Perhaps subconsciously knowing that she had a lot of work to do today, Su Qingluan woke up at dawn the next day.

Yang and Su Guangfu also knew why Su Qingluan went to Mu Xingzhi's house to cook, and they repeatedly told her to "be polite" and "be grateful" and so on. Su Qingluan couldn't help but wonder what kind of love potion Mu Xingzhi had given her parents - no, to be precise, the villagers of the entire Huaxi Village - to make him so famous.

Could it be that the guy is capable of casting a spell?

Su Qingluan was thinking in a mess, and when she came to her senses, she was already standing outside the only courtyard with a bamboo forest.

It must be said that Su Qingluan was a little excited, so excited that she couldn't help rubbing her hands - after all, in this era, as a country girl from a remote and poor village, there were not many opportunities for her to squander food at will.

Needless to say, not even a single vegetable leaf can be wasted at home; and the same is true even for the wealthy Hongfulou - as a restaurant that can only be considered the "first restaurant" in this remote town, even if Hongfulou has a few "high-end dishes", the budget cannot be too outrageous.

Again, "expensive" and "sky-high" are not the same thing. Although Hongfulou can have expensive rare ingredients, it cannot have "sky-high" dishes for no reason - a place like this, which is neither an economic center nor a capital, does not meet this condition.

Even if there are "sky-high priced dishes", they are most likely just gimmicks and basically cannot be sold.

What's more, as a partner, Su Qingluan couldn't just use other people's ingredients to practice her cooking skills.

Therefore, Su Qingluan cherishes the opportunity to show off her skills today very much - after all, she has been itching to show off her skills for such a long time.

Su Qingluan came early in the morning, and it was obvious that both Song Bo and Mu Xingzhi were a little surprised - the most intuitive manifestation was that when Song Bo came out to open the door and saw Su Qingluan, he was so surprised that he opened his eyes wide for a moment, then looked up at the sky, and his expression clearly said: So early?

Su Qingluan finally realized: every family has a different schedule. Their family goes to bed early every night, but Mu Xingzhi wasn't there last night! Isn't it normal for a night owl like this to wake up late?

"I'm sorry, I seem to be a little too early..." Su Qingluan was a little embarrassed, "But you can let me go directly to the kitchen, I won't go to the living room - have you had breakfast?"

"I'm having breakfast... I never thought..." I never thought that before I had even taken two bites of the meal, the person who I thought would arrive at least at noon arrived first.

Su Qingluan also blushed - she didn't expect to come when others were having dinner, which was really a bit rude, so she apologized again and again.

After such a long delay, Mu Xingzhi, who was originally eating in the inner room, came out in his wheelchair and said with a smile: "I was wondering who it was. How come Song Bo went to open the door but there was no one there?"

Su Qingluan felt her ears burning: "I really couldn't wait to see how the soup base tasted. I didn't think too much and came here early in the morning..."

What a stupid brain she has! She only thought about being able to cook as she pleases, and ended up forgetting about other people's schedules!

It's so embarrassing.

Thinking of this, Su Qingluan wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Fortunately, perhaps noticing Su Qingluan's embarrassment, Mu Xingzhi did not invite her to sit in the front hall for a while as usual. Instead, he asked Song Bo to send her to the kitchen directly. He even kindly asked Song Bo to come out and tell Su Qingluan to ring the bell by the window if she needed help.

Without the master-servant duo that made her feel embarrassed, Su Qingluan instantly felt normal again. She no longer felt dizzy or stuffy, and the dazzling array of ingredients became fresh and lovely again.

Su Qingluan first checked out the broth, which had been simmering overnight. Although it hadn't been seasoned with salt, it already had a rich, fresh, and fragrant aroma. Furthermore, because the bacon itself was rich in salt and spices, when Su Qingluan tasted it, she found it rich and fragrant, not bland.

It’s not time to clean up the soup yet, but the crabs still need to be dealt with - otherwise, it’s not an easy job to peel the crabs.

Su Qingluan went to check again. After a night, the crabs were still alive and well at the bottom of the moist basin. They were covered with wet gauze, so they were not dead, but were just spitting bubbles.

The crabs had their claws and legs tied tightly with straw ropes, so Su Qingluan felt very confident handling them. She didn't have to worry about pinching her fingers when washing them. She even felt like humming a soul-stirring little song for the crabs.

"Lift up your skull and let me see your meat. Your crab meat is white and shiny, just like snow. Your crab roe is fat and yellow, and it smells so fragrant."

Crab: ...Are you polite...

When steaming crabs, Su Qingluan placed all the crabs with their bellies facing down with their shells, so that even if the crab roe flowed out, it would be caught by the crab shells.

Just as she put the crabs into the steamer, Su Qingluan heard the faint voice of a tofu peddler hawking his wares outside.

Moreover, this shop is not only selling tofu recently. Maybe it’s because the weather has gotten cooler in autumn, and they have pickled duck eggs at home, so they occasionally sell salted duck eggs in addition to tofu.

So Su Qingluan didn't even bother to light another spare stove and hurried to ring the bell at the door.

Song Bo came over when he heard the sound. Su Qingluan said a little embarrassedly, "Could you please buy a piece of tender tofu and a few salted duck eggs? Of course, it doesn't matter if there are no salted duck eggs." She could also change to other dishes.

Anyway, Su Qingluan prepared three sets of backup menus.

Su Qingluan had actually considered going out to buy something, but she calmed down the moment she was about to step out of the kitchen. It was early in the morning, when many people hadn't had breakfast yet, and she suddenly showed up at the home of another person, a man, who was very popular with the young women and wives in the village, and had to buy ingredients to cook...

It seems hard to explain no matter how you think about it, right?!

Of course, Su Qingluan knew that the three people present, including herself, were very innocent and upright, but she couldn't guarantee what others would think!

...Speaking of which, when her parents found out that she went to someone else's house to cook early in the morning, the look in their eyes was hard to describe.

Su Qingluan realized belatedly that the expression on her face meant, "Girls cannot be kept when they grow up, and if they are kept, they will turn into enemies"?

...This is a huge misunderstanding!

Su Qingluan looked at Song Bo, who was happily going out to buy tofu and salted duck eggs, with a sense of guilt. She thought to herself: Song Bo, I'm so sorry. I seem to have accidentally tarnished your boss's innocence for a moment...

Although she didn't mean to...