1990: Starting Out as a Village Cook

Shen Guoping had spent his whole life working tirelessly in the kitchen. Then, in one moment, he was reborn in 1990. That year, he was just twenty, full of ambition for the future. By chance, Shen Guoping took over his father’s village banquet business and awakened the God of Cooking System. When diners tasted his food and gave it a good review, he earned approval points. He could exchange those points for all sorts of chests containing dishes, items, and skills he had never even heard of. And so, a village chef unlike any other was born! Some said the ingredients in his village banquets were the freshest in the world. That was because every vegetable and every cut of meat was grown or raised by him, with a freshness beyond anything of the era. Some said he had turned village cooking into a capitalist’s business. That was because even the little things Shen Guoping let slip while catering village banquets were enough to make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. Some said his food had transcended food itself. That was because, in Shen Guoping’s hands, village cooking was no longer just a profession: it became an important witness to people’s births, aging, illnesses, and deaths. At first, Shen Guoping only wanted to quietly make a living as a village chef. But as his reputation grew, countless influential figures were willing to pay a fortune just to sample one of his banquets. From a humble village chef to the halls of state banquets, people began to realize something was off. Wait... weren’t you supposed to be just a village chef? Shen Guoping: “The global village is still a village. When guests come to my house, there’s nothing wrong with showing off a few tricks!”