One Night, Then the General's Private Chef

Sherry Ning is no noble lady—she's just a poor girl fighting to keep her family alive. When her younger brother falls deathly ill, she has no choice but to swallow her pride and take a job at the Pavilion, a notorious pleasure house where the capital's elite gather. But the night takes a terrifying turn. A group of arrogant young nobles—friends of the legendary war hero General William Xie—corner her, slurring drunken insults and groping at her sleeves. She flees in panic, only to realize too late that the wine they pressed on her was drugged. Disoriented and burning, she stumbles into a dark room and collapses… …waking up the next morning in the bed of none other than General William Xie himself—the decorated, cold-as-steel conqueror who just returned from the northern frontier. A single reckless night. A scandal that must never see the light of day. They part as strangers, certain their paths will never cross again.But fate has other plans. When her little sister Chloe suddenly needs a thousand gold pieces for life-saving medicine, Sherry is desperate. Word spreads that the Marquis's Manor is hiring a private chef—the very General's household. With nothing left to lose, she signs up for the brutal cooking competition, hiding her identity behind a chef's apron and a lowered head.Her knife skills are flawless. Her flavors are unforgettable. By the end of the trial, the household is unanimous: she's the one.She steps through the marquis's gates as the new private cook—only to come face to face with the man she shared that secret night with. Now he's her master. She's his employee. And every simmering pot, every shared meal, pulls them deeper into a tangled web neither can escape. A poor girl. A proud general. One reckless night that changed everything.