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

After returning from the village chief's house, the countdown to the Chinese New Year officially began.

The Shen family restaurant has been completely closed, and the whole family is preparing for the upcoming New Year.

This year holds special significance for the Shen family.

That year, their family changed completely. That year, Shen Chen became a student of Grand Tutor Zhou, and Shen Cao successfully built the Shen Family Restaurant from scratch. They no longer needed to borrow money from others to celebrate the New Year.

Early in the morning, Shen Cao took her younger siblings to buy new clothes for the Chinese New Year.

Shen Cao also pulled Xiao Qiao and Xiao Yu along, who were originally too embarrassed to go.

"Sister Cao'er, let's not go."

"We've already taken your wages, how can we possibly accept your gifts?"

Shen Cao gave Shen Wan a wink, and Shen Wan immediately understood.

She walked up to the two of them, took their hands, and said, "Sister Xiaoqiao, Sister Xiaoyu, how could you think like that?"

“My older sister treats you all as her younger sisters, which is why she thought of bringing you along.”

"Are you not treating me, your elder sister, like this?"

“My older sister will be heartbroken, and you’re not going.”

They looked at Shen Cao and saw that she indeed had a sad expression on her face, so they had no choice but to follow her.

This was Shen Cao's first time visiting an ancient clothing store. Unlike in her previous life, the clothing stores in the past didn't have a large selection of clothes; most items needed to be custom-made in advance.

They can only look at the clothes that have already been made; there aren't many choices.

However, due to the special geographical location of Xin'an County, it not only has clothing from the Great Xia Kingdom, but also clothing styles from other places.

Shen Cao took them to all the clothing stores in Xin'an County before they were able to buy a set of clothes for everyone in the family.

From now on, she will definitely book in advance.

After browsing through the clothing store, Shen Cao noticed that several girls had bald heads.

Then I took them to a jewelry store.

Sure enough, girls are naturally interested in these things. As soon as they entered the jewelry store, Shen Wan dragged Xiao Qiao and Xiao Yu to look around.

"This is really pretty, and that is pretty too."

"However, with so little hair, we probably can't hold such a heavy hairpin."

"Then we'll buy it when we're older."

Knowing full well that they couldn't wear them now, the three little girls still looked at every piece of jewelry in the store.

Finally, I bought everyone a set of hair ties with velvet flowers and small hairpins.

Shen Cao picked out a plain silver hairpin for each of her mother and Granny Zhang.

Shen Cao led them back with a full load of goods. Shen Qing and Xiao Qi had been wanting to go back for a while, and they had made plans with their friends to go out and have fun this afternoon.

They didn't understand why there was anything interesting about browsing in that jewelry store. They could have just glanced at the items and that was it; why did they have to gather around and discuss them for so long?

Several people could even talk for an entire afternoon over a single hairpin.

They spent half an hour browsing the jewelry store alone, and they kept yawning as they waited.

On their way home, the three little girls were still discussing the jewelry they had just seen.

"I like the one with butterfly wings the most. The butterfly's eyes and wings can move. It's so beautiful."

“I like that set too, but the gardenia set is also beautiful, both elegant and exquisite.”

"..."

As they stepped across the threshold of Shen's Restaurant, the three of them were still chattering away.

However, Xiaoqiao's voice suddenly disappeared as soon as she entered the door.

She stared at the person sitting on the stool, frozen in place, her body even trembling involuntarily.

Shen Wan and Xiao Yu sensed their friend's change and quickly pulled her up on either side, afraid she might fall to the ground.

With a serious expression, Shen's mother walked up to Shen Cao and said, "This man claims to be Xiao Qiao's adoptive father. Isn't Xiao Qiao an orphan?"

"Judging from his appearance, he doesn't seem like a good person."

Shen Cao smiled and patted her mother's hand, "Mother, please call my older brother for me. It's alright, nothing will happen."

Shen's mother glanced at Shen Cao with concern, then turned and left to go to the study to call Shen Chen.

Shen Cao first walked up to the small bridge and took her hand.

Xiaoqiao's face had turned deathly pale, and her hands were ice cold.

Shen Cao held her small hand tightly, enveloping it in her own palm and transferring the warmth of her hand to her.

"Don't be afraid, Xiaoqiao, you'll be alright. You've forgotten, I'm your older sister."

Xiaoqiao felt the warmth from Shen Cao's palm and followed her to the table.

Shen Cao helped her sit down and had Shen Wanxiaoyu stay with her.

She walked up to the man and said, "Hello, may I ask your name?"

Feng Er then turned his gaze away from Xiaoqiao and looked at the girl who had greeted him, saying, "I am Feng Ya's adoptive father, Feng Er."

He had triangular eyes and a large mole on the corner of his mouth, with a few hairs sticking up from it.

As he spoke, the mole on the corner of his mouth swayed up and down.

For some reason, when Shen Cao looked at him, she thought of rats, specifically rats crawling in the dark sewers.

"Brother Feng, may I ask what brings you here today?"

Feng Er looked Shen Cao up and down, his eyes gleaming. This girl was pretty; if he took her home, she would definitely make a lot of money when she grew up.

However, judging from their appearance, this family seems to have some wealth and is not short of money.

He temporarily abandoned the idea of ​​taking Shen Cao back.

"I'm her adoptive father, what else would I be here for? Of course I'm here to take her back!"

Xiaoqiao looked terrified after hearing Feng Er's words, shook her head vigorously, and even cried out, "Sister Cao'er, I don't want to go back, I don't want to go back with him."

"Don't worry, as long as you don't want to, no one can take you away from here today."

Upon hearing her words, Feng Er snorted as if he had heard a joke.

He was determined to take that brat back today, no matter what. He had finally found her, and he had spent so much time and money just looking for her.

Now that she's grown up, you can still vaguely see the beauty beneath her youthful face.

In a while, I'll be able to earn money for myself.

Shen Cao continued to ask, "But, Brother Feng, as you saw, Xiaoqiao doesn't want to go back with you. You think you can take her away just because you say you're her adoptive father?"

"If someone says tomorrow that she is her adoptive mother, shouldn't you let that person take her away too?"

“This child has been living with me for a while now, and I’ve grown attached to her. I certainly can’t let anyone take her away so easily.”

Feng Er had planned this all along.

He pulled out a contract of indenture from his pocket. "Look! This is her contract of indenture. It's written clearly in black and white, with her own fingerprint on it, and the official seal of the government."

"I must take her back today." He revealed a vicious expression, determined to succeed.

At this moment, Shen Chen walked over, and Shen Cao handed the indenture to her elder brother.

Shen Chen took the contract of sale, read it carefully, frowned as he looked at Shen Cao, and nodded.

"Sister, this contract of servitude is real!"