Marrying a Substitute Bride, the World-Weary Prince Starts Eating Again

A gentle yet resilient young cook + a disabled, despairing prince + a politically motivated substitute marriage + mutual salvation + healing through food + a lightly developed ensemble cast Theme: The human heart is like water: it can capsize a boat, but it can also cook a pot of porridge. Prince An, Wei Feng, was once the most dazzling young war god in Great Chu. But after a highly controversial battle left him crippled and blind, his temperament changed drastically. The iron-blooded war god became violent and world-weary, dismissed by the powerful as a “crippled Yama.” Years earlier, the Marquis of Yongchang’s Residence had arranged for its legitimate daughter to marry him in hopes of currying favor with the powerful. Yet on the wedding day, they sent a concubine’s daughter—the daughter of a cook—in her place. To Song Sanyuan, however, this marriage, mocked by everyone, was a journey she was willing to undertake wholeheartedly. The once-illustrious young man who had saved her from danger had long been the moon hidden in her heart, a love she dared not speak aloud. Now the moon was shrouded in dust and had fallen into the abyss. Then she would be the one to carry a lantern down into it. With food as her vessel, she would ferry him across the sea of suffering. He would offer her the realm as his betrothal gift and give her a lifetime of peaceful, ordinary happiness. This is a slow-burn story with many descriptions of food and medicinal cuisine. Neither lead is perfect, and this is not a conventional wish-fulfillment power fantasy. Reader discretion is advised.