As expected, Li Dahu kept his promise. Three days after he left, a woman with a sorrowful face came to the door with two children. As soon as she saw Xu Milu, she knelt down.

"My lady, your kindness is beyond measure. I have no way to repay you, my dear husband! Please kowtow to our benefactor!"

The woman, accompanied by her child, kowtowed. Xu Milu quickly helped them up, saying, "What are you talking about—"

The woman, holding her two children, cried and laughed at the same time:

“My husband used to be a yamen runner in the imperial prison. He was misled and owed a huge sum of money to the gambling den. That dead man gambled away all our land deeds and property, leaving us with nothing. Although the debt was cleared after his death, we haven’t had money to buy rice to cook for a long time…”

I dream of that dead ghost day and night, but I can never hear what he's saying. Until last night, he suddenly appeared in my dream and told me that there was some silver buried under the big rock fifteen steps behind the house. He also said that if it weren't for the young lady's meal, which gave him some strength, he wouldn't have been able to appear in my dream.

The woman shed tears again: "I went to the place he mentioned, and sure enough, I dug up a jar of silver. That dead ghost even said that his wish had been fulfilled and he was going to be reincarnated. He told me to bring this to the young lady."

The woman took out a small cloth bag from her bosom. Inside was a blue book wrapped in oil paper. Xu Milu took it and flipped through it. She found that it was mostly illustrated explanations, which explained the secrets of the yamen runner's hand skills.

“Don’t laugh at me, young lady. We’re just rough men. Our ancestors were all jailers. We can’t read many characters, so we can only draw. This was left by my father-in-law. Da Hu asked me to bring it over to ease his mind.”

The woman bowed again, her face showing much more relief.

Xu Milu took the book and asked in return, "So how do you and your two children plan to make a living in the future?"

The woman smiled and patted her son's head.

“My elder sister and brother-in-law are now making a living in the canal gang. With this money, I can buy some land in my hometown. Although it is not as rich as Chang'an, I can live comfortably there. Dalang, Wenniang, kowtow to our benefactor again.”

The two children obediently kowtowed, their eyes clear and bright.

"Alright then, I won't see you off, sister-in-law. I wish you a safe journey."

Xu Milu smiled slightly and said nothing more.

...

The fact that Li Dahu's family had come to visit could be kept secret from others, but it couldn't be kept from the sharp-eyed Monkey King next door. The mother and her two children had barely left when Sun Wukong jumped down from the wall:

"For a demon like Xiaolong, a single meal of this food would increase his magical power by two days. How much more so for a wandering soul? You truly deserve to be called her benefactor—how is that Xiaolong doing? Is he still clamoring to return to his Dongting Lake to be the mountain king?"

Xu Milu shook her head, and couldn't help but laugh when she thought about Mo Xuan's attentiveness these past two days:

"He's found out these past few days that it's good for him, so he's been working even harder than me to open the shop. Yesterday I slept in a little late, and he had already hung up the banner for me. He even caught a fox and forced people to eat at the restaurant. This morning, before dawn, he went to the mountains to catch snails."

"Snails?"

Sun Wukong became interested: "When I used to travel in the mountains, I often saw snails in the streams, usually in bunches. Could they be used as a dish?"

"Of course, as summer draws to a close, we can't miss having a drink. The stir-fried snails are spicy and numbing, and paired with a refreshing drink, they're the perfect way to beat the heat."

Xu Milu smiled and turned around, bringing over a basket of plump, round, juicy grapes:

"Although the Great Sage cannot eat snails, he can drink some vegetarian wine. In a couple of days, the fruit wine I brewed should be ready to drink. I will definitely put a few bottles in front of the Buddha as an offering—these are freshly picked fruits, enough to brew wine. Great Sage, please try some?"

The thirty acres of ping-pong grapes are all ripe. The grape seedlings have been taken over by the Agricultural University, and a new batch of grape seedlings has been planted. This is the freshest batch, and she picked the sweetest ones, specially saving them for Sun Wukong.

Upon seeing the plump, juicy grapes, Sun Wukong blinked his monkey eyes incessantly, grinning broadly and revealing his monkey-like nature.

"Wonderful, wonderful! It's no wonder I, Old Sun, dote on you so much, you little darling! In another half month it will be the West Sea Dragon King's birthday, I'll take you there to broaden your horizons!"

"The Dragon King of the West Sea's birthday?"

Xu Milu couldn't help but get excited: "I've never been to the Dragon Palace before, what kind of gift should I prepare?"

"The old Dragon King has to call me 'Great Sage Grandpa' when he sees me. Why should I pay him any respects? I brought you here. I only said you were my junior. Do you think anyone would dare ask you for a gift?"

Sun Wukong was beaming with pride. He put a grape the size of a ping-pong ball into his mouth without even spitting out the skin, and ate it with great joy. It was clear that he liked it very much.

Xu Milu made up her mind to introduce more fruits with spiritual energy to Earth in the future, not for any other reason than to watch the Great Sage do a mukbang!

...

...

"Madam Xu, Madam Xu, how are these snails?"

Mo Xuan, shirtless, carried two large buckets home, ignoring the stares of onlookers who thought he was crazy, his face beaming with pride:

"I did as you said, and I didn't choose any of the bigger snails. I only picked the clean ones that grow in deep mountain streams. Are you satisfied with that? Can we make them into food?"

Ever since discovering the hidden secrets behind Xu Milu's cooking, Mo Xuan, this spineless dragon, has completely let loose, practically glued to the stove every day, waiting for Xu Milu to serve him food.

Xu Milu squatted down and grabbed a handful of snails to examine them closely. She noticed that the snails were slightly elongated, with hard, dark shells and little algae on them. It was clear that Mo Xuan had carefully selected them, and she nodded in satisfaction.

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