmigrating, she is trembling with fear when faced with the historically tyrannical and domineering Ying Zheng. Then she discovers his little quirk. After that, he can hardly blame her for turning the tables and getting a handle on him.

He says the realm is his responsibility, but I am the one exception he never wants to conquer with power. He only wants us to meet each other with sincerity.

Fu Su: Father, she's my type!

Madam Zheng: I'm not taking the blame for this!

Li Si and Zhao Gao: His Majesty is so hard to handle this time. What do we do when he's gone soft over a woman? Help!

-- Hilarious comedy and sweet romance, as we watch a modern chef conquer an emperor for the ages with a wok spatula!

Excerpt One:

Ying Zheng beckoned her forward. He skipped over the Guo Bao Rou and pointed at one of the dishes. "What is this?"

"Cold-tossed cabbage?!"

"And this one?"

"Stir-fried pork strips!"

"This one?"

"Sweet-and-sour ribs!"

"And this?"

"Appetizing hawthorn cake!"

Ji Yao answered fluently, like a robot automatically reciting a menu. She was feeling rather pleased with herself when she suddenly heard him ask:

"Where is the real Ji Yao?"

"Right..." She started to answer reflexively, then stopped short. Her mind went blank with a buzz. She quickly reviewed the tyrant's questions. That damned man was setting a trap for her!

"Right here, telling you the names of the dishes!" She immediately put on an overly sweet fake smile, her eyes curving into crescents, while inwardly cursing Ying Zheng and his ancestors to the eighteenth generation.

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Excerpt Two:

He reached over to pull the quilt from the inside of the bed, but the drunk Ji Yao grabbed his long sleeve and murmured softly, "Mm, go... home..."

Ying Zheng paused, covered her with the quilt, then sat beside her and asked, "Go where?"

"Go... home."

Ying Zheng gazed at her deeply, seeming to speak to himself. "Isn't it good here?"

He reached out, tucked the hair off her face behind her ear, and murmured, "Does the Yan royal palace have Guo Bao Rou?"

His only answer was Ji Yao, fast asleep and snoring softly.

He recalled Zhao Gao's report from some time ago: "Your Majesty, Princess Ji Yao is the youngest daughter of King Xi of Yan. They say her birth mother was the daughter of an official in Ji City, and a great beauty, too."

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Excerpt Three:

"How would you like to be my empress?"

Ji Yao looked up. "W-what did you say?"

Her mind went completely blank. She remembered reading in the history books that this tyrant had no wife!

**

Reading Guide:

1. This is a transmigration story. Just have fun reading it and passing the time. Don't overanalyze it. There's not much scheming, just chatter, comedy, and sweetness.

2. This novel began serialization on April 17, 2025. Barring unforeseen circumstances, there will still be daily updates, and it will be completed.

Next Novel: After I Married the Heir to Bring Him Good Fortune

Blurb:

Zhu Yin said, "If that person really loves you that much, you can't leave him or get away from him. Unless he intends to let you go, what else is there to understand?"

Those words are a perfect fit for Su Youwan and Xi Yansheng, too.

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When Su Youwan first met Xi Yansheng, she thought the heir before her, so thin he was practically skin and bones, was nothing like the man her father had described. Her father said that he had studied the classics at three, mastered horseback riding and archery at four, and grown into a graceful man of noble bearing by adulthood. They were as different as heaven and earth.

She felt a faint excitement rising in her heart. It looked like he wouldn't be alive much longer.

After Xi Yansheng woke up, he sized up Su Youwan, who had been married to him to bring him good fortune. She was delicate, timid, and young.

He rubbed his forehead in annoyance. More importantly, the little girl already had a childhood sweetheart.

*

Youwan asked, "Heir, did you never intend to let me go?"

Xi Yansheng answered casually, "That's right!"

Youwan frowned. "How despicable!"

Xi Yansheng was unfazed. "If I weren't despicable, how would I have established myself at court while still a youth? How would I have mounted a horse to kill the enemy and pacified the western frontier? How would I have secured my place in the Xi family and kept my status from declining?"

Youwan: "..."

Xi Yansheng set a cup of wine in front of her and stared into her eyes. "Admit it. You've already fallen for me."

*

On the bed, Youwan said angrily, "Xi Yansheng, you built a cage and lured me into it bit by bit."

Xi Yansheng: "What makes you say that? Do you have proof?"

Youwan shot him a glare. "At first, you said you'd let me go just to reassure me while I treated your illness. You said you'd write me a divorce letter once you recovered. Then you told me I couldn't take my dowry, and that I'd have to wait a year if I wanted to take it with me. And then..."

Xi Yansheng raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly. "And then what?"

Youwan pressed her lips together and turned her head. And then, and then she really had fallen for him...

*

Born a concubine's daughter, Su Youwan's life was like the lowliest weed beneath the eaves of the Su residence.

Her cold-hearted father, vicious stepmother, and scheming legitimate sister all wanted to squeeze every last bit of value out of her. They forced her to marry in her sister's place, sending her to the Duke's residence to bring good fortune to an heir who was nearing thirty, unconscious and on the verge of death.

The Su residence was a den of tigers and dragons, but it wasn't the only one.

Her father-in-law's attitude was inscrutable, her stepmother-in-law watched her like a hawk, and her sisters-in-law were hardly human. Surviving in the Duke's residence was even harder than in her maiden home.

From a lowly weed under the eaves of the Su residence to a phoenix wielding power in the Duke's residence, her journey was like medicine and a blade. She was fortunate to find someone who saw the sharpness hidden beneath the fragrance of medicine, understood the stubbornness behind her almond eyes, and promised her a lifetime of shared devotion.

The people in the Duke's residence looked down on her as a lowborn concubine's daughter and made her perform a song and dance for a birthday celebration. No problem. Xi Yansheng waved his hand, making everyone present perform in turn. Even the cat in his little sister's arms had to meow for them.

Her brothers from her maiden family bullied her because she was weak. No problem. Xi Yansheng waved his hand and found one of them a fierce wife.

A devoted physician pitied her frailty. No problem. Xi Yansheng waved his hand and threw him out. What a joke. Why would this heir's woman need your pity?

A proper young scholar was rescued and immediately wanted to repay her with his hand in marriage. No problem. Xi Yansheng waved his hand. Get lost! If you want to offer yourself to her, get in line!

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Reading Guide

1. Everyone in this story is a local to their era, so please don't apply modern thinking. The heroine is a concubine's daughter and starts off very weak, but she gradually grows stronger. It's a great read.

2. Marriage first, love later, with mutual support and romance going hand in hand. The relationship develops slowly, with no melodrama or earth-shattering drama.

3. This blurb was written on December 20, 2025.

Theme: Face hardship without fear and grow toward the sun.