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

The next morning, a gentle spring breeze was blowing, and before the sun had even risen above the clouds, Shen Cao's family was already up.

After listening to Shen Cao's plan last night, I should start preparing as soon as possible.

Now that the work in the fields is almost finished and the seeds have been sown, Mr. Shen plans to go out and look around today to see if anyone needs a carpenter so he can earn some money.

Shen Cao planned to take her younger siblings to sell vegetable dumplings and, while she was there, inquire about rental prices in the county town.

I didn't have time to prepare yesterday, so I got up very early to get ready.

Shen Cao told her younger siblings to go to the fields to pick wild vegetables first, while she prepared them at home.

There's still a little bit of pork belly left from yesterday, and the bamboo shoots I dried a while ago are ready to eat too.

She plans to make another flavor, a vegetable dumpling filled with bamboo shoots and pork belly.

Shen Cao first took out a basin and soaked the dried bamboo shoots in it.

Then I took out the piece of pork belly that was left over from yesterday, and blanched it in water first, then added scallions, ginger and Sichuan peppercorns.

Adding Sichuan peppercorns can effectively remove the porky smell.

Wash the blanched pork belly and cut it into small cubes.

Heat oil in a wok, then add the diced pork.

Whenever Shen Cao cooked with a wood-fired stove, she always felt, whether it was her imagination or not, that the food cooked in the wood-fired stove in the countryside was more fragrant than the food she made at home in her previous life.

Therefore, she feels extremely satisfied every time she cooks.

When the diced pork changes color, add minced scallions, ginger, and garlic, and continue to stir-fry.

She added cooking wine, soybean paste, and sweet bean sauce that she had taken from her storage space, and continued to stir-fry.

A couple of days ago, she suddenly discovered something: the items in her storage space would automatically increase.

Each time she uses it, the amount remains the same as when she first saw it.

This surprised her greatly, because even if there were a lot of items inside, she couldn't keep using them all. Now that she discovered the items could be replenished automatically, she no longer needed to control the amount she used.

After the aroma of the pork and the sauce had fully blended, she added a little hot water and simmered it for a short while until the pork belly was cooked.

The stir-fried pork belly smells amazing. If it were her past life, Shen Cao would cook a bowl of noodles with cucumber and bean sprouts, and mix the stir-fried pork belly with a bowl of fried sauce noodles. It would be incredibly delicious.

Looking at the pork belly in the bowl, Shen Cao resisted the urge to mix it with noodles and took out a basin to prepare to make noodles.

The filling made from bamboo shoots is rather loose, so it can't be formed into a ball if you follow the same method as making wild vegetables. You can only wrap the filling up like you would wrap a steamed bun.

By the time she had finished mixing the cornmeal, the bamboo shoots were also soaked.

Give it a quick rinse and chop it into small pieces.

Add the stir-fried meat, season simply, and the filling is ready.

Just then, my younger brother and sister returned from picking wild vegetables.

Shen Cao directed her younger siblings to wash the wild vegetables and chop them into filling.

She also added some stir-fried meat to the wild vegetable filling to enhance the flavor.

After another half hour of work, the vegetable dumplings were finally ready.

Having learned from their previous experience, Shen Cao and the others didn't dare to take too many. They took thirty vegetable dumplings, half filled with wild vegetables and half with bamboo shoots.

After having breakfast at home, Shen Cao took her younger brother and sister to the county town.

At the dock, Wei Jie's men waited for several days but did not see Shen Cao and the others.

It turns out that after Wei Jie went back last time, he put all the food he bought on the dining table.

None of the dockworkers ate the vegetable dumplings; they finished all the other food and left only the dumplings.

When he finished the tasks assigned by his young master and was about to eat, he found that only vegetable dumplings were left.

He was so hungry that he had no choice but to pick up the unassuming-looking vegetable dumpling and eat it.

Upon tasting it, unlike any other vegetable dumpling he had ever eaten before, it didn't have the bitter taste of wild vegetables. Instead, it had the unique fresh aroma of wild vegetables.

It's savory and delicious, with a subtle meaty flavor, making it very tasty.

He ate one after another, and the onlookers, seeing him eat the vegetable dumplings as if they were delicacies, laughed at him, saying he was so hungry that he could even eat the unpalatable vegetable dumplings with such relish.

He ate with such relish that someone couldn't resist picking up a vegetable dumpling too, and once they ate the first one, they couldn't stop.

When Wei Siyu walked in, she saw several people eating vegetable dumplings, enjoying them very much.

He had finally finished his business on the ship today and was about to disembark for a meal when he saw his butler happily eating something as he passed by the cabin. He couldn't help but stop and watch.

Wei Jie felt a little embarrassed when he saw his young master staring at him while he ate, so he asked, "Young master, why don't you have one too? There's one left." As he spoke, he picked up the last vegetable dumpling and handed it to Wei Siyu.

Wei Siyu looked at the vegetable dumplings in front of him and, as if possessed, reached out and took them. He would never have eaten them in the past, but he was too hungry today, and seeing others eating them so deliciously had piqued his curiosity.

He had never eaten vegetable dumplings before and wanted to try them.

Wei Siyu quickly finished the vegetable dumplings. He hadn't expected them to be so delicious, but he wasn't quite satisfied and hadn't had enough.

He could only ask Butler Wei to buy more next time and save a few more for him.

Even after he arrived at the restaurant and finished his meal, he kept reminiscing about the vegetable dumplings.

For several days in a row, he went to the boat, hoping that Wei Jie would buy him some vegetable dumplings, but each time Wei Jie told him that the vendor was not out.

Wei Jie sent people to keep an eye on things at the dock, and as soon as Shen Cao and his group set up their stall, they would immediately buy the vegetable dumplings back.

Of course, Shen Cao and the others were unaware of all this.

Shen Cao and his group left a little late today, so they took Uncle Ma's oxcart and finally arrived at the dock before noon.

Upon arriving at the dock, one sees a constant stream of workers coming and going, all finishing their work and preparing for lunch.

They arrived late and could only go to the corner where no one had set up a stall before, and take out the vegetable dumplings they had made to sell.

Before they could even set things up, a servant-like man came over with great enthusiasm and joy as soon as he saw them.

Before Shen Cao could speak, she heard the newcomer say, "Are you selling vegetable dumplings, young lady?"

Shen Cao looked at the person in front of her and was sure she had never seen him before, but out of courtesy to the guest, she immediately said warmly, "Yes."

"Give me forty."

"What?" Shen Cao seemed not to have heard clearly. "How much do you want?"

"Forty!" the servant emphasized again.

"I'm sorry, we only brought thirty today."

"Then I'll take them all."

Shen Cao looked at the servant in front of her in disbelief. Had the goods been sold out as soon as they arrived?

"We made two flavors today, one with bamboo shoots and one with meat, so each one is one coin more expensive. Do you still want them?" Shen Cao made the price clear to the customer in advance, otherwise the customer would feel that he had overcharged him when it came time to pay the bill.

Although some meat was added to the wild vegetables, it was only a small amount, so she felt embarrassed to ask for more money.

The servant didn't say anything after hearing Shen Cao's words, but still told Shen Cao to wrap up all the vegetable dumplings.

"Fifteen wild vegetables, two coins each, thirty coins in total; fifteen bamboo shoots, three coins each, forty-five coins in total. You can give me seventy-five coins in total."

Shen Cao happily accepted the money and prepared to take her younger siblings to the county town for a stroll.

She never expected that her vegetable dumplings would attract the attention of someone she knew.