First, Xiaocao stir-fried salt, pepper, and anise star. Next, she drained the water and cured the ducks with the stir-fried salt for two hours. During this time, she also heated up the braising sauce, and then marinated the ducks with the old braising sauce for another two hours. The last steps were to cook them and wait for them to cool down. If there was enough time, the time for curing and marinating in old braising sauce should be doubled!

Just as Yu Xiaocao, with the help of her eldest maternal aunt, was busily making the preparations, her eldest granduncle’s little eight year old grandson ran through the door panting and shouted, “Xiaocao! Second Uncle said your maternal uncles didn’t eat breakfast yet, so just make something simple to fill their stomachs first. They can have a more sumptuous meal in the evening!”

“Yu Zhou, how dare you call me ‘Xiaocao’? You should call me ‘older sister’, understand?” Xiaocao knocked on the kid’s forehead. Yu Zhou was the son of her oldest uncle from her eldest granduncle’s family. He had a strong and honest appearance, and looked rather cute.

Yu Zhou made a silly face at her and said reluctantly, “Aren’t you just a little over two months older than me? Look, you’re not even as tall as me. It’s so humiliating to call you ‘older sister’!”

“Even if...