The plaster felt warm when applied, which He Yanxiu found very comfortable.

“These past few days, someone from the capital came and brought some fashionable gold jewelry. I noticed a few gold leaf-shaped ornaments among them were quite well-made, so I had them put in this box.”

He Yanxiu took the box. “Here you go.”

“Whether you use them as jewelry or keep them, these gold leaves are pure gold and can be used in emergencies.”

Giving silver notes always felt like a transaction…

And kind of awkward.

Su Yujin took the box to look at it.

Inside the brocade-lined box, several gold leaves were neatly arranged.

They were in the shape of ordinary leaves, made of pure gold. Although each leaf didn’t look particularly thick, because the leaves were not small and there were quite a few, roughly estimating, these gold leaves together would be worth twenty or thirty taels.

Twenty to thirty taels of gold were equivalent to two or three hundred taels of silver!

“Thank you, Second Master.” Su Yujin happily accepted the gift, bowing repeatedly to He Yanxiu.

He Yanxiu smiled without speaking, only gesturing to Su Yujin.

“Then, Second Master, please rest. This servant will take her leave.”

Su Yujin, holding the brocade box, returned to her room with a smile, carefully putting away the gold leaf.

She was secretly delighted!

But speaking of which, why did Second Master suddenly bestow gold leaves upon her? Was it because he had injured his wrist and ribs again, and she hadn’t questioned him too much, rewarding her for being sensible and understanding?

Or was it because he felt guilty and uneasy about needing her to treat him again?

After thinking for a while, Su Yujin waved her hand self-deprecatingly.

Why think so much? Second Master’s reward was a good thing; she just wouldn’t harbor resentment that he looked down on her…

But having received so many gold leaves, should she reciprocate by cooking Second Master a good meal at noon?

Su Yujin locked the box and led Ai Cao to the small kitchen.

Fanqie Yu made with a sweet and tangy tomato sauce simmered from four or five peeled tomatoes, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside lian’ou rou wanzi, crunchy and refreshing qincai xianggan, fragrant xianggu you caixin, the soup was appetizing suan la tang, and the staple food was huangjin chao mifan.

By evening, tender and juicy yangrou xianbing, delicately fragrant donggua dun rou wan, extremely appetizing qiezhi jidan doufu, crunchy cuishuang yan huanggua with a satisfying bite, and tender, bright green liangban wosun si were served.

The next morning, xuehua shengjian bao, wugu doujiang made from ground yellow beans, red beans, and corn grits, and small pickles of jiecai si and cucumber strips were served.

By noon, suanxiang paigu…

By evening, He Yanxiu only asked for some eight-treasure porridge and two vegetarian steamed buns, forbidding Su Yujin from cooking anything else.

This wasn’t recuperating; it was clearly fattening him up!

If things continued like this, by the time his injuries were fully healed, he feared he wouldn’t even be able to climb over the backyard wall!

Before he knew it, it was already the end of the sixth lunar month.

Xing’an was fully recovered, and He Yanxiu was almost back to normal as well.

Although he couldn’t return to his usual self, he could do many normal things. As long as there were no major mishaps, and he took good care of himself for another month or so, he would be almost fully recovered.

Everything at the mint was normal and back on track.

After discussing with Qu Zhiwen, Wan Mingjun, and others, He Yanxiu decided to set off for the capital at the beginning of the seventh lunar month.

All in all, this whole affair had taken about half a year, roughly as expected.   

For the past six months, the group had worked together and found them to be compatible. Seeing He Yanxiu about to return to the capital, unsure when they would see each other again, they all felt a deep sense of reluctance.

Therefore, in the past few days, Qu Zhiwen and Wan Mingjun frequently found various excuses to visit He Yanxiu, spending time together for tea and meals and chatting.

Just as there was affection between men, there was naturally affection between women as well.

Kang Shi and Chen Shi were also quite reluctant to see Su Yujin leave.

Having been concerned about Su Yujin taking care of He Yanxiu and thus not daring to disturb her, they felt they had so much to say upon her return.

Kang Shi first settled Su Yujin’s shop’s profits for the past two months, rounding it down to four hundred taels of silver.

“I originally planned to bring silver ingots, which would look impressive and festive, but I was worried it would be inconvenient for you to carry them back, so I thought I’d give you silver notes instead.”

Madam Kang handed Su Yujin a small wooden box containing the silver notes. “This box was specially made by someone; it’s waterproof and moisture-proof, and the lock is so secure that only a very ordinary person can open it. It’s safe for valuables. I had peony and goldfish patterns painted on it in gold, symbolizing wealth and abundance year after year. Auspicious for bringing wealth!”

“Thank you for your trouble, Madam Kang,” Su Yujin thanked her repeatedly, then smiled and said, “I heard from you the other day that you’ve already found a shop for the fourth store?”

“What are you talking about?” Madam Kang waved her hands repeatedly. “It’s not that slow. The fourth shop is already half-finished and will open within ten days. Yesterday, I just finalized the deal for the sixth shop, and I’ll go to the yamen tomorrow to pay the money and sign the deed.”

Goodness, the sixth shop!

Su Yujin couldn’t help but want to applaud the incredibly capable Madam Kang.

Madam Kang was truly a walking money tree!

“Then we’ll really be making a fortune every day from now on.” Su Yujin smiled, her eyes crinkling.

“Not really, just earning a few more coins.” Kang Shi took a sip of tea. “We’ll really be making a fortune every day when we open a hundred stores.”

That was right!

Su Yujin nodded repeatedly. Seeing that Chen Shi was a little listless and silent, she asked, “Is Madam feeling unwell?”

“I’ve had a headache these past two days.” Chen rubbed her temples. “I’ve already called a doctor, who said it’s nothing serious, just because of the hot weather lately. He prescribed two prescriptions to clear heat and detoxify, which I’ve been drinking morning and night these past two days.”

The weather had indeed been hot and humid these past few days.

Yesterday afternoon, a gust of wind finally blew up, and the sky in the west became overcast. She thought they were finally going to get a good rain, but after the wind passed, the heat was still unbearable.

“It’s been hot these past few days; understandably, you’re feeling unwell. You should get some rest when you get back,” Madam Kang said with concern. “I’ve had a lot of ice brought back. I’ll take it over to you later and put it in your room; it’ll make sleeping more comfortable.”

“Where is it that extravagant? Last winter, the weather was warm; it’s said they stored less ice then, so ice is quite expensive this year,” Chen Shi said disapprovingly. “Just keep some water in the room, and at night hug a zhufuren;¹ that will do.”

Last winter in Hedong Prefecture was warm?

Su Yujin’s eyelids twitched.

She remembered that a few days ago, Shui Xing and Ai Cao were chatting and said that last winter was particularly cold, with snow falling one after another. In Hedong Prefecture, quite a few houses had their roofs damaged by the snow.

Even the small kitchen in the backyard of the government office had a corner collapse under the weight of the snow, and it even damaged a red plum tree next to it.

Author’s Note: Explanation: In ancient times, gold leaves, also called gold leaflets, were individual sheets shaped like books (I first learned about this when I read Xian Da’s novel ‘Warm Lord,” haha). The gold leaves here are shaped like leaves made of gold, which can be easily assembled or separated to make decorations (the male lead mentioned bringing several fashionable gold items). They might reappear later because the male lead wanted to give the female lead gold jewelry, but felt that ordinary jewelry would be controversial, and gold bowls and chopsticks wouldn’t be appropriate, so he gave her some useful but not overly tacky gold items, not those gold leaves. Just to clarify~~~

I feel like my husband has recently become addicted to cooking at home. I’m clearly not hungry, but he wants to make oden and insists I eat it…

(End of Chapter)

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Footnote

1. It is a traditional Chinese summer cooling tool — a hollow, cylindrical object made of woven bamboo.