[Blurb]
[Enthusiastic, adorable, down-to-earth, scatterbrained sunshine girl VS taciturn, aloof, refined gentleman with obsessive-compulsive tendencies]
[Brash, outgoing Northeast China tiger girl VS nitpicky, introverted, sophisticated Jiangnan boy]
A chance encounter brings Northeast Chinese livestreaming tomboy Zhao Dahua together with Gu Qinghuai, a sophisticated Shanghai food blogger, as roommates.
When the hearty Northeastern dialect meets the soft, lilting speech of the south, everything spirals out of control in an instant.
[The First Time]
The family heirloom crock of pickled cabbage that Zhao Dahua hauled 2,000 kilometers from home is smashed to pieces on the very first day she meets Gu Qinghuai. A tragically short life for the crock.
Zhao Dahua is furious. She clenches her fists, wanting to hit someone.
All that pickled cabbage she'd carried so far! Gone! Sob! No more pickled cabbage dumplings, no more fish with pickled cabbage, none of it!
The shattered crock splashes its contents all over her future roommate, Gu Qinghuai.
Gu Qinghuai freezes, then silently looks down at the mysterious yellow liquid covering him. His blood pressure shoots up, and he takes ten showers in a row. That day, the whole building hears a despairing scream from the bathroom: "I'm filthy! I'm filthy! I'm filthy!!!"
[The Second Time]
Zhao Dahua accidentally rips a huge hole in her roommate Gu Qinghuai's shirt.
Gu Qinghuai calmly gathers his shirt closed and looks down at the meathead drooling over his abs. With a dark expression, he says, "Had enough, curly top?"
Gu Qinghuai's inner thoughts: You little thing. You're totally smitten with me, aren't you?
Zhao Dahua calmly nods at her outrageously showy roommate and says,
"That's it? Pretty average. My favorite idol's swimsuit pictures are way hotter. You still need to work on it, bro!"
[The Third Time]
The two are forced by their company to livestream together.
Knowing full well that they can't stand each other, they just want to half-heartedly get through their work. Instead, the internet goes wild.
After the livestream, the North-South couple instantly takes the internet by storm. A Bilibili fan edit pairing the powerful Northeastern girl with the Shanghai gentleman immediately tops the charts and takes over the trending topics.
While the whole internet is going crazy shipping them
Gu Qinghuai finally realizes that it was all a trap set by the evil man-eating flower right in front of him!
He fell for it, plain as day! What a devious scheme!
Zhao Dahua looks up at her roommate, who is sharpening his knives in the distance, and shakes her head sympathetically. She takes a bite of the frozen pear in her hand, convinced that her roommate must be seriously ill.
Zhao Dahua's inner thoughts: Look at him! The poor kid's got a bad case of jealousy!
No way. She needs to stay away from him, or he'll infect her. Staying alive is what matters most!!!
---Blurb screenshotted on March 16, 2025
[Reading Guide]
1. Heir to a century-old dumpling restaurant x French pastry chef
2. A brash Northeastern tiger girl meets her haughty, pouty little wife. Female Alpha, male Omega. A funny, sweet little romance.
3. The wind in the old alley can't cut through the snow of the black soil, but your heartbeat shattered the walls I built.
[Bonus Scene]
One night, later on,
Gu Qinghuai corners Zhao Dahua by the crock of pickled cabbage. "The internet says you've tamed me."
"They're blind!" Zhao Dahua backs up three steps. "You're obviously just acting!"
Gu Qinghuai takes her hand and presses it against his abs. "I've been acting out this shirt-ripping scene with you for so long... shouldn't Director Zhao pay me a little?"
Theme: The point of food isn't plating. It's giving both tears and laughter a place to call home
