Nothing Is Worth Neglecting Food or Love

To pay for the expensive medical care and therapy his younger sister, Zhong Caiwei, needs for the emotional disorder she developed after suffering trauma, Zhong Chaoshen grits his teeth and works hard to earn money. But on the Lantern Festival, he receives a notice from his sister’s hospital bearing the terrible news that the sister he depended on has passed away.

That same day, Mo Changchuan, an anorexic patient suffering from depression who is staying in the same ward, finds a thermos flask in front of the nurses’ station. He intends to hand it in to the nurse, but by a twist of fate, he takes it back to his room and tries the red bean rice balls with dried tangerine peel inside.

The two men, who had never crossed paths before, find their fates intertwined over a serving of red bean rice balls with dried tangerine peel made by Zhong Chaoshen himself. The love missing from their hearts and the wounds they once suffered begin to scab over and heal, slowly, as time flows by, with lovingly prepared food as the bridge between them. Their ordinary lives, too, become different through the addition of these carefully made dishes.

They say our taste buds remember the flavors we sampled in our youth, and those flavors may shape our tastes for the rest of our lives. Life is short, yet full of flavors. Nothing should be forsaken, least of all good food and love.