Arc 1


Lin Dan was currently feeling bewildered. Instinctively, she called out to the system in her mind, but then she froze. What is the system? She was holding a spoon in her hand which had a thin layer of milky-white broth inside. The aroma was rich and appetizing, and there was still a faint aftertaste in her mouth, indicating that she had just taken a sip. But the problem was, Lin Dan had no idea who she was, what she was doing, or why she had suddenly appeared there.

She stared at her small, calloused hands. They felt like hers, yet they also didn’t. She was standing there, but it was clear that she didn’t belong, like an intruder from another world, completely out of place with everything around her. She couldn’t even figure out what was going on.

However, the people around her didn’t seem to notice that Lin Dan was no longer the same person she had been moments ago. One of them pointed to a dish placed in front of her and said, “It’s still missing something.” But what exactly was missing, he couldn’t say, as he wasn’t a professional cook— just someone with a more sensitive palate than most.

Lin Dan was jolted awake by those words. She looked up and saw that the speaker was a boy dressed in luxurious robes. He was slender, with fair skin and delicate features, and if he hadn’t spoken, he could easily have been mistaken for a girl. Like Lin Dan, he also held a spoon in his hand, tasting the dish with a slightly furrowed brow and a serious expression.

“Indeed, it’s lacking a bit of heat control.” Another person said slowly.

Lin Dan turned her head to see that the speaker this time was an elderly man with a white beard. He was smacking his lips as if trying to discern the aftertaste of the broth.

Lin Dan quickly shifted her gaze to her surroundings. Even though she didn’t understand anything, she didn’t show any sign of panic. It was as if she was accustomed to handling such unexpected situations.

“What do you mean by ‘lacking heat control’? It seems fine to me, no difference at all.” Said a stern-looking middle-aged man. He was dressed in a robe embroidered with clouds and blue qilin^[1]a legendary hooved chimerical creature that appears in Chinese mythology, and he seemed to hold a high status, as his words were immediately met with nods and flattery from those around him.

But Lin Dan didn’t focus on him. Instead, she turned her attention to the girl standing seven or eight meters away. The other party was about thirteen or fourteen years old, and in front of her was also a dish. Based on its color, aroma, and taste, it looked almost identical to the dish in front of Lin Dan.

Gathering information from the environment, the people, and their conversations, Lin Dan quickly concluded that she seemed to be in a culinary competition with someone.

The other girl smiled slightly at the comments from the boy and the old man, but when she saw that the middle-aged man didn’t side with her, her eyebrows furrowed stubbornly. “Please, Marquis, taste it again.”

Marquis? Lin Dan, who was trying to gather as much information as possible, quickly glanced at the middle-aged man.

He was about to speak, but the delicate-looking boy, growing impatient, said, “If you can’t even tell whether the dish is good or bad, then why are you in the kitchen at all?” It was clear that this was directed at Lin Dan, as his clear black-and-white eyes were staring directly at her. The other girl, pleased by this, lowered her head and smiled shyly.

Lin Dan had already tasted her dish earlier but hadn’t admitted defeat. It wasn’t because she was unwilling, but because she couldn’t figure out what was missing from her dish, what flavor was lacking. The boy, assuming she had already lost, was clearly displeased by her hesitation.

Now that she understood the situation, Lin Dan knew she had to react in a way that matched the situation. She had to finish this scene like a normal person would. So, she took another sip of the broth and silently evaluated it, then walked over to the other girl’s side to taste her dish.

Both dishes were crab roe with minced chicken and choy sum^[2]Chinese flowering cabbage. It looked like simple cooked cabbage leaves, but making it well required great skill. The art of cooking was like that— the simpler the dish, the harder it was to perfect.

Lin Dan originally intended to take a few tastes and then voluntarily admit defeat, allowing her to quickly leave and find a quiet place to process this sudden situation. But when she actually tasted the two dishes, her taste buds and brain automatically made a judgment. She was surprised to discover that her sense of taste seemed to be far more sensitive than that of an average person. Even the slightest difference was magnified several times by her tongue. This was precisely what the previous Lin Dan had lacked.

“I’ve lost.” After setting down the spoon, she sincerely said, “My choy sum dish is slightly bitter.” This bitterness was something most people couldn’t detect and only those with an exceptionally keen sense of taste could discern.

The old man with the white beard looked at her deeply and offered some advice, “That’s right. You didn’t wait for the choy sum to cook properly before adding the starch, which extended the heating time of the starch too long, making it easy for the dish to become burnt and bitter. The texture also becomes less smooth. The essence of crab roe with minced chicken and choy sum lies in two words: fresh and smooth. Your dish looks decent, but it lacks a few key flavors.”

Lin Dan nodded and repeated, “I’ve lost.”

Seeing her calm and honest demeanor, without any resentment after her defeat, the old man nodded slightly. The middle-aged man sighed deeply, his face showing a hint of pity, while a woman hidden behind the crowd clutched her chest and fainted, startling everyone.

“Oh no, Madam Qi has fainted! Lin Dan, hurry and check on your mother!” Two women immediately rushed to support the woman and beckoned Lin Dan over.

Quickly gathering information from their words to supplement her identity, Lin Dan ran over without hesitation and shouted, “Could someone please help me call for a doctor? I’ll take my mother back first.” With that, she naturally took over from one of the women to support the fainted woman. The now-free woman didn’t notice anything amiss and hurriedly led the way, quickly bringing Lin Dan back to what was apparently her home.

After a lot of hustle and bustle, the doctor finally arrived. He said that the woman wasn’t seriously ill, just fainted from excessive worry. A calming herbal decoction would be enough to help her recover.

After receiving the prescription, Lin Dan took off a silver hairpin from her head to pay for the consultation. She didn’t know where the woman kept the money, and even if she did, it was likely locked inside a box. With the woman unconscious, she couldn’t ask for the key, so this was her only option.

The doctor gave Lin Dan a look of pity and gently said, “The Marquis has already covered the consultation fee. Keep the hairpin for yourself. I’ll take the prescription and have one of the Marquis’s servants fetch the medicine for you. Your mother is unconscious and needs someone to stay with her. Sigh……”

Watching the doctor slowly walk away, shaking his head and sighing, Lin Dan realized that the earlier culinary competition must have been very important to her, or else everyone wouldn’t be showing her so much sympathy, and her mother wouldn’t have fainted after her loss. But a loss was a loss. It was an undeniable fact. So, Lin Dan felt no regret over her actions.

Seeing the woman’s face covered in cold sweat, Lin Dan picked up a copper basin and went outside to fetch water, only to see a boy of about sixteen or seventeen walking in. He whispered, “Lin Dan, I’ve already brought the medicine. Boil it with three bowls of water until it reduces to one bowl. Don’t throw away the dregs. You can boil two more doses from them. Three doses a day for seven days should be enough.”

Lin Dan hurriedly thanked him and sent him off before heading to the kitchen to brew the medicine. Whether it was chopping wood, lighting the stove, or fetching water, her body performed these tasks instinctively. The medicine was already boiling and bubbling away, so Lin Dan removed some of the firewood and switched to a low flame for a slow simmer. She then pulled up a small stool and sat by the stove, organizing her memories.

She seemed to have gotten used to doing this and quickly understood her situation. Her father is Lin Baotian, the head cook at Marquis Yongding’s residence. Since Marquis Yongding was a connoisseur of fine food, he held Lin Baotian in high regard, even taking him along during military campaigns. This showed how important Lin Baotian was. As a result, Lin Dan and her mother, Madam Qi, lived comfortably in the marquis’s mansion, with their own courtyard and servants.

But two months ago, Lin Baotian had suddenly died of illness. On his deathbed, he passed on his culinary skills and knife to Lin Dan, his only daughter. Lin Dan had always admired the young marquis, who, like the old marquis, loved good food. So, she practiced her cooking every day, hoping to catch the young marquis’s attention.

After her father’s death, she took over his role as head cook. Despite being only twelve or thirteen years old, her skills were already quite advanced. One day, she made her signature dish, braised sea cucumber with scallions, only to be told by the young marquis that it was far inferior to a dish made by a maid in his courtyard.

Lin Dan had always been proud and ambitious, so she immediately went to challenge the young maid. However, she never expected the maid to reveal a shocking secret. It turned out that Lin Baotian’s culinary skills and knife were stolen from the maid’s grandfather. Lin Baotian was not the true successor of the imperial cook’s legacy but rather someone who had betrayed his master.

The young maid was named Yan Langqing. Her grandfather, Yan Bo, had been a renowned imperial cook in the previous dynasty. After leaving the palace, he took on several pupils, one of whom was Lin Dan’s father, Lin Baotian. Later, when Yan Bo fell gravely ill and was on the verge of death, Yan Langqing’s father was away and unable to return to see him for the last time. Lin Baotian took advantage of the situation, burying Yan Bo and stealing the golden knife and the Yan family’s recipes before disappearing without a trace.

Yan Langqing’s father harbored deep resentment over this betrayal and traveled across various places with his family in search of Lin Baotian. He finally found him in Marquis Yongding’s residence, only to discover that Lin Baotian had already died. He then sent his daughter to infiltrate, learn about the situation of their enemy’s descendant, and seek an opportunity to challenge Lin Dan, with the golden knife and the Yan family’s recipes as the stakes.

Lin Dan, fiercely competitive and unwilling to lose face in front of the young marquis, immediately accepted the challenge to defend her father’s honor. She later lost, and afterward, she became the Lin Dan she was now. The handsome boy who had served as a judge earlier was the young marquis, and the middle-aged man who had defended Lin Dan, despite knowing she was no match for Yan Langqing, was the old marquis.

Although they shared the same name, Lin Dan could clearly feel that her former self and her current self were not the same person. The other Lin Dan had been entirely fixated on the young marquis, capable of being overjoyed by a single smile from him or utterly lost by a single frown. But now, Lin Dan felt nothing at all. Thinking of him was like recalling a stranger.

Her most pressing concern was no longer her identity or memories but what to do next. Having lost the competition and with a sickly mother to care for, what was she supposed to do?