He Xing and her mother-in-law were quite happy and started eating with her. This was meat! Pure meat!

They saw it when the chickens were being slaughtered; they were all plump and juicy, with plenty of meat on them, and they were amazed when they tasted them!

The meat was so firm! Even though it was meaty and thick, the seasoning had seeped right in. The chicken, soaked in the broth, made them feel like their heads were spinning after just one bite! But why was there a spicy flavor? It wasn't the bitter spiciness of dogwood, but pure, unadulterated spiciness!

"Ouch, this is so spicy!" He Xing felt her mouth burning and quickly gulped down a mouthful of cold water, so fast that Qin San Niang couldn't stop her! Okay! It's still drinkable! Even though it's well water, and even though it wasn't heated or sterilized...

"I think the spiciness is just right, it's really appetizing! I want to have another bowl of corn rice!" Wang Guixiang clearly likes spicy food. There was corn rice in the pot, and Qin Sanniang generously told them to eat as much as they wanted, all you can eat!

After drinking some cold water, He Xing exclaimed, "What am I supposed to do? This spiciness is so addictive!"

Grandma He Xing can handle spicy food, and she's currently munching away on chicken! She thinks the spiciness is alright, not too spicy, but much better than the flavor of dogwood! The chicken is also very flavorful, and she doesn't even want to spit out the bones, chewing them up and smashing them in her mouth before finally spitting them out!

Seeing that they all loved to eat it, Qin San Niang smiled and said that it was pepper, which she bought from foreigners at the dock!

The group ate until they were about half full, then put down their chopsticks. Firstly, they still had work to do. Secondly, she wanted to save room for all the delicious food! If they ate their fill of rice, they wouldn't have room for anything else!

Qin San Niang smiled without saying a word, quickly taking out the marinated duck. To speed things up, she secretly used kitchen paper to dry the surface. She heated the oil in a wok, and as the oil gushed into the pot, even Wang Guixiang, a usually carefree woman, felt a pang of regret. "My goodness," she thought, "that's a whole jar of oil!"

"Third Sister-in-law, are you planning to deep-fry the duck?" Wang Guixiang had no intention of stealing the recipe; she just thought it was too... extravagant! So much oil for just one dish? Although most of the oil is recycled after deep-frying, it's still too much waste!

He Xing and her mother-in-law thought the same way; their family was still at the stage of stir-frying vegetables with pumpkin vines dipped in a little oil! They simply couldn't accept such a leap!

"Yes, this duck needs to be deep-fried first, then steamed to make it delicious! This is a simplified version; for a truly delicious version, the more particular families go through many steps! Just for a pressed duck, after marinating overnight, it needs to be dried for at least seven days, not to mention roast ducks! It needs to be roasted with fruitwood to get that fruity aroma!" As Qin San Niang spoke, she turned the ducks over in the oil, and had He Xing remove some firewood to prevent them from burning. Once the skin was cooked through and colored, she quickly scooped them out!

These words left the three women looking at each other in dismay. Alas, that was far beyond their means! Such a taste was something they could only dream of; who would bother with all that sugar, oil, and effort to cook a meal?

"Wow, that duck must be so delicious!" Wang Guixiang imagined for a moment, wondering when her family would be able to eat that fruitwood-roasted duck. She thought it was only sold in fancy restaurants. But then she thought, it must be very expensive. Not to mention the fruitwood, even the oil, salt, and sugar would be quite pricey!

Qin San Niang wasn't worried about the others learning the recipes. Besides, the key to these recipes wasn't the order of preparation, but the seasoning. Not to mention that many seasonings weren't available at the moment, even if they were, these people were honest and wouldn't just take them and sell them without a word! However, she could still teach them these everyday cooking methods. As for whether they would use them or not, that was beyond her control!

After starting two stoves and steaming all the braised ducks, Qin San Niang had nothing else to do.

Unexpectedly, Guo Er and his group came looking for them, drawn by the aroma.

Beforehand, Qin San Niang had explained the arrival of these people to Liao Hongying. She was currently helping in the kitchen next door and could keep an eye on the situation in the yard. However, upon first seeing this large group of people in black, Liao Hongying's brow still twitched involuntarily!

People wear hemp clothes these days, but most of them are grayish-brown. Black is more expensive than the original color because it's dyed! So, the few people dressed in black stand out among the villagers. Coupled with their deliberately concealed but ineffective banditry, it's hard not to be afraid!

Look, even Gu Qingshan, this door god, has a different aura.

Guo Er and the others naturally sensed something, but since the strong man was currently greeting guests, he must be a member of the host's family! Oh dear, isn't that one of their own?

Regardless of what Gu Qingshan thought, he only saw the little leader looking at him with a sly grin, his face beaming, "Brother, we are friends of Madam Qin. We know it's your housewarming day, so we've come to offer our congratulations!"

After saying that, Guo Er gave a wink to the people behind him, and Er Gen and Da Gen presented the congratulatory gifts.

They really came to deliver a congratulatory gift! Gu Qingshan's brows relaxed slightly. Then he heard Liao Hongying approach and say, "Oh, it's Brother Guo, isn't it? Come in quickly, Third Sister already told us!"

"In that case, thank you all for coming. Please come in!" Gu Qingshan waved his long arm and gestured for them to enter.

"Thank you, brother! Thank you, sister!" Guo Er and his group entered the house happily! This was the first time they had been invited into a feast! It felt pretty good! It would have been better if the burly man at the door hadn't been so intimidating!

They knew perfectly well that Gu Qingshan was skilled in martial arts. Whether he was a martial arts master or not was hard to say, but he was definitely the kind of person who could easily defeat them!

However, once inside, they discovered that the real test was yet to come! Liao Hongying assumed they were Qin San Niang's friends, and since they were guests, she couldn't very well let them sit outside with the villagers.

So Guo Er and the others were led into the main hall. What they saw nearly scared them to death – wasn't that the owner of Si Ji Pastry Shop? Si Liren was an old man in He County; almost everyone on the street knew him. Moreover, he was a son of the Si family, albeit an illegitimate one. But to ordinary people, it didn't matter whether you were born to the principal wife or a concubine; you were still the son of a powerful figure! Someone they absolutely couldn't afford to offend!

Guo Er and the others were embarrassed, never expecting to be sitting with the head manager one day! Now, they had no time to appreciate Madam Qin's house! They had just seen it; the house was very well-arranged. It wasn't particularly exquisite, but it had a unique style, and many of the things there were things they had never seen before!