After finding out everything she wanted to know, Shen Youyou excused herself to continue cooking and left the vegetable patch.
Well… in all this time, she hadn’t really helped plant much at all—she’d just been gossiping!
Since she had already explained to her family the source of her cooking skills, she didn’t feel the need to hide anything. Besides, if she didn’t spread the word about how delicious her food was, how could she use her skills to make a living later?
So, for this big plate of chicken, Shen Youyou truly put her heart and soul into it.
She worked with extra care, and the hand-pulled noodles she made were especially authentic.
It had been so long since she’d eaten hand-pulled noodles herself that even she couldn’t help feeling a little hungry while preparing them.
Compared to the chicken, Shen Youyou actually liked the potatoes and noodles in this dish even more.
After a long while, lunch was finally ready.
The moment she lifted the lid, a mouthwatering aroma wafted far and wide!
The little ones, smelling it, rushed to the kitchen as fast as they could.
“Youyou姐, what are you cooking? It smells amazing!”
“Sister, it smells so good! Can we eat now?”
“Wow! It smells way better than anything else! I can’t wait to eat, I’m drooling already!”
Seeing the exaggerated expressions of the little rascals, Shen Youyou nearly burst out laughing. She quickly responded:
“Alright, we can eat now. Go call Mo Yan to prop up that board outside as a table. Today, we’ll eat outside—the weather’s nice and there’s plenty of space.”
“Got it! I’ll go right away!”
Shen Nan ran off to get Mo Ge. Soon, Mo Yan had set up the makeshift table and brought a few stools from his home. Since Shen Father’s leg was still injured, Li Shi had Shen Youyou serve him a separate portion to eat indoors.
Once everything was ready, everyone sat at the table, staring at the large pot of steaming, delicious-looking food. No one dared to touch their chopsticks at first.
The presentation was… just too tempting.
Finally, Li Shi broke the silence:
“Youyou, what is this? I’ve never seen anything like it!”
Mo Yan nodded in agreement:
“Yeah, I’ve never seen it either. What’s it called?”
Earlier, he hadn’t dared say a word, thinking he was just too uncultured to know such food. Now that even Shen Shi didn’t recognize it, he immediately felt more confident.
It wasn’t him—it was the dish!
Since regaining her consciousness, Shen Youyou seemed so different. She had learned so many new, strange things.
But Mo Yan didn’t ask further—after all, it didn’t really concern him, and he was benefiting from all of it anyway.
Shen Youyou calmly introduced the dish:
“This is called Big Plate Chicken. I used Mo Yan’s chicken, some flour, and the ‘ground eggs’ I dug up outside. The flavor should be really good—go ahead and try it!”
As soon as she finished speaking, Li Shi picked up some noodles and tasted them.
The texture was perfectly chewy and smooth, soaked in the flavorful broth—salty and savory.
This was even better than the braised chicken they had eaten before.
Li Shi couldn’t help but exclaim:
“This is amazing! Everyone, dig in! Youyou, you’re incredible!”
Hearing her praise, everyone eagerly grabbed their chopsticks.
One took some noodles, another a potato, another some chicken, all nodding as they ate.
“Wow, these ‘ground eggs’ can actually be eaten like this! Delicious!”
“The chicken is amazing too—so fragrant! Way better than what Mo Ge made!”
“Ha, yes, it’s way better than what I made. And these noodles—who knew flour could be made into something like this? Delicious and filling.”
“I’ve never eaten ‘ground eggs’ like this before. So tasty! I can’t believe we used to just feed them to the pigs. Oh, I feel so guilty!”
As they ate and chatted, Shen Youyou couldn’t help but smile. She realized that Shen Nan had once collected plenty of ground eggs while out gathering grass, but he had always assumed they were just pig feed. Now, learning that these could be turned into a delicious dish, he ate while crying and regretting it.
Finally, Shen Youyou comforted him:
“Alright, alright, Nan Nan, don’t cry. Next time you dig up ground eggs, bring them to me, and I’ll make something delicious for you. There are so many ways to cook them!”
After that, he was finally consoled.
After finishing the meal, everyone present was completely won over by Shen Youyou’s cooking.
Especially Mo Yan—after tasting the meals she’d made so far, he couldn’t help but reflect on the miserable meals he had been surviving on before.
Truly pitiful!
At the same time, he felt incredibly grateful—this decision to follow her was the best choice he had ever made.
Seeing the little ones so satisfied only amplified that feeling.
Once the three kids patted their bellies, declaring they were full, they went off to play.
Shen He had also finished a large bowl, and when Shen Youyou went to collect the dishes, he quietly praised her:
“Youyou, your cooking is really amazing. Delicious! The old immortal didn’t lie!”
In his eyes, his daughter was truly blessed. Though she had suffered in her early years, with the old immortal’s favor, her life would now surely be smooth and safe.
Shen Youyou helped him lie down and said:
“As long as it’s tasty, Father, you just rest well.”
Then she took the empty bowl away. Li Shi insisted that she shouldn’t clean the kitchen after such a big meal and gently sent her out to play.
To her, her daughter was still just a child. Being able to make such delicious food was already remarkable—she shouldn’t be stuck in the kitchen all the time.
Besides, the scenery up in the mountains was nice, and the place they were living wasn’t deep in the wild. Only small animals would appear nearby, so there was no real danger.
Li Shi was very pleased. Once Shen Father’s leg healed, they planned to build a couple of wooden houses nearby and settle down. Life here already felt far more hopeful than when they were at the old Shen Family.
With Mo Ge being an expert hunter, the children could now regularly eat meat—a luxury they had never even dreamed of in the village.
Although there were other men in the village who sometimes went hunting, their catches were meager and often returned empty-handed.
The small mountain animals were agile and quick, yet Mo Ge always managed to catch them. Maybe it was skill… or maybe it was just destiny.