The Little Apothecary Cook: I Avenge My Family with Imperial Recipes

For generations, the Shen family ran the imperial medicinal cuisine bureau, mastering food therapy and herbal lore. But powerful nobles framed them, and the entire family was executed. Shen Qingqiao narrowly escaped death and fell into the streets. Once a noble young lady raised in the inner chambers, she became an orphan struggling to survive on the roadside. She had no army at her command and no coup to spark at court. All she had was an ancestral secret manual of medicinal cuisine and the ability to identify poisons and herbs. She set up a stall selling medicinal snacks, opened a small eatery, saved money, and planted informants. She dealt with malicious neighbors and the lackeys of enemies who came looking for trouble, exposed poisoning schemes, and slowly unearthed clues to the wrongful case that had destroyed her family. Lu Yanheng, a down-and-out judicial investigator who had seen through the corruption of officialdom, secretly protected her. Amid the bustle of street life, the two supported each other. They ran a lively, thriving business while slowly pursuing the blood feud that had begun years ago. There would be no earth-shaking coup or palace uprising. They would use the streets as a chessboard and medicinal recipes as their blades. Once they had gathered all the evidence, they would submit a petition through the proper channels. The villains would face justice, and the wronged would be vindicated. After their revenge was complete, they would have the warmth of everyday life for company and enjoy peace year after year.