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

That evening, it was said that Master Li had booked the entire Zuixianlou restaurant and invited the county magistrate over. The group ate and drank until dusk before dispersing.

Shen Cao didn't react to the news, while Shen Chen's eyes dimmed slightly, but he felt that this was only natural and didn't take it to heart.

The next morning, Shen Cao also went to the government office.

When she came out, the county magistrate personally escorted her out, and the two seemed to have reached some kind of agreement.

That same day, the government office delivered a verdict in the theft case.

Li Changquan was imprisoned for theft. Although his theft was not for profit, he was involved in framing others, which was a serious offense. He was sentenced to be stabbed and the punishment was to be carried out in the autumn.

Shen Chen was framed and has not been punished in any way.

When Shen Chen heard the news, he was first stunned, and then looking at his younger sister's confident expression, he guessed that the result must be related to his younger sister's departure this morning.

When Li Changquan heard the verdict, he was initially incredulous. Then, when someone asked him to sign the judgment, he realized that the outcome was already decided.

Didn't his dad say yesterday that everything would be fine?

Is this what his father meant by "it's nothing"?

He looked at the butler beside him, who also looked incredulous. Last night, he had accompanied the master to the banquet for the county magistrate, and the magistrate had clearly said at the dinner table that everything should be done according to the rules.

The two had agreed on a price, but how come the county magistrate changed his mind after only one night?

Which part went wrong?

Li Changquan was extremely anxious at this point. Hadn't he been promised that he could go home today?

The butler patted the young master's hand, indicating that as long as the matter wasn't immediately carried out, there was still room for maneuver.

Li Changquan resigned himself to being taken away by the officials, shouting as he went, "Steward, go back and tell my father to hurry up and find a solution. Don't be afraid to spend money. I don't want to get my face tattooed."

"housekeeper!……"

"housekeeper……"

Li Changquan's voice grew softer and softer.

At the Li family home, Li Changquan's mother was so shocked by what she heard about her son's situation that she fainted on the spot.

His grandmother was so angry that she threatened to beat her son to death with her cane. She threatened the wealthy man, Li, that he must get his beloved grandson out as soon as possible, no matter the cost.

In short, the Li family was in complete chaos.

On the way back, Shen Chen asked the question that had been bothering him.

"Sister, is Li Changquan's verdict today related to your leaving home early this morning?"

As expected, it was his older brother; he had guessed it all.

Shen Cao didn't hide anything, "Yes."

“I came to the government office early this morning to see the county magistrate.”

As soon as Shen Cao finished speaking, Shen Chen immediately put on a worried expression, "Big sister, did you agree to some conditions from the county magistrate?"

He had seen Li Changquan living so comfortably in the government office a few days ago, which must have been paid for by the Li family. And the fact that Li Changquan was so composed in court this time meant that the Li family must have promised the county magistrate a lot of benefits. His elder sister's offer must be even more than the money offered by the wealthy Li family, so that the county magistrate would not protect the Li family.

Shen Cao knew her older brother was worried about her. "Brother, don't worry, I haven't done anything immoral."

"All the Li family could offer the county magistrate was money."

"And the county magistrate should not be short of money, so the benefits given by the Li family are dispensable to him."

“What I promised was what the county magistrate needed most, something that no amount of money could buy.”

Even a county magistrate is still an official appointed by the imperial court, and what officials lack most is political achievements.

Shen Chen was still worried about his younger sister. She was just an ordinary citizen with some cooking skills. What kind of achievements could she bring to the county magistrate?

Shen Cao waved her hand, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Now I need to focus on making money."

Although Shen Chen believed in his younger sister's abilities, he still silently made up his mind that he would go to the capital to take the imperial examination next March and make sure he got good results. That way, even if his younger sister couldn't do what she promised the county magistrate, the magistrate wouldn't do anything to her out of respect for him.

Shen Chen decided that he would study even harder in the future.

Shen Cao never expected that simply preparing her plan in advance would make her older brother even more determined to study hard.

The two returned home, each with their own thoughts.

"Brother, the results won't be released for a few more days. Why don't you stay home and study instead of going to school for a while?"

Shen Cao was worried that there might be some people like Li Changquan who were detrimental to her elder brother at the school.

After thinking about it, Shen Chen agreed to his younger sister's suggestion.

In the past few days, businesses on Xin'an Street have started decorating the entrances of their shops.

The annual Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the curfew on Xin'an Street will be lifted for three days.

For the past three days, Xin'an Street has been brightly lit, hosting a lantern festival, lantern riddle guessing, and various other activities.

As Shen Cao watched the moon grow brighter each day, she wondered how her family from her past life were doing now.

May we all live long and share the beauty of the moon, even though we are thousands of miles apart. She hopes that her family members can live well without her.

I am living a good life in the Great Xia Kingdom.

In Shen Family Restaurant, Shen Cao had hung up various colorful lanterns three days in advance, and various riddles were also hung under the lanterns.

She also prepared special activities for the Mid-Autumn Festival, offering discounts to those who guess the lantern riddles correctly.

The discounts vary depending on the difficulty of the riddles; some offer only a one-cent discount, while others offer a 50% discount.

These past few days, everyone dining at the restaurant has been eager to try their luck, but very few have managed to guess the difficult riddle.

After all, most of the customers at Shen's Restaurant these days are dockworkers, most of whom are illiterate.

Most of Shen Cao's riddles are catchy folk customs. People who can't read can give her the riddles, and she will relay them to them. Then they just need to answer them.

This kind of discount usually only costs one or two coins. Although it's not much, there are many customers who want to solve the riddles every day.

The Mid-Autumn Festival atmosphere at Shen's restaurant is getting stronger and stronger.

Shen Wan and Shen Qing, in particular, would bring out all sorts of riddles and pester Shen Cao to guess them every day.

After guessing the riddle, they excitedly ran out to pose riddles to their playmates and let them guess.

This resulted in Shen Cao not having enough puzzles left.

She could only pull her older brother aside and ask him to come up with some simple, popular, and folk-related riddles.

The two children in the family even started going into their eldest brother's study, flipping through books, and asking him questions, all in an effort to solve the riddles.

Seeing that more and more children were coming to her house, Shen Cao simply put a basket in front of her house, filled with some of her homemade candies. Whenever a child could guess the riddle, she would reward them with a candy on the spot.

And so, even before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Shen's restaurant was almost always surrounded by children from the county town.

The adults who had children came to look for them every day, and Shen's Restaurant was always crowded with people. This led many curious people to also enter Shen's Restaurant. Unexpectedly, Shen Cao's unintentional act attracted a wave of customers to Shen's Restaurant.