When the sun was high in the sky, Zhao Hao stretched lazily and walked out of the main room.

The Gao family father and son were in the courtyard, watching the carpenter measuring the size of the doors and windows. Zhao Hao no longer needed to worry about such chores as replacing doors and windows, painting walls and changing tiles.

Seeing that the young master had gotten up so early, Old Man Gao hurriedly prepared toiletries for him and said with a smile, "The master also said that the young master stayed up all night writing poetry last night and could not get up until noon today."

"Hmm..." Zhao Hao responded vaguely. In fact, he went to bed earlier than usual last night, and he couldn't fall asleep at this moment.

He didn't write the poem, he just wrote it out from his mind. How much time would that take?

The so-called staying up all night was just Zhao Shouzheng’s imagination.

Although Zhao Hao had no intention of becoming famous through poetry, he would not argue about this matter with Old Man Gao.

After he washed his face with Wanxiangju's soap and brushed his teeth with the best tooth powder, Old Man Gao brought him breakfast.

"Huh?" Zhao Hao looked at the duck blood vermicelli and steamed buns on the table and felt that they looked familiar.

"This was sent by Miss Qiaoqiao this morning. She said she would make it for breakfast next time." Old Man Gao said happily, feeling that he had saved money for the young master again. However, he saw Zhao Hao picking up the vermicelli in the bowl with chopsticks and he had lost his appetite.

"Why, sir, is it not to your liking?" Old Man Gao observed and said, "Then let's go to another one later..."

"Did you bring the flour I asked you to grind yesterday?" Zhao Hao put down his chopsticks and looked at Old Man Gao.

"How could an old man neglect the young master's order?" Old man Gao immediately took out a rough porcelain bottle the size of a fist from his arms and presented it to him like a treasure.

Zhao Hao took it, pulled out the cork, and an enticing aroma wafted into his nose.

He tilted the bottle and poured some powder into his hands. He saw that the scallop powder was much finer than his white sugar.

“How can it be ground so finely?”

"First cut it into small pieces, and then grind it slowly with a small stone mill. Anyway, I feel it is not enough, so I grind it for most of the night." Old Man Gao smiled reservedly.

"The old man is very particular about his work!" Zhao Hao gave him a thumbs up.

"I used to make bird guns. I had to knock a gun barrel 100,000 times. What's the point of this little skill?"

"Hehe..." Zhao Hao thought to himself, if you weren't a gun maker, why would I care about you so much?

As he spoke, he poured all the powder in his hand into the soup bowl, stirred it with a spoon, scooped a spoonful to taste it, and immediately a long aftertaste sound came out.

"Yeah, it tastes like that..."

"Sir, will the taste be different if you add this?" Seeing Zhao Hao drinking several sips with an intoxicated look on his face, Old Man Gao asked curiously.

"Just try it." Zhao Hao handed him the spoon.

Old man Gao wiped his hands and took it, scooped a spoonful and put it into his mouth. He found that the duck blood vermicelli soup that he was used to drinking had a completely different taste, so delicious that it made him want to cry.

"This, this, this is too delicious, right?" Old man Gao began to tremble with excitement. He wanted to drink a few more sips but was too embarrassed to do so.

"Let's drink it all." Zhao Hao waved his hand and took a steamed bun to eat. He thought that scallops were no joke, they were more delicious than chicken essence. The healthiest natural MSG in four hundred years...

Old Man Gao also felt that he couldn't let the young master touch the soup he had drunk. So he took it and drank it mouthful by mouthful, his face dancing with joy as he praised it endlessly, "How can there be such a delicious and exquisite thing in this world? I will never forget this taste in my life..."

"Oh, keep your voice down..." Zhao Hao glanced at the carpenter who was busy outside and whispered, "It's just a secret recipe. If people know it, it's not a secret recipe anymore."

"That old guy..." Old Man Gao couldn't help but feel a sinking feeling in his heart.

"My uncle and his son are my family, so of course it's okay." Zhao Hao is good at winning people's hearts, and said to Old Man Gao with a smile.

"Don't worry, sir. I will keep this secret to myself. I won't tell anyone, even Gao Wu!" Old Man Gao felt a warm current surge up and he patted his chest and promised.

~~

Zhao Hao spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen of the blacksmith shop, studying the final formula with Old Man Gao.

In order to achieve the best effect, he also contributed the last pound of sugar in his home... That was what Zhao Shouzheng used when he went to Deheng last time. Because Mr. Zhao was extremely unhappy with Mr. Zhang, he actually brought the more than one pound of sugar back home and ate a few ounces of it in the past two days.

According to his memories from his previous life, Zhao Hao asked Old Man Gao to add a little ginger juice, white sugar and wine to the dried scallops, marinate them, steam them, and then grind them into powder. This would better stimulate their flavor and remove their fishy smell.

Then we tried adding mushroom powder, dried shrimp powder and seaweed powder...on the one hand it was to continue to enhance the flavor, but more importantly it was to make it impossible for people to guess the true ingredients of the powder.

The two of them kept trying and comparing various ingredients until dark, when they finally came up with a recipe that was twice as delicious as using only scallop powder.

Zhao Hao never made things difficult for himself. When he felt that it was almost done, he washed off the ingredients on his hands and told Old Man Gao, "I'll give you twenty taels of silver tomorrow morning. Buy the best ingredients and cook them all the same way for me!"

After a pause, he smiled and said, "Of course, you can continue to explore and see if you can improve the flavor..."

"I understand, young master!" Old man Gao's expression brightened, as if the sense of mission to make guns to fight against the Japanese invaders had returned to him.

"By the way, do you rent or buy this shop?" Zhao Hao asked.

"I rented it at first, but later I bought it for three hundred taels with the money I earned from knocking on gun barrels and killing Japanese pirates by Gao Wu." Old Man Gao replied hurriedly.

"..." Zhao Hao was secretly shocked, thinking that it was no wonder that the old man said that if my family was short of money, he could help. I thought it was just a polite remark, but I didn't expect that he really had the confidence to do so...

Come to think of it, even a shabby yard at the back of his house can be sold for fifty taels. A shop on the second floor facing the street with a backyard would cost around five hundred taels even if it was in Caijia Lane.

Old man Gao had rented the house for a few years, and as the landlord was in urgent need of money, he was able to get it at such a low price.

Zhao Hao could afford the three hundred taels with gritted teeth, but how could he take advantage of his own people?

As for the 2,500 taels borrowed from the pawnshop, he had other uses for the money and could not touch it at all.

"If you need it, just use it." Seeing that he didn't say anything, Old Man Gao took the initiative to say, "This blacksmith shop can't be opened anyway. I'm thinking about whether to sell it or rent it out."

"Have you considered using this shop to directly invest in it?" Zhao Hao asked.

"I told you to take it if you want it," said Old Man Gao anxiously, "You can't be so formal with an old man..."

"Okay, I'll take charge of this matter. Anyway, you and your father won't suffer any loss." Zhao Hao hated procrastination the most. He threw the face towel to Old Man Gao and said, "Don't make dinner. Let's go to the restaurant and order a table of good food to celebrate my father's success."

"Oh... yes." Old man Gao responded, but he was a little confused. He didn't know what kind of skill he was celebrating.

~~

By the time the wine and food were served and the dishes were set, Zhao Shouzheng and Fan Datong also came back.

"Wow, it smells so good..." Fan Datong started shouting outside before he even entered the door.

Zhao Hao came to the patio with a smile on his face, and confidently bowed and said with a smile: "Congratulations, father, for your success."

"Alas, it's hard to put it into words..." Zhao Shouzheng waved his hands and bowed to Zhao Hao, saying, "I'm sorry, I've caused trouble for my son again."

"What kind of trouble could it be?" Zhao Hao was already used to it and could even laugh.

Zhao Shouzheng stepped aside and saw something shining in the darkness.

Zhao Hao couldn't help but be stunned, thinking that his father's lighting tool was quite interesting, and wondered where he found it from?

ps. The second update is here, please vote for me and comment~~~

ps2. Thanks to the new leader 'Black Fish' for the reward. There will be another update in the evening~~~~