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

As evening fell and the sun set, the group walked back to the county town.

The atmosphere inside the car was harmonious, with everyone wearing smiles.

Bubbling sounds could be heard coming from one corner of the car.

Before leaving, the village chief carried a large bag of crabs for Shen Cao and the others to take back and eat.

Seeing that everyone liked to eat crabs, he went to the river after dinner, set a trap, and caught a whole bagful of crabs.

They rushed over before they left.

Shen Cao, who was driving the carriage in front of the vehicle, had a furrowed brow and looked preoccupied.

She had just found a man covered in blood and with severe external injuries in the haystack in the kitchen.

The man must have been injured and passed out; judging from the situation, he'd been lying there for quite some time.

Although the bleeding had stopped, she could clearly sense that the person had a high fever.

She didn't want to get involved, but since the person was in her own home, if something happened, her family would be implicated.

She took an anti-inflammatory pill and a fever reducer from the storage space and poured them down his throat with water from the kitchen water tank.

Whether or not one can pull through depends on fate.

Sigh, if I had known I would run into someone like this, I shouldn't have been so greedy and come back to pick mushrooms.

Now that everyone in the village has seen him return to the Shen family, if anything happens in the future, he will definitely be unable to defend himself.

If this person were an ordinary person, it would be fine; if they died, they would just die.

However, she noticed that although the man's clothes were tattered, they didn't look like something an ordinary person could afford.

If he dies, someone will come to her house to settle scores later...

For the first time, Shen Cao felt somewhat at a loss, unsure of what to do.

While unconscious, Ji Lingfeng felt someone remove the object pressing down on him.

He assumed that He Yu had shaken off his pursuers and slipped back.

In an instant, he knew that this person was not He Yu; he could smell the faint fragrance of tea on the other person.

This is clearly not a crane feather.

To maintain their disguise, they would never have any distinctive scent on their bodies.

The man was clearly frightened; he thought the other man would shout and expose him.

Unexpectedly, the other party quickly regained their composure, carefully examined him, and finally seemed to have made up their mind.

They fed him a few things that they didn't know what they were.

He desperately tried to keep his mouth shut, attempting to resist the other person.

Unexpectedly, the other party brought two pieces of wood and pried his mouth open.

They forced the contents in.

After pouring it in, I was worried that I would choke, so I held my head and shook it vigorously to make sure I had swallowed it before I stopped.

Ji Lingfeng, who was still conscious, was shaken by Shen Cao until he completely lost consciousness.

When Shen Cao was a child, her family raised pigs. When the pigs got sick, her father taught her how to feed them medicine.

After taking the medicine, Ji Lingfeng woke up in the middle of the night, and his fever gradually subsided before he woke up.

In the darkness, He Yu saw that his master's fever had subsided and was finally relieved.

He had actually returned in the afternoon. The reason they chose this place was because the main gate was locked, so their whereabouts wouldn't be exposed.

He sneaked out today to find reinforcements, and when he returned, he saw that the lock on the gate had been opened, and he knew he was in trouble.

Sure enough, he sneaked into the kitchen and saw Shen Cao, who had already noticed something was wrong, moving the firewood he had been covering his master with.

He wanted to stop them, but there were many people outside the kitchen, and if he made a move, he would definitely be exposed.

He watched as Shen Cao brought out a bowl of water, pried open his master's mouth with a piece of wood, and poured the water in.

He didn't see the medicine in Shen Cao's hand, otherwise he would have stopped Shen Cao no matter what.

Ji Lingfeng, who had just woken up, had a gloomy expression. He never expected to be treated so violently in his life.

He, a dignified nation... was treated like livestock.

Once he recovers, he'll definitely settle accounts with that person.

"Master, your fever has subsided!"

He Yu touched his master's forehead; it was no longer burning hot.

Ji Lingfeng was surprised that the person had given him medicine, but what kind of medicine was it that was so effective?

He often suffers external injuries. He had suffered a much minor injury before, and even after taking medicine, he would still have a high fever for two days and two nights. But now, it was only midnight, and his fever had already subsided.

Could the person who saved him be a miracle doctor?

If this person is truly skilled in medicine, he will spare the person's life and take him back with him later.

At this moment, Shen Cao had no idea that someone was actually eyeing her.

Once she made up her mind to save that person, she stopped hesitating.

When she got home, she looked at the crabs that the village chief had given her. Unlike sea crabs, which can be eaten after they die, river crabs cannot be eaten after they die.

She first picked out some of the less vigorous river crabs, and then kept the rest in the fish pond in the yard, to be caught when it was time to eat them.

She added some crushed ice scooped from the ice cellar to the basin to stun the crabs.

Then they brought out some clean straw rope, first curling up the crab's legs, and then wrapping the rope around the crab several times to tie it up.

Because the river water is clear, the crabs are not very dirty.

She washed the tied crabs several times with a pig bristle brush until the water was still very clear before she considered them clean.

Find a pot big enough to hold the crabs, line the bottom with a layer of ginger slices, and then arrange the crabs shell-side down neatly.

Then, a drizzle of Xin'an County's unique Shaoxing wine was poured over it, the pot lid was put on, and the crabs were started to cook.

No need to add water; the high temperature will draw out the moisture from the crab, making it taste better.

After about an incense stick's time, extinguish the fire.

Shen Cao poured the sauce she had prepared into another pot and brought it to a boil.

The sauce was actually a recipe she created in her previous life based on her own taste.

The ratio of soy sauce to water is 1.2:1, and bay leaves, apples, and onions are added.

After cooking, remove the ingredients and pour in enough Shaoxing wine to make the marinade for the crab.

After the sauce has cooled, you can take the crab out and soak it in the sauce.

The cooked crab is orange-red, and the sauce is dark brown. Once the crab is put into the sauce, it is immediately submerged.

To ensure that each crab was coated in sauce, Shen Cao placed two clean plates on top of the crabs.

The weight of the plate can press the crab firmly under the sauce.

Shen Cao accidentally got some sauce on her hand. She stuck out her tongue and licked it. The salty and savory flavor had a hint of fruity sweetness and a touch of Shaoxing wine, which was her favorite taste.

After Shen Cao finished marinating the crabs and walked out of the kitchen, she ran into Shen Chen, who was escorting Grand Tutor Zhou back.

Shen Chen frowned, seemingly lost in thought. He didn't see Shen Cao coming out and walked straight towards the study.

"Big brother! What's wrong? You seem so absent-minded." Shen Cao called out to her older brother.