The Western Market had a slave market, and Shen Shaoguang took A Yuan there to look around.

Keeping slaves was common in the current dynasty, while hired workers were rare. When labor was needed, people directly purchased male and female slaves.

Shen Shaoguang analyzed that firstly, this relationship was secure and reliable – slaves were the master’s private property and wouldn’t dare easily disobey their master’s wishes. There was even a rule that “slaves must keep their master’s secrets” – except for major crimes like rebellion, slaves couldn’t report their masters to authorities, or they would face punishment. Secondly, slaves were cheap – an adult male slave with some skills only cost a few taels of silver.

Since arriving in this world, Shen Shaoguang had long abandoned her modern scruples and chose to follow local customs regarding slaves.

The slave market was close to the horse market. After browsing various mules and horses, some weak and some sleek-coated, they inadvertently arrived at the slave market.

The slave market was quite large, with sellers of legendary Kunlun slaves and Silla maids, specialists in beautiful singing girls and dancers, small-scale vendors selling just one or two or three or four slaves, and large slave merchants who penned dozens of slaves.

After asking several individual sellers, none were suitable. It was obvious that if a cook was excellent, their original family wouldn’t easily sell them.

Shen Shaoguang approached a slave merchant in his forties who had twenty to thirty slaves penned nearby for sale.

Two buyers were examining the “quality” like they were buying livestock, quickly selecting three or four relatively attractive maids. Someone took them to the market office to handle the purchase contracts.

Seeing Shen Shaoguang’s approach, the slave merchant politely asked, “What can I do for you, young lady?”

“I want to buy a male servant, preferably one who knows some cooking.”

The slave merchant had records of each slave’s background, age, former master, and skills. Many slave merchants worked in teams, with different people handling buying and selling, making these records necessary.

Although Shen Shaoguang was only buying one slave, the merchant didn’t neglect her, smiling and saying: “Please wait a moment, young lady, while I check my records.”

“As luck would have it, this Yu San used to be a cook,” the slave merchant pointed to a male servant standing at the edge.

Shen Shaoguang looked at Yu San, who appeared to be twenty-six or twenty-seven, tall, with regular features that could even be called handsome, except his brows were furrowed and his gaze was cold, wearing an expression that said: “I don’t care about living anymore, do whatever you want.”

Hmm, he had character!

Shen Shaoguang went closer to look. Whether out of courtesy to a beautiful woman or professional conduct, the slave merchant accompanied her into the slave pen.

“You know how to cook?” Shen Shaoguang asked.

Yu San barely lifted his eyelids to look at Shen Shaoguang, “Yes.”

“What dishes are you best at making?”

Yu San replied flatly, “Mallow soup, bean leaf soup.”

The slave merchant’s face darkened, “Answer the young lady properly!” Mallow was very common, and bean leaf soup was almost considered coarse food – what cook would claim these as their specialties?

Probably thinking it best not to court trouble at the moment, Yu San finally answered: “In earlier years when my old master still had money, I also made roast goose, roasted lamb, and carp sashimi dishes.”

Shen Shaoguang nodded, “Why were you sold?”

“Master was poor, sold me for a full fish banquet at the Jade Willow Tower.”

Shen Shaoguang: “…” Alright, she could somewhat understand why this guy looked so done with life, and why his former master went broke – selling a cook for one meal, what a losing transaction!

The slave merchant, however, thought this cook must either have poor skills or was talking nonsense, mentally blaming his unreliable partner who had purchased this slave. He smiled apologetically at Shen Shaoguang, “Young lady if you’re not in a hurry, another batch will arrive in two days. Perhaps you’d like to come back then?”

Shen Shaoguang smiled at the slave merchant: “No need, I’ll take this one. How much?”

This male servant was in the three-tael category, but now seeing his cooking skills seemed questionable and his ghostly demeanor, the slave merchant couldn’t be bothered to keep and train him, automatically lowering the price to two thousand seven hundred cash.

Shen Shaoguang found the price reasonable, thanked the slave merchant, paid the money, and went to process the official slave purchase contract.

Shen Shaoguang led the proud-walking A Yuan and drooping-headed Yu San home.

The Western Market had everything, so they bought some bedding and daily necessities for Yu San along the way.

Seeing so much money spent on things for Yu San while he maintained that “whatever, just bury me when I’m dead” attitude, A Yuan got quite angry and shot him several dirty looks.

Shen Shaoguang couldn’t help but laugh, not knowing A Yuan had this tendency to bully newcomers…

Since they couldn’t move into the rented house yet, and the temple wouldn’t accommodate male guests, Shen Shaoguang had Yu San stay at the shop first.

Back at the shop, the sun was still high, not yet time to prepare dinner. Shen Shaoguang first took some candy bought at the Western Market to thank Madam Li next door for helping watch the shop and stove, then came back to check on Yu San, “Go wash your hands and face in the back first.”

Yu San responded expressionlessly and went to the back.

Shen Shaoguang had A Yuan buy some Hu flatbreads from Master Qiu, and put some braised pork ribs on the table – they had been stewing since before leaving, and now the meat was falling off the bones.

In this era, only those with some extra money ate three meals a day; those without money only ate two meals. Shen Shaoguang figured Yu San hadn’t eaten lunch.

When Yu San returned, Shen Shaoguang said: “Have some food.”

Yu San glanced at Shen Shaoguang, sat down at the table, and began eating. He must have been truly hungry, eating quickly but not rudely.

After he finished, Shen Shaoguang asked him about his taste.

“Too much sugar, too little salt.”

Shen Shaoguang raised an eyebrow.

“—Better than what I make though.”

“…!” Well, at least he had a good palate. Shen Shaoguang was always good at finding merits in her people.

Shen Shaoguang explained to Yu San that Chang’an people liked sweetness, and since this was a drinking dish eaten without rice, it needed more sugar and less salt.

Yu San nodded.

“Can you cook fish? There’s still a foot-long carp in the back!” Now that he was fed, he could work – naturally, the shop owner needed to test the new cook’s practical skills.

Yu San nodded again, asking Shen Shaoguang: “Cook it now? It should be eaten hot.”

Shen Shaoguang smiled, “If there are no customers, we can eat it ourselves.”

Yu San said nothing more, went to catch the fish from the small water vat in the kitchen, and took it to the back to kill it.

Seeing his fish-killing technique, Shen Shaoguang felt relieved – at least fish-killing wouldn’t be a worry anymore.

Every time she watched A Yuan hit a fish with a stick, Shen Shaoguang felt pain on behalf of the fish. Worse, sometimes the fish would be stunned but not dead, and while cleaning it, the fish would suddenly twitch back to life, flapping its tail, its body convulsing.

As the saying goes, “Seeing it alive, one can’t bear to see it die; hearing its voice, one can’t bear to eat its flesh.” Though Shen Shaoguang wasn’t a gentleman and couldn’t stay away from the kitchen, she still felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Yu San was much more efficient – one knife stroke for a clean kill, truly executioner-level skill.

As cleanly as Yu San killed the fish, he was equally precise in preparing it. He cut off the head and tail, keeping only the thick middle portion, removed the skin and cut it into pieces, then lightly seasoned it and coated it with a thin layer of egg white and starch before deep-frying.

Looking at the discarded fish head and tail, Shen Shaoguang now understood that with this refined cooking style, Yu San’s previous master had probably eaten himself into poverty. Yu San’s claim about being sold for a banquet might well be true.

The fish was fried golden brown and then removed. In a fresh wok, he added oil, heated Sichuan peppercorns, green onions, and ginger until fragrant, then added a sauce mixture of yellow wine, clear sauce, vinegar, and sugar, before returning the fish and reducing the sauce over high heat.

When plated, the edges of the fish pieces were slightly curled up, the sauce rich and glossy. It looked good and smelled fragrant – not braised, not stewed, not sweet and sour, somewhat resembling the “tile block fish” of later times.

Before Shen Shaoguang could taste it, a regular customer who often bought jade-tip noodles came in.

Seeing the fish, the customer’s eyes lit up, and asked Shen Shaoguang with a smile: “Our Lady didn’t eat well at lunch and is having porridge now. She wants something flavorful, so sent us here to look. This fish – is it for sale?”

Faced with that eager look, Shen Shaoguang pressed her lips together, then gave in, “Take it.” She added, “Eat it while it’s hot.”

The regular customer smiled, “Thank you, thank you, I’ll return the plate later.” Restaurants sold food, not plates – that was the rule.

With the freshly cooked fish sold, Shen Shaoguang hadn’t gotten a single bite. She ran a finger along the unwashed wok – hmm, generally savory with a hint of sweet and sour, not bad.

Lin Yan had better luck than Shen Shaoguang – he at least got to eat a piece of fish.

As soon as he entered his grandmother’s room, he smelled the fragrant aroma of fish. His grandmother sat on the couch with a small dining table in front of her, holding a half-finished bowl of porridge and several side dishes.

“Brother has returned?” Lady Jiang smiled, then called for someone to serve porridge for Lin Yan. The old lady had been confused again lately.

“Try this fish, bought from the Huixian Tower outside.” There were still two pieces left in the dish, and Lady Jiang generously gave a piece to her “brother.”

Huixian Tower was a famous wine house in Hangzhou, standing for a hundred years now – Grandmother had returned to the time when her maternal great-grandfather was serving as prefect of Hangzhou.

Lin Yan tasted it, “Mm, not bad.”

“It is good, isn’t it? But I feel this and the sweet and sour fish from last time weren’t made by the same cook,” Lady Jiang declared definitively.

Lin Yan looked at his grandmother’s servant woman, who mouthed the words “Shen’s shop.”

Lin Yan smiled helplessly – she still remembered the sweet and sour fish from Shen’s shop two days ago but was wrong about it not being made by the same cook…