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

After selling all the vegetable dumplings, Shen Cao temporarily left her cart with Uncle Li, who always sold her meat, and then took her younger siblings to the largest restaurant in the county, Zuixianlou.

Looking at the three-story Drunken Immortal Pavilion in front of her, Shen Cao was really envious. She wished it were her own.

As soon as they entered, a servant came up to them. He saw the three people dressed in linen clothes, the oldest of whom was only fourteen years old, and immediately stopped them.

"Go away, go away! This is not a place for you to come in. Get out of here and don't delay our business."

Shen Cao looked at the servant who was trying to send them away and realized he had misunderstood. She explained, "We came to keep an appointment and didn't go to the wrong place."

"It was Young Master Shen Yu'an who invited us."

Upon hearing Shen Cao's words, the servant mocked, "Hmph, you, a mere yellow-haired girl, know Young Master Shen Yu'an? Why don't you say you know the current Emperor?"

Upon hearing the servant's words, Shen Cao knew he was looking down on people, so he didn't stand on ceremony with him. "I told you I was invited by Young Master Shen. Where is your manager? Is this how Zuixianlou treats its guests?"

"Even if I wasn't invited by Young Master Shen, I'm a customer as soon as I walk in. Can't I just come in and eat?"

The servant didn't take Shen Cao's words seriously. The food at Zuixianlou was not something ordinary people could afford. Xin'an County was located at a maritime stronghold, with many large merchant ships coming and going, so there were many wealthy people. A meal at Zuixianlou could cost an ordinary family a year's income.

"You? Can you even afford it?"

Hearing the servant's words and seeing the shopkeeper standing by without doing anything, Shen Cao angrily led her younger siblings toward the door.

Just as I reached the door, I saw Shen Yu'an leading Wei Siyu in.

The shopkeeper, who had just ignored them, immediately greeted them warmly when he saw them walk in.

Shen Yu'an ignored the shopkeeper and walked up to Shen Cao. "What's wrong? Didn't you say you were going to eat? Why did you leave?"

Shen Cao glanced at the innkeeper. "Such a precious place probably doesn't welcome us. Young Master Shen, please invite us to dinner somewhere else."

Shen Yu'an, being as shrewd as he was, could easily tell what had happened when he saw Shen Cao and the shopkeeper.

He immediately retorted angrily, "Shopkeeper, is this how you treat my distinguished guest?"

Upon hearing that Shen Cao and his companions were indeed distinguished guests invited by Young Master Shen, the innkeeper immediately prepared to apologize to Shen Cao.

Shen Cao did not accept the offer. Instead, she said to Shen Yu'an, "Young Master Shen, I am serious. Please invite me to dinner somewhere else. I can't afford the food here, and I don't want to eat here."

After hearing Shen Cao's words, Shen Yu'an knew that Shen Cao was really angry, so he could only change the location.

Before leaving, Shen Yu'an said to the innkeeper, "Send all the wine I left here and the remaining money to Wan'an Hall." Shen Yu'an was standing up for Shen Cao, and he said he would never eat at Zuixianlou again.

Hearing Shen Yu'an's words, Wei Siyu chimed in, "And don't forget to send mine to the Wei residence."

Upon hearing Young Master Shen and Young Master Wei's words, the innkeeper deeply regretted judging them by their appearance, but he didn't feel he had done anything wrong. Losing these two guests was no big deal; their Drunken Immortal Inn had plenty of other distinguished patrons.

As Shen Cao reached the door, she suddenly turned around, pointed to the building across the street, and said, "Oh right, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Shen Cao. You'd better remember my name. One day, I'm going to open a restaurant across the street that's ten times more upscale and ten times more famous than yours."

Without waiting for the shopkeeper's reaction, she pulled her younger brother and sister out.

The shopkeeper didn't take Shen Cao's boastful words to heart.

A few years later, a restaurant that was even more luxurious and famous than Zuixianlou opened across the street. The restaurant was called Baicaoyuan, and the owner of Baicaoyuan was Shen Cao.

Of course, this is all for later.

In the private room of Xiangmanyuan, Shen Yu'an bowed to Shen Cao as soon as he entered to express his apology.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Shen. It was already abrupt to invite you to dinner, and now you've been caught up in this mess."

Shen Cao disagreed, "Young Master Shen wouldn't want it to be like this either, but haven't you already stood up for me?"

"There's nothing to be sorry about."

After hearing Shen Cao's words, Wei Siyu said, "Miss Shen is quite magnanimous. That kind of person needs to be taught a lesson."

As they were talking, the food was served, consisting of four meat dishes and four vegetable dishes, all of which were Xiangmanyuan's signature dishes.

Shen Yu'an immediately invited Shen Cao and her younger brother and sister to eat.

"Miss Shen, please try it. Although the food at Xiang Man Yuan is not as exquisite as that at Zui Xian Lou, it tastes quite good."

Xin'an County is located by the sea and has abundant seafood.

The seafood on this table is what locals love to eat, but it's all soy sauce flavored. Although it's delicious, the taste is a bit monotonous.

Shen Cao looked at the plate of stir-fried blue crabs and said, "Steaming is the best way to preserve the original flavor of blue crabs, but my favorite is Typhoon Shelter style stir-fried crab, which is full of garlic flavor."

"And those prawns, braised prawns are the most delicious."

Shen Yu'an and Wei Siyu were immediately drawn in when Shen Cao mentioned some dishes they had never heard of before.

Just hearing the name of this dish tells you it will be delicious.

They didn't interrupt Shen Cao, and then they heard her continue, "And these garlic oysters, and oyster omelets."

"These pea shoots, when poached with a few fish balls, make a really delicious soup."

"And then there's the seasonal spring bamboo shoots, which, with some fresh meat, salted meat, and bean curd knots, can be made into a dish called 'Yan Du Xian' (a type of stew), which is really delicious."

As Shen Cao spoke, she noticed the surrounding sounds getting quieter and quieter. She realized something was wrong and looked at the people at the table. They all had their chopsticks in their mouths, drooling as they watched her, but no one was eating.

"Hehe, sorry!" Her professional instincts kicked in, and seeing good ingredients being made into the same old dishes, she couldn't help but comment, forgetting that she was in ancient times.

Shen Yu'an was the first to come to his senses, "I only knew that Miss Shen's vegetable dumplings were delicious, but I didn't expect that she also had so many insights into other foods."

"To be honest, Brother Wei and I are both very fond of food and have eaten our way through half the world, but we have never heard of the food that you mentioned, young lady."

Shen Cao awkwardly touched the hair at his temples. "Hehe, I also love to eat and I love to research. These are all dishes that I researched myself. They are not very presentable, so Brother Shen has naturally never seen them before."

“No, no, no, I think the food Miss Shen mentioned must be delicious,” Wei Siyu said immediately after hearing Shen Cao’s words.

"I never expected that Miss Shen and we two would be kindred spirits. My apologies!" Wei Siyu raised her wine glass to toast Shen Cao.

Shen Cao waved her hand, "I don't drink alcohol." She picked up the teacup next to her, "Then I'll drink tea instead of alcohol."

"I didn't expect that you two gentlemen also enjoy food. I thought that you refined gentlemen would spend your days doing elegant things." Shen Cao joked with a smile.

“Eating is also a form of elegance,” Shen Yu’an replied.

Shen Cao thought of some exquisite restaurants from her previous life and realized that she had been somewhat biased. She apologized, "It was my humble opinion, please forgive me."

The meal was a pleasant one for both the host and guests. Although the food wasn't particularly delicious, Shen Cao had made some like-minded friends. After the meal, she invited the two to visit Xin'an County in the future and to her home, where she would cook for them herself.

Shen Cao never expected that this one sentence would make her home the first place the two of them would visit every time they came to Xin'an County.

There was no other reason than that Shen Cao's cooking was just too delicious.