The Evening Breeze Protects Her for Me

Their parents set off for the distant kingdom of starlight. From then on, only the brother and sister are left in the human world.

At twenty, Lu Shiyan gives up every easy path and plunges into the busiest of kitchens, apprenticing himself to a master chef to learn Chinese cuisine. The boy who once held a pen and studied now grips a cleaver every day, hefts iron woks, and tends roaring flames. He rises before dawn to prep ingredients, practices his knife skills late into the night, burns his hands at the stove, and has his clothes soaked with cooking fumes. Under his master's strict instruction, the stove wears away every trace of youthful softness.

While other twenty-year-olds live boldly and chase freedom, his twentieth year is spent with calluses on his hands, the smell of the kitchen clinging to him, and a heart full of responsibility.

He grits his teeth and learns to cook, not for a bright future, but to protect the only family he has. He wants to rely on the solid culinary skills he has honed to provide for and protect his ten-year-old sister, Lu Zhiwan, giving her warm meals every day and a little home that will never fall apart.

The little girl, no longer sheltered by her parents, sheds every trace of childish dependence far too soon. She quietly hides her longing for Mom and Dad inside the rabbit plush toy that keeps her company. She's considerate and well-behaved, never causing trouble. Watching her brother spend year after year by the fire, his fingertips covered in scars and his days full of hard work, she quietly learns to do chores, saves pocket money by eating less, and grows up independent and calm.

With her gentle, wholehearted companionship, she gradually eases the weariness of the kitchen that clings to her brother.

The kitchen has its warmth and cold, the stove brings hardship and exhaustion, and life brings storms. Lu Shiyan applies himself to honing his knife skills, controlling the heat, and studying seasonings. Starting as a novice with no experience, he passes certification exams, enters competitions, and endures trial after trial. Step by step, he perseveres through hardship, eventually growing from a kitchen beginner into a head chef who can run the kitchen alone, carving out a future of his own.

A home for two