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

Xin Heng's face flushed red instantly, his eyes filled with shame.

Having served as an official in the imperial court, he had naturally read many books and was familiar with the idiom "a gentleman keeps away from the kitchen."

However, this is the common way people use this allusion.

No one cared about the rest; they just picked out one sentence and equated it with "men should stay away from the kitchen."

Apart from those lower-class men who made a living solely from cooking, any wealthy man who had read a few books would never enter the kitchen.

After all, women are meant to cook and clean, while men have a much larger world to explore and should strive to achieve great things in the court.

"I...I just feel that it's inappropriate for Minister Yan to be in the kitchen..." Xin Heng stammered.

He felt that instead of wasting precious time in the kitchen, it would be better to read more classic texts.

Yan Wenli chuckled and said, "What's with all this talk about status? There's joy in studying, and there's joy in cooking. If I weren't so stupid, I'd love to learn a few tricks from Madam Shen."

"What's so fun about cooking?" Xin Heng said dismissively.

The joy of cooking...

Shen Qing smiled slightly: "Today, I'll treat everyone to something new."

"Something new?!" Yan Wenli's eyes lit up instantly.

"I just need to trouble Lord Yan to prepare a few copper pots and a few small stoves."

"several?"

"We'll prepare as many as there are people."

"One pot per person???" Mrs. Yan exclaimed in surprise, her face filled with anticipation.

Each person has their own pot; it's so fresh, truly fresh!

Shen Qing smiled and said, "Yes, one pot per person."

"Don't worry, no problem, I'll have someone get it done right away!!" Yan Wenli dashed out of the kitchen.

Shen Qing continued to give instructions in the kitchen:

"Use only the leaves of the Chinese cabbage, not the stems, cut them into long strips, and wash them clean."

Wash the spinach whole and arrange it on a plate.

"Also, prepare vegetables such as garland chrysanthemum and pea shoots and put them on a plate."

Cut the tofu into cubes, the bean curd sheets into strips, soak the shiitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms, trim the roots off the enoki mushrooms, and wash them.

"Slice the lamb and pork belly into thin slices!"

As they spoke, the people in the kitchen began to move.

Guo Tiancheng's knife slicing, with a series of clangs, turned fresh meat into thin slices.

Situ Liang, meanwhile, was using another knife to cut tofu, bean curd sheets, and other ingredients.

Mrs. Yan washed the vegetables with a smile on her face.

Xin Heng stood helplessly at the kitchen door, feeling awkward and uncomfortable.

He didn't want to go into the kitchen.

Everyone else in the room was busy, but he was the only one idle, which made him feel quite uncomfortable.

It's that feeling of not knowing whether to go in or not.

"Lord Xin, could you please get me a few bowls?"

Just then, Shen Qing's voice rang out.

"Okay!" Xin Heng replied without hesitation, and immediately relaxed.

As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, he belatedly frowned.

Wait... how did he get into the kitchen?

Never mind, it's just getting a few bowls, it doesn't count as cooking.

It's just that standing there dry at the door is really uncomfortable.

Xin Heng, new to the kitchen, found everything fascinating. He walked cautiously and stumbled along, finally managing to hand the bowl to Shen Qing after a while.

Shen Qing took the bowl and, while busy peeling garlic, said, "Lord Xin, could you peel two more cloves?"

Peeling garlic?

He had never done this job before.

Even when people wanted to eat garlic on ordinary days, the servants would peel it and serve it to them.

"I don't know how..." he said instinctively.

Situ Liang, standing nearby, couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Hahaha, Lord Xin, you're such a grown man and you can't even peel garlic?"

"Even a three-year-old from an ordinary family could do that!"

"I'll teach you!"

Without saying a word, Situ Liang took a clove of garlic and demonstrated.

Xin Heng felt he was being mocked. He wanted to refute it, but he had no reason to do so.

"The garlic we serve at home is always peeled..." he couldn't help but whisper.

"Then you're really pitiful. You're so old and you've never even peeled garlic. You're missing out on so much life experience." Situ Liang sighed dramatically.

"Can you tell the difference between spinach and cabbage? Is this chives or scallions?" Situ Liang asked a couple more questions.

Xin Heng's face turned red.

No, it's just cooking, why are there so many intricacies involved?

"Follow me, hold the garlic clove, pinch both ends, and then peel it." Situ Liang began his earnest instruction.

Xin Heng picked up a clove of garlic and began to study it seriously, his expression solemn, as if he were doing some delicate work.

The first one peeled very slowly, but gradually, he peeled faster and faster, becoming more and more addicted to it.

I have to say, peeling garlic is surprisingly stress-relieving.

Soon, a bunch of plump, white garlic cloves were peeled out.

Shen Qing turned his head and couldn't help but smile.

"Lord Xin, that's enough, that's more than enough."

When Guo Tiancheng first entered the kitchen, he chopped a few cucumbers.

Shen Qing decided to make something else, but the cucumbers couldn't be wasted.

So I decided to make a cold cucumber salad with garlic.

"That's enough... that's enough..."

For some reason, Xin Heng felt somewhat disappointed.

He doesn't know what to do again.

But that's alright, it was just peeling garlic with a bowl, there was no frying or cooking, so essentially he had never actually been in the kitchen.

As a man, I find the fumes from the kitchen to be an ominous sign.

Thinking of this, Xin Heng hurriedly retreated outside the kitchen.

Shen Qing saw this and couldn't help but chuckle.

This Lord Xin is quite amusing.

"Master Guo, please make a big pot of soup with pork bones, chicken bones, scallions, and ginger. Make a lot, we'll need it later. I'm going back to the yard to get something." Shen Qing thought of something very important that he hadn't gotten yet, so he said.

"Alright, Madam Shen, you should go quickly." Guo Tiancheng patted his chest, looking like he was taking care of it.

Shen Qing walked all the way to the courtyard where he was temporarily staying, went back to his room, closed the door, and summoned the system.

When I opened the purchasing module, the hot pot base section was still grayed out.

Good heavens, she actually forgot about that.

The competition is over, and the system will no longer provide any additional support.

Now she needs to purchase all the seasonings she requires from the purchasing module.

Now that the vegetables and meat are ready, all that's missing is the hot pot base!

How could we let things fall apart at such a crucial moment?

"System, how do I unlock the hot pot base?" Shen Qing asked in a low voice.

[Ding—A strong demand from the host has been detected. Method to unlock hot pot base is now provided.]

[Method 1: 100 taels of silver; Method 2: Accept the hot pot quest]

"..."

Shen Qing was speechless. One hundred taels of silver to unlock hot pot base? Why doesn't this system just rob it?

In this dynasty, a poor family might not earn a hundred taels of silver in their entire life.

The system is absolutely outrageous!

Suppressing her inner complaints, Shen Qing asked, "What's this hot pot mission?"