"This book is..." Zhao Gushen picked up another book.

This one was different from the one Ye Fei had written herself; this one was clearly a photocopy.

Ye Fei explained, "This is the ancestral cookbook I’ve mentioned before, but it’s not the original. After all this time, even if the original was kept, the paper would have deteriorated long ago. So, this is a photocopy. However, in our family, only this photocopy is left."

Immediately, Zhao Gushen’s face darkened, "Those two women in your family sold you out just for this book?"

Zhao Gushen didn’t want to acknowledge them as Ye Fei’s mother and sister, so he just referred to them as "those two women."

Though, it was due to their greed that by coincidence he met Ye Fei and they had Xiao Mo.

But that was just a stroke of luck for him and Ye Fei.

What if things hadn’t gone wrong?

Zhao Gushen thought of Boss Liu’s disgusting demeanor and imagined how Ye Fei, so good, could have been ruined by him.

Zhao Gushen’s heart tightened.

He stared intently at Ye Fei, as if afraid she might get lost.

Ye Fei’s face turned hot under Zhao Gushen’s gaze, her heart fluctuating, yet with a touch of bitterness under his watchful eyes.

The look in Zhao Gushen’s eyes seemed to be filled with pity and tension.

She wasn’t sure if she misunderstood, but under that gaze, Ye Fei felt inexplicably saddened and became softer.

She took a deep breath to conceal her current feelings, forced a smile, and said, "Actually, it’s them who are wrong, their hearts are just bad, it has nothing to do with the cookbook itself."

Zhao Gushen chuckled and nodded, "You’re absolutely right."

"This cookbook is actually quite useful. Passed down from ancestors, some methods might not be as good as modern ones. After all, over time, we’ve updated so many cooking techniques, ingredients, and seasonings, many of which didn’t exist before," Ye Fei said.

Especially ancient delicacies, imperial court dishes sound very grand.

But in reality, due to limitations of the time, many modern ingredients didn’t exist in ancient times.

Noodles, for example, only appeared during the Song Dynasty.

Chilies originated in South America and only came to China at the end of the Ming Dynasty, while tomatoes arrived in the 18th century.

In ancient times, cows were very important for farming, so eating beef wasn’t easy. Some dynasties only allowed slaughter when the cows were old or seriously ill.

Therefore, ancestral cookbooks may sound grand, but given the conditions then, they might not necessarily taste better than modern cuisine.

"However, ancient people’s wisdom is remarkable. One can still find a lot of inspiration in it. When I have the chance, I’d like to try using modern methods to recreate old dishes," Ye Fei said.

Zhao Gushen flipped through it a few times and saw that there were many annotations made by Ye Fei in the cookbook.

Zhao Gushen couldn’t help but smile; this girl really loves making notes.

"Isn’t it almost competition time?" Ye Fei said with slight embarrassment, "I’ve been reviewing all these notes I’ve compiled; maybe I’ll gain something."

Zhao Gushen put down the cookbook and looked at her intently.

Ye Fei averted her gaze, not daring to meet his eyes.

"Tomorrow you’ll officially enter the knockout round, are you nervous?" Zhao Gushen casually braced his hands on the table.

"Of course, I’m nervous," Ye Fei said, "That’s why I’m reviewing the cookbook, just hoping I can perform well tomorrow."