Juhua finally understood. ’So he wants to create a standardized, assembly-line process. But it doesn’t have to be this complicated, does it?’

Qingmu laughed. "Look how lucky you are—eating it for days on end! It’s a rare treat for the rest of us."

This made everyone laugh.

Li Changyu said, "The main problem is that the people I hired aren’t experienced. I’m using relatives from my aunt’s family, not professional chefs, so they’re learning slowly. They can make a bowl or two just fine, but when they have to make many in a row, they keep messing up. That’s why they have to keep practicing."

Qingmu and Juhua were silent for a moment before bursting out laughing together. They agreed that if that was the case, you’d definitely get sick of eating it.

Zheng Changhe, sweating as he ate, said, "If I were there, I wouldn’t get sick of it. I love this stuff."

Juhua laughed. "Dad, you can get sick of any delicious food if you eat too much of it. Changyu, that method won’t work. Once you actually open for business, the moment you get a rush of customers, it’ll be chaos. You need to have someone whose only job is to prep the ingredients. Have them portion out everything needed for one bowl of sour and spicy noodles. That way, the cook just has to grab a portion and cook it. He can’t possibly mess up adding the salt, right?"

Li Changyu’s eyes lit up when he heard this. "You’re right! That would make things much easier for the cook and less prone to error."

Hearing this, Zhang Huai huffed, "Isn’t that exactly what I told them? Your relatives just wouldn’t listen."

Li Changyu was taken aback. "You told them already? If they didn’t understand, you should have told me."

Zhang Huai replied, "You were standing right there. You heard me but didn’t say a word, so I thought you weren’t on board with it either."

Li Changyu apologized, saying he must not have been paying attention at the time.

After chatting and laughing for a while longer, the two of them saw there was nothing else to discuss and took their leave.

Once they left the Zheng Family’s home, the easy laughter Li Changyu and Zhang Huai had shared inside vanished. Both fell silent. They were each lost in their own thoughts, an unspoken understanding passing between them. Even after entering the village, they parted ways in silence and headed home, not having exchanged a single word on the entire walk back.

Zhang Huai stopped letting his thoughts run wild. A strange sense of calm settled over him as he made a firm vow to himself. ’Unless Juhua herself is unwilling to marry me, no one can stop me!’

Thanks to Qingmu and Juhua’s help, his family’s income this winter was far greater than expected. The spicy cabbage had sold for over four taels of silver. They had butchered their two pigs, turning all the meat into sausages and cured pork. On top of that, he had bought more pork from town to make even more sausages, earning a solid profit of over twenty taels of silver from that venture alone.

And that wasn’t even counting the thousands of jin of sausages and cured pork being stored at the Zheng Family’s property. That was from a joint venture between the Zheng Family, the Zhang family, Liu Xiaomei’s family, and Zhao San’s family. Once it was sold next spring, he would get a share of the profits.

He calculated his plans as he walked. ’First, buy some barren land, plant sweet potatoes and corn, then raise more pigs, build a house...’ Life was full of hope. His steps grew lighter at the thought.

Li Changyu, on the other hand, was weighed down by his thoughts. ’When did I start thinking about Juhua so much?’ he wondered.

’Maybe it wasn’t today. Maybe it started the last time I came back. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have asked Huai Zi that question on the boat. I didn’t even realize it back then; I just thought it was strange that I was trying to provoke him.’

’Judging by the look on Huai Zi’s face when he saw Juhua, he’s had feelings for her for a long time. So what does that make me, trying to butt in now?’

The most disheartening part was that he didn’t know Juhua. Not at all.

He didn’t even understand why he was so preoccupied with her. What was it he even liked about her? The scene from that year at the village entrance, when Juhua had suddenly lifted her veil to reveal a face covered in sores, was as clear as if it were happening right now. And yet... he didn’t seem to mind it.

His thoughts were a muddled mess. One moment, he was sure he liked Juhua; the next, he felt completely lost. The embroidered veil tucked in his robes was a stark reminder of how distant they truly were—he had no idea what she even liked.

’I really need to think this through!’

Completely lost in thought, he let his feet carry him home on autopilot. Miraculously, he didn’t end up at the wrong door. As he walked into his family’s courtyard, his grandfather’s hearty laughter drifted out from the main house.

He stepped into the room and saw his family gathered around the fire bucket, chatting and laughing. A smile touched his own lips. "What’s all this? Grandpa, what’s got you so happy? You didn’t strike gold, did you?"

Li Mingrui was happy to see his grandson, who had been too busy to even be home since his return, finally joking around like his old self. He patted the stool beside him and beckoned. "Changyu, come and sit. You’re not one to usually manage affairs, but you suddenly started taking charge of things, making yourself even busier than your father. I’m still not used to it. That last remark, though, sounded a bit more like your old self."