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

The village chief looked at the younger siblings that Shen Cao had brought with him and was a little puzzled. Apart from a few children he didn't recognize, he had seen them all at Shen's family restaurant.

Since Mr. and Mrs. Shen said they wouldn't come, who else could come?

Could it be?

Shen Cao and the others went inside and sat down not long ago.

A young man dressed in white walked in at the village chief's door. The village chief looked at the young man at the door and realized that it was indeed Shen Chen, the eldest son of the Shen family.

He had intended to invite him yesterday, but Shen Chen was already a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations, so he was practically a master.

From now on, in the capital, he will not be someone that ordinary people can easily meet.

So when Mr. Shen told his son to come yesterday, he never expected Shen Chen to come.

Seeing that Shen Chen still treated him with the same respect as before, even in front of outsiders, he felt his back straighten a bit.

He warmly invited Shen Chen in and quickly introduced him to the pig butcher he had invited from the next village.

"This is my eldest nephew, Shen Chen."

"The top scorer in this year's provincial examination is a truly remarkable person!"

Feeling a little embarrassed by what the village chief said, Shen Chen greeted the others and then went to the main room to find his younger siblings.

The butchers immediately gathered around and began to flatter the village chief.

“Your nephew is clearly no ordinary person.”

"That demeanor is probably only comparable to that of a young master from the capital." Country folk, unsophisticated, always thought the capital was the most prestigious place.

People who come from the capital are the most extraordinary.

The village chief feigned composure and said, "That's right, my nephew has been accepted as a student by Grand Tutor Zhou this year."

"I went to study in Beijing and only came back for the Chinese New Year recently."

"They will come to my house to wish me a Happy New Year in a few days."

The village chief was beaming with pride, and everyone was incredibly envious.

Shen Cao made room for her older brother, "Big brother, how's it going? Has the house changed a lot?"

“A house will fall into disrepair very quickly once no one lives there.”

Shen Chen frowned upon hearing Shen Cao's words. "No, I just went to check, and everything at home is pretty much the same as before."

"There wasn't even much dust on the table."

"I thought you came back to clean often."

Shen Cao was somewhat shocked. How could this be?

The last time she came back was several months ago.

When Wanyue and the others came to visit a while ago, they didn't even step inside the house.

For some reason, a black figure flashed through her mind.

Could it be him?

"Bang bang bang!!!" The sudden sound of firecrackers interrupted Shen Cao's thoughts.

"It's starting! It's starting!" someone shouted.

Everyone ran out to watch the pig being slaughtered, while Shen Cao, his older brother, Shen Wan, and the other timid people sat in the main room, waiting for them.

The group chatted and drank tea in the main room. Occasionally, they would meet some familiar faces from the village, and Shen Cao would greet them all.

"Sister, it's done killing them." Shen Qing ran in.

Seeing that the pig had been slaughtered, Shen Cao planned to go to the kitchen to see how to prepare the pig-slaughtering feast.

In her past life, she had seen pigs being slaughtered when she returned to her hometown, but she was too young then and the adults thought she was in the way, so they wouldn't let her into the kitchen at all.

As soon as Shen Cao entered the kitchen, she saw several people carrying a basin of pig's blood into the kitchen.

The pig's blood was bright red and even steaming hot.

She recalled the blood sausage she ate in her past life, dipped in garlic sauce—the taste was indescribable.

The village chief's wife was cooking in the kitchen with the helpers when she saw Shen Cao come into the kitchen. She immediately stopped what she was doing and walked over to her.

"Little grass, what are you doing in the kitchen? You can just go to the front and wait for your meal."

"It's alright, Aunt Ma, I've come to see if there's anything I can do to help."

"Hey, Ma family, come quick! What are we going to do with this whole basin of pig's blood?"

"We don't eat pig's blood much here, how do you eat it?"

Shen Cao followed Aunt Ma into the kitchen.

Aunt Ma looked at the basin of pig's blood with some worry. "I heard that you can eat it once it cools down. Why don't we put it down and wait a while?"

"Row."

When Aunt Ma finished her work and turned around, she saw Shen Cao staring blankly at the basin of pig's blood.

"Little Grass Girl, you know how to eat pig's blood?"

Shen Cao nodded.

Aunt Ma's face lit up with joy, but she was a little embarrassed. After all, she was a guest, and it would be awkward to let someone else do the work for her.

Before she could speak, she heard Shen Cao's voice, "Aunt Ma, how about I give it a try?"

Seeing Shen Cao's serious expression, Aunt Ma had no choice but to nod.

Shen Cao was very happy to see that Aunt Ma had agreed.

She went to the main room first to tell her older brother that he should take them for a walk around the village and come back for dinner later.

After washing her hands, Shen Cao went to the kitchen.

"Aunt Ma, you didn't throw away those pig offal and stuff, did you?"

“I didn’t throw it away. Ever since I ate some delicious pork offal at your place, my two boys have been asking for it every day.”

"They were yelling at me not to throw it away even before the pig was slaughtered."

Shen Cao found some pig intestines in the pig offal and cleaned them.

Fresh pig intestines are difficult to clean, and they are still warm to the touch.

She rubbed it several times with starch and salt.

After cleaning the pig intestines, she filtered the pig blood through a strainer.

Then bring over the diced pork fat, chopped green onions, and minced ginger that Aunt Ma had prepared in advance.

She originally didn't even plan to use broth, but just water.

Unexpectedly, there was already a pot of bone broth simmering in the kitchen.

"This was started cooking last night. My husband went to the county town to buy pork bones yesterday, saying that he was afraid we wouldn't have enough time to cook it today, so he asked me to cook it ahead of time."

Shen Cao happily scooped up a small basinful.

She found a large pot, poured in the bone broth from the small bowl, then added diced pork fat, chopped green onions, and seasonings. Some of the seasonings were things she had secretly taken from her storage space when no one was looking.

Then pour in pig's blood, which is about the same consistency as bone broth.

Mix all the seasonings well.

Take out the cleaned pig intestines and tie a knot at one of the openings.

Use a funnel to pour the prepared pig blood into the pig intestines.

Finally, tie a knot to seal it.

While stuffing the blood sausage, she stirred it continuously to ensure the seasonings were fully incorporated.

Fearing the grass wouldn't be used to the taste, Shen Cao didn't irrigate it much.

I used half a basin of pig's blood, and let the rest coagulate naturally.

"Aunt Ma, the blood sausage is ready. Now just simmer it over low heat until it's cooked through."

Aunt Ma called over two people to help carry the stuffed blood sausage to the stove.

Shen Cao helped watch over the cooking of blood sausage.

While cooking the blood sausage, Shen Cao took out some garlic and peeled two handfuls of garlic.

After the garlic was peeled, the blood sausage was also cooked.

Aunt Ma quickly scooped out the blood sausage and soaked it in cold water as Shen Cao had instructed.

Shen Cao brought over a mortar and pestle and minced the washed garlic.

Crushed garlic is more fragrant than chopped garlic, and the garlic juice is extracted during the crushing process, making it easier to blend with seasonings.

Shen Cao put the seasonings into the minced garlic, and before it could be mixed evenly, the aroma of the garlic sauce was already wafting out.

She secretly took a bite, and the taste was simply amazing.

It's delicious.