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

Ji Lingfeng and his brothers from the Crane Battalion settled down in Shen Cao's Herb Garden.

Today was the day Shen Cao had arranged to treat them to dinner.

The main room of the Shen family was too small, but since the kitchen in the Hundred Herbs Garden had been completely cleaned up, she decided to cook the meal there.

Before we knew it, spring had quietly arrived.

The treetops in the yard have been covered in green leaves, and I don't know when.

The weather is gradually warming up.

She had already spoken to Mr. and Mrs. Shen last night, so this morning she and Li Xiaoyu prepared the boxed lunches that the Shen family restaurant would sell at noon well in advance.

The two then went to the seafood market.

Now that there are more children in the family who need to go to school, Shen Cao hired a tutor to come to their home to teach them to read.

There just happened to be a study in the backyard of the Hundred Herbs Garden, which could serve as their school.

Shen Cao told her husband early this morning that she had asked them for a day off.

Therefore, Shen Wan, Shen Qing, and Xiao Qi all followed Shen Cao.

In February, when scallops are plump and delicious, Shen Cao was selecting seafood while explaining things to Li Xiaoyu.

She pointed to a pile of scallops in front of her, "Usually, larger scallops have plump adductor muscles, and their skirts and other edible parts are also more succulent."

"Also, scallops that are closed are usually alive."

"Look, those with their mouths open are already dead," she said, pointing to a dead scallop that had already opened.

"The scallops are at their fattest this month, so let's buy more today."

She led Li Xiaoyu to pick out a large bag of very large scallops.

Each scallop cost only one coin, and she bought a hundred of them.

Then she bought some fresh eels.

When she arrived at the seafood market, she realized that this season is not only the time when scallops are plump and delicious, but also the season for eating eels.

She was very tempted when she saw an eel that was thicker than her arm.

The stall owner happened to have two left, so she simply bought them all.

Thinking that they were all young men, Shen Cao went to Uncle Li's place and bought five catties of pork belly, three catties of tenderloin, ten catties of ribs, and so on.

In short, when they returned, each of them was carrying something in their hands.

Shen Qing, in particular, was carrying two eels as thick as bowls with an imposing air; if you didn't look closely, you'd think he had caught two giant pythons.

When they were still some distance from the Hundred Herbs Garden, Shen Cao saw Shen Qing, who seemed to have seen something, moving very quietly and cautiously, as if afraid of being discovered.

She saw the person at the entrance of the Herb Garden and chuckled softly.

Then, pulling Xiaoqiao and the others along, he pointed and asked, "Guess how many laps Qing'er will be punished with later?"

Five laps!

"Ten laps!"

Shen Cao shook her head. "No, I think it should be at least twenty laps."

No sooner had they finished speaking than a shout that echoed through the sky was heard.

"Ah! A snake!..."

"Shen Qing, move it further away from me!"

"Hey!"

After saying that, Shen Qing moved the eel in his hand even closer to He Yu.

When Shen Cao and the others arrived at the entrance of the Hundred Herbs Garden, they saw that He Yu had already jumped to a high place, hugging the pillar at the entrance, staring at the two large eels in Shen Qing's hands with a look of horror.

His face turned pale with fright.

Shen Qing laughed unrestrainedly, completely unaware of the approaching danger.

Shen Cao picked up the eel that Shen Qing was carrying. "Brother He Yu, this isn't a snake, it's an eel."

"A type of sea fish. Take a good look!"

After hearing Shen Cao's words, he took a closer look at the 'giant python' and, once he had a clear view, he immediately and nimbly leaped down.

He grabbed Shen Qing by the back of the neck. "Snake?! Hmm?"

"You've gotten bolder, daring to scare your master?"

Shen Qing was grabbed by the back of his neck, as if his lifeline had been seized.

Especially since that person was his master.

It turns out that ever since He Yu rejected Shen Qing last time, although He Yu said he didn't want to be his master, he would always take advantage of Shen Qing's early morning practice to guide him.

Before leaving, he gave Shen Qing a book and told him to practice according to the instructions in the book.

This time, Ji Lingfeng happened to agree to have someone teach Shen Cao some simple kung fu.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, He Yu accepted Shen Qing as his apprentice.

"Master, I was wrong, Master."

"Your disciple will definitely not dare to do it again next time."

"Hmph! There's going to be a next time?!"

"Twenty laps! No food until you finish today!"

Hearing He Yu's words, Shen Qing felt like the sky had fallen. After running these twenty laps, would he still have the energy to eat?

He could see that his older sister had bought a lot of meat.

"Master, can it be tomorrow? Today..."

"No, if you utter another word, it'll be more than twenty laps!"

Xiao Qi walked up to Shen Qing, who thought he was there to plead for him. But to his surprise, the guy took the eel from Shen Qing's hand and then gently patted his shoulder.

"Brother, go!"

Shen Qing looked mournful. He tried to get Shen Cao to plead for him, but his older sister suddenly stretched out her hand and said, "Give me money, give me money, and see how my guess is?"

Xiaoqiao and Xiaoqi resigned themselves to their fate and each took out ten coins and placed them in Shen Cao's hand.

Shen Cao said with some regret, "Sigh, I should have gambled more."

Shen Qing was even more aggrieved; his elder sister had actually used him as a gambler and won money!

He had no choice but to resign himself to his fate and go to the backyard.

Behind the backyard of Baicao Garden is a large racetrack, and Shen Cao still remembers being incredibly shocked when she first saw it.

Who's the kind person who built a racecourse in this place?

She originally wanted to build something on that place, but Ji Lingfeng was pleasantly surprised when he saw it. This place was perfect for letting the children practice martial arts.

He specifically asked He Yu to find craftsmen to raise the walls on both sides of the courtyard, so that no one on either side could see into the courtyard, providing excellent concealment.

Their morning exercise consists of running laps around the yard, usually ten laps are enough.

As Shen Qing ran, he felt so angry that he wanted to slap himself. Why was his mouth so foul?

He got even angrier when he saw the people next to him happily eating candied hawthorns.

In the kitchen, Li Xiaoyu looked around excitedly, touching this and that, as the kitchen was more than twice the size of Shen's restaurant.

"Master, this kitchen is even better than the Shen family's restaurant."

Especially when she saw the condiment wall that was a replica of the Shen Family Restaurant, although it looked the same, it was much bigger, and there were some condiments that she had never seen before on it.

"Master, the seasonings here are more plentiful than in the restaurants."

Shen Cao led her to the inner kitchen, where the storage room was filled with rows of solid wood shelves, with pots, pans and bowls neatly arranged.

She saw Shen Cao walk into the storage room, open a door from the ground, take a candle, and go inside.

She followed Shen Cao into the underground room.

At first, there was only a very narrow staircase, just wide enough for one person to walk on. After walking about a few dozen steps, she saw a door. Shen Cao pushed the door hard, but it wouldn't open.

"Xiaoyu, come and lend a hand."