“Sister Xiaoguo!”

Ruyi spotted Xiaoguo first. Xiaoguo greeted her happily in return.

“Ruyi!”

The others said their greetings as well, and Xiaoguo chatted with them enthusiastically.

At this moment, Qin Anming was being pestered by Zhuang Zhuang. Although he saw Xiaoguo, he wasn’t able to greet her. This was because Zhuang Zhuang kept chattering non-stop about his recent situation, what he had eaten and done. How much Big Black and Little White had grown, and Ben Ben and Fei Fei were starting to eat more. They have collected a lot of duck eggs and chicken eggs. His mother had also made an oven to prepare mooncakes with salted egg yolk filling…

Qin Anming didn’t feel impatient. He listened to Zhuang Zhuang’s words patiently. Although these were all trivial matters, Qin Anming was still very interested. His eyes were filled with love as he looked at Zhuang Zhuang.

Ruyi walked over and wrapped her arms around Xiaoguo’s arm. She led her to the side and pointed her finger in Zhuang Zhuang’s direction.

“What are you doing? Why did you dress Zhuang Zhuang up like this?”

As she spoke, Ruyi covered her mouth and giggled. Zhuang Zhuang’s outfit was really too cute.

Hearing this, Xiaoguo resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Zhuang Zhuang. She turned around and looked at Ruyi helplessly. “I didn’t do that. He dressed up like that just to see his Uncle.”

When Ruyi heard this, she laughed out loud. Qin Anming heard the commotion and turned to look at the two of them curiously, wondering what was going on. The two of them shook their heads at the same time, indicating that it was nothing!

Ruyi and Xiaoguo spoke very softly, so no one else heard their conversation.

Seeing that his uncle was not paying attention, Zhuang Zhuang raised his hand and moved Qin Anming’s head back, so that his uncle was looking at him.

Satisfied, he continued to chatter. “Uncle, have you been practicing your calligraphy recently? Have you forgotten? You have to be diligent…”

Qin Anming sat down with Zhuang Zhuang in his arms. He carried on listening attentively to Zhuang Zhuang’s chatter. Needless to say, Zhuang Zhuang had gained a lot of weight during this period of time. His arms would give way if he remained standing and continued to hold him!

Xiaoguo glanced at the two of them, then turned back and chatted with Ruyi.

“How are you? Are you tired?”

Xiaoguo carefully observed each of their faces. She wondered if they could take it.

When Ruyi heard this, her face lit up with joy. She said to Xiaoguo happily, “It’s actually not so bad. Everyone is sharing the burden so we don’t feel so tired!”

Xiaoguo saw the joy on Ruyi’s face and believed that they had adapted well.

“Sister Xiaoguo, do you know what our daily revenue is?”

Ruyi secretly leaned over to Xiaoguo’s ear and asked. Her tone was filled with joy.

Xiaoguo could tell from Ruyi’s expression that it was a considerable sum of money. However, she still put on a thoughtful expression and hesitantly spat out a conservative figure.

“Twenty taels?”

Xiaoguo made a conservative guess. To her surprise, Ruyi snickered and said mysteriously that Xiaoguo should double the amount.

Xiaoguo’s heart skipped a beat. No way. Forty taels?!

Ruyi nodded frantically. “This is after deducting the costs of ingredients and taxes. It’s our net profit!”

When Ruyi found out about this from Uncle Xu, she was so excited that she couldn’t sleep well the entire night. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before she could expand her business. When the time comes, she can buy the shop next door and expand the current shop. This way, more customers can dine in! She will be able to make a lot of money!

At the thought of this, Ruyi wanted to grab Xiaoguo and dance with her. She felt even more grateful to Xiaoguo. If it weren’t for her, she might have to sell off the noodle shop that her father had left behind for survival. She wouldn’t be thinking about making more money now.

Xiaoguo didn’t know what Ruyi was thinking. If she did, she definitely wouldn’t take the credit. After all, Malatang was not Xiaoguo’s original creation. Besides, they were the ones who were busy working in the shop. She didn’t even do much work. If someone had to claim the credit, it wouldn’t be her.

Everyone got on with their work. Those who needed to replenish the ingredients continued to do so, and those who had to clear the tables continued to clean up. Uncle Xu was calculating the earnings from the morning.

Xiaoguo suddenly remembered the jar in her arms. “Ruyi, have you eaten the popcorn my brother brought back the last time?”

“Yes, yes. It’s delicious. It’s fragrant and sweet. I ate a lot of it!”

As soon as Ruyi heard Xiaoguo mention popcorn, she had a lot of things to tell her. She wanted to tell Xiaoguo that it was fragrant, sweet, and that she wanted to eat it all the time.

Xiaoguo laughed out loud. Ruyi was too cute. She loved snacks just like Zhuang Zhuang.

Beside her, Fu’er said, “Sister Xiaoguo, I ate some too. The popcorn was really delicious!”

“That’s right, that’s right!”

Ling Long and Xiao Cui joined in the conversation and agreed. Even Uncle Xu looked up from his abacus and said, “Even at this age, I quite like it too.”

Uncle Xu didn’t like eating snacks at first, but after eating some of the popcorn that day, he got quite addicted to them. The more he chewed, the more fragrant they were.

Xiaoguo nodded and placed the jar on the table. With a smile on her face, she said, “I brought you the raw kernels. You can eat as much as you want.”

Seeing that they liked it so much, Xiaoguo was very happy. She had brought a lot this time. It was enough to last them for quite a while.

Ruyi asked Fu’er to move the jar to the kitchen and keep it. When they are free, they can make some.

Fuer sighed and happily carried the jar back to the kitchen. She really liked popcorn!

Xiaoguo briefly told her how to make it. It was very simple.

Ruyi listened and memorized the steps. She really hadn’t expected it to be so simple. She will make some tonight.

Zhuang Zhuang finally let go of Qin Anming and stopped clinging on to him. Instead, he held Qin Anming’s hand and came to Xiaoguo’s side.

“Mother, Mother, Mother, tell Uncle, did you make an oven?”

The little guy looked at his mother anxiously. He had just told his uncle about his mother building an oven at home, but his uncle clearly did not believe him.

Hence, he hurriedly brought Qin Anming over to verify his words.

Before Xiaoguo could speak, Ruyi exploded. She shouted, “Sister Xiaoguo, did you really make your own oven?!”

Xiaoguo was dumbfounded. Why were they reacting so strongly? It was just building an oven, it wasn’t that difficult.

She nodded in confusion and admitted that she had made an oven. But now, it was the others who were confused.

Ruyi held her chin and looked at Xiaoguo in shock. “Sister Xiaoguo, is there anything you don’t know how to do?”

Qin Anming was also shocked. Xiaoguo was getting more and more capable. She could even make an oven.

“Yes, it’s not difficult!”

Once again, Xiaoguo had unknowingly humblebragged. She really didn’t know why they were so surprised. Ovens are so commonplace. The pastry shop that they went to also had one. What was so special about that?

“Where did you learn to make an oven, Xiaoguo?”

Hearing Qin Anming’s question, Xiaoguo gave an ambiguous answer. She said that she had seen someone constructing one and she figured it out after a while.

The others did not suspect anything. Later on, she found out from them that all ovens in the county were made by professional builders who specialized in constructing ovens.

Realization dawned on Xiaoguo. So that was how it was. The ovens were not made by the villagers themselves. Instead, there were workers who specialized in making them. Perhaps most people were concerned about the quality of the ovens—if the ovens were not sealed properly, the baking outcomes would be affected.

Xiaoguo was also a little worried that the oven she had made would run into such issues. Maybe she should go back and bake some bread to try out, in case the oven didn’t work when she was going to make the mooncakes.