In the chaotic Yong Dynasty, officialdom is rotten and the powerful oppress the people.
Feng Zhou, who transmigrated here, has spent half his life in a daze, uneducated and useless, muddling through each day.
The Feng family began as destitute refugees, wandering in search of a way to survive. To secure a glimmer of hope, his mother endured humiliation and attached herself to the county magistrate's clerk. The whole family lived on their knees, suffering exploitation and abuse, scraping by with a meager street stall.
One day, Feng Zhou comes across chili peppers brought from overseas. A glutton by nature, he finds a path to an astonishing reversal amid the smoke and fire of the kitchen.
Using modern seasoning techniques, he recreates exquisite flavors and invents his own signature braised dishes. The once-impoverished Feng family grows rich overnight and establishes itself in the southern part of the city.
But when the poor get rich, their newfound wealth becomes a crime in itself.
The clerk's greed grows, and he bleeds the family dry month after month. Shackled by obligations and tangled in human relationships, the family cannot escape its humiliation.
Watching his family endure in silence day after day, their blood and sweat wasted and their lives forever controlled by others, Feng Zhou finally sheds his unruly nature. He sets his mind to the task and rises on two fronts.
With one hand, he builds a livelihood in the kitchen and steadily amasses a fortune. With the other, he studies hard, seeking a path to power in the official world.
In dire straits, he forms a bond with Su Qingyue, the county magistrate's daughter. He offers her two tenths of his business profits as a bride price and pledges a favor in return for her promise. He cuts ties with his corrupt former patron, wins the magistrate's open protection, and finally breaks free of the mire of poverty.
Just as the situation seems settled, trouble stirs in the shadows.
The clerk, disgraced and resentful, schemes in secret, and the city is rocked by one sordid upheaval after another.
An ordinary young man from the streets, he rises from the heat of the kitchen and plots his way through the power games of the imperial court.
In an aimless, chaotic age, he builds a home with food, paves his way with wealth, and decides his fate through political strategy.
He tempers his heart through cooking, climbs step by step, and ultimately overturns the chaos of the age, bringing safety and peace to his entire family.
