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

Shen Cao looked at the group of people surrounding her, wanting to eat something delicious. Their faces were full of smiles, and their eyes were sparkling.

One, two, ... count as one.

"Wan'er, go and soak some red beans."

Wan'er loves red beans the most, so she took a small bowl and went to the warehouse.

"Wei Siyu, go to the ice cellar and get a piece of pork without any fat, and then pick one with some fat."

Wei Siyu was about to leave, so he just said a few polite words.

In the past, Cao'er never liked to ask others for help when cooking, and he assumed it would be the same this time.

I had already taken one foot out when I was unexpectedly called back.

He had only ever seen pork, mutton, and beef cooked; he had never seen them anywhere other than on a plate.

He rubbed his hands together, very excited.

"Qing'er, you and Xiaoqi go to the market to buy some salted duck eggs. Remember to ask Grandma to help you pick out the ones that are oozing oil."

Shen Qing knew the old woman who sold sea duck eggs; his older sister would always buy them from her there.

The old woman was easy to spot; she had a brown headscarf covering her head, but she insisted it was white.

Almost all of his teeth have fallen out, and his hearing is also failing.

Every time, he would sit on a small stool in a corner of the market with a basket, and call out to each person who passed by, "Ya Dan... Salty Ya Dan!"

Once, he paced back and forth in front of his mother-in-law for half an hour.

That day, he touched his sore bottom from the beating his mother had given him and wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes.

He still remembers that the salted duck eggs were exceptionally delicious that day, with oily yolks that dripped all over his hands.

"Xiaoyu, go to the cellar and take out the taro, wash it clean and steam it."

Xiaoyu felt a little uneasy when she mentioned taro; she remembered the first time she made taro.

My hands were itchy for several days before they stopped itching.

"Xiaoqiao, go peel some scallions, ginger, and garlic."

Xiaoqiao is the best at peeling garlic; she's always the fastest at it.

She has to peel lots and lots of garlic.

"Just one head of garlic, no more needed."

She glanced guiltily at Shen Cao, then reached into the small basin she had just taken out and took out the garlic cloves one by one, putting them back in their original place.

Never mind, I'll come back for it later.

"No need to peel it this time!" Shen Cao reminded Xiao Yu, seemingly noticing her looking down at her arm.

"Sister, what should I do?" Wanyue asked impatiently when she saw that everyone else had something to do.

"You'll come with me and be my assistant!"

"okay!"

The Emperor and Consort, far away in the capital, should have put this child in the Imperial Kitchen to try her out if they had known she was so obedient.

"Wanyue, go and get a basin that's a little smaller than this one," Shen Cao said, pointing to the basin in front of her filled with washed mugwort.

Wanyue happily skipped off to the warehouse.

I was stumped by the pile of basins.

This one is smaller than the previous one, and that one seems smaller.

"Sister, you choose one," she asked hesitantly, her hands trembling so much she almost dropped it.

Shen Cao sighed, realizing that she had brought everything in the warehouse that was smaller than this basin.

Well, it's because she didn't give clear instructions.

She picked out two suitable-sized ones from a pile of basins, and let Wanyue take the rest back.

She looked at Wanyue, who was usually very elegant, and deftly rolled up her sleeves and half-squatted down.

With a "Ha!" she carried the basin mountain away.

Seeing Wanyue's trembling back, she thought to herself, "Actually, we could have made more trips."

"Cao'er, what do you think of these two pieces of meat?" Wei Siyu spread out her palms, showing Shen Cao the two pieces of meat in her hands.

Shen Cao didn't see it clearly at first glance; where was the meat?

Only after Wei Siyu approached did he see the two pieces of flesh, each about the size of a thumbnail, in his palm.

A piece of lean meat, and a piece of fatty meat with a little bit of lean meat.

Shen Cao...

"I couldn't find any lean meat, nor could I find any meat with fat, but I cut two pieces off the meat. Aren't I clever?"

Shen Cao...

Without even glancing at it, she tossed the two pieces of meat from Wei Siyu's hand to Laicai, who was standing outside the kitchen door.

Lai Cai saw its master throw something over to it.

It could clearly smell the meat, but after circling around in the same spot several times, it still couldn't find it.

Shen Wan walked in carrying a small basin of red beans, happily watching Lai Cai spin around.

Only when she got closer did she notice that there seemed to be something on Lai Cai's nose.

Lai Cai is so much fun! He used to only perform when I gave him something delicious, but today he's performing for free.

Lai Cai, where's the meat? Where's my meat?

"Achoo!" Lai Cai sneezed, and two pieces of flesh fell off his nose.

It leaned closer to eat, but before it could even chew, the meat slipped through its teeth.

It was so angry that it jumped up and down, its two front paws seemingly trying to poke a big hole in the ground.

It didn't even taste the meat before it was gone, humph!

Shen Wan smiled as she picked out the pebbles from the red beans and soaked them according to Shen Cao's instructions.

Her sister, true to her nature, gave her the simplest tasks.

Two hours later, as she stirred the red bean paste, she decided that from now on she must cherish every drop of red bean.

Wei Siyu looked at the two pieces of meat that Shen Cao had taken and wanted to say, "Didn't you want one piece with fat and one piece that was all lean?"

Shen Cao took out the meat, washed it briefly, and then picked up a cleaver to remove the fat from the piece of meat that had a little bit of fat on it.

Wei Siyu, is this even possible?!

Shen Cao put the piece of lean meat into a small bowl.

The piece with the fat was left on the cutting board.

She handed the knife to Wei Siyu, saying, "Chop this piece of meat into mince."

Wei Siyu looked at the meat in front of her, minced meat. What did minced meat look like again? It seemed to be a little smaller than the two pieces of meat from before.

How many cuts would he have to make with a knife to get minced meat from such a large piece of meat? Each cut would be about the size of a grain of rice, no, a soybean.

It should cost at least a thousand dollars, no, it might even cost two thousand dollars.

Thinking about it this way, he felt that Shen Cao was really amazing. He couldn't imagine how long she had spent picking out the meat for the wontons every day.

Seeing Wei Siyu looking at her with a mixture of confusion and admiration, Shen Cao took the kitchen knife from Wei Siyu's hand.

First, cut the meat into small pieces, then start chopping it.

Wei Siyu suddenly realized, "There's actually a way to do that?!"

So this is what chopping meat is like. Shen Cao is so clever! This is much easier than him cutting it piece by piece.

"You chop the rest, just like I did before, chop for a while and then flip it over."

"Have you mastered it?"

Why was she still a little worried?

Wei Siyu nodded. That's easy; he's best at chopping.

Shen Cao was a little worried, but she still handed him the kitchen knife.

Why does she feel more tired with so many people helping her than when she was doing it all by herself?

in the kitchen,

Shen Wan and Wan Yue would squat by the stove watching the fire when they had nothing to do.

Xiaoqiao was peeling garlic quickly, even more intently than when she was competing with others.

Wei Siyu chopped the meat with huff and puff,

Shen Cao looked at the divided mugwort in front of her and hesitated whether to divide some more and put it in the pot for making wheat rice.

Ping-ping-pong, cha-cha-cha, clang-clang-clang-clang...