灶君
This is the most popular legend of the Kitchen God nowadays. The Kitchen God was a man living on earth named Zhang Chan who grew up in a rich family and lived happily with his wife. However, several years later, he got fed up with his wife and left her for a younger woman. His wife had to move to other city. One winter after his wife left, Zhang's residence caught fire and everything was burnt. Chan's eyes became blind and he had to beg for food on the street. One day, when he was begging from a house, the hostess pitied him and invited him for dinner. During the meal, Chan realized the hostess was his ex-wife. Being so embarrassed and ashamed of himself, he jumped into the stove and burned to death. On hearing the story, the Jade Empire took pity on him and assigned him the Kitchen God. He need to supervise every household on earth and report all the good deeds and evil things on earth. However, people didn't trust Chan according to his past, so they provide Zaotang to him to remind him to say sweet words about them to the Empire.