South of the City, the Xu Family Residence.

Xu Hongzhen was leisurely savoring the sweet and sour pork on his plate.

Since the dish had been brought back in a lunchbox by a servant, the crust wasn’t as crispy as when it first came out of the pan, but the flavor was still excellent.

So good, in fact, that Xu Hongzhen ate several pieces in a row. Only after he had fully savored the sweet-and-sour flavor did he move on to the other dishes. As he tasted each dish in turn, Xu Hongzhen grew increasingly impressed.

Xu Hongzhen sighed and said, “The new county magistrate is truly lucky. He spotted such an unassuming eatery at first glance. Who would have thought that Brother Xia’s cooking was this good? It’s just a pity we were a step too late; I’m afraid we won’t be able to get involved from now on.”

Xu Hongzhen’s wife, Mrs. Zhao, shot him a sidelong glance and said dismissively, “It’s just a small eatery—how much profit could it possibly turn? Even if it were a grand banquet hall, it wouldn’t amount to a fraction of the daily revenue from the wharf. Wu Baoquan is, after all, a county magistrate, and he seems to have some ability. You wouldn’t want him to walk away empty-handed, would you?”

“That’s easy for you to say. A tiny little eatery isn’t worth much. I’m just afraid Magistrate Wu will get greedy and want more!” Although Xu Hongzhen enjoyed the food, he knew a small eatery like this wouldn’t make much of a splash.

At most, they might raise the prices and make a little extra silver.

“He’s an outsider with few allies. We’re deeply rooted here—it’ll be hard for him to get greedy after getting what he wants. That said, this Koushui chicken is truly delicious—it makes your mouth water. I wonder if we’ve sent it to the young master yet?” Madam Zhao considered the matter trivial. She turned to the servant and asked, “The young master loves spicy dishes. If he tries this, he’ll surely love it.”

The servant quickly replied, “I sent the young master to the academy early this morning.”

The Xu family had its own academy, where most of the students were Xu family members, though there were also children of those who served the Xu family.

“That’s good,” Mrs. Zhao said with a slight nod. She picked up another pair of chopsticks and took a bite of the Koushui chicken. The tender, spicy, and aromatic flavor was so delicious that she couldn’t help but eat several more bites in a row.

Xu Hongzhen shook his head and instructed, “Send some of these dishes to the Old Lady from now on, but leave out the spicy ones. The scrambled eggs, shrimp meat patties, and rice porridge—those can be sent over.”

“If Gu’s Restaurant introduces any new dishes, there’s no need to report them to me—just go ahead and buy them.”

Upon hearing the words “the Old Lady,” Mrs. Zhao’s eyes and brows, which had just relaxed from the delicious food, furrowed again. The servant replied, “Yes, sir.”

Wu Baoquan arrived late for lunch at the restaurant today, and not without reason. He had spent the entire morning carefully investigating the people Gu Tangjin had introduced to him. Gu Tangjin had written him a total of four letters.

The thickest of them was addressed to a gentleman who had served as a private secretary to a high-ranking official of the third rank.

His name was Su Hanwei. He was a man of ill fortune: gifted from a young age and hailing from a family of scholars and farmers, yet as the previous dynasty was rife with the sale of official titles and ranks, the Su family gradually fell into decline. Though Su Hanwei was talented and well-educated, he never achieved official rank, and in the end, he had no choice but to make a living as a private secretary to officials.

After the previous dynasty’s collapse, he returned to Yuejin Prefecture to care for his elderly mother; after her death, he built a hut and lived in seclusion. It wasn’t that no one had asked him to come out of retirement—the Xu family had invited him—but he had declined.

The second man is named Peng Lecheng. From a poor family, he failed the provincial examinations twice and remains merely a candidate for the lower-level civil service. However, he is exceptionally skilled in arithmetic. Currently, he works as an apprentice bookkeeper at an inn; though he has not yet been appointed as a full-fledged bookkeeper, he performs the duties of one—a great pity.

The third letter was addressed to Jia Qian. This man was skilled in duck hunting and water management; his family had a background in boatmanship. After passing the preliminary examination to become a scholar, he lacked the means to continue his studies, so he took a position at Juren Zhao’s academy.

This Mr. Zhao is also Gu Tangjin’s master—the kind of formal, traditional master one formally bows to—though after Wu Baoquan had looked through the letters, he sensed that Gu Tangjin did not seem particularly close to this master.

As for the fourth person, Guan Feibai, he was the eldest of the four, now over fifty years old. A veteran scholar, he owned over forty mu of farmland and lived quite comfortably in the prefectural city. However, he was not particularly well-known there, and for the time being, Wu Baoquan could not discern any notable strengths about him.

“Sir, are we really going to pay these four a personal visit?” Zhu Pengyi asked.

“Of course,” Wu Baoquan said with a grin. “Stepping out of the county office every now and then will put County Magistrate Xu at ease. If I stay here working so hard all the time, I’m afraid he might start to suspect us.”

Wu Baoquan had already written to his family; in another month or two, they would arrive in Qingchi County.

Now Wu Baoquan was thinking about getting everything arranged as soon as possible. Zhu Pengyi nodded and asked, “Who should we visit first?”

“Hmm, let’s pay a visit to Peng Lecheng first. He lives just west of Qingchi County, so it’s easy to get to,” Wu Baoquan said. “If we go early and come back early, we’ll still have time to grab dinner at the eatery.”

Zhu Pengyi: “……” 

Zhu Pengyi: “Alright.”

Wu Baoquan and Zhu Pengyi first went to the Yunshang Restaurant in the western part of Qingchi County; Peng Lecheng was working there as an apprentice bookkeeper. It wasn’t mealtime, so there weren’t many customers in the restaurant.

The proprietor spotted Wu Baoquan from a distance and hurried out from behind the counter to greet him.

“Magistrate Wu, what brings you here? Please, this way to the private room on the second floor.”

Wu Baoquan waved his hand and said directly, “I wish to see Peng Lecheng.”

“Huh?” The proprietor paused, momentarily unable to recall who Peng Lecheng was. It wasn’t until a waiter stepped forward to remind him that the proprietor realized, “Oh, Magistrate Wu is here to see the bookkeeper Peng. I’ll go fetch him right away. Please go up to the second floor and wait a moment.”

Wu Baoquan then followed the manager to a private room on the second floor. Wu Baoquan was always generous; he didn’t come here to sit idly, so he ordered two pots of the most expensive liquor. Zhu Pengyi paid the bill immediately and even left a tip, showing no intention of running a tab.

The shopkeeper was actually somewhat surprised to receive it.

He had only heard that this official was generous; he had assumed the constables were merely flattering the new county magistrate, but he never expected it to be true.

“Peng, your lucky break has arrived—Magistrate Wu wishes to see you.” The shopkeeper went to find Peng Lecheng himself.

He had risen to the position of manager because he was a shrewd man; just by observing the expressions on Wu Baoquan and Zhu Pengyi’s faces, he knew that Magistrate Wu’s visit to Peng Lecheng must surely portend good news.

Peng Lecheng had been balancing the books and was completely puzzled by the news.

Feeling uneasy, he followed the shopkeeper to a private room on the second floor. The shopkeeper left promptly, leaving Peng Lecheng behind.

“Please take a seat, Mr. Peng. I have come to see you today on the advice of Scholar Gu. Here is a letter from Scholar Gu; you will understand once you read it,” said Wu Baoquan as he handed the letter to Peng Lecheng.

Peng Lecheng sat down uneasily and accepted the letter with both hands.

In the letter, Mr. Gu wrote that Magistrate Wu had just arrived and lacked a capable clerk, so he was seeking a few assistants. Mr. Gu knew that Peng was exceptionally skilled in arithmetic, but it would be a waste for him to merely serve as a bookkeeper; it would be better for him to join Magistrate Wu’s staff.

It was a short letter, yet Peng Lecheng read it over and over again.

He could hardly believe it; he hadn’t expected Xiucai Gu to recommend him to Magistrate Wu. This was truly a rare opportunity for him.

“And what of Scholar Gu now?” Peng Lecheng asked, suppressing the various emotions churning within him. Though Peng Lecheng phrased his question vaguely, Wu Baoquan understood perfectly.

This man was asking: if Scholar Gu had given him such an opportunity, what of Scholar Gu himself?

Peng Lecheng also remembered to ask about Gu Tangjin’s well-being. Whether intentional or sincere, this gesture caused Wu Baoquan to regard him with newfound respect.

If it was deliberate, one could only say the man was quite clever, knowing how to present himself as a man of honor and loyalty in his presence; if it was sincere, it showed that he truly cherished his friends.

“Scholar Gu wishes to help his husband run their restaurant. I simply cannot recruit him. He is content with his current life, and I cannot force him to come work at the county office,” Wu Baoquan said with a smile.

Peng Lecheng was puzzled by this, but he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, Magistrate Wu, for your consideration. I would be more than happy to accept.”

Wu Baoquan hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly. He smiled and said, “Then come to the county office tomorrow.” 

“Yes, Your Honor.” Peng Lecheng was overjoyed and hurriedly bowed.

Wu Baoquan wasn’t much of a drinker, but after a moment’s thought, he said, “I’ve paid for these two jugs of wine—please take them. It was quite rude of me to come see you today without bringing a gift. I hope you won’t mind, Mr. Peng.”

Peng Lecheng certainly wouldn’t mind; he was already thinking about how much rice and flour he could get by selling these two jugs of wine. Wu Baoquan was also very pleased with his initial success. He patted Peng Lecheng on the shoulder, then strolled away at a leisurely pace. Meanwhile, Gu Tangjin arrived at Tongdong Village. He first used wooden stakes to divide the fields into five plots—two small and three large.

Of the two smaller plots, one was sown directly with wheat, while the other was planted with soaked wheat.

Of the larger plots, one was set aside for taro, while the other two would be used to grow wheat again in the fall.

As he worked, Gu Tangjin committed the process of planting wheat and taro to memory, intending to write it down that night. Although he had great confidence in his memory, it was still safer to record it.

Besides, since this wheat variety was drought- and cold-resistant, it required careful documentation.

After finishing the planting of wheat and taro, Gu Tangjin hurried back to the restaurant.

On the way back, he stopped by to see Fisherman Wang, Butcher Ye, and others to place orders for the meat and fish he would need in the future. Gu Tangjin came in a hurry and left in a hurry.

Butterer Ye couldn’t help but marvel: “Is Scholar Gu really going out to work the fields dressed like that?” That’s truly rare.

But Butcher Ye was merely making a passing remark; he didn’t really believe that Scholar Gu, a man of letters, could cultivate any good fields. If he didn’t waste the seeds, that would be considered a success.

When he returned to the restaurant, Gu Tangjin was carrying two fairly fresh carp and a bag of glutinous rice. Since glutinous rice was used frequently at home, Gu Tangjin thought he’d buy some to stock up.

Over the past couple of days, while working the fields, he hadn’t just been plowing away in a daze. He’d noticed that Magistrate Xu’s family owned quite a bit of farmland and managed to save up a substantial amount of grain each year. If the restaurant ever ran short of rice or flour, he could always speak with Magistrate Xu first to see if he could buy some from him to tide them over.

As for the carp, he bought them from Fisherman Wang. As long as the weather wasn’t too bad or the court hadn’t ordered a fishing ban, his family went out fishing every day. They’d also bought a pond on the outskirts of town where they could raise fish, so they were able to supply the restaurant with fish and shrimp.

Xia-ger mentioned wanting to try making sweet and sour carp, so he bought two fish to let Xia-ger practice.

“Why did you buy so much stuff?” Ji Rongxia was resting in the courtyard, propping his chin in his hand and staring into space. When he saw Gu Tangjin return, he immediately sprang to his feet.

Gu Tangjin handed the carp and glutinous rice to Ji Rongxia, then headed for the shed. He quickly added, “I’m going to wash up first. Don’t get too close to me.”

Ji Rongxia held up the carp and said, “Then I’ll go get your clothes.”

He first went to the kitchen to set down the carp and glutinous rice, then skipped off to fetch clothes for Gu Tangjin. Yao Tianlan and Gu Chuncai exchanged a glance and shook their heads with a smile.

The two children had only been apart for a short while, and already they were like this—it was truly too much for them to bear.

Gu Tangjin quickly rinsed off and changed into clean clothes. Only then did she approach Ji Rongxia and say, “I bought you a carp. Weren’t you going to make sweet and sour carp?”

“I see you also brought glutinous rice. Now I can make brown sugar rice cakes too,” Ji Rongxia said excitedly. “Aren’t you tired from making so many dishes?” Gu Tangjin wiped the sweat from Ji Rongxia’s forehead with a handkerchief.

Ji Rongxia shook his head. “Not at all.”

He went to the kitchen and began trying his hand at making sweet and sour carp. Gu Tangjin stood by, stoking the fire for him.

Ji Rongxia used the same oil he’d used for deep-frying meat-stuffed buns to fry the fish.

Since the starch provided by the system could only be used for dishes intended for sale, Ji Rongxia had no choice but to use flour for the batter.

They did have all the ingredients needed for the brown sugar glutinous rice cakes. He first steamed the glutinous rice, then dug out the osmanthus flowers and brown sugar that hadn’t been used in the restaurant for quite some time.

He had watched the system automatically prepare sweet-and-sour carp many times, but this was his first time frying it himself. The shape of this first fish turned out a bit odd.

Far from resembling a leaping carp, it looked more like a dead fish writhing in agony.

After drizzling it with the translucent, reddish-brown sweet-and-sour sauce, the fish looked even more thoroughly dead.

Gu Tangjin: “……”

“Actually, it should taste pretty good,” Ji Rongxia said with a straight face.

Gu Tangjin couldn’t help but chuckle.

Enraged, Ji Rongxia jabbed him with her elbow: “What’s so funny? Hmph, as punishment, you’re eating this fish today.”

As he spoke, Ji Rongxia picked up his chopsticks and served Gu Tangjin a piece of fish belly.

Gu Tangjin smiled and bowed his head to eat the fish.

The sweet-and-sour sauce gave the fresh fish a unique flavor.

The fish’s natural muddy taste was well masked; with Gu Tangjin’s refined palate, he couldn’t detect any fishy odor at all—only the fish’s natural tenderness.

“It really is quite good,” Gu Tangjin said honestly.

“See? I told you I could make it well,” Ji Rongxia said with great pride.

He also served himself a bite of fish, and to his taste, it was about ninety percent as good as the system’s perfect version. It was just the appearance that fell a bit short.

Full of confidence, Ji Rongxia made the sweet and sour carp again.

This time, the fried carp he produced looked somewhat like a fish leaping through the Dragon Gate.

“Oh my! I almost forgot—my glutinous rice is done steaming!” Ji Rongxia took out the glutinous rice and enthusiastically pounded it into a ball, then pressed it firmly with a clean board.

“This needs to cool down before we use it, so you can’t have any right now,” Ji Rongxia said with a smile.

“Then I’ll just have to wait.” Gu Tangjin fetched some slightly cool well water for Ji Rongxia. “Putting this glutinous rice block in the well water should help it cool down faster.”

Ji Rongxia nodded and placed the large bowl containing the glutinous rice block into the well water.

“Alright, I need to open up for business. It seems I made this sweet-and-sour fish at the wrong time. You’ll be too busy to eat it, and it’ll go cold—it doesn’t taste good cold. I even fried two whole fish. What a waste,” Ji Rongxia said, scratching his cheek with a hint of regret.

Gu Tangjin found a clean pair of chopsticks and picked the fish meat apart, setting aside a portion in the bowl. He kept the rest warm in the hot water used to steam the glutinous rice. “It’s fine,” he said. “I’ll eat this at the counter, and Mom and Dad can have the rest when they have time.”

“If I eat this up front, I can also promote that we’ll be selling this tomorrow. Besides, we can’t prepare whole fish like this—we have to fillet them.” Gu Tangjin’s last remark sounded a bit odd.

But Ji Rongxia understood. The carp provided by the system was definitely tastier. Since they wanted to ensure every dish tasted consistent, they couldn’t serve the fish whole—they had to fillet it.

Ji Rongxia: “Go on, go on!”

Gu Tangjin smiled as he carried the fish away.

Wu Baoquan had come over for a meal early today. He was the first to enter the shop and said with a laugh, “Scholar Gu, give me one serving of each of the expensive dishes, and six shrimp meat patties. That’ll be all I’m having for dinner.”

You call that a light meal?!

Gu Tangjin was puzzled, but he took the silver without batting an eye and said, “Just a moment; the food will be ready shortly.”

Wu Baoquan was about to sit down, but as soon as he saw the fish by Gu Tangjin’s side, he stopped in his tracks. “Hey, Scholar Gu, are you so busy you don’t even have time to eat? Why did you leave the dish here? What is this? It smells strangely delicious.”

“Sweet and sour carp. It’s going on the menu tomorrow, so Xia-ger made it for me to try today,” Gu Tangjin said with a smile. “It tastes pretty good.”

Wu Baoquan glanced at the bowl of fish. No matter how thick-skinned he was, he couldn’t bring himself to ask for a bite.

“Then I’ll definitely come by tomorrow to try it.”

Gu Tangjin stood there, the bowl of fish right at his side. Before long, the diners all knew there would be a new dish on the menu tomorrow.

By the time Gu Tangjin finally had a chance to eat the sweet-and-sour fish, it had already gone cold. Even cold, the fish had little fishy odor and tasted quite good on a summer day. Gu Tangjin ate every last bit of the fish before helping his mother clear the table.

In the kitchen, Ji Rongxia lifted the pot from the heat, having simmered brown sugar and water into a thick syrup. He then cut the cooled glutinous rice blocks into thin, long strips and fried them until golden brown.

Once fried, he poured the brown sugar syrup over them and finished by sprinkling a few osmanthus flowers on top as a garnish.

“Why are you still so busy?” Gu Tangjin asked as she placed the dirty dishes in the kitchen. “I’m making brown sugar rice cakes. You should try some—and you two, Mom and Dad, try some too.”

Ji Rongxia said, picking up a brown sugar rice cake and offering it to Gu Tangjin.

“Deliciously sweet, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. This glutinous rice is excellent too—it has a rich, fragrant aroma,” Gu Tangjin said after taking a bite. “It’s delicious, isn’t it?” Ji Rongxia said, taking a piece for himself.

He felt he had managed to replicate about seventy or eighty percent of the perfect flavor provided by the system.

Yao Tianlan and Gu Chuncai also really liked these brown sugar rice cakes. Although they were made of glutinous rice, they weren’t hard to chew and were sweet and fragrant. The family sat together, sharing the brown sugar rice cakes, and then ate the plate of somewhat crumbled sweet-and-sour carp with the remaining steamed buns. And with that, the meal was finished.

Ji Rongxia gazed at the oil in the pot with a touch of reluctance.

There was so much oil—he certainly couldn’t just pour it down the drain. If he used it as lamp oil, who knew how long it would take to use it all up? He poured the used oil into a clean wooden barrel and stored it away from the stove.

Seeing this, Yao Tianlan and Gu Chuncai looked puzzled. They’d have to pour the oil out again tomorrow to reuse it, so they couldn’t figure out why Xia-ger had gone to all that trouble.

When they saw Xia-ger and Tangjin carrying the oil out of the kitchen, the two of them “got it”—it turned out Xia-ger was worried about a fire.

Ji Rongxia looked at the oil and silently considered using it for one more day, but he quickly dismissed the idea.

[Ding, Warning: How could a culinary god use waste oil? Please abandon this notion, Host.]

[If the Host uses waste oil, they will be punished.]

[Punishment: 50% deduction from system rewards. (Within this month)] 

Ji Rongxia: “???!!!”

“Little Master, why didn’t you mention there was a punishment?” Ji Rongxia asked in surprise. Culinary God System: “……”

Culinary God System: “Where there are rewards, there are naturally punishments. Rest assured, Host, our punishments won’t endanger you—they’ll only reduce your reward distribution. Besides, you haven’t actually been punished yet; this is just a warning.”

Ji Rongxia sighed: “I wasn’t really going to use it; it’s just such a waste, so I couldn’t help but think about it.” Gu Tangjin saw him looking dejected, but with his parents present, he didn’t dare ask what was wrong.

After they finished tidying up and returned to the room, Gu Tangjin finally asked, “Xia, what’s wrong?”

Ji Rongxia propped his chin in his hand and said gloomily, “I was just thinking about using that oil for a split second, and the little chef warned me off.”

“If we use it as lamp oil, it’ll take us forever to get through it all. Plus, my mom’s place has a lot of wood, so it catches fire easily. I wouldn’t dare give them too much.”

“If I gave them that much oil for lamp fuel all at once, my mother would probably scold me for being wasteful.”

No matter how Ji Rongxia thought about it, he felt this was a difficult situation.

“Tangjin, why aren’t you saying anything?” Ji Rongxia asked curiously.

Gu Tangjin pondered for a moment before saying, “I was just thinking—you mostly use rapeseed oil for frying. Since pig fat is so greasy, it can be used to make soap. I wonder if rapeseed oil could be used to make scented soap. If it really works, we could use it to wash our clothes.”

“Really?” Ji Rongxia asked, puzzled. “Does that actually work? Even with used oil?”

“We’ll probably need to filter out the impurities, but I’ll find out once I give it a try,” Gu Tangjin said. “I happen to be gathering some wood ash to use as fertilizer for the fields these days, so I can test it out then.”

He’d thought it through today—it wasn’t practical to buy river mud for fertilizer every time. Since they ran a restaurant, it wasn’t appropriate to use manure as fertilizer, but the ash produced daily from cooking could certainly be put to good use.

Upon hearing this, Ji Rongxia asked in her mind, “Little Chef? Aren’t you a high-tech system? Can this waste oil be turned into soap?” 

Culinary God System: “……”

It had never occurred to him that his high-tech system would be used this way.

“Little Chef, you don’t know that, do you?” Ji Rongxia said, feigning surprise.

Hehehe, this is called the reverse psychology tactic!

The Culinary God System hurriedly replied, “Of course, of course! Vegetable oil can undergo saponification—of course it can!” 

Aaaah, it knew!

Of course it knew!!!

It felt like a high-tech system had been utterly humiliated!!!