Spoiled in the Eighties

The heroine, a Michelin-starred chef, wakes up as an army wife neglected by her officer husband, Shen Muyan. A scheming cookhouse squad leader deliberately waves around the buns Shen Muyan praised as “delicious” and taunts her: “Sister-in-law, Brother Muyan said your cooking tastes like pig slop.” Right there, the heroine kneads dough into peacock-shaped rolls and uses leftover cafeteria ingredients to make an adapted version of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. The hook: She opens the compound's first private kitchen, making late-night snacks for soldiers working overtime. She uses her earnings to buy Shen Muyan imported canned beef. When her mother-in-law complains that “messing around with food is beneath you,” she brings her dishes straight to the army cafeteria to challenge the cookhouse squad leader, who soon starts sneaking over to learn from her. During a field exercise, Shen Muyan gets food poisoning. The “folk remedy” brought by the scheming cook contains poisonous mushrooms, which the heroine detects by smell. She brews medicinal herbs in a military canteen and saves him. Later, he finds her recipe notebook and reads: “Shen Muyan likes spicy food. I should secretly double the Sichuan peppercorns in the spicy hot pot recipe on page 37. When he praises me, I'll kiss him.”