Picky Manbao stood in front of the fish vendor’s stall, insisting that the fish be placed in another bucket, but the vendor was unwilling and kept recommending the remaining fish to Manbao, "These fish are delicious, especially fresh. You can make soup with them, or even steam them."

Bai Shan glanced at him and simply put away the copper coins, taking out a piece of silver.

When the vendor saw it, his entire face twisted with interest, but he half-heartedly refused, turning his head to the side and saying, "Sir, miss, please don’t make things difficult for us. We can’t sell you these fish; we have to send them to the Town Leader’s mansion."

The Town Leader is the leader of this town. Manbao and the others heard from a young man yesterday that the Small Town is not very stable, sometimes even plagued by bandits, but they are all kept at bay by their Town Leader and his soldiers, so at least half the houses in this Small Town belong to the Town Leader.

Bai Shan was about to take out more money, but Manbao stopped him, laughing, "Alright, we won’t buy today, but if you catch more of these fish tomorrow, save one for me."

The vendor hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, "These fish are hard to catch, there aren’t many in the lake, and if we do catch them, no matter how many, they all have to go to the Town Leader’s house."

Manbao tilted her head, "Can he eat that much?"

The vendor laughed, "Miss, you’re joking. Our Town Leader isn’t all alone; he has parents, siblings, a wife, children, a big family. This one fish isn’t even enough to fill the gaps in their teeth."

Manbao: ...

What else could she say?

Bai Shan also put away the silver, turned to her and said, "Let’s fish for ourselves."

Manbao nodded, "Okay."

So they turned around to go back, but before leaving, they still bought fish.

They hadn’t eaten fish in a long time, and the lake looked good, so the catch should also be delicious.

The two of them each carried a few fish, together carrying nearly ten fish back, leaving two behind and giving the rest to Assistant General Nie and his group.

The cook was making a large pot of food for the soldiers and guards in the neighboring yard, so Manbao thought for a moment, then rolled up her sleeves and said, "Let’s cook ourselves."

Bai Erlang and a few others who had just woken up were shocked, even Mr. Zhuang stopped in his tracks, turning to say, "It’s not really necessary..."

Bai Shan also stopped her, "These two fish are rare. Why not let the inn’s cook prepare them and order some dishes from the inn?"

There’s no shortage of money, so why do it yourself?

Not to mention the inconvenience, it would also be a disservice to their stomachs.

The others nodded repeatedly.

Manbao could only give up reluctantly, "But I don’t want to eat pancakes and steamed buns anymore. I want rice!"

Bai Shan breathed a sigh of relief and immediately said, "That’s easy. We won’t order any staples, we’ll cook some rice ourselves."

It’s not difficult; Liu Huan and Yin Huo couldn’t do it, but the others could. Bai Shan rolled up his sleeves and went into the kitchen, asking Manbao to get a small bag of rice from their luggage.

Bai Erlang exhaled and immediately ran downstairs, "I know where it is, I’ll get it."

So, Steward Li took the fish and turned back to the inn, ordering a few dishes along the way.

When he returned, Bai Shan had already started the fire, and Manbao had rinsed and placed the rice on the stove. He quickly stepped forward, "Young Master, Miss Man, let me handle this."

Bai Shan waved his hand dismissively and said, "No problem, we can handle ourselves, and besides..."

He looked Steward Li up and down, "Do you even know how to cook rice?"

Steward Li’s body stiffened, and he was speechless.

He really didn’t.

He was born into the household, with the surname Li, but his grandfather was a part of Old Madam Liu’s dowry. Even then, his grandfather was a steward, managing the dowry for Old Madam Liu.

By the time it got to his father, at least there was some serving involved, learning to serve people to some extent, but then he also became a steward, managing properties and shops outside.

So when it came to him, Old Madam Liu favored him, having him run errands in the shop with his father by the time he was seven or eight. Though technically a servant, life was not bad compared to outside people, practically living like a young master.

Old Madam Liu purposefully transferred him from Longzhou because he often followed Steward Bai Da, managing Bai Family’s external businesses.

Whether it’s grain, cloth, or timber, he traveled all over. The main steward couldn’t drop his responsibilities to step out, so Old Madam Liu carefully chose him, recognizing his extensive experience with people and things, his understanding of Bai and Liu families’ affairs, and his knowledge of family businesses and connections.

If Bai Shan needed assistance, he could easily help find people.

He wasn’t very old, being only twenty-three, so while he could light a fire, cooking rice was indeed beyond him, lacking any experience, even less than Bai Shan.

Honestly, he still doesn’t quite understand why the Old Madam didn’t assign a personal servant to the young master.

As for Daji, while he’s always by the young master’s side, everyone knows he’s not a servant, not even a personal attendant, rather a trusted aide ensuring the young master’s safety.

Even Daji has a servant attending to him.

Though servants handle chores like fetching water and laundering clothes, the young master doesn’t have a personal servant nearby. At night, he even has to wake up himself if he wants a drink of water.

Unlike Yin Huo or Liu Huan, who both have attendants, even noticing that they swapped rooms last night. Changshou and Liu Huan moved in together with servants attending them day and night, even handing over a spittoon for a cough.

Not like our young master, who shares a room with the cousin young master. With no personal servant for little tasks like fetching water, he sometimes has to rummage through clothing trunks himself to find something to wear, and it breaks his heart a little.

Now seeing them having to start a fire and cook for themselves, Steward Li felt more heartbroken.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say he could learn even if he didn’t know, but Bai Shan was already and cheerfully waved his hand, "We’re just cooking for fun in the kitchen. You go find out what bait is here, if it’s for sale, or where we can dig if it’s not. We’re going fishing this afternoon."

Upon hearing about going fishing, Mr. Zhuang immediately meandered over and asked, "Where are we going to fish?"

Bai Shan thought for a moment, "We can’t do it here; there are too many people around, too much washing. I’m afraid it will scare the fish away, and even if not, they might be too alert to bite. We should go out along the lake to a less populated area."

Mr. Zhuang nodded and pointed in a direction, "That way, where the woods are thick and grassy, the lake flows out. There’s no housing over there; I’ve heard that the fields of the Small Town lie in that direction. We should be able to fish there."

He concluded, "I’ll go with you."

He hadn’t gone fishing in a long time, and the thought made him quite happy.

Steward Li’s many worries were pushed aside by these plans. He said, "We’ll need a carriage for that, young master. Should I prepare some tea and snacks?"

Everyone nodded in agreement; it’s necessary.