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"Sister-in-law!" As soon as Gui Zhi’s sister-in-law stepped through the door, without even entering the main room, she stuffed silver into Lin Yuan’s hands and went on with a litany of words, leaving Lin Yuan no chance to interject.

Once she realized her sister-in-law wanted to give her all the earnings from their household to repay the debt, Lin Yuan was immensely grateful and quickly interrupted her, "Sister-in-law, are you looking down on me? "

"How could I, how could I?" Gui Zhi seemed puzzled.

Lin Yuan forcefully pushed the money pouch back into her hands, while inviting her and their third aunt into the room.

As she talked about her mooncake business, she finished with a smile, "Auntie, sister-in-law, if I can come up with the idea of chilled skin, do you think I can’t repay that one hundred taels of silver? "

Hearing that Lin Yuan had business dealings with Jin Mansion was indeed a shock to both mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Though she said this, Gui Zhi’s sister-in-law still took out the agreed share of the profit that she promised Lin Yuan within these days; after all, making mooncakes required capital as well.

When Lin Yuan agreed to share profits with Gui Zhi’s sister-in-law, it was simply to give her peace of mind.

She truly hadn’t expected to actually need it.

With some resignation, Lin Yuan accepted the silver and asked about the chilled skin stall’s business before finally seeing off Gui Zhi’s sister-in-law and her mother-in-law.

Just as they were leaving, Lin Yuan suddenly remembered something and pulled Gui Zhi’s sister-in-law aside, "Sister-in-law, after the Mid-Autumn Festival the weather will cool down, and fewer people will want chilled skin. You should go to the blacksmith’s to order a wok ahead of time, then buy a small stove.

When it gets colder, you can sell stir-fried chilled skin instead.

There’s no need for oil, just stir-fry the chilled skin directly in the wok, and it’ll taste better than when eaten cold. "

These past few days, Gui Zhi’s sister-in-law had been worried about what to do after the weather turned cold.

She didn’t expect Lin Yuan to already have a solution.

Stir-fried chilled skin was indeed a novel idea.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, she planned to start selling it.

She could sell both chilled skin and stir-fried chilled skin; the established business would help promote the new one, surely it would succeed.

Gui Zhi’s sister-in-law returned home with her mother-in-law, brimming with excitement. Even as they walked far away, their laughter could still be heard.

Early the next morning, Lan Hua and Aunt Wang came to help with the mooncake making.

Lin Jiaxin spent last night thinking about his daughter’s idea of opening a shop.

Since he couldn’t sleep anyway, he might as well begin carving letters into the mooncake molds.

Although not all of them were engraved with letters yet, there were enough for Lin Yuan and her helpers for today.

The words "Rice Flower Fragrance" were beautifully designed by Lin Jiaxin. The characters he carved were not regular block script but rather stylish script. Lin Yuan particularly liked it and immediately decided that the name of their future shop would be written in this style.

Thinking of the knockoff products in modern times, Lin Yuan took a precaution.

She leaned close to her father’s ear and whispered a few words.

Lin Jiaxin nodded thoughtfully as he listened.

Even though he didn’t think his shop would become so popular that it could incite jealousy and imitation, if his daughter mentioned it, it was better to prevent any potential issues.

After a full day of busyness, Lin Yuan and her group produced over a hundred mooncakes. There were still dozens left to make, but they would definitely finish by the next day. On the third day, they could deliver them to Jin Mansion.

Because Lan Hua and Aunt Wang were helping with making mooncakes, Lin Wei and Xiao Linshuang had some idle time.

Xiao Linshuang didn’t feel like going out to play with the other kids and simply followed Lin Wei around, grinding tofu with her.

The sisters, with their limited strength, would grind for a while and rest for a while.

They worked an entire day and only managed to grind half a basin of soy milk.

Although Xia Zheng hadn’t specified when Lin Yuan needed to have the tofu ready, she didn’t want her mistake to harm the business of Fuman Building, so she planned to stay up late that night to rush the work, grinding out the soy milk.

By the next morning, in at most two hours, she could set the tofu curd and press the tofu to be aired out.

And that evening, when work was finished, Lin Fugui brought her a great surprise, something that truly delighted her.

The gift was the Little Donkey Lin Yuan had been long hoping for.

She had entrusted Lin Fugui to find a suitable little donkey for her, but the right one had not come along until now.

Today, Lin Fugui had gone to the town and, as usual, visited the livestock market, wandering almost half the street without seeing any donkeys for sale.

He had almost thought he would return empty-handed as before.

But, unexpectedly at the very end of the market, he found this little donkey.

The seller was an old man, not too aged, but his hair was already graying, and his face was full of worry.

Lin Fugui, seeing that he was an honest man, chatted with him a bit more.

It turned out that the old man’s family used to have two daughters, but one had an accident and passed away.

His wife was so struck by it that her health deteriorated, and her mental state wasn’t good.

Their already difficult life was growing even harder.

With no other choice, he had to sell the young donkeys that had just reached maturity to make ends meet.

The old man didn’t say which village he was from and Lin Fugui, not one to pry, didn’t ask. However, Lin Yuan felt she had heard of this man before, but couldn’t be sure if her guess was correct and thus didn’t say it out loud.

Now that she had Little Donkey, one of her worries was finally alleviated. With this little donkey, making soy milk would be much easier. Making two batches of tofu every three days wouldn’t be a problem, even accomplishing two batches in one day was doable.

While Lin Fugui was around, Lin Yuan found a sturdy, robust piece of wood and asked him to nail it into the ground as a post to tie the Little Donkey.

With this new addition to the family, Lin Wei and Xiao Linshuang were overjoyed.

They weren’t even afraid of the dark; they ran to a little puddle nearby and plucked grass for it to eat.

Watching Little Donkey look around the courtyard with its watery, large eyes and occasionally gently snorting with its nose. Lin Yuan knew it was not yet accustomed to the new environment, and thought about making a shelter for it.

When Lin Yuan suggested making a shelter for the donkey, Lin Fugui, who had been nailing the wood, couldn’t help but laugh.

Stretching his back, he said with a smile, "You silly girl, this donkey isn’t a chicken or rabbit, what does it need a nest for?

But if you’re worried about it getting rained on or the sun, just build it a shelter.

Lay down some dry straw on the ground and that’s enough. "

After speaking, Lin Fugui looked around the courtyard, pondered for a moment, and continued, "Your courtyard here is quite fortunate. The old bachelor before couldn’t afford to build a new house, which is why there’s such a large space.

Look over there, you’ve got the rabbit hutch, and this side has nothing, plus it’s right by the entrance.

The wooden post is also here, so if you really want to build a shelter, Uncle suggests you build it right here.

A donkey that’s kept for a long time will have a smell, this spot has good ventilation, it’s far from the house and kitchen, so it won’t cause any trouble. "

Lin Yuan followed Lin Fugui’s guidance, looking here and there, and agreed wholeheartedly with his advice.

Indeed, experience counts. If he had not spoken up, she would have needed several days to come to the same conclusion on her own, since she, a city dweller, truly had no experience in raising a donkey.