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

After Ye Shu finished eating, Grand Tutor Zhou called the waiter to settle the bill.

"What?!" Ye Shu exclaimed in shock.

"You said this table of food costs thirty taels of silver?"

The waiter noticed that the two men didn't seem like people who couldn't afford to pay; instead, they looked like country bumpkins who had never seen the world.

They didn't even bother to ask around in Xin'an County. A meal at Zuixianlou would cost at least ten taels of silver, and their table was filled with almost all their signature dishes, yet it only cost thirty taels, which was already quite cheap.

Grand Tutor Zhou pulled Ye Shu aside, who was making a lot of noise. "Why is this guy so noisy? If word gets out, people will think that I, Grand Tutor Zhou, can't even afford a meal at a restaurant."

He had spent about the same amount of money at Xiangmanlou before, but Zuixianlou was much less upscale than Xiangmanlou.

I didn't expect that prices here would be so high.

Grand Tutor Zhou gestured for Ye Shu to take out the money.

The two paid the bill and left.

The waiter looked at the table full of food and realized that almost no one had touched it.

He waved his hand, probably thinking it was someone who couldn't stomach fine food.

Perfect timing! He can use this leftover food to improve his family's meals today.

The two strolled along Xin'an Street.

Ye Shu said with concern, "Grand Tutor, you haven't eaten properly on the way here. You only ate two bites just now."

"I heard there's a restaurant there that has pretty good food, do you want to try it?"

Grand Tutor Zhou waved his hand, "Forget it. He doesn't even like the food from the best restaurants, let alone those small eateries."

The two enjoyed the lively atmosphere after the Mid-Autumn Festival, and along the way, Grand Tutor Zhou looked at the riddles on the lanterns in front of the shops and guessed them.

These were just little tricks for him to pass the time.

However, this riddle shows that Xin'an County has a good cultural atmosphere, which explains why it produces such students.

He was very curious about what kind of person could write such an article.

He guessed that a student with such a mindset must be in his late twenties or early thirties. He wondered if the student was married or not, and if so, whether he would still be willing to go to the capital to study with him.

Grand Tutor Zhou has completely forgotten his influence. He doesn't care about getting married, or even if he is about to get married, he would rather not get married than not become his student.

As he walked, Grand Tutor Zhou's eyes were drawn to a poem displayed at the entrance of a shop.

This is a poem about the Mid-Autumn Festival. Just looking at the handwriting, it seems somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it before.

You can tell that this handwriting shows skill and dedication; the person has put in considerable effort to practice it.

However, what attracted him was not the handwriting, but the line "The moonlight shines like snow," which shows that the person who wrote the poem had some literary talent.

He was a little curious as to why such a poem was hanging at the entrance of a shop.

He looked up at the signboard at the entrance. The characters "Shen Family Restaurant" were exactly the same as those in the poem, which piqued his curiosity.

Ye Shu followed Grand Tutor Zhou's gaze to the plaque at the entrance. This Shen Family Restaurant seemed to be the same restaurant that the coachman had mentioned earlier.

The two glanced into the shop; it was already dinnertime.

Before they knew it, the two had been strolling around for quite some time.

There were quite a few people eating in the restaurant; every table was occupied.

Grand Tutor Zhou was somewhat curious about the shopkeeper; he wanted to see who had written such characters.

So he stepped into Shen's Restaurant.

Just as Shen Cao brought over the wontons ordered by a customer, she saw two people walk in through the door.

The leader was about sixty years old, but he had a very refined demeanor and was clearly not an ordinary person.

The young man beside him, however, was far less imposing than the old man.

"Please come in, esteemed guests. What would you like to eat?"

Shen Cao first led the two to their seats before serving them the wontons that the previous customer had eaten.

Grand Tutor Zhou originally only wanted to come in and inquire about the poem at the door, but Shen Cao walked up to him with wontons in her hands.

He looked at the plump wontons in the bowl, the cilantro floating on the clear soup, and the aroma of sesame oil that hit his nose and stimulated his appetite.

And those wontons looked pretty delicious.

He sat down as if possessed.

After giving the wontons to the customer, Shen Cao walked up to the two of them.

"These two guests look unfamiliar; is this your first time here?"

The two nodded.

"Guests may not know this, but we only sell wontons at night. It's Mid-Autumn Festival recently, so we also have limited-edition fresh meat mooncakes. The lotus seed paste ones are sold out today."

"We have different fillings for the wontons. Please see if there's anything you'd like to try."

Grand Tutor Zhou pointed to the wontons that had just been served and said, "Give me two bowls of the same wontons as him."

"Why don't you try our fresh meat mooncakes? The Mid-Autumn Festival has just passed, so it's a perfect opportunity to experience the festive atmosphere."

"Moreover, this batch is fresh out of the oven, and freshly baked meat mooncakes taste the most delicious."

Grand Tutor Zhou looked at the young girl in front of him who was so enthusiastic about recommending it, and was convinced by her. "Alright, then let's bring each of us another fresh meat mooncake."

"Alright, please wait a moment, your meal will be served shortly."

After saying that, Shen Cao went to the kitchen to cook wontons.

While waiting for his meal, Grand Tutor Zhou took a good look at the small shop, which looked very clean overall.

You can tell the shop owner put a lot of thought into it.

His gaze was then drawn to the two pillars in the middle. "Every grain of rice and every drop of water should remind us of the hard work involved in its production, and every drink and every bite should be filled with the bitterness, spiciness, sourness, and sweetness of life."

This shop is quite interesting; it's not as ordinary as it looks at all.

That one sentence alone showed that the owner was no ordinary person, which made him even more curious about the owner of this store.

He watched as everyone around him ate with relish, and he began to look forward to the taste of the wontons.

Just as he was looking around, a child walked up to their table with two small plates and put them down.

He also reminded them, "These fresh meat mooncakes are fresh out of the oven and are a bit hot, so please be careful when you eat them."

After Shen Wan finished speaking, she went to the kitchen.

Grand Tutor Zhou looked at the mooncakes on the plate with curiosity.

The crust, baked to a slightly browned color, had a red "沈" character printed on top, and looked quite ordinary.

They weren't even as exquisite as the pastries from any random pastry shop in Beijing.

He curiously picked up the fresh meat mooncake with his chopsticks.

Just as the man serving the wontons was about to offer a word of warning, he saw Master Zhou get burned, and the meat mooncake almost fell to the ground.

"Sir, you have to eat this meat mooncake with your hands, you can't hold it with chopsticks, and the juice inside will splatter out as soon as you bite into it, so you'd better eat it in small bites."

"Thank you."

Grand Tutor Zhou also noticed that the fresh meat mooncake was difficult to pick up with chopsticks because the outer crust was too crispy.

The moment he took that bite, crumbs fell from his mouth.

Ye Shu's situation wasn't much better than his.

He took out a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped his hands, and then started eating the fresh meat mooncake in small bites again.

He swallowed that mouthful of food so hot that he didn't taste it at all.

I took a careful bite this time. The outer shell was crispy, and although the inside didn't burst with juice because I bit into it so small, I could already taste the meat.

Just as the little girl said, it was fresh and delicious.

With his second bite, he took a larger bite of the filling, and the meat juices filled his mouth. In addition to the fresh and savory flavor, there was an extra layer of meaty aroma, and it seemed to have other flavors as well.

He no longer cared about the taste; his eyes were filled with joy.

Even his own legs started shaking uncontrollably.

He looked up at Ye Shu. What's wrong with this guy?