Mo Yan buried his face in his hands. Really… for a bit of tasty food, these little rascals would shamelessly sell him out without a second thought.
Actually, Shen Youyou had already agreed in her heart when Mo Yan suggested the idea.
She couldn’t stand watching him waste ingredients like that. Now that he volunteered, it suited her just fine.
She was about to say something when her mother cut her off.
“Oh, Mo Ge, you’re too polite! This is easy—just a few extra pairs of chopsticks. Besides, we get to eat your meat too. Honestly, we’re the ones benefiting here! It’s settled, then. From now on, we’ll eat together. No need to be so polite!”
Li Shi was planting vegetables in the garden as she made the decision. To her, this was a good thing. Helping each other in the neighborhood was perfectly normal.
For example, the vegetables she was planting now had been moved from Shen Family Village, courtesy of her friend Shuanzi Niang, earlier that morning.
Hearing Li Shi agree, Mo Yan still glanced cautiously at Shen Youyou. Seeing her smile and nod, he finally relaxed and gave a satisfied “good” before settling in completely.
The two little ones were bouncing up and down, extremely excited.
“Yay! Yay! Yay! This is awesome! From now on, we’ll have delicious food!” they cheered.
Shen Youyou couldn’t help but be caught up in their excitement. She looked at Mo Yan and said:
“I’m still cooking now. You two go play for a while, and I’ll call you when it’s ready.”
But Mo Yan noticed Shen Nan sitting at the doorway, looking enviously at Tuanzi and Yuanzi. After a moment of thought, he pleaded:
“Shen Nan, could you watch these two little rascals for me? I’ve got work to do—I can’t just eat for free.”
Shen Nan hadn’t expected Mo Ge to suddenly ask him, but he quickly agreed:
“Sure! I’ll go right now.”
He ran toward the two little kids. Back in the village, he was often bullied by his elder cousin’s children. They would make the other kids refuse to play with him, so he usually could only watch from afar.
This was the first time someone had actively asked him to join the kids. Seeing his younger brother so happy, Shen Youyou felt a little relieved. Although Shen Nan was two years older than the other two, his height wasn’t much greater, so they could play together.
Soon, the three little ones were playing happily.
With the kids occupied, Mo Yan returned to his own kitchen. He brought over the chicken he had chopped earlier, along with all the seasonings and edible ingredients he had at home.
Since they were going to be eating here for a while, it made no sense to keep everything at his place—better to let Shen Youyou make use of it.
He also took the opportunity to help Li Shi in the yard.
Seeing how diligent the young man was, she didn’t treat him as an outsider. She handed him an iron hoe and asked him to loosen the soil. After a quick demonstration, Mo Yan got to work, looking quite skilled.
Shen Youyou watched him and couldn’t help laughing.
Looking at the ingredients he had brought—there were quite a few, even wheat flour—she noted that Mo Ge had never cooked before. She also looked at the chicken pieces and the vegetables her mother had gotten from other women in the village that morning.
She had already decided what she would cook for lunch.
She skillfully mixed some dough, preparing to make a big plate of chicken for these ancient folks, giving them a taste of modern flavors.
As she prepared the dough and chicken, she suddenly realized she was missing one key ingredient: potatoes!
Her little kitchen had potatoes, but if she clumsily pulled them out, they would definitely ask what it was. And she wasn’t sure if this era even had potatoes.
Standing in the kitchen, she thought for a moment, then came up with a brilliant idea.
Grabbing a sickle, she went outside:
“Mom, I’m going to the front to cut some wild scallions for seasoning!”
“Okay, be careful,” Li Shi said.
The patch of wild scallions wasn’t far, and Li Shi had seen it before—Shen Nan had discovered it while playing. It was flourishing since no one else tended it, which was a lucky bonus for them.
Shen Youyou walked a little, reached the scallions, checked her surroundings, and then communicated with her little kitchen.
In no time, five or six potatoes appeared on the ground before her.
To make them look freshly dug, she even rubbed some fresh soil on them, making them appear just harvested. She grabbed a handful of wild scallions and headed back home with her bounty.
When she got close to the house, she cleared her throat and started her performance:
“Mom! Mom! Look at this! Have you ever seen anything like it? I dug it outside—it looks edible. Come see!”
She ran up to Li Shi, feigning surprise, and held out the produce for her to inspect.
Li Shi, seeing what Shen Youyou held, remained calm:
“Oh, those are ‘ground eggs’—not worth much. Lots of families in the village grow them to feed pigs. They might be producing now! The yield is high, and they don’t need much care, so people like planting them. But pigs don’t even really like them—they’re tasteless. I’ve tried them myself, and yes… not very good. Bland, even worse than sweet potatoes.”
Her mother actually knew this ingredient, which surprised Shen Youyou a little.
And so, Shen Youyou chatted with her mother while helping her plant vegetables, slowly learning about this era.
This dynasty was called the Ning Dynasty. She had never heard of it before, and its history didn’t match where she had lived in her previous life—so she guessed that this ancient world was a fictional dynasty.
Even more bizarre, this era wasn’t lacking in resources. Items like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn were present, but cooking techniques were backward, and seasonings were extremely scarce.
Most households simply boiled or mixed food with coarse salt—direct and crude. Deliciousness was rare.
Looking at Mo Yan, she realized it wasn’t his fault he only knew how to boil chicken with water!
This era was literally a desert of deliciousness.
But for a professional chef like Shen Youyou, this was fantastic news.
It meant she could use her little kitchen, her culinary skills, and the knowledge gap between the two worlds to win over everyone in this dynasty and rise to the peak of her life!