The Tao is always, and nothing is done, but everything is done.

--"Lao Tzu; Thirty-Seven"

Not to mention Erya’s cooking, but the Chen family courtyard in the capital is also brewing the future storm of Daxia…

"Father! In order to allow my younger sister to be favored by the emperor without attracting all aspects of her life, the monthly expenditure was three million taels... In the long run, my Chen family would not be able to make ends meet..." A middle-aged man stood in the Chen family's study and spoke slowly.

An old man who heard his reply in the room closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time... After a while, he opened his eyes and sighed: "Lingyun! I wonder how many times the benefits of sitting in a thousand hectares of good fields can be harvested in fish and rice?"

The middle-aged man thought for a moment and replied carefully: "If the weather is good, there will be at least three times the profit... If there is hunger in a foreign land except me, you will be able to earn ten times the profit..."

"My Chen Family Jewelry, how many times the profit can you get based on the business you manage on a daily basis?" the old man asked.

The middle-aged man was a little proud: "With the child's care, the profit of the jewelry at home is at least a hundred times..."

The old man must look at each other again: "Ten times the profit, a hundred times the profit, but only makes my whole family full of food and clothing... Nowadays, the court emphasizes agriculture and suppresses commerce. No matter how much I gain, it is just a piggy bank in the eyes of those nobles. If you take it, the merchants have no strength to fight back... I have thought for a long time before I decided to send your sister to the palace, but it is just for the countless benefits of the country here to establish the king!"

The middle-aged man was puzzled: "Build a country and set a king? Countless benefits?"

The old man knew that this boy was very smart in business, but he was very disgusted with the booklets... He had no choice but to pull out a book from the bookshelf and said angrily: "Follow the "Biography of Lu Wei"!"

The middle-aged man opened the book honestly and looked carefully: "...Lu Wei felt sorry for him and said, 'Strange goods can be lived in.' Then he went to see...Strange goods can be lived in a state of affairs? Could it be his father..." The middle-aged man looked at the old man in surprise.

The old man nodded without saying a word: "Not bad! I just want to learn from Lu Wei's old tricks, so that my Chen family can become a famous family in Daxia!"

The middle-aged man lowered his head and thought for a long time: "But the emperor has passed the peak of the Spring and Autumn Period. If he dies, the prince born to his younger sister has not yet grown up... Besides, there are three sons in court now..."

The old man looked solemn: "Since my family has been a businessman for generations, then use our method and money to smash all the hostile ones!"

The middle-aged man frowned: "But the efforts of the seven generations of my Chen family have today's wealth. This time, it is a castle in the air. Even if I spend many years of hard work, I'm afraid I don't have enough financial resources to support my younger sister to the rear..."

The old man said angrily: "Why are kids so short-sighted? When you see profit, my Chen family is the first family in Daxia. At that time, you will have all the money and power?"

The middle-aged man was scolded by his father, lowered his head and said, "But no matter how rich my Chen family is, it can't withstand the consumption of this ten years!"

The old man restrained his anger and said in a deep voice: "Your worries make sense... Since this is the case, we might as well act openly and secretly. The business has reached the extreme. It is better not to say that you are now... But was my father who was secretly before the New Year? Raising brave men is for today's actions. You might as well make a move for others..."

The middle-aged man was shocked: "Father must not, how can the Chen family do that robbery!"

A trace of sinister flashed in the old man's eyes: "Those who accomplish great things are not limited to the details. For the glory of the Chen family's future generations, this world's most evil will be a big deal..."

At this time, the old man was teaching Erya in the inner courtyard kitchen of He's family.

"Knife is a compulsory practice for the entry-level in the kitchen. The best knife skills can not only make the chef's dishes easy to operate and make the dishes easier to taste. Some chefs practice the knife skills to the extreme. The dishes they make are not only delicious, but also beautiful. They are truly beautiful and delicious... There are sixteen kinds of knife techniques, including diced, patterned, slanted slices... Male, cut flowers, and cross-cut. The objects of the various knife techniques are different, and there is also quite a lot of knowledge..." The old man picked up a bamboo shoot and drew at Erya, "Everything has textures to find, and it can be done with half the effort. Take this bamboo shoot, look at the leaf axis inside, which is its texture, so it is suitable to cut oblique slices along the white part of the leaf axis, and the thickness must be even. In this way, the firepower can be penetrated and cooked in a short time..."

Erya suddenly curled her lips and interrupted, "Can bamboo shoots only be sliced? Old man, you can carve something along this texture, which is a real good craft!"

The old man smiled and said, "It's okay, let you see it!" As he said, he held a knife in one hand and the bamboo shoots in the other. He looked at the bamboo shoots with a little bit, and used the kitchen knife with his own hands... and saw green bamboo shoots flying around. After a while, the old man already had a small and beautiful emerald green boy in his hand, which was really vivid - his face was majestic and heroic, and his two wide sleeves seemed to sway in the wind, showing his elegant posture...

Erya praised: "It's really amazing..."

The old man was proud and whispered again: "It's not me that all things are natural, and they should be invincible! In ancient times, some people were able to enter the Tao with the chef, and they could compete with those masters in the martial arts world with their skills as a result! Those internal skills are just like this..."

Erya widened her eyes: "Is there really internal strength in this world?"

The old man glanced at Erya and smiled and said, "What? Want to learn? But you can only think about it--you are already six or seven in ten, and your meridians are gradually blocked. Even if you start practicing, you won't achieve much..."

When Erya heard this, she felt like a deflated ball.

The old man laughed in his heart and said, "But there is no need to be so discouraged... All roads lead to the capital. Although internal skills cannot be practiced, since there were some ancestors who could compete with martial arts masters with their sword skills, this cooking skill is also possible..."

Erya said strangely: "Why have I never heard of it?"

The old man smiled and said, "The story is only circulating between the kitchen roads... But you should have heard of the story of 'Killing Cut the Ox'?! What I mentioned before was this ancestor!"

Erya said discouragedly: "Although you have this skill, it may have been lost long ago..."

The old man chuckled: "Although I didn't see the superb skill of cutting cows in person, I have been immersed in cooking for so many years and have some experience on this road..." He paused, smiled at Erya, who was attracted by his mind, and pointed to a large granite stone in the yard, saying, "Look at that stone, what would happen if you used this kitchen knife to cut that stone?"

Erya curled her lips: "Even if I am strong, that knife will definitely not be able to cut off the stone. If I don't get it right, it will be injured..."

"Is that?" the old man smiled strangely, "Then look..." As he said that, he walked to the stone with his feet neither too small nor too small. He slowly held the kitchen knife on his head, and then slowly placed it on the big stone. As the muscles on the old man's face pounded, the kitchen knife seemed to have encountered soft mud, and it slowly cut into the stone...

Erya rubbed her eyes and looked at the old man in disbelief: "How did this trick change?"

The old man wiped the sweat from his forehead a little and said proudly: "How is it? This is what I realized in the kitchen... I call this the Yin and Yang Qi of Heaven and Earth - learn from nature, and the Yin and Yang are incompatible. I use myself as a medium between the Yin and Yang Qi, and use the power of heaven and earth to do it. Isn't it invincible? It's better to practice hard than the internal strength of the three summers and the scorching heat and the severe cold of the three nines?"

Erya reacted from the shock, couldn't see the old man being so proud, and said with a lip, "Then how many years have you used to realize the vitality of heaven and earth?"

The old man said anxiously: "You can't say that! I'm not going to the kitchen for this innate vitality, but I'm really happy to go deep into it by my love and do nothing..."

"Doing without doing anything?" Erya seemed to want to catch something...
Chapter completed!