Shocking! The entire court was drooling with envy because of me.

Filled with doubt and curiosity, Li Duan picked up a piece and put it in his mouth.

The moment you bite into it, the juice explodes in your mouth. The first sensation is sourness, a startling sourness, followed by a hint of sweetness that instantly relaxes you.

What a wonderfully unique taste!

He savored the memory for a long time before turning his gaze back to the bowl.

What caught my attention this time was the tender white tofu. It melted in my mouth, not the firm kind, but the extremely tender kind. It had a subtle, slightly sour taste, and after swallowing, my mouth was filled with the aroma of soybeans.

The greens were crisp and refreshing, the mushrooms were smooth and tender, and the egg drop soup was fresh and delicate—it was absolutely amazing!

"Great!!" Li Duan couldn't help but exclaim.

The cook in the manor has improved his skills! He'll have the steward increase the cook's monthly salary later.

Li Duan thought to himself as he buried himself in his food.

The two bowls of tomato and egg noodles were quickly finished, with not a drop of soup left.

"It feels so good. I haven't had such a comfortable meal in ages." He patted his round belly, still somewhat unsatisfied.

This noodle smells so good. It's no exaggeration to say that if there were another bowl here, he would probably eat it all.

Just then, the sound of running footsteps suddenly reached my ears.

The next moment, with a creak—

The door opened.

"My tomato and egg noodles!!!" Wu Cixin shouted.

I went closer to the table and saw that it was completely empty. There were two large empty bowls, not even a drop of soup left, let alone noodles.

"Oh no—my tomato and egg noodles! Oh no, I'm doomed! I won't get tomato and egg noodles!!"

"Why is my life so miserable? It's all gone, all gone! It's all Wu Wendong's fault. If it weren't for Wu Wendong, I would have finished my noodles long ago."

"Tomato and egg noodles, I wonder what they taste like. Oh my god, I'll regret this for the rest of my life!"

"..."

Wu Cixin hugged the bowl and cried bitterly, completely losing the demeanor of a county magistrate's wife, as if she had lost something she cherished.

She couldn't understand how the two perfectly good bowls of tomato and egg noodles had suddenly become empty.

Doesn't Li Duan refuse to eat the food cooked by Madam Shen? Has he lost his mind today?

She didn't eat a single bite of the tomato and egg noodles, not even tasting the tomato flavor.

Li Duan frowned slightly: "It's just a bowl of noodles, isn't it? Just have the cook make another one. Is it really necessary to make such a fuss?"

"To be honest, the noodles today were pretty good. Homemade noodles are just so comforting, much better than that stinky tofu and stuff outside. Let's not buy those weird things anymore."

Wu Cixin was busy crying about her tomato and egg noodles and didn't pay attention to what Li Duan said.

But the more Li Duan talked, the more she realized something was wrong.

"What kind of homemade noodles? These are Madam Shen's noodles, tomato and egg noodles!!" Wu Cixin's voice rose several octaves.

She had never thrown such a tantrum in front of Li Duan before.

Li Duan was stunned and asked incredulously, "Isn't this the kind of noodles the cook at home makes?"

"Do we really have such a skilled chef? This is a tomato and egg noodle dish that I had someone buy from Zhiweixuan; it was made by Madam Shen herself!"

"...It's from Zhiweixuan..." Li Duan was stunned on the spot.

His eyes widened in disbelief, and slowly his face grew redder and redder, his shame and regret becoming clearly visible in his eyes.

No wonder, no wonder so many people are crazy about Madam Shen's food, it turns out that Madam Shen's food is so delicious.

It was so delicious it was almost otherworldly.

Good heavens!

How many good things has he missed out on in the past?

Four Delicacies Soup, stinky tofu... He had several opportunities to try them, but he refused.

No wonder Mr. Qin and Mr. Han joined forces to carve a plaque for Zhiweixuan!

Good heavens, he wished he could beat up his past self!

At this moment, Li Duan felt both ashamed and remorseful.

Faced with Wu Cixin's mournful face, he could only comfort her, "It's the same if you buy it tomorrow. I'll buy it for you tomorrow. Tomato and egg noodles, you can eat as many bowls as you want."

In an instant, Wu Cixin felt even more distressed.

"Madam Shen sells different kinds of noodles every day; I'm afraid I'll never get to eat tomato and egg noodles again in my lifetime..."

Li Duan felt somewhat guilty at this moment.

After a long pause, he slowly spoke: "How about... I describe it to you..."

Before Wu Cixin could nod, Li Duan began to speak on his own:

"That sweet and sour stuff must be tomatoes. They're bright red and lying in the soup. When you bite into them, the juice bursts out, and they have a great texture."

"The egg drop soup was so smooth and tender that it slipped into my mouth with the noodles without me even realizing it, and it was incredibly delicious."

"..."

"Alright, stop talking!!" Wu Cixin swallowed hard and spoke up decisively.

Goodness, after hearing these words, she was even more tempted, and it made her heart itch with desire.

Being able to hear but not eat is no different from being tortured!

It's so painful!

......

That evening, Wu Wendong took five taels of silver to the largest casino in Ping'an County.

He likes to gamble at night; it's more exciting and feels better.

"Oh, Mr. Wu, you've finally arrived! Without you, the gambling in this casino wouldn't be as fun anymore," a casino waiter greeted him warmly.

Wu Wendong curled his lips into a smile, a surge of joy welling up from the bottom of his heart. He felt a series of pleasant emotions, including happiness, excitement, and delight.

"Big! Big! Big!!"

"Small! It's definitely small!"

"..."

The cacophony of sounds rose and fell around me, carrying with it excitement and making my heart race.

Wu Wendong was overjoyed. He had a premonition that he would have good luck today and would surely win a lot of money.

"Young Master Wu, how much money did you bring today? What are you planning to do later?" The casino waiter asked eagerly.

Wu Wendong was a regular at the casino, and he was extremely generous, spending fifty or sixty taels or even over a hundred taels in one night.

Fortunately, the Wu family was well-off; otherwise, they would have been starving long ago.

"I only brought five taels today," Wu Wendong said frankly.

"Just five taels? Not fifty taels??"

"That's five taels."

Wu Wendong knew that five taels of silver was a small amount, but he didn't think it was a big deal.

To him, five taels of silver and fifty taels of silver were the same; in a casino, a true master would always win more with less.

Today, he is going to become a true master!

"Only five taels..." The casino clerk was extremely disappointed. "Five taels is fine, but this amount of silver isn't enough in other places. I recommend you try something new."

"Something new?" Wu Wendong asked curiously. Was there some new game he hadn't tried before in this casino?

"Yes, it just opened today. You can participate no matter how much money you have, and the people who play this game are all rich."

"Let's go take a look!" Wu Wendong was very excited.