wife. Apparently, the Jiao family suspects that Fu Niu is your daughter and wants to find out more. Hu Laosan happens to be working as a slave for the Jiao family, so she took the job willingly. She...Li Laoer chuckled and shook his head. He found a wooden post to sit on, spread out the illustration, and then his eyes widened in surprise.

This is a large picture book, from the overall view of the entire courtyard to the breakdown of each part, even including the furnishings inside the house, down to the style of the doors and windows.

If it could truly be brought to life, it would definitely be an enviable garden.

It's just that I don't know if my little niece has ever learned all these skills. There are many arrangements and layouts here, I'm afraid even Mr. Zhou wouldn't be familiar with them...

Jia Yin gave the silver note, chose a place, and then became a hands-off manager.

For the rest of the materials needed, finding someone to calculate the timeline and break ground, as well as communicating with Zhou Da Ren, Second Uncle will be in charge of everything.

This is the benefit of being young, after all, who can expect a seven-year-old girl to be diligent, right

Thankfully, the weather is getting colder, so it's estimated that we'll only be able to build a foundation before it freezes.

Everything else can wait until spring, we don't want to tire out Second Uncle.

It's the Earl's Mansion in town that ran into a little trouble.

There is no suitable location!

Xi'an, as the former imperial capital, was already a prosperous city with a large population.

The sudden relocation of the capital here has made land in the city even more valuable, with house prices skyrocketing.

Both the south and west of the city, which had always been inhabited by the elite, were extremely crowded, with housing at a premium.

...while the east of the city was occupied by the imperial palace and aristocratic families.

There is a place north of the city, but it's where ordinary people gather, with many shacks and poor sanitation. It's a complex environment and not a choice for most families to settle down in.

This is also the reason why hundreds of beggars and refugees can occupy such a large area in the relief agency.

Although the Li family was only a newly prosperous family, it was impossible for them to build their mansion in the north of the city.

Fortunately, Liu Zhiheng heard about this and helped out a lot.

The Liu family has been a long-time "local snake" in this area, and they have the most real estate.

On the border between the south and west of the city, two adjacent semi-old courtyards have been owned by the Liu family since their early years, consistently collecting rent.

Now, it's been sold to the Li family at a discounted price of 140 taels after a 70% discount.

Two courtyards were demolished and combined into one, enough to build a five-entry manor house.

This scale isn't particularly impressive, but it gets the job done.

Li Lao Er was so busy that he barely had time to breathe. Not only did he have to manage two mansions, but he also had to oversee the relief agency and Baihuayuan Garden. He wished he had eight hands!

In the village, after harvest season passed, people were still bustling with activity.

Because it's time to harvest fruit from the orchard!

The mountainside was covered in red fruits, which would surely bring joy to anyone who saw them. But bringing them home without a scratch or bruise was not an easy task.

When fruit is first picked, it's always more sour than sweet. It takes about a month of storage for the sugar to convert and become the most juicy and delicious.

Last year, the village wasn't prepared and there weren't that many fruits, so they were all sold directly.

This year, the village head elder had people dig a cellar at the foot of the mountain early on. He planned to store half of the fruits there, and even vegetables like radishes and Chinese cabbage from the village for the winter.

The cellar was very large, about the size of six or seven rooms. It was built with blue bricks for both walls and floor, divided into several small rooms. The whole place was very clean and well-organized.

Jia Yin specially went to have a look and even had people dig a lot of soil from the mountain, piling it up in a corner. She hoped that during the winter, she could try growing mushrooms. She figured that sautéed, fried, or stewed mushrooms would be a nice change of pace.

The elderly in the village, with nothing to do throughout the year, would weave willow baskets. During the summer, they would use them to hold jade-like melons and golden fruits, while the rest were kept for storing other fruit.

The baskets piled up to fill two courtyards, but villagers still felt there weren't enough.

So, over at Ercun Village, while the noodle workshop was still under construction, all the wounded soldiers took advantage of the time to learn how to make willow baskets using an assembly line method.

Many hands make light work, and in just three or five days, they had accomplished more than the elderly had in half a year.

Little Wang's place opened up an extra path, leading to the Hot Spring Valley.

All the guests were eager for the mountain's fallen fruit game, hoping that the village would harvest it soon so they could buy more to take back.

Jia Yin has been going in and out of the city more these days.

The taste of her own fruit was the best, no one knew it better than she did.

So, this year not only did the prices increase a lot, but we also need to inform the Hou Mansion, Liu Family, and Wen Family in advance. We should set aside some for them as gifts for various occasions and social interactions.

Besides, she had previously instructed the Zheng family to come up with two hand-cranked whisks for whipping cream.

Butter, it's magical to look at, soft and fluffy like white clouds.

Actually, it's very simple. Just whisk the egg whites at high speed and add sugar and milk in stages.

But stirring these two ingredients without mechanical assistance will definitely break someone's arm.

Luckily, Zheng Jiazhuang always managed to please Jiayin.

Two semi-automatic hand-held mixers were delivered to the bakery.

Pengchuan arranged for two strong men to practice for several days, and they were already very skilled at making pure white cream.

While Chen Xi was even more OP, his burned arm had only healed halfway, but it didn't hinder his brain from running at high speed.

He put the juice and vegetable broth into the cream, trying to make it various colors.

The rough paper bag was also fitted with various metal clamps of different shapes.

Then, the cake base became his canvas, and cream was his ink, freely splashed about.

Last time, Jiayin went to see him and brought him a sketchbook.

The book cover is not just adorned with various flowers and plants, but also features fruit mosaics, adorable pets, and even character decorations.

In short, Jia Yin drew everything she could think of.

Thanks to Jia Yin's past exposure to some painting techniques, each picture was relatively clear, which further opened Chen Xi's eyes.

On this day, Jia Yin brought Ye Shan, He Grandma and Shui Ling to the shop again. On the chopping board, the little cakes were arranged just like those in the glass cabinet of her past life's cake shop.

Jia Yin happily took a big bite, and upon discovering the jam nestled within the cake batter, she nodded repeatedly in praise. "Excellent! This is exactly what I had in mind, even better than I imagined. Thank you for your hard work, Peng Zhuangui and Master Chen! After opening, business has been booming, and it wouldn't be possible without your silver rewards."

Peng Zhanggui and Chen Xi both greeted each other with well wishes, smiling brightly.

Then Chen Xiying replied, "Thanks to the master's guidance, I truly didn't think of this before. There are so many possibilities."

"That's right, Master Peng," the shopkeeper said. "The glass cabinet is already built. With cakes displayed like this, anyone who sees them will want to try one, and after just one bite, they won't be able to stop! Business will definitely be the most prosperous in Xin Du!"

Jia Yin nodded and inquired about the purchase of milk, as well as the testing of various snacks such as cookies.

Peng Zhanggui quickly brought out all the things and asked Jia Yin to taste them one by one.

Jia Yin offered some more suggestions for improvement. Seeing that it was almost done, she asked, "Have you found someone to look at auspicious dates for the opening"

The shopkeeper replied, “Sir, I’ve looked at two dates: the eighth of September and the sixteenth. Which one do you think is suitable” few days earlier than expected!”The old woman looked at the messy yard and sighed."I thought that as long as our family lived honestly and didn't bully others, everything would be fine. But now it se...