She opened her eyes in a dirt-floored house, kneeling in a white apron over two dying bodies—and remembered an entire other life full of cities, recipes, and followers. In this second chance she has one deadline: the adopted son of the family is feverish and nearly dead. No money, no proper doctors, and a village full of suspicion. So she trades the one modern asset she actually has—culinary know-how—for a miracle: cooking the tastes a rich household craves, borrowing a few slices of ginseng, and turning porridge into power. Her food starts as life-saving medicine, becomes a daily favor for a grieving official, then a stir-of-the-street snack that pulls the county's appetite—and its officials—into her orbit. Each bowl flips an insult, pays a debt, exposes lies, and raises the stakes: enemies in the clinic, a patron with political leverage, and a boy whose future depends on her success. This time she won't wait to be rescued. She will rewrite the rules with a ladle, a recipe, and a backing that could raise a family from ruin—or make them imperial targets.
18 Chapters
