I won't be a prince's concubine; I'll cook delicious food and raise two villainous cu

Shen Yu laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight, her stomach aching terribly. Li Shuoya clapped her hands and laughed heartily beside her, her clear laughter echoing in the courtyard.

Li Shuozhou's face flushed red and then turned pale, as if someone had caught him red-handed. He pointed at Shen Yu, both ashamed and angry, and said, "You! How dare you mock someone else's shortcomings! That's not the behavior of a gentleman!"

Shen Yu clutched her stomach and laughed uncontrollably, deliberately teasing, "Oh dear, what a pity, I'm not a gentleman, I'm a woman. Hahaha..."

Seeing her smug look, Li Shuozhou was so angry that he almost ground his teeth to powder. In the end, he couldn't bear to stay any longer and could only flee back to his room, where he used even louder reading to cover up his embarrassment.

Hearing the clear reading voice coming from inside the room, Shen Yu couldn't help but smile. In her heart, she felt that this usually sharp-tongued young boy had become a little more adorable.

She leaned on her cane and walked to the bamboo cage. Sure enough, there were two chickens inside, two plump hens. Her face lit up with delight as she looked at Li Xiaoyun: "Young Master! With these two hens, we can have eggs for Ya'er and Erlang every day to nourish them!"

In Shen Yu's opinion, eggs are an excellent tonic.

Upon hearing her words, Li Xiaoyun's eyes lit up slightly. Her gaze fell on her smiling face, but her hands moved even faster as she wove the chicken coop, clearly wanting to finish it before dark.

Shen Yu then turned her gaze to the large basket beside her, which contained several bulging burlap sacks. Curious, she asked Li Xiaoyun, "Young Master, what's in this basket?"

"You'll know once you open it and see," Li Xiaoyun replied without looking up.

Shen Yu quickly stepped forward, opened the sack, and was surprised to find a sack of rice, a sack of wheat flour, and a sack of pea flour inside! Her eyes widened in astonishment: "This! There's so much food?!"

If the two hens were a pleasant surprise, then the basket of grain on her back was far beyond Shen Yu's expectations.

She immediately looked at Li Xiaoyun, wanting to know where the grain came from.

Feeling a little uncomfortable under her gaze, Li Xiaoyun could only explain, "I went down the mountain today and bought some more food in the village. As long as I have money in hand, why should I be afraid of not being able to buy food?"

He had long noticed that Shen Yu used a lot of ingredients when cooking, and the previous rice and noodles were definitely not enough. In addition, seeing that his younger siblings loved her cooking, Li Xiaoyun naturally wouldn't be stingy. He also tried his best to get the things that Shen Yu had mentioned wanting before.

Shen Yu looked at the grains and smiled brightly, her little hands unable to resist touching and stroking them, her heart filled with joy.

Li Xiaoyun glanced at her, then quickly looked away.

Just then, Li Shuoya ran over, holding something high like a treasure: "Sister, sister! Look at this beautiful gem!"

Shen Yu looked down and saw that what she was holding in her hand was the thumb ring that Prince Yu had left behind before he departed.

Li Xiaoyun glanced at it with disdain and immediately told Li Shuoya to throw away the ring.

Shen Yu snatched the ring away, saying, "It's such a waste to throw it away! This thing might be worth a lot of money! We can save it to buy Erlang books, writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, and to buy Ya'er jewelry and new clothes. Wouldn't that be great?"

In her previous life, she had pawned this ring for sixty taels of silver, only to later discover that she had been cheated by the pawnshop clerk; the ring was actually worth a thousand taels! Even if she didn't sell it now, she could keep it for future emergencies.

Seeing that she insisted on keeping it, Li Xiaoyun said in a deep voice, "If this thing causes trouble, please don't involve us, young lady."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yu couldn't help but stare at Li Xiaoyun and scrutinize him closely.

This man looks rugged and simple, like an ordinary mountain dweller, but is he really just a Li Xiaoyun?

He turned down the opportunity to rise to the top, preferring to offend influential people rather than flatter or fawn over them, and even painstakingly nurtured his younger brother's education.

Shen Yu was filled with doubts. In her previous life, the Li siblings became powerful figures in the capital, controlling the government and manipulating the Li dynasty's power. However, their elder brother had disappeared without a trace and no one had ever mentioned him.

Her intuition told her that the three siblings of the Li family were hiding many secrets.

Regardless, the fact that Prince Yu was driven away by Li Xiaoyun put Shen Yu in a great mood, and she decided to make dumplings to celebrate that evening.

Shen Yu chopped the cabbage, marinated it with salt for a while, squeezed out the water, then kneaded the dough, rolled it out, cut the dough sheets, mixed the leftover oil residue with the cabbage, added melted lard and a little salt to make the filling.

By the time all the plump, white dumplings were wrapped, it was already completely dark outside.

Li Shuoya's stomach was already growling with hunger. Smelling the aroma of dumplings, she immediately ran to the kitchen door and asked, "Sister, is it time to eat?"

Shen Yu affectionately pinched her little nose: "Dinner will be served soon. Go tell your second brother and older brother to wash their hands. We're going to eat dumplings!"

"Dumplings? Sister, what are dumplings?" Li Shuoya blinked her big eyes, looking very curious.

Shen Yu was stunned; she hadn't expected that they had never even eaten dumplings before.

When Li Xiaoyun and Li Shuozhou sat down at the table, plates of white and tender dumplings were served. Li Shuozhou dared not touch his chopsticks and could only look longingly at his brother.

But the enticing aroma kept wafting into his nose, and he couldn't help but swallow his saliva repeatedly, thinking to himself: These white and tender things that look like little gold ingots are dumplings.

Li Xiaoyun was also somewhat surprised. Dumplings were not a rare food, but they were a dish that had never appeared in this family before.

He always cooks simply, usually just porridge, steamed buns, and rice, maybe stir-frying a couple of dishes. The food his younger siblings have been eating these past few days is the best they've had in years.

No wonder Shen Yu won over the two children's stomachs so quickly; Li Xiaoyun was completely convinced.

Seeing her younger siblings' expectant looks, Li Xiaoyun felt a little guilty and said softly, "Eat."

As soon as she finished speaking, Li Shuoya immediately picked up a dumpling and put it in her bowl, and Li Shuozhou also quickly picked up two.

When Shen Yu brought the noodle soup to the table, the two children had already started wolfing it down.

Li Shuoya was panting from the heat, but she still kept eating and exclaiming, "Ah! It's hot! But it's so delicious...so fragrant!"

Shen Yu smiled and patted her head: "Eat more if you like it, but I'll set a limit for you. You can only eat a maximum of twelve."

"As long as Ya'er can control herself, I'll make it for you every day from now on."

Li Shuoya looked troubled, wanting to eat more but also hoping to eat such delicious dumplings again in the future. She pleaded softly, "Sister, can't I really have one more?"

"Okay, then I'll make an exception and let you eat thirteen." Shen Yu readily agreed.

Li Shuoya immediately beamed with joy, holding the bowl and counting as she ate, thoroughly enjoying herself.

Seeing how well Shen Yu had disciplined her gluttonous younger sister, Li Xiaoyun was very satisfied and picked up her chopsticks to join in eating dumplings.

Taking a bite of the dumpling, Li Xiaoyun thought to himself: Although the texture wasn't as rich as he remembered, the taste was surprisingly delicious. He couldn't resist biting into another dumpling to take a closer look and found that it was filled with cabbage and mixed with crispy fried pork cracklings. The sweetness of the cabbage and the crispy aroma of the pork cracklings blended together in his mouth, making it exceptionally delicious.

Li Xiaoyun looked at Shen Yu, never expecting that this seemingly delicate woman would have such talent and ingenuity in cooking.

Shen Yu also picked up her chopsticks and started eating. Although the seasonings for the dumplings were simple and the ingredients were ordinary, she felt happier and more satisfied with each one she ate.

In the last days of her previous life, because Princess Yu had passed away, the entire estate observed mourning and ate vegetarian food. She hadn't had such a comforting meal in a long time.