In the kitchen, several kitchen ladies were busy washing and cutting vegetables, and cooking over the stove while chatting.

"We're going to move to the inner city from now on," said the vegetable cutter with a smile.

The people of the capital yearned for the inner city, just as Xu Lingyin yearned for good food. Those who lived in the outer city were not necessarily at the bottom of society, but those who lived in the inner city were definitely wealthy.

In terms of livelihood and public security, the inner city was far superior to the outer city, and there were almost no slums in the inner city. Young ladies could go shopping without fear, and even venture into secluded alleys. Of course, such behavior was not encouraged.

"Master Xu is really successful. Madam said that the house cost five thousand taels," said the vegetable washer.

"Five thousand taels? That's about the same as our house," said the cook.

"You don't understand," the vegetable washer retorted. "Madam said that house was worth at least seven thousand taels, even more magnificent than ours."

As for why it only cost five thousand taels, it was because Master Xu was a Nightwatcher, and it was easy for him to buy a house at a low price.

"Madam said she'll take us to live in the inner city in a few days. Let me tell you, the inner city is bustling."

Many of the common people in the outer city rarely had the opportunity to go to the inner city. If they didn't ride or take a carriage, it would take one or two hours to walk from the outer city to the inner city. If they left in the afternoon, they would arrive in the inner city just before sunset.

The servants in the mansion were looking forward to moving to the inner city. They had been working hard these few days, afraid of being dismissed. Except for Lü E, who had been sold to the Xu family since childhood and was a maidservant who could sleep with Master Xu at will, the other servants had a contract.

"I've noticed something..." the vegetable cutter suddenly interjected, and when the other two kitchen ladies looked over, she whispered:

"Madam is increasingly fond of showing off Master Xu. She always talks about him, but when he comes back, she never gives him a good face."

Coughing interrupted the kitchen ladies' conversation.

"Why is Master Xu here?" they asked in surprise.

The kitchen was a greasy and dirty place, not where the masters should come.

"You old ladies are really talkative... I doubt Auntie is showing me off... " Xu Qi'an held a bowl and nodded. "I've made an exclusive recipe and I came to help you cook."

Xu Qi'an looked around the kitchen. It wasn't dirty, but it wasn't clean either. After all, the walls and stove were stained with an uncleanable layer of grease from years of cooking. However, as long as the pots and dishes were washed regularly, there would be no problem.

"What is this?" The kitchen ladies looked at the sticky lump in his bowl.

"It's a good thing. Don't look at it. This is an exclusive recipe," Xu Qi'an said, turning away and not showing his treasure to the kitchen ladies.

The kitchen ladies didn't care and continued to work. Master Xu could stay if he wanted to. He was the master, and they were the servants. There was no reason for the servants to manage the master. Besides, every time Madam argued with him, she would roll her eyes in anger.

Apart from the master, only Erlang, who had a silver tongue, could argue with Master Xu.

Xu Qi'an stood aside and watched as the first dish, stir-fried pork with winter bamboo shoots, was being cooked. While the vegetable cutter was stirring, he added a small spoonful of "chicken essence."Then he picked up a chopstick, tasted it, and nodded slightly.

The flavor was enhanced, but still couldn't compare to real chicken essence.

Inosinic acid and sodium glutamate complemented each other.... to achieve the taste of the past life, they still needed to develop monosodium glutamate.... Xu Qi'an was still satisfied.

The cook saw this and took a chopstick to taste a piece of bamboo shoot.

Her eyes widened instantly, forgetting about cooking.

This taste was both familiar and unfamiliar to her. It had the taste of chicken, but chicken could never be this fresh. A small spoonful actually elevated the freshness of the bamboo shoot by several levels, which was something that broth couldn't achieve.

Xu Qi'an glanced at her and took the spoon to stir the vegetables, preventing them from burning.

"It seems... very delicious?" The other two cooks were somewhat tempted, looking at her.

"Too, too delicious, I've never had such flavorful dishes...." The cook said excitedly.

.....

In the front hall, Xu Lingyue came over at mealtime, looking around and saying in a sweet voice, "Where's big brother?"

Usually at this time, big brother would already be sitting at the table waiting for dinner, teasing Xu Lingyin and swinging her in the rattan nest.

Or arguing with mother, the aunt and nephew looking at each other with dislike.

"He's resting today, probably went to the Official Brothel Sector." Xu Pingzhi, who was wiping his sword, said.

"Dad always talks nonsense, big brother doesn't even go to the theater." Xu Lingyue pouted, looking unhappy.

...Yes, I used to think that too.... Big brother, who didn't go to the theater, was now the person that the Official Brothel Sector's courtesans competed for.

Xu Pingzhi sighed in his heart and said, "He's already at the Qi Refining Realm, he doesn't need to keep himself pure anymore. It's normal for him to go to the Official Brothel Sector, which man doesn't go..."

Suddenly feeling a murderous aura from the side, Xu Pingzhi didn't raise his head and continued to wipe his sword, changing his words, "Your dad and second uncle never go, Xu Ningyan went before, but it was all because of socializing, there was no other way."

"Speaking of which, the men in our Xu family don't like to go to places with fireworks."

Xu Lingyue believed her father's words, thinking that her proud second brother and honest big brother were not the kind of men who liked to linger in places with fireworks.

"Um." She sat down at the table contentedly.

"Mom, I want to go to Guiyue Tower." Xu Lingyin crawled out from under the table, startling her aunt.

Her aunt didn't like to talk to her. Xu Ershi, her uncle, gave her a long lecture, "Lingyin, you can't go to Guiyue Tower often, it takes money."

"Big brother took me there yesterday." Xu Lingyin protested.

"Then go find your big brother." Xu Pingzhi waved his hand, not wanting to educate his daughter anymore. She was too foolish, even the scholars at Yunlu Academy couldn't teach her.

Her aunt sighed, "The cook at Guiyue Tower is said to have come from the palace, and his cooking skills are a masterpiece in the capital. It would be great if our family could hire such a cook."

"It smells so good..." Xu Lingyin suddenly said, twitching her nose and looking outside.

A second too late, Xu Pingzhi, who was at the peak of the Qi Refining Realm, also smelled the strong fragrance.

Suddenly, the cooks came in with the food, followed by Xu Qi'an. However, even Xu Lingyue, who usually loved big brother the most, didn't pay attention to him, her gaze firmly fixed on the dishes.

Stir-fried pork with winter bamboo shoots, vinegar-braised cabbage, yam soup, scrambled eggs with chives, lotus root stewed with pork ribs, spicy stir-fried water bamboo shoots... and the pig's trotters that Xu Qi'an fried himself.

"Today's dishes smell so good." Xu Pingzhi said unexpectedly.He waved his hand and brought over a crispy pork hock, smothered in gray sauce. Sniffing the delicious aroma, Xu Pingzhi couldn't wait to stuff it into his mouth and chew.

"Is it really this delicious?" He exclaimed in shock.

"Master is exaggerating." Auntie pursed her lips. When the cook finished arranging the dishes, she picked up a chopstick of bamboo shoots, chewed a few bites, and instantly widened her beautiful eyes.

The dish was just a regular dish, nothing special, but the burst of flavor exploded in their taste buds, bringing a sensory impact.

Usually, when cooking, at most one spoonful of broth is poured, and broth is also divided into different grades, which is not as delicious as imagined because the broth of this era is not mixed with seasonings such as MSG to enhance the flavor.

Even drinking chicken soup or eating mushrooms, just eating mushrooms alone is already considered delicious, but Xu Qian used the essence extracted from two entire baskets, which had an extremely strong impact on the taste buds.

Auntie looked at the cooks in amazement, her eyes shining: "Today's dishes are different from usual. How did you do it?"

Xu Lingyue and Xu Pingzhi also stopped eating and waited eagerly for the cook's answer.

Only Xu Lingyin didn't care. She only cared about how much delicious food she could eat.

"It's Dalang's secret recipe..." The kitchen quickly waved their hands.

The whole family looked at Xu Qian, and Xu Pingzhi exclaimed in surprise: "Where did you get the recipe?"

Xu Lingyue and Auntie looked at him curiously.

Xu Qian put down his chopsticks and explained, "I just felt that the food at home was bland, and the food at Guiyue Tower was too expensive, so I experimented with some things myself and it looks like the taste is not bad."

Uncle Xu nodded slightly, turned his head to look at the table, and widened his eyes: "Xu Lingyin!"

Xu Lingyin climbed onto the table and moved the dishes closer to herself.

"They're all mine." She raised her eyebrows and said crisply.

...

Xu Qian arrived at the yamen at the hour of the ox and did nothing until noon, busy dealing with the Nightwatchers who had returned from prison.

They had already learned about the fall of the Minister of Public Works and knew about the case that would decide whether they stayed or left.

If it weren't for Xu Qian's role in the middle, the fate of many of them might have changed.

After finally dealing with them, Xu Qian tied on his Nightwatcher badge, hung his sword, and the afternoon's duty was to patrol the streets.

"Ning Yan, you haven't been to the Official Brothel Sector in a while." Zhu Guangxiao suddenly said.

Because I now have the illusion that it's not me who's visiting the courtesans, but they're the ones visiting me... Xu Qian helplessly said, "I feel like I'm close to breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm and plan to try to reach the Core Formation realm."

This novel is available on "p𝑎wread.com".

Foundation Establishment realm... Zhu Guangxiao and Song Tingfeng looked at him in surprise.

They were also in the Foundation Establishment realm, which was not difficult, as long as they accumulated their breath and stepped into the realm, it was only a matter of time.

What was difficult was accumulating merit and exchanging it for visualization diagrams.

But Xu Qian had only joined the Nightwatchers for two months at most, and he was already in the Foundation Establishment realm. What kind of aptitude was this?

"Then you better accumulate merit well." Song Tingfeng said sourly, then added gloomily, "But with the accumulation you've had since the Sanbo case, I feel like it's already enough."

"Okay." Xu Qian lightly changed the subject, "I plan to accumulate merit for two weeks before going to the Official Brothel Sector."The Official Brothel Sector was always the liveliest topic among them. Song Tingfeng winked and said, "Miss Fu Xiang is in trouble."

"She's not in trouble, she's just overflowing, like the one on the right..." Xu Qi'an glanced to his right.

As they walked towards the yamen, their attention was drawn to a tall and sturdy monk in a green robe, with a thick Buddhist bead necklace around his neck and scars on his bald head. It was Heng Yuan.

Upon seeing Xu Qi'an, Heng Yuan's eyes lit up and he greeted him with folded hands, "Master Xu."

Xu Qi'an interrupted him, "I don't have time for pleasantries, Master Heng. I only make five taels of silver a month and can't afford to lend money."

Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao glared at Heng Yuan, who had come to borrow money from Xu Qi'an.

After being refused, Heng Yuan bowed and said, "I understand."

As Heng Yuan walked away, Xu Qi'an couldn't help but think of his father who used to deliver vegetables to him at school, only to leave with a lonely figure after being scolded for being late. "Wait," Xu Qi'an called out to Heng Yuan, "How much do you need to borrow this time? I can't lend too much, I'm short on silver lately."

PS: There may not be an update today, I'm a bit tired and want to sleep.