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

Shen Yu'an, who was standing to the side, didn't say anything and was also eating heartily.

Shen Cao loves the tofu in the flounder stew the most. The tofu absorbs the flavor of the soup, making it very flavorful. It has a texture like pudding and is very delicious.

Because she was worried that they wouldn't be used to eating raw seafood, Shen Cao made cooked and marinated seafood, including shrimp, baby octopus, and sea snails. After marinating overnight and for a whole day, it was already very flavorful.

This dish is also very popular, and everyone ate it until only the broth was left.

Shen Cao made fish soup from the small dragonfish that Granny Zhang bought.

She pan-fried the small dragonfish until golden brown on both sides, then added boiling water and simmered it in a soup pot. Since there was already tofu in the tofu casserole, she added some wakame seaweed to the soup.

After simmering for about half an hour, the fish soup turned milky white, and with the addition of green wakame seaweed, it looked very fresh.

Before taking the dish out of the pot, Shen Cao added a spoonful of salt, half a spoonful of pepper, and a small handful of chopped celery. She didn't add anything else.

Shen Cao had just served herself a bowl of soup, and it was indeed delicious.

The meal took a full hour to finish. Shen Cao thought there would be a lot left over, but to her surprise, it was all eaten up.

Everyone was holding their stomachs, they were stuffed.

Even the boiled pork slices that Shen Cao thought might be too spicy were eaten clean, and even the side dishes were finished.

Shen Cao discovered that Shen Yu'an could eat spicy food, but Wei Siyu couldn't handle it. After eating a few bites of boiled pork slices, she kept slurping.

Next time I make it, I'll have to control the spiciness a bit.

After seeing Shen Yu'an and Wei Siyu off, Shen Cao entered the main room and found that her family had already cleaned up the dining table.

She went to the kitchen and saw her younger siblings washing dishes obediently.

"My younger siblings are so sensible; they will wash the dishes after eating, which deserves a reward."

"Tomorrow, my older sister will buy some fruit and make you candied hawthorns that taste even better than those sold on the street."

Sure enough, upon hearing Shen Cao's words, the two happily washed even more diligently.

Shen Cao walked ahead with a smile, while her father was calculating accounts with an abacus.

There was also a piece of paper on the table, on which Shen Cao had given his father a comparison of Arabic numerals and Chinese characters.

Mr. Shen was looking at today's bills one by one.

Shen Cao was very pleased with her father's attitude towards learning. She was afraid that her father would give up learning because he would easily get confused with numbers at first.

Arabic numerals are much simpler than Chinese characters and are easier to write. Once you learn them, keeping accounts becomes very convenient.

Shen's father had seen Shen Cao do accounts before; he was very fast, and writing those numbers was much easier than it is now. He figured that if he wrote and looked at them more, he would definitely be able to learn. It's only ten characters; how difficult could it be?

I've even learned military strategy books that I didn't understand before, so this little bit of difficulty is definitely not going to be a problem for me.

Shen Cao didn't urge her father, but instead tidied up while waiting for him to slowly calculate the accounts.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Mr. Shen finally finished calculating.

Shen Cao picked up the ledger and did the calculations again on the scrap paper. Not bad, his father's calculations were good, much faster than before.

Moreover, the occasional Arabic numerals replacing Chinese characters in the ledger brought her immense joy, as her father had put his knowledge to practical use.

She did the math and found that she made 200 coins on the last day. Adding that to the accounts she had settled earlier, she actually made money after three days of promotions.

Tomorrow is the first day of official business. Whether we can retain customers depends on tomorrow.

Clearly, Mr. Shen understood this as well. He was a little nervous. He wondered if the old customers attracted by the half-price opening would come back tomorrow, and if so, how many would come. These were all questions that needed to be considered.

Before he went to buy groceries this afternoon, Shen Cao specifically reminded him to buy about 80% of the usual amount, as buying too much might result in unsold produce.

The next morning, Shen Yu'an and Wei Siyu had breakfast at Shen Family Restaurant.

Seeing that the two had arrived in a carriage, Shen Cao assumed they would be leaving today.

"Xiaocao, I want to eat a bowl of wontons this morning. Can you cook me a bowl of wontons?" Wei Siyu ordered as soon as she entered the store, without even looking at the menu.

Shen's restaurant doesn't serve wontons in the morning, but there were a dozen or so leftovers from yesterday, which Shen Cao planned to eat herself, so she froze them in the ice cellar.

Seeing that Wei Siyu wanted to eat, he went to the kitchen to cook wontons for him.

There are eighteen left, just enough for two people to each have a bowl.

Just as the saying goes, "dumplings before departure, noodles upon arrival," these two bowls of wontons are a farewell gift for the two of them.

Seeing that it was the two of them, Shen's mother made them a jianbing guozi (Chinese crepe).

Just as the jianbing guozi (Chinese crepe) was made, Shen Cao's wontons were also cooked.

Wei Siyu looked at the wontons in front of him; they seemed different from the ones he had eaten before.

Shen Cao explained, "The chicken soup isn't ready yet, but I made some fish soup this morning from the leftover ribbonfish from yesterday. These are fish soup wontons, and they taste pretty good too. You should try them."

This was Shen Yu'an's first time eating wontons at Shen Family Restaurant. He looked at the milky white fish soup in front of him, with a layer of bright green cilantro floating on the surface. He took a sniff and found it very refreshing, with a hint of sesame oil. It was indeed very appetizing. He had no idea that Wei Siyu had started eating wontons here.

However, he does have a good appetite; having a bowl of wontons so early in the morning while traveling is quite comforting.

He scooped up a pink wonton and put it in his mouth. The wonton skin was so thin that he could see the meat inside through it.

The meat is springy and incredibly delicious; it's truly tasty.

After finishing one wonton, his expression brightened, and he couldn't wait to scoop out another. This one looked a bit green, and upon tasting it, he was sure it was shepherd's purse and pork.

While it may not have the same satisfying taste as pure meat, it has its own unique flavor.

The two were very satisfied with the bowl of wontons.

After finishing the wontons, I still felt hungry, so I picked up the jianbing guozi (Chinese crepe) that Shen's mother had made. The name was quite interesting, guozi?

I took a bite of the jianbing guozi (Chinese crepe), and the inside was crispy and crunchy with a rich, savory sauce flavor. It also had lettuce inside, which was just right for the slightly dry crepe.

This jianbing guozi is also very delicious.

After finishing the jianbing guozi (Chinese crepe), I drank the fish soup, and had a satisfying and full breakfast.

On the way back to the capital, Wei Siyu couldn't wait to take out the gifts that Shen Cao had prepared for the two of them.

He opened one of the large packages wrapped in oil paper, and there were caramel-colored sheets, about the thickness of a penny, covered with sesame seeds. He didn't know what they were, but he brought them to his nose and smelled them. They smelled like meat.

Shen Cao told him it was food, so he quickly took a piece, took a bite, and found it delicious.

Sweet, salty, and fragrant, it turns out to be dried meat.

"good to eat."

Shen Yu'an didn't look at him. This guy had just eaten breakfast, yet he could still eat this much. He could eat more than a pig.

No, even a pig can eat as much as him.

However, he still opened his bag. His jerky was a little different from Wei Siyu's; it looked like it had some chili added.

Unexpectedly, Xiaocao is so thoughtful, knowing that she likes spicy food.

The corners of his mouth curved into a smile.

Shen Cao heard that the two of them would be traveling for nearly half a month and that they probably wouldn't be eating well along the way, so she specially prepared some food for them and packed a jar of beef sauce that she had made before for them to take with them.

Wei Siyu had just eaten the pork jerky she made.