RegisterLogin
Theme
Search
Series Group
Hot Soup and Soft Bread
Type
Web Novel (CN)
Genre
Tags[ ]
Loading...
Tags List | Request Tag
Rating(4.6 / 5.0, 52 votes)
5    77% (40 votes)
4    12% (6 votes)
3    4% (2 votes)
2    6% (3 votes)
1    2% (1 votes)
Language
Support Book (#ad)
Author(s)
One entry per line
Artist(s)
One entry per line
N/A
Year
Example: 2012
2024
Status in COO
Status in Country of Origin. One entry per line
Completed 27
Licensed
N/A
Completely Translated
Original Publisher
One entry per line
English Publisher
One entry per line
N/A
Release Frequency
Every 16.2 Day(s)
Activity Stats
[Graph]
Weekly Rank: #14532
Monthly Rank: #15320
All Time Rank: #12340
Reading List
[Graph]
On 475 Reading Lists
Monthly Rank: #16943
All Time Rank: #14091

Description

Links are NOT allowed. Format your description nicely so people can easily read them. Please use proper spacing and paragraphs.

One day, bus driver Zhong Qiuyan encountered an old lady who fainted on the street. When he helped her home, he learned she had a grandson Zhou Cunqu who hadn’t left the house in two years. At first, he was just helping out the old lady who injured her hand with groceries and the like out of the goodness of his heart. Then as he grew closer to Zhou Cunqu, he began to help him step back into the world once more.

Associated Names
One entry per line
热的汤，软的面包
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
N/A
Recommendation Lists
  1. My favourite bl
  2. Finished reading
  3. Interesting Books I wanna Read (part 2)
  4. Done Reading
  5. Of the Elect (*BL/BG)

Latest Release

Date Group Release
10/19/24 Apple Translations c27
10/18/24 Apple Translations c26
10/18/24 Apple Translations c25
10/16/24 Apple Translations c24
10/15/24 Apple Translations c23
10/15/24 Apple Translations c22
10/14/24 Apple Translations c21
10/14/24 Apple Translations c20
10/13/24 Apple Translations c19
10/13/24 Apple Translations c18
10/12/24 Apple Translations c17
10/11/24 Apple Translations c16
10/10/24 Apple Translations c15
10/09/24 Apple Translations c14
10/08/24 Apple Translations c13
12
Go to Page...
Go to Page...
Write a Review
8 Reviews sorted by


jellyfishies
jellyfishies rated it
October 14, 2024
Status: c20
Hi folks, I'm the translator of this novel, and I highly recommend it for a short but fulfilling read! Here's a quick summary from me to give more info on top of the official synopsis:

Zhong Qiuyan: An optimistic, genuine, "sunshiney" character who works as a bus driver.

Zhou Cunqu: An intelligent, well-read, reserved workaholic who, for various reasons and a certain traumatic event, quit his job as an architect to become a shut-in, living with his grandma Liu Xiaoying for the past two years.

This is a heartwarming story about the daily... more>> lives of these two men, how the former helped the latter step out into the world again, and how the latter helped the former realize the dream he once missed out on. There are conflicts and resolutions, but this is not a drama. There are many, many imperfect characters but no great villain. It's a down-to-earth tale of the ordinary days of ordinary men, but it's still an extraordinary read. There are a lot of well-written side characters in this one, and a good amount of laughs (Zhong Qiuyan himself is responsible for a lot of them lol, the guy's a funny one.)

Note on title: Although food plays a great role throughout the story, it's in the same way that food plays a great role in a human's life and relationships. It's not a culinary story if that's what you're looking for!

Content warning: This is a light-hearted even comedic read for the most part, but there is still some potentially triggering content (mostly in flashbacks) : su*cide (attempted and successful), verbal ab*se, childhood trauma, death of loved one. <<less
6 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Tilbar
Tilbar rated it
October 28, 2024
Status: Completed
The author weaves a short story that covers you like a warm, fuzzy blanket. It features an incredibly strong grandmother, her broken grandson and the sweet, sunny man who accidentally finds his way into their lives.

There are also side characters who manage to have their own identities even though the story is told in 27 chapters.

Others have given longer reviews but I want to keep it short so that you can discover all the goodness on your own.

Highly recommended with thanks to the author as well as Apple Translations.
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
rozee00
rozee00 rated it
October 22, 2024
Status: Completed
Have you ever gone on a fast food binge because it was easy to access, cheap, and filled you up? And you just keep eating it because of the convenience and to fill your stomach?

I liken my consumption of danmei novels to that. There's quite a slew of a dime-a-dozen trope-y novels with white lotuses, cold CEOs, rebirth, transmigrations, etc. They lure you in with the promise of an exciting story, some angst, and drama. But not all of them hit. There's no soul or depth of flavor, and many... more>> of the plots and characters are interchangeable.

This story is like a soul-soothing bowl of beef cabbage soup, nourishing and flavorful. It's a short read with twenty-seven chapters, and it held my attention. The characters have depth, and the world is fleshed out beyond the two main characters. A few characters aren't the greatest, but they're not black-and-white villains, and they don't take up that much story time. It's primarily wholesome, with some angst, healing, and a minor smidge of drama.

The description is apt and succinct if you don't want further spoilers. Thanks to the translator for picking this up and sharing it with the rest of us! You did a great job. Straight ate it up!

If you do want spoilers, forge on below to the spoiler tag.

Spoiler

Content warnings: seme protagonist (for people who have a preference), su*cide ideation, depression, trauma, death

Happy ending. 1 v 1.

Zhong Qiuyan: A guy who's bright, simple, caring, and helpful. His current occupation is bus driver. He had aspirations to become a chef, but some stuff happened prior. He's a sincere guy and says what he's thinking—very puppy dog-like.

Zhou Cunqu: A guy still wounded from past traumas and has lived as a shut-in with his grandma for the past two years. He was a high-achieving individual who worked as an architect. His parents put a lot of pressure on him growing up. Additional trauma comes from a childhood friend with a similar upbringing asking him to hang out. He misses the hangout, and the friend commits su*cide. He's very withdrawn at first but slowly comes out of his shell. Then you realize he's related to Liu Xiaoying with some of his sassy comments. Lol.

Liu Xiaoying: The best grandma in the world. Zhou Cunqu goes to her, and she senses he's not in a good spot. She has him move in with her. She fights to stay alive despite her old and ailing body to care for him. She's a funny and feisty grandma.

Zhong Qiuyan's friends: His friends are not just quick background characters meant to show the main characters have friends. They don't just show up a few times to highlight the main character's romance and PDA. They have a history with Zhong Qiuyan and their hopes, dreams, and partners.

Zhong Qiuyan's mom: She is so wholesome. I laughed at the end when she was scolding Zhong Quiyan about how she had to run around to LGBTQ+ parent meet-ups to understand more after accidentally seeing him kiss Zhou Cungu. My heart also warmed that he had such a loving mom who would take the time to try to understand her son and be there for him in that sense.

Zhou Cunqu's parents: Very stereotypical demanding Asian parents. Think about the parents who make their kids go to cram school and twenty-five different extracurriculars. The ones who expect their kids to listen to them but don't listen to their kids. They don't take up much actual screen time but do take up space as part of Zhou Cunqu's trauma history.

[collapse]
<<less
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
mavenwing
mavenwing rated it
April 27, 2025
Status: Completed
This story is so underrated. It’s realistic but not cynical, embracing the future with hope. The relationship between Cunqu and grandma Xiaoying was well depicted, and especially Xiaoying’s character was vividly portrayed and her storyline well thought out. In fact, all of the characters in this story are portrayed well, with the right amount of detail in which you learn who they are. Like hearing about a real, living person from a friend.

Indeed a heartwarming and quality short story. Mixes in a bit of fate, not too much conflict in... more>> the main leads’ relationship being accepted. Cunqu’s life story and how Liangqu was also a rival to him is very relatable to the overachieving asian kid and makes his journey all the more healing. Lovely community that is built around them as well. <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
sbob
sbob rated it
March 10, 2025
Status: Completed
Short, sweet, and poignant.

The style of writing that feels like slice of life but emotional accurately plucked at my heart strings. The feeling of burning out, trying too hard, letting go, things not going the way you want or plan, and finding joys in the simplest (possibly even s*upidest) things.

What makes life worth living? I like how it was answered not just by ZCP and grandma, but also how it was presented via ZQY.

Although I would prefer

... more>>
Spoiler

If the healing for ZCP was more developed; it felt a bit sudden, the leap towards a romantic relationship and physical relations.

[collapse]

Like what another reviewer said: short but fulfilling.

Would reread when I miss my grandma. Sigh. <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
zenshi1024
zenshi1024 rated it
October 21, 2024
Status: --
The grandma is the best 😭😭😭

Its a story about common asian household syndrome, whatever happens to you, you must excel etc2..

Cuncu, blaming himself for his childhood friend death that leads him being a shut in. Then comes Qiuyan his sunshine 🌞

I just love the interaction.

It's a good read
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
blessedcruisader
blessedcruisader
December 28, 2024
Status: c19
This is one of the cases where I need to say "it's not you, it's me". Even though this book is really short for a danmei (and I might end up forcing myself finishing it anyway due to being short), right now I just don't have the urge to finish this.

This book was honestly a pretty simple novel, with the MC being a bus driver, who one day witnesses ML's grandmother collapsing in the middle of the road one day and breaks her arm in the process. He takes it... more>> upon himself to help the grandmother out, and ends up meeting ML. ML is a traumatized recluse, someone that has only spoken to one person in the past 2 years - his grandmother. MC helps out the grandmother as she recovers from her injury, and also helps out ML too (and pretty much ends up forgetting he was originally there to help out the grandmother). See the grandmother will be turning 80 soon, and will be having a big party to celebrate the milestone, and ML sets a goal for himself to be able to get himself to attend.

So MC helps ML with this goal. They start off small, taking a couple steps in the hallway in the middle of the night, and continue until ML can make it outside, till he can leave the house on his own, till he can do so during the day when there is people around. Till he make small trips to buy breakfast for himself. This is an arduous journey, but ML is able to make this progress with MC by his side.

I really enjoyed reading about ML's recovery, hearing about the struggles he went through in his life to get himself to this point, and I really empathized with him. I honestly was not the biggest fan of MC, him being a happy, full-of-energy golden retriever type of guy. He does nothing wrong during the course of the novel, but I couldn't help being annoyed at times with him during the course of the novel.

After a certain point in this very short novel, I couldn't help but get a little bored and want to stop reading - this is a problem I have a lot, when the MC's get together in slice-of-life type novels, I usually check out (the build up is what engages me). For this book, ML's recovery is what interested me, and I think I will leave the novel there.

Honestly should probably just stop complaining and just finished the book, it has probably taken me more time to write this review than it would have taken me to finish it off. I think I will leave the book unrated for now. <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Empathatic
Empathatic rated it
October 25, 2024
Status: Completed
I'll be honest, this novel took me by surprise a lot.

There is a lot of depth buried in the 27 chapters of this novel, most of which is related to the ML, Zhou Cunqu. The synopsis gets the surname of him wrong, btw. In actuality, there's a few times during the translation where the names and pronouns of the characters get mixed up, and it might get a bit confusing, but that shouldn't be the focus of a review. Besides, this doesn't happen a lot and there was clearly a... more>> lot of effort put in by the translation team otherwise.

This novel deals with the unrealistic expectations that are placed upon someone, the pressure that causes, and the potential loss as a consequence. SEVERE SPOILER AHEAD!

Spoiler

The catalyst for everything is Zhou Cunqu's childhood friend, who was under extremely similar circumstances to him, committing su*cide. The mounting pressure from work, family, and the loss of a friend that he might have been able to prevent is what sends ZCQ into depression and gives him severe agoraphobia.

[collapse]

It's a long process of healing for ZCQ, and by the end of the novel I think he was still in recovery. It's refreshing to read a novel from... you know... that deals with mental health in a caring and intelligent way. There's no dismissal of his disorder, and he doesn't just magically get over it. There's also no mysticism based "medicine" used as a miracle drug either, which I greatly appreciate.

ZCQ's condition and how it affects those around him is a huge part of this novel. As well as his slow recovery from it.

Zhong Quiyan, the MC, is just a loyal, silly, sweet, caring, dog-like love interest who comes in and makes life easier for almost everyone around him. That's not to say that his character is centered around ZCQ, he has depth, it's just that his life and story takes a bit of a backseat at the beginning. His love for ZCQ is more important in the early parts of the story, but he gets his time to shine later.

The way the author portrayed almost all the characters and relationships in this story, down to the most seemingly insignificant ones, left an impression on me. It felt like each interaction between ZCQ, ZQY, and the people around them was important to them in one small way or another. Moments of lighthearted interaction interspersed with deep emotional connections. Small moments of everyday life that seem to slowly seep into ZCQ's world as he heals.

The romantic relationship is also handled in a mature and adult manner.

This story is poignant, deep, and most of all heartwarming. It's a cleansing breath of refreshing air after mountains of danmei with toxic CEO MLs and red flags.

TL;DR: Just read it. That's really all I can say. <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Leave a Review (Guidelines)
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.

Novel Updates

User Tools

Latest Series

| Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Contact Us