On the second day of the New Year, he hosted villagers who came to pay their respects. In the days that followed, Yan Xiaoyu also paid his respects to the Liu, Yu, and Zhao families in turn.

He had severed ties with the Yan family; on Yan Xingmao’s side, there were no relatives left.

He Qiuhua had never been favored by her parents since childhood. In the years following her marriage, she occasionally returned to visit her mother, but her brother and sister-in-law resented her and Yan Xingmao for being good-for-nothings. Since she couldn’t bring back any decent gifts when visiting her mother, she was met with a cold reception every time.

Later, when Yan Xiaoyu’s maternal grandparents passed away one after another, her in-laws made it clear that there would be no further contact between the two families.

So, during the Lunar New Year, Yan Xiaoyu didn’t have to go out to pay respects; the only visits he needed to make were to a few friendly households in the village.

The Yan clan had no elders, so Yan Xingmao and He Qiuhua’s visits there couldn’t strictly be called paying respects—they were more like social calls.

They usually avoided any appearance of impropriety, but during the holidays, such visits were considered perfectly acceptable.

This was Yan Xiaoyu’s first visit to the Yan household. The two Yan brothers had made meticulous preparations: the table was set with dishes the siblings loved, along with He Qiuhua’s favorite chicken stewed with chestnuts and the Tusu wine that Yan Xingmao had once praised—all of which he had arranged.

To her surprise, the brothers’ cooking skills were even better than Yan Xingmao’s. Yan Xiaoyu lavished praise on them throughout the meal, first praising Yan Shaocheng and then Yan Shaoxuan.

“Second Brother Yan is ‘at home in the parlor and in the kitchen.’ He excels at studying for the imperial exams and is skilled at hunting and fishing—truly one of the top all-around talents in our Xiling Village!”

Yan Shaoxuan took a sip of Tusu wine, his face flushing slightly, though it was unclear whether it was from the wine or the praise from the young man beside him.

Yan Shaocheng, intending to test the waters, smiled at Yan Xiaoyu and said, “No matter how capable he is, my second brother hasn’t even managed to find a husband yet.”

The moment the words left his mouth, He Qiuhua excitedly gave Yan Xingmao a sharp pinch.

This was meant to gauge his attitude, in preparation for formally proposing marriage! The couple exchanged a glance, unable to hide their joy.

“Ahem.”

Yan Xingmao cleared his throat, racking his brain to figure out how to express his stance accurately yet tactfully—to put the Yan brothers’ minds at ease so they could confidently go find a matchmaker—but Yan Xiaoyu caught him off guard.

“Tsk, what’s so hard about that?” Yan Xiaoyu took a sip of rice wine and suggested enthusiastically, “Go find Nian-ger. He’ll definitely be able to speak well of Second Brother Yan! After all, he’s the only matchmaker in our village—we’ve got to support his business, don’t we?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the table fell silent. Yan Xingmao and his wife, along with Yan Shaocheng, all wore expressions of astonishment.

Yan Shaoxuan’s mind went blank for a moment. When he came to his senses, he felt a chill run through his veins.

“What do you mean by that?” He frowned, his tone full of confusion, a hint of hurt barely visible in his eyes.

Seeing his younger brother’s reaction, Yan Shaocheng immediately regretted it.

Shaoxuan was about to leave for the provincial capital to take the imperial exams; he shouldn’t have tested Yu-ger at a time like this.

His heart was just beginning to stir with romance, brimming with passion, right in the midst of his youthful infatuation. Shaoxuan’s expression was cold, but deep down, he was more sentimental than anyone. He had even picked a date for the marriage proposal. If Yu-ger dealt him a blow like this at this critical moment, he feared the thought would weigh on his mind the entire journey to the provincial capital. If he were to fail the provincial exams because of this, he would truly regret it for the rest of his life!

Yan Shaocheng was so anxious that he was breaking out in a sweat, desperately trying to come up with a solution.

Yan Xiaoyu, however, was still somewhat baffled: “What do you mean? I told you to ask Nian-ger to help arrange your marriage. You’re so outstanding—whichever girl or young man you want to marry shouldn’t be difficult. If you ask Nian-ger, you’re essentially giving him a business opportunity and helping him get started. Isn’t that a win-win situation?”

“Oh!” Yan Xingmao slapped his forehead, realizing the meaning behind his ger’s words. Unfortunately, he was tongue-tied and couldn’t think of the right way to put it for quite a while. “Brother Yu, Brother Yu said…”

Yan Shaocheng clenched his fist and suddenly spoke up: “Yu-ger says you should find a matchmaker; if you can get what you want, who cares who the matchmaker is?”

Yan Xingmao and He Qiuhua nodded happily.

Yan Xiaoyu was a bit puzzled. It sounded right, but something felt off.

Yan Shaoxuan stared at Yan Xiaoyu’s face, as if trying to confirm something.

The room fell into an eerie silence.

“Since it doesn’t matter—” Yan Xiaoyue, who had been silent until then, suddenly spoke up, and everyone turned to look at her.

Yan Shaocheng’s heart leapt into his throat. Unexpectedly, the girl said with a sincere expression, “Then let’s eat quickly. The food’s getting cold. This fish is so tender—you should try some.”

A smile flickered in Yan Shaocheng’s eyes as he shot her an amused yet exasperated glance: “Alright.”

He turned to the others and said, “Sister Yue is right. Let’s eat quickly; the fish won’t taste good once it’s cold.”

…

Within a few days, the three households—the Lius, the Yus, and the Zhaos—had settled on how to divide up the food rations.

Liu chose tofu skewers and tofu puffs, Yu chose dried tofu, and Zhao chose fermented tofu—each selected the option that Yan Xiaoyu deemed most reasonable.

Dried tofu sold best, but it was troublesome to make and had high costs. Yu’s family had a large workforce and plenty of labor, so it was perfect for them to handle this.

Fermented tofu didn’t sell as well as the other two, but it was low-cost, had a long shelf life, posed no risk of spoiling, and could be sold alongside other jarred pickles.

For Uncle Li and his team, who were skilled at making pickles, this was also a perfect fit;

Tofu skewers and tofu puffs weren’t cheap to produce, but they were quite profitable, and with two varieties, the Liu family wouldn’t lose out by choosing them.

Replicating these dishes isn’t too difficult, but making them well is no easy feat; even with the same recipe, the results will vary slightly from one person to another.

However if you master the craft, you needn’t worry about making a profit. Once outsiders start producing these dishes, Liu Pingshan and his family might not earn as much as they do now, but making a living from this trade should still be manageable.

Yan Xiaoyu had explained this principle on the second day of the month, and Liu Pingshan agreed wholeheartedly.

So every household selected the person with the best culinary skills and aptitude to learn from Yan Xiaoyu.

From the Liu family: Aunt He and Liu Tiao; from the Yu family: the two sisters-in-law of Nian-ger; and from the Zhao family: Uncle Li.

Starting on the seventh day of the lunar month, Yan Xiaoyu demonstrated how to prepare various ingredients for them, guiding them through the process step by step. All of them learned with great diligence.

Yan Shaocheng, who had no relatives to visit, was the first to finish his training.

After teaching everyone, Yan Xiaoyu finally had some free time. He enjoyed the most leisurely stretch of time since his arrival in this world, spending his days eating and sleeping, occasionally experimenting with new dishes—life was incredibly blissful.

After teaching everyone these skills, Yan Xiaoyu finally had some free time. He enjoyed the most leisurely stretch of time since his arrival in this world, spending his days eating and sleeping, occasionally experimenting with new dishes—life was incredibly blissful.

If Yan Shaoxuan weren’t so busy with his studies and had time to accompany him up the mountain to catch fish, he’d be even happier.

Actually, when Liu Pingshan asked for ingredients to make tofu, Yan Xiaoyu was supposed to provide the tofu. However, Yan Xingmao and He Qiuhua felt sorry for their child and insisted on taking over the tofu-making themselves, saying they wanted the siblings to rest for a few days.

Yan Xiaoyu figured that since the donkey would grind the beans, the rest of the work wouldn’t be too heavy, so he didn’t argue with his parents about it.

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

Those days of sleeping until late morning were pleasant but fleeting.

After the fifteenth, the villagers of Xiling Village became busy again, and Yan Xiaoyu was no exception.

Yan Xiaoyu’s stall reopened on the seventeenth day of the first lunar month. In addition to selling chicken soup, tofu skewers, and spicy dried tofu, he added a few new dishes, planning to test-market them for a few days. If they sold well, he would add them to the list of potential menu items for the county’s restaurants.

Customers who had come for the chicken soup tofu skewers and spicy dried tofu couldn’t resist the temptation when they saw the new dishes and eagerly paid to try them.

Many became hooked after their first taste and returned every day or two.

The new dishes attracted a whole new crowd to his small stall, so even when the owner of the pickled vegetable stall nearby copied Yan Xiaoyu’s spicy dried tofu and fermented tofu, business at Yan Xiaoyu’s stall wasn’t really affected.

Many customers braved the cold wind to line up at Yan Xiaoyu’s stall, a sight that filled the other market vendors with envy.

…

One day, as Yan Xiaoyu was serving customers in line, two men with menacing looks stormed over.

The two men pushed their way through the crowd at the stall. One of them forcefully threw the oil-paper wrapper he was holding onto the ground and pointed at Yan Xiaoyu, shouting.

“You heartless scoundrel! All the food you sell is filthy! Today, my mother ate the spicy dried tofu you sold, and she was vomiting and having diarrhea—she nearly died! The doctor said it was caused by your spicy dried tofu!”

The other man shouted at the customers: “How dare you still buy his stuff? The food from this stall nearly killed someone! So many people buy this spicy dried tofu every day—surely he must have added some addictive poison to make you unable to live without his food!”

As soon as the two finished speaking, the diners visibly panicked.

“Is it really unsanitary? But I’ve eaten it several times and never had any problems!”

“Come to think of it, I had some stomach trouble yesterday, too. I wonder if it was because I ate the spicy dried tofu.”

“The food here really does taste different from anywhere else. I’ve tried the spicy dried tofu from the stall next door—it’s edible, but it doesn’t make you crave it as this one does. Could they really be using some kind of addictive drug?”

“That can’t be. It’s not that mysterious. It must just be that the owner has a good knack for it…”

The incident happened so suddenly that the market officials hadn’t even had time to arrive. Yu Sanlang and Ge’er were in the middle of selling tofu when they, too, were startled into stillness by the two men.

Yan Xiaoyu, however, showed no sign of panic. He personally stir-fried the spicy dried tofu every morning, so he knew better than anyone whether it was clean or not.

It was clear these two had come to cause trouble, so Yan Xiaoyu gave them a cold look.

“When did you ever buy my spicy dried tofu here? I’ve never seen you before. You say your mother got sick after eating my spicy dried tofu—can you produce any proof? You have no evidence at all, yet you come here to cause trouble. Are you trying to extort money from me on purpose?”

“Don’t try to wriggle out of this, you rascal!” The man pointed at the oil-paper wrapper on the ground and shouted, “Look at this wrapper—isn’t it exactly the same as the ones from your stall?!”

Yan Xiaoyu stood with his hands on his hips, refusing to back down. “If a single oil paper wrapper is enough to prove your mother got sick from eating my food, then wouldn’t anyone be able to pick up someone else’s leftover wrapper and come here to extort money from me?”

After speaking, he pointed at Yan Xiaoyue and bowed to the customers. “Everyone, rest assured. The food here is clean and safe—I’m not afraid to send it to the magistrate’s office for inspection. Besides, my older sister eats from this stall every day. If there were really a problem, would I be so reckless as to harm my own family?”

“Ah!” the boy chimed in loudly. “Sister Yue eats plenty of spicy dried tofu every day. I’ve seen it, and so have the other stall owners nearby—she’s never shown any signs of feeling unwell. Besides, Brother Xiaoyu’s stall has been open for months now, and business has been booming. So many people have eaten there without any issues—why would your mother be the only one to get sick? Who knows, maybe someone jealous of Brother Xiaoyu’s business sent you to cause trouble?!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the diners began craning their necks to look over at Yan Xiaoyue.

And sure enough, there she was, with several uneaten dishes sitting right in front of her—spicy dried tofu among them.

“Mr. Yu isn’t lying!” a customer in the crowd shouted in support of Yan Xiaoyu. “Every time I come here, I’ve seen this Miss Yue eating food from his stall!”

Hearing this, the troublemaker sneered, “Who’s to say she’s eating something different from what I sold you? You bought your food and left—you weren’t standing there watching the stall the whole time!” 

Yan Xiaoyu shot him an impatient glance. “Since you’re accusing the food from my stall of being tainted, then take your mother and that doctor with you to the magistrate’s office to settle this! If my food is tainted, the magistrate can have the doctor examine it and find out for himself!”