Shen Lingzhi wasn’t quite as bold in this regard. What if he bought the mushrooms and couldn’t sell them? He’d be stuck with them, and that would mean a huge loss!

“Brother, isn’t this a bit impulsive? What if we end up losing money?”

Lin Yue answered with certainty, “Don’t worry, I won’t be that reckless. It’s still early before the mushrooms come out in large quantities. Let’s go to town to sell pastries. While setting up our stall, we’ll scout around to see what the townspeople like to eat, where people buy mushrooms, and what exactly they buy. We’ll figure all that out first before deciding whether to get into this business.”

“Besides, mushroom paste is absolutely perfect for rice or mixed with steamed buns. Any unsold mushrooms can be made into paste that night, ready to sell again the next day. We can also sun-dry them. Whether stewed in soup or rehydrated for stir-frying, they taste great. Come winter, when every household’s table is filled with cabbage and radishes, we’ll sell these dried mushrooms. I’m sure many well-off families will be eager to buy them.”

Take the porcini mushroom, for instance. It’s the most abundant mushroom on the mountains near several villages, aside from the poisonous ones. Stir-fried, it’s just okay, but it makes surprisingly good sauce. And that’s not even mentioning mushrooms like hen-of-the-woods or matsutake, which are delicious on their own.

Shen Lingzhi nodded frequently, clearly intrigued. If this plan worked, they might not make a fortune, but at least they wouldn’t lose money. They could skip snacks and drinks, but they couldn’t do without vegetables. Every winter, it was always the same two or three dishes. Not just wealthy families, even country folk like them couldn’t stand it. They always dried some potato slices ahead of time, pickled cabbage, and made fermented tofu. In previous years, they’d also dry mushrooms, but hardly anyone took them to town to sell—they were all for home consumption.

He exclaimed in wonder, “Brother, you’re definitely going to make a fortune someday!”

Lin Yue chuckled at his teasing and quipped, “Well then, if I really do make money, I’ll give you a huge dowry when you get married.”

After their playful banter, they saw the sun rising and wasted no time, continuing to pick bayberries.

On the way home, Lin Yue picked a handful of sweet grass by the roadside. The bayberries were still quite tart now, requiring a lot of sugar when stewed. Sugar wasn’t cheap, but sweet grass grew everywhere. He wanted to try adding sweet grass juice to the bayberry syrup to see if it could enhance the sweetness. If it worked, it would save them some money.

Arriving home early, Lin Yue washed the bayberries and began rummaging through cupboards and drawers, searching for whatever ingredients remained. From the kitchen to the main hall, he actually unearthed quite a few.

Mung beans, red beans, peas, glutinous rice flour, sticky rice flour, cornmeal—all suitable for making snacks. The only drawback was the household’s dwindling sugar and sesame oil supplies. If he truly intended to start this business, he’d need to purchase more sugar and oil first.

In the kitchen, Shen Lingzhi had already lit the fire. Seeing Lin Yue enter, he looked up and asked, “Brother, what should we make first?”

“Cook rice first.”

“Huh?” Shen Lingzhi was utterly confused. Hadn’t they been talking about making bayberry soup and pastries?

The question in his eyes was so heavy it made him look completely dazed.

Lin Yue gently tapped his forehead and explained, “We’re making fermented rice water first. Cook extra rice.”

Fermented rice water was the most common beverage. Clean jars were filled with cool boiled water. Once the rice was cooked, it was poured in hot. After soaking for five or six days, it fermented and turned sour. The liquid could then be poured out for drinking.

With several jars at home, Lin Yue planned to make three separate batches: one plain, one with chopped apricots for yellow apricot fermented rice water, and the last for bayberry fermented rice water.

Only then did Shen Lingzhi grasp the plan. “I thought Brother was just making bayberry soup! I’ll go wash the rice and start cooking right away.”

Lin Yue placed the bowl of bayberries on the table and picked up a kitchen knife to pit them. For convenience, he abandoned the idea of making bayberry soup and decided instead to make bayberry syrup. After all, the taste difference between the two wasn’t significant.

The pitted bayberries were pressed into juice, which was poured into a clean pot. Simmered over low heat until thickened into a paste, it could be set aside. When ready to drink, it would simply be mixed with water.

Lin Yue had only heard of this method before and was trying it for the first time. He didn’t add sugar or sweet grass juice, fearing he might not get it right. He planned to adjust the sweetness later when drinking it, figuring even if it didn’t taste great, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

With two drinks ready, it was time for snacks.

The beans at home were all dried, so he soaked them the day before to prepare for the snacks. Since he had made mung bean cakes before, Lin Yue skipped soaking the mung beans last night and only soaked red beans and peas.

He had made red bean cakes and bean paste shortbread cookies at home before, so this time he planned to make red bean cakes and use the peas for pea pudding.

Shen Lingzhi finished his task and approached, asking, “Brother, is there anything I can help with?”

Lin Yue didn’t stand on ceremony. He handed over the prepared bayberry juice and carefully explained the method. “Can you handle this?”

The process was indeed simple. Shen Lingzhi nodded confidently. “Don’t worry, brother. I’ve got this.”

Lin Yue smiled and nodded along with him. “Our Lingzhi is so awesome!”

Shen Lingzhi let out a long sigh. Why did he always tease him like this? Oh well, what could he do? Lin Yue was his older brother after all. He shook his head twice, grabbed the berry juice, and dashed off.

Lin Yue struggled to stifle his laughter, coughing several times before he could steady himself. He went to wash his hands in the courtyard and began preparing the pastries.

The water on the stove had just come to a boil, perfect timing to add the peas. Since they needed to be cooked until soft and tender, the process took a while. Lin Yue wandered over to watch Shen Lingzhi simmering the bayberries and noticed he was using the stove. No choice—with only two stoves in the house, using the stove was necessary to work on both tasks simultaneously.

Seeing that noon was approaching, Lin Yue didn’t linger long before turning to his own tasks: stoking the stove, picking vegetables from the garden, and washing them.

Fifteen minutes after the rice finished cooking, Lin Yue was frantic. He hurriedly carried the rice off the stove and immediately began stir-frying the vegetables. Fortunately, he’d planned ahead to make soup; otherwise, the stove would have burned wood needlessly.

He practically skipped steps as he poured the rice into the vat, sealed the lid, and dashed back to serve the dishes. Only when Shen Lingzhi finished boiling the bayberries and came to help did Lin Yue breathe a sigh of relief. He sat down by the stove to start making red bean cakes.

The red beans were transformed into a sweet bean paste filling. Glutinous rice flour was mixed with warm water into a smooth dough. The rest was just like making stuffed pancakes: wrapping the bean paste inside, rolling it into a ball, then gently pressing it into a thick pancake shape. The final step was heating the pan, brushing it with oil, and frying the pancakes over low heat.

The frying pan was the one the Shen family had used for stir-frying for years before it cracked and was replaced. Song Xunchun couldn’t bear to sell the old one to the blacksmith’s shop, so it stayed behind, used for frying cakes and such.

Lin Yue was still frying the cakes when Shen Zhengchu and his wife returned.

“Father, Mother, please wash your hands and rest a moment. The red bean cakes will be ready soon.”

Shen Lingzhi chimed in, “We’ll have dinner right after the cakes.”

Song Xunchun responded to each call with a smile, “Coming, coming! You two have been busy all morning.”

“Oh my, you even used the stove? How many did you make? Looks like we’re in for a treat today.”

Lin Yue and Shen Lingzhi exchanged a glance and said in unison, “You’ll find out when we eat.”

Song Xunchun shook her head with a smile, “You two are becoming more and more in sync.”

Shen Zhengchu arrived late after putting away the farm tools. As soon as he entered, he saw the three of them smiling. Before he could ask anything, Song Xunchun pulled him outside.

Moments later, Lin Yue brought red bean cakes to the table. “Father, Mother, Lingzhi, try them quickly! They’re best eaten warm.”

For country folk, pastries were something only bought in years when the household was particularly well-off, and even then, mostly by families with children or elderly members. They rarely went to the town’s pastry shops; instead, they bought from peddlers who came to the village. The ingredients were relatively inferior, but the price was cheaper. Shen Zhengchu had bought them twice for Shen Huaizhi and his brother a few years back. He’d tasted a bite back then, and the flavor was nothing like this.

“It’s tasty. Good stuff.”

His praise was restrained, but Song Xunchun was far more direct. She rattled off seven or eight compliments without repeating herself, leaving Lin Yue feeling almost embarrassed.

After the meal, Lin Yue brought over the plum juice. He prepared three versions: one with sugar, one with sweet grass juice, and one with both. The pure sugar version was the most delicious, while the one with both had a pleasant taste, though less sweet. The one with only sweet grass juice was disappointing—its overly green color masked the faint sweetness.

The concentrated plum juice, which could make a large cup of plum water with just one spoonful, earned high praise from the entire family. Seeing there was still plenty left, Lin Yue spoke up: “Father, Mother, it’s hot now, and this won’t keep for long. I was thinking of keeping enough for us to drink, and taking the rest to town to sell today.”

Song Xunchun estimated the amount of water needed and said, “Of course you can. But you’ll have to carry it from home to town. Can you manage that? Otherwise, your father could help you carry it there and back.”

Lin Yue shook his head. “It’s only one bucketful. It’s not heavy. I can manage.”

Song Xunchun said no more. She turned to Shen Lingzhi. “Lingzhi, you should go with him. Take turns carrying water with your brother. It’s too tiring for one person alone.”

Shen Lingzhi replied in a clear voice, “Alright, Mother. Don’t worry.”

After settling the matter, the peas in the pot were done. Lin Yue rose to prepare the second dessert: sweet pea paste.

He mixed the sticky pea kernels with water, grinding them into a smooth paste. Adding sugar, he stirred it over low heat until the mixture formed ribbons when lifted. The cooked paste was poured into a dish, gently shaken to release air bubbles, then covered with another plate and set aside in a cool place to cool. Covering it served two purposes: keeping dust out and preventing the surface from cracking, which would ruin its appearance.

Making pea paste is straightforward but time-consuming. Boiling the beans is one thing, but the cooling process alone takes nearly two hours. If you’re selling these, you’d have to prepare them the night before—making them on the same day just won’t work.

The red bean cakes made earlier, however, were still edible. Though slightly less flavorful when cooled, they remained tasty. Lin Yue made them small—each cake was barely half a finger in length. He counted them on his fingers: twenty-eight in total. They had each eaten one earlier, leaving six. Shen Huaizhi had two, so they each had one, leaving eighteen to take for selling later.

Lin Yue wasn’t sure about the price. Selling them for one cash each wouldn’t be a loss, but he planned to start at two cash each, or three cash for two. If they didn’t sell, he’d lower the price later. Selling them would mean pure profit.

“Lingzhi, let’s change our clothes and go.”

“But these are still pretty clean. I just changed into them yesterday.”

Lin Yue waved his hand dismissively. “The cuffs got muddy this morning. Let’s put on our best set of clothes. That way, we can ask for a higher price.”

By the time the two reached the town, a full quarter of an hour had passed.