The aroma of cooking filled the house: I sent my eldest brother to become the Grand Secretary.

"Didn't you tell Miss Shen Cao to help you cook ginger soup?"

Shen Yu'an shook his head, "I had forgotten about it if you hadn't mentioned it. I didn't expect Cao'er to be so thoughtful."

"I guess she prepared this especially for you because she saw you coughing."

Wanyue felt a warm glow in her heart as she drank the hot ginger soup.

Although it was her first time meeting Shen Cao, she felt as if they had known each other for a long time, and she inexplicably felt a strong liking for her.

As I drank the ginger soup she had personally prepared, I felt more and more certain that I hadn't misjudged her.

The next day, after noon, Shen Yu'an and Wei Siyu arrived at Shen Family Restaurant.

It was past lunchtime, and there weren't many people in the restaurant.

As soon as they sat down, Wei Siyu couldn't wait to ask, "Aunt Shen, what food is left?"

"Just give me whatever you want."

After he finished speaking, he glanced at Wanyue.

Wanyue felt a little guilty, but she pretended to be calm and ignored him.

She didn't know either.

It turns out that it was already quite late when we settled in last night.

By the time they had all settled down, it was almost lunchtime.

Wei Siyu and Shen Yu'an then habitually prepared to take Wanyue and the others to Shen Family Restaurant.

Who knew that Wanyue thought that since she had come all the way to Xin'an County, she had to try the food at the largest restaurant in Xin'an County.

Shen Yu'an and Wei Siyu both advised her that the food at the restaurant was not as good as the food at Shen Family Restaurant.

She refused to believe it; how could a restaurant not have food as good as Shen's Restaurant?

She admitted that the snacks at Shen's restaurant were all very delicious.

She liked them too, but eating only those snacks could get a bit monotonous.

We've come all this way, we can't just eat wontons and the like for every meal.

Despite their objections, she insisted on going to Zuixianlou for lunch.

Not only that, when she went to Zuixianlou, she ordered all the signature dishes as if they were free.

The shopkeeper was beaming from ear to ear.

The meal cost nearly five hundred taels of silver, but most of the dishes were only eaten once.

"Pooh!"

Wanyue picked up a piece of Zuixianlou's signature roast chicken with her chopsticks, but spat it out as soon as she ate it.

She frowned. "This is the food from the best restaurant."

"No wonder you guys don't come to eat here, this is just too awful."

Wanyue was more picky than Shen Yu'an and Wei Siyu. They both felt that although the food here wasn't very good, it wasn't bad either.

The shopkeeper's expression was completely different from before; he could no longer smile.

This was the first time he had ever heard a guest so rudely say to his face that the food at his restaurant was bad.

He had originally thought that since the guests at this table had ordered a lot of dishes, he wanted to say hello and hopefully get to know them.

Unexpectedly, I heard Wanyue complaining before I even entered the door.

He knew both Shen Yu'an, the eldest son of the Shen family, and Wei Siyu, the young master. Although this was the first time he had met this young girl, judging from her clothes and overall demeanor, she must be of extraordinary status.

He had no choice but to leave dejectedly.

Wei Siyu was not full, so she asked for food as soon as she entered Shen's restaurant.

Wanyue rubbed her stomach.

She hadn't eaten much either, and she was hungry too.

Shen Cao came out and listened to their description of what happened at Zuixianlou.

Suddenly, she spoke to Wanyue, "Miss Wanyue, how is your cold?"

Wanyue nodded. "I sweated a lot last night, but I feel much better today."

"I was in a rush yesterday and didn't have a chance to thank you."

"Miss Shen Cao, thank you for the ginger soup last night."

"By the way, can I call you Grass Girl, just like they do?"

"of course."

"Miss Wanyue, you are too kind. It was nothing at all."

Wanyue took Shencao's hand and removed a lustrous jade bracelet from her wrist.

“Sister Cao’er, this bracelet isn’t worth much money, but it was given to me by my mother when I was little.”

"I've had this with me since I was a child, and I'm giving it to you."

Upon hearing this, Shen Cao quickly declined, "Miss Wanyue, you are too kind. I am usually afraid of breaking things while working."

"Besides, you've worn this jade bracelet since you were a child."

After a moment's thought, Wanyue casually took a jade pendant off her neck.

"Then you can keep this jade pendant."

“This is my father…my father gave it to me to play with.”

You must accept this.

"I've always wanted an older sister since I was little, and I feel especially close to you this time."

Shen Yu'an was surprised that Wan Yue liked Shen Cao so much; she rarely showed such enthusiasm to someone she had only met a few times.

"Miss Cao'er, please accept it, otherwise Wanyue probably won't be able to have any peace and quiet today."

Shen Cao had no choice but to accept the pendant.

The pendant is a small leaf, entirely emerald green. When held in the hand, it doesn't feel cool, but rather warm.

"You didn't eat enough for lunch, did you? I'll go cook a couple of dishes." Shen Cao said and walked towards the kitchen.

Shen Cao took out a small bowl of peeled shrimp from the ice cellar and cracked in a few eggs.

She simply stir-fried shrimp and scrambled eggs; the tender eggs, paired with fresh seasonal shrimp, were incredibly delicious.

She then used the fish balls she had made earlier to make a fish ball soup.

Stir-fried squid with scallions, and shrimp casserole with garlic and vermicelli.

Finally, she made another dish to go with rice: fried pork with potatoes and salt.

Wanyue looked at the four dishes and one soup on the table, which looked and smelled delicious.

She thought Shen Cao could only make some snacks, but she didn't expect her cooking skills to be so good.

Shen Cao handed a bowl of stewed white fungus and snow pear soup to Wan Yue.

"I noticed you had a bit of a cough yesterday. Try this; it'll help stop your cough and soothe your lungs."

"Sister Grass, you are so kind."

"Let's eat."

Wei Siyu had been eagerly waiting for this moment.

He first picked up a piece of shrimp and scrambled eggs with his chopsticks.

The soft, tender eggs paired with the fresh, sweet shrimp are so delicious!

Sure enough, only the food cooked by Shen Cao could make him so happy.

Wanyue had only scooped half a bowl of rice, but the plate of fried potatoes and pork was just too delicious to eat with rice.

She couldn't resist adding another bowl of rice to her bowl.

"Mmm, mmm, delicious, delicious." Wanyue didn't care about her image anymore, and spoke anxiously before even swallowing the food in her mouth.

"It tastes much better than what we had for breakfast."

"Sister Cao'er, with your cooking skills, why don't you open a restaurant?"

"Restaurants make a lot of money."

"The dishes we had at noon cost nearly five hundred taels of silver."

These words shocked not only Shen Cao, but also Shen's parents who were standing nearby.

Especially Mr. Shen, who kept track of the accounts every day, knew exactly how much money the Shen family restaurant made.

Shen's restaurant operates from morning till night, and also offers delivery and meat sauce services. In the past six months, they have only earned less than four hundred taels of silver.

He originally thought it was a lot, but he didn't expect that a meal at a high-end restaurant could cost that much.

Shen Cao was shocked. She had always thought that the food in the restaurant was expensive, but she didn't expect it to be this expensive.

She toiled away for half a year and only earned four hundred taels, while someone else could sell a table full of food for nearly five hundred taels.

She is so angry.