The Su Family's Secret Inherited Technique

Heroine Chen did not care why Su Mo wanted to buy a dog.

She drew in a deep breath and stared reluctantly at the cured meat and stir-fried vegetables in the pot. "Then hurry up!"

"I'm going!"

When he reached the door, he turned back and reminded her, "Don't sneak bites of my cured meat!"

Su Mo...

That's my cured meat, all right!

Who would have thought Heroine Chen was such a big eater? How did she maintain such a good figure?

In this era, commoners had very few varieties of food.

They mostly steamed or boiled things!

Restaurants had braising, stewing, and roasting in addition to that. At most, they would add a few spices for flavor.

Unscalded pork had a strong, gamey stench. Anyone who had eaten meat from an old sow knew how disgusting that smell was.

But ordinary commoners could not afford mutton or chicken. When they had the rare chance to eat meat, it was usually pork.

It was easy to imagine how awful pork stewed in plain water tasted.

On his eighteenth day after transmigrating, Su Mo finally could not stand it anymore. Gritting his teeth, he took two taels of pure silver to a blacksmith's shop and had an iron pot forged.

Fine iron was not cheap. It was excellent material for crafting weapons.

A fine-iron pot weighing more than ten jin, which also had to be forged exceptionally thin and even, was extremely difficult to make. Even with two taels of silver, the blacksmith had been somewhat unwilling.

After Chen Gan learned about it, he had given Su Mo a thorough scolding for being a wastrel.

After that, he began finding excuses to visit Su Mo every few days!

And he even packed leftovers to take away!

Su Mo's culinary skills were not actually that good. They certainly could not compare with a restaurant chef's. He had simply grown tired of fast food in his previous life, so he had taught himself by practicing recipes.

But he was generous with oil, and he used refined salt, which did not have the bitterness of ordinary coarse salt.

Then he added ginger, scallions, dogwood, peppercorns, star anise, and other seasonings.

To people of ancient times who were used to meat boiled in plain water, it was practically a dimensionality-reduction attack!

Carrying the rice bucket and stir-fried vegetables, he entered the inner hall.

Xue Yishu had already tidied herself up impeccably and arrived in the inner hall.

She was listening to Heroine Chen boast about Su Mo's cooking.

But no matter how Heroine Chen praised him, the county magistrate's daughter merely smiled without saying anything.

She probably did not believe that a constable who only knew how to bully the common people could possess such excellent culinary skills!

Su Mo walked to the doorway.

Heroine Chen twitched her nose. "He's here!"

"It smells so good!"

"Hmph! You'll know right away that I wasn't lying to you!"

"I used to eat things cooked in a huge pot. He puts the meat and vegetables directly into the pot without adding a single drop of water, and somehow they don't burn. It's truly amazing!"

That heroine's nose was as sensitive as a dog's!

Hearing her, Su Mo was speechless.

"Stop boasting about me!"

"It's just some ordinary cured meat stir-fried with vegetables!"

He turned to the astonished Xue Yishu. "Brother Xue, eat more too. There won't be anything to eat at noon, so you'll have to wait until evening!"

"After you finish eating, come with us to the Eastern Market."

Xue Yishu pulled her gaze away from the rice bucket and asked in surprise, "What?"

"I'm going with you to the Eastern Market too?"

"What if... I'm discovered?"

Su Mo smiled. "Wouldn't that still be better than staying here and having them come looking for you?"

Xue Yishu thought about it and realized he was right.

With Su Mo gone, what could she use to resist the household servants?

She could not use the Jade Sword Talisman, either.

Her uncle had said that this talisman's power was astonishing. It could take a person's life with a single activation, so it must not be used lightly.

Furthermore, the Jade Sword Talisman could only be used three times.

She had already used it once.

"Very well. I rarely go out, so it would be nice to visit the marketplace and have a look!"

Xue Yishu was actually rather eager.

In an entire year, she could only go out openly eight or ten times at most.

For occasions such as the Shangyuan Festival, the Lantern Festival, or the Qixi Festival, or when attending poetry gatherings held by young women.

Aside from that, she either studied the teachings for women in the rear residence or practiced embroidery, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting—dull pursuits like those.

Everything outside was fresh to her.

When she saw the large basin of cured meat and stir-fried vegetables Su Mo placed on the table, Xue Yishu's attention was immediately drawn over.

The vegetables were green, the meat red, and the garlic white. A sheen of oil glistened over them. They truly smelled wonderful, and they looked so appetizing that the gluttonous worms in her belly began to stir!

Then she asked in surprise, "Stir-fried vegetables?"

Su Mo froze. He had not expected that this sheltered young lady would actually know about stir-frying.

Even that old hand, his third uncle, had not known!

Unable to help himself, he asked, "How did you know this was stir-fried?"

Xue Yishu explained, "My uncle once took me to Shenjing to visit a friend. I was fortunate enough to eat stir-fried dishes at Tianyi Tower in Shenjing!"

"But..."

She hesitated briefly. "The stir-fried dishes at Tianyi Tower don't seem as good as yours!"

The culinary skills of Tianyi Tower's master chef, famous throughout the realm, were actually inferior to those of a constable from a rural county town. It was truly difficult to fathom.

Su Mo smiled. "How could that be? I only know a few crude tricks."

Xue Yishu shook her head. "Brother Su, you're being modest!"

"My uncle is a true gourmet. In his youth, he traveled far and wide, tasting delicacies from every prefecture and province under Heaven, yet he still praised Tianyi Tower's stir-fried dishes without end."

"But Tianyi Tower's stir-fried dishes really do look inferior to what Brother Su made!"

Heroine Chen could not stand it anymore. "Stop talking! The food will get cold!"

She eagerly picked up her chopsticks, grabbed a large slice of cured meat, and stuffed it into her mouth.

"Mmm! Delicious! It's absolutely delicious!"

Then she sent another huge mouthful into her mouth.

Her cheeks puffed out. She looked just like a little squirrel with its mouth stuffed full of pine nuts.

Su Mo smiled and urged Xue Yishu, "Miss Chen is right. Eat your fill before talking!"

Xue Yishu nodded and picked up her chopsticks. Then she took out a handkerchief and wiped them before picking up a small slice of cured meat and putting it into her mouth.

Her table manners were countless times more refined than Heroine Chen's.

Her eyes immediately lit up, and the favorability progress bar above her head suddenly jumped.

It rose from 8% to 10%!

Su Mo...

Who would have thought favorability could be raised this way?

He wondered whether this trick would work on the Female Captain.

It really was just as people in later generations said: to capture a man's heart, one first had to capture his stomach.

The reverse was true as well.

Miss Xue began eating with refined manners.

But when she saw Heroine Chen wolfing down food as though a gale had swept through the clouds, and noticed that hardly any stir-fried vegetables remained, she finally could not help speeding up.

Su Mo was left dumbfounded.

Had he underestimated their appetites?

There had been more than a jin of greens and nearly half a jin of cured meat.

How had it nearly all disappeared when he himself had barely eaten any?

Heroine Chen had been so delighted by the meal that she had probably never eaten anything so delicious in her life.

If there had been a progress bar, it would definitely have filled up in one go!

If marrying Su Mo meant she could eat food like this every day, she would immediately drag Su Mo to the civil affairs bureau... Hmm, she probably should say she would immediately pick up a brush and force Su Mo to write a marriage contract and send it to her family!

As she wiped the corners of her mouth, she clicked her tongue in praise and asked, "Su Mo..."

Perhaps directly calling him Su Mo seemed a little distant, because she changed how she addressed him. "Lord Su, what kind of meat is this? Why is it so fragrant?"

Xue Yishu also looked curiously at Su Mo.

Su Mo felt that the way Heroine Chen said "Lord Su" sounded strangely awkward. He smiled and said, "You should just call me Su Mo!"

"It's only pork. Have you never eaten it?"

Heroine Chen's eyes widened. "Pork?"

"How is that possible? Pork smells so foul, doesn't it? It's terribly unappetizing!"

It was not as though she had never eaten pork.

The people in the stronghold often went hunting in the mountains and had caught plenty of wild boars.

Su Mo was just about to explain.

Xue Yishu suddenly said solemnly, "Miss Chen, this is Brother Su's secret inherited technique. It would be best not to ask about it casually."

Heroine Chen understood at once.

Such a secret technique could be treated as a family heirloom.

Even if the descendants of the Su family could not become subordinate clerks, they could rely on this skill to open a restaurant and pass their days eating well, generation after generation.

The stir-fried dishes at Tianyi Tower cost one tael of silver for a small plate, and supposedly one even had to make a reservation to get them!

Even a shabby broom was cherished as if it were precious, let alone a true secret technique that could be passed down to one's descendants!

It could not be taught to outsiders.

Even one's own daughters could not learn it. It was passed to sons, not daughters!

Su Mo merely smiled. "There's nothing that can't be said."

"There are two ways to remove the gamey smell from pork."

"The first isn't convenient to explain to you."

"The second is simple. Use ginger, garlic, and cooking wine to remove the smell, then stir-fry it over high heat."

"The pork also needs a little processing before it's air-dried."

"If you want to learn, I don't mind teaching you, but..."

Xue Yishu stared blankly at Su Mo.

This subordinate clerk had actually revealed his secret technique?

Heroine Chen, meanwhile, hurriedly asked in excitement, "But what?"

"Do I have to take you as my master to learn it?"

"Ah! You won't be my master afterward, so that would mess up our seniority!"

"No! Father said..."

At that point, she hurriedly stopped and covered her mouth tightly!

That had been close!

She had almost let it slip!

Su Mo was speechless. "What are you thinking?"

"I mean, after you learn it, you'll be responsible for the cooking from now on!"

In his previous life, he had learned to cook because he had been a bachelor with no one to care for him, and he had grown tired of fast food. He had had no other choice.

In this life, he finally had status and standing.

Yet there was no one who knew how to cook, so he still had to do it himself.

How was that any different from before he transmigrated?

Now that Heroine Chen had delivered herself to his door, Su Mo naturally would not let the opportunity slip away!

He had found his future cook!

Xue Yishu, meanwhile, regarded Su Mo with solemn respect. "Brother Su truly is a hero who treats money like dung!"

"You're actually willing to generously teach a secret technique for stir-fried dishes worth one tael of silver per plate. I truly admire you!"

Su Mo froze. "What one tael of silver per plate?"

Xue Yishu explained, "Tianyi Tower's stir-fried dishes cost at least one tael of silver, and that only gets you a small dish."

Su Mo subconsciously swallowed.

His gaze turned toward Heroine Chen. "Ahem. Is it too late to take back what I said?"

Xue Yishu was dumbstruck!

Heroine Chen placed the great sword she never left home without on the table. "What do you think?"

Three thousand words of updates—please kneel and beg for your monthly-ticket support! Brothers, please, I'm begging you, pull through for me! This book is at a life-or-death juncture!