Members of the Li clan began to gather at the Li household in small groups. The three members of the Li family also ate faster than usual. After all, when it came to earning money, everyone was eager to seize every moment.

Just before heading out, Madam Wang hesitated. “Should I stay behind to keep Xiaohan company?”

“Mother, I don’t need you here. You and Father should go,” Li Xiaohan turned her down without hesitation.

Preparing the eucommia bark could be done slowly, but the eucommia trees in the mountains wouldn’t wait.

There was no need to say which one was more urgent.

“Exactly, Sister Wang. We’re all Xiaohan’s students today. We’ll help look after things at your house. You should hurry up the mountain—this can’t be delayed.” Madam Zhao, Li Guiqian’s wife, showed up in high spirits with a piece of cured meat as a gift for becoming a student.

“Sister-in-law, this is too much,” Madam Wang replied a bit awkwardly.

Although they had interacted for two days during the banquet, years of habit weren’t something that could be changed overnight. If Li Xiandong had always kept his head down like an invisible man, then Madam Wang had buried hers even deeper in the dust. Toward capable women like Madam Zhao, she had always felt both respect and envy.

And now, Madam Zhao actually said she wanted to be Li Xiaohan’s student for a day and even brought a proper gift to show her sincerity. Madam Wang felt all sorts of emotions welling up inside her.

“If the clan head says it’s appropriate, then it is,” Madam Zhao replied confidently. She didn’t feel the slightest bit embarrassed about asking someone younger for guidance.

Having lived half a lifetime, Madam Zhao understood one thing clearly: if you could learn a way to make money this easily, that was already a huge gain.

If Li Xiaohan weren’t a girl, Zhao Guihua wouldn’t have even had the chance in this lifetime. Plenty of men in the village were secretly jealous, but there was nothing they could do about it.

“Sister, you really gave birth to a wonderful daughter,” Madam Zhao said sincerely.

“Exactly! When my husband heard I’d be learning how to process eucommia bark and that it could earn an extra 60 wen, he reminded me again and again to make sure I learned it well,” another woman added. “If it weren’t for the fact that the process depends on the timing of the stove, and only we women could manage that, this opportunity wouldn’t have come to us. Xiaohan, you’ve really helped us women earn some dignity today.”

“So don’t worry, Sister Wang. Today we’ll do exactly as your daughter says.” The women all laughed, understanding clearly that the eucommia trees in the mountains wouldn’t wait. Even just one extra person could mean reaching a tree faster—or making two extra strings of coins.

They’d all heard that one tree could yield around forty jin of fresh bark, worth 1,600 wen. After being processed and dried, it could sell for 2,800!

Madam Wang had wanted to earn money too—she was just a bit hesitant. Now, she no longer refused and went up the mountain with the others, while Li Xiaohan stayed behind to guide the other women in processing the bark.

“Xiaohan, does this piece of bark look clean enough?” Madam Zhao asked.

“Auntie Zhao, take a look here. These dirty bits of outer bark need to be shaved off with a kitchen knife. Don’t be reluctant to do it. If the quality isn’t good enough, the medicine hall won’t accept it. That would be a greater loss.”

Li Xiaohan understood how frugal people were at this time. They didn’t want to remove too much of the surface bark because the bark was sold by weight. But that just wouldn’t do.

“Alright, I get it now. Just watch me!”

Holding back her distress, Madam Zhao cleanly trimmed the bark until it was neat and spotless. It wasn’t like she didn’t know how—it was just that she was reluctant. What if those parts could still be used? But clearly, they couldn’t.

“Xiaohan, does this one look clean enough?” another woman asked, holding out a piece she had just washed.

“Looks great, nice and clean.” Li Xiaohan took a look and nodded. “That’s exactly how it should be. Make sure all the moss and grime in the crevices are scrubbed out.”

“Haha, I’m not one to boast, but ever since I was a young girl, I’ve been known for doing things neatly,” the woman chuckled.

“Haha, Tieniu’s mother, just go ahead and praise. In this room, who isn’t good at this sort of thing?”

That was the truth. Since the clan head said each household could only send one person to learn, and only for one day, every family had sent their most skillful daughter-in-law.

To stand before Li Xiaohan and learn her skill, they had already gone through some internal competition within the clan.

“Xiaohan, how’s the size of these slices I made?” one woman asked.

“Perfect. That’s how it should be—same size, so they’ll cook evenly. If some are overcooked and some undercooked, the whole batch will be ruined.”

“Why does preparing medicinal herbs sound like cooking?”

“Hahaha, isn’t it all about controlling the heat at the stove?”

Everyone chatted happily as they worked. Only young Madam Chen kept her head down in silence.

Because her family hadn’t received any special treatment, her mother-in-law had grumbled at home. As a result, her father-in-law scolded her instead.

When they came over, most of the women brought cured meat or fish, but Madam Chen only had two cabbages and a couple of radishes her mother-in-law gave her.

Madam Chen had initially thought: I’m Li Xiaohan’s aunt by blood. Her grandparents still live with us. These vegetables already give her face.

But when Li Xiaohan accepted them with a bright smile and said warmly, “Auntie, you’re being too polite. We’re family. Even if you came empty-handed, I’d still teach you,”

Madam Chen felt like she had punched air.

Later, when she learned that Madam Zhao had brought cured meat, the wife of the future clan head Li Xinhe had brought cured duck, and the granddaughter-in-law of Third Uncle’s grandson had brought cured chicken, Madam Chen’s face slowly turned red with belated awareness.

Now that the families had split, they were considered separate households. Any acts of respect should go to Li Shengli, Xiaohan’s actual grandfather—not to an uncle’s wife from a different branch.

The vague scrutiny and hidden disdain from the crowd made Madam Chen realize that this gift wasn’t meant to impress others—it was for herself. This skill was something she was learning for her own sake. If she treated it lightly, then it meant she looked down on herself. It meant she believed she didn’t deserve to learn a skill that could help her stand on her own.

Only after figuring this out did Madam Chen slowly begin to feel embarrassed.

No one had truly looked down on her. It was she, a woman of the Chen family, who had looked down on herself.

The group of women washed and cleaned the bark. After that, they had to soak it in salt water.

“Aunties, you need to pay close attention to the salt-to-water ratio. For 50 jin of bark, use 1 jin of coarse salt. In this kind of wooden basin, just add enough water to barely cover the bark. Let it soak for one full day,” Li Xiaohan instructed.

Everyone stared intently at Li Xiaohan’s movements, silently repeating to themselves, “50 jin of bark, 1 jin of salt, water just above the bark.” Only after they felt confident they wouldn’t forget even in their sleep did they dare to breathe deeply.

“This is really just like soaking pickled vegetables,” Madam Zhao joked, breaking the tension in the air a little.

“Exactly. Once I start stir-frying it later, everyone will feel that even more,” Li Xiaohan added with a smile. As soon as she said that, the atmosphere grew tense again.

Li Xiaohan didn’t bother telling everyone not to be nervous. It wouldn’t help. When money was involved, no one could stay relaxed. Especially since these women were chosen by their families to come here—if they didn’t learn properly, they’d likely be blamed when they got back. They’d also feel guilty themselves.

Understanding this, Li Xiaohan made sure to explain every step of the process as thoroughly as possible. She picked up the bark that had been soaking and laid it in a basket to drain. This was the bark that Li Xiandong had prepared the night before. The fresh bark they worked on today couldn’t be stir-fried just yet.

Fortunately, after seeing Li Xiaohan successfully cook the first batch yesterday, Li Xiandong had gained confidence. Since she and Madam Wang were busy with the second and third batches, and he had nothing to do after dinner, he went ahead and washed some of the fresh bark himself. Li Xiaohan then added salt and soaked it, and now it had just about reached the right soaking time.

“Aunties, this is the right level of heat. You know, the more stable the fire, the better. If you really can’t control it well, keep it on the low side. If the fire is too low, you can just fry it a bit longer and still save it. But if the fire is too high and it burns, then it’s ruined,” Li Xiaohan explained as she lit the fire and began demonstrating.

The group crowded into the kitchen, pushing and squeezing to get a look at the stove flames. At this moment, there was no such thing as being polite.

“Ah! Sister Zhou, stop pushing me.”

“I’m not trying to push you. I just can’t see!”

“Aunt Chen, you’ve been hogging that spot long enough. Let the others have a look too.”

“Aiya, no I haven’t. I only peeked for a second…”

Watching the younger and older aunties in her clan scrambling like it was a supermarket rush for discount eggs—those in back pushing forward, and those in front rooted to the spot and refusing to move—sweat beading on their foreheads, Li Xiaohan called out, “Don’t push, don’t rush. We have enough bark for four batches today. Let’s take turns. I’ll count. Aunties, let’s split into four groups. Five people each time, and six in the last round.”

“Alright, this is a good idea. Let’s go with this.” Madam Ye, Li Xinhe’s wife and the future clan leader’s wife, couldn’t stand being squeezed out anymore. She said, “I’ll set an example and take the last spot.”

Madam Ye had her own plan. Though the last group had one extra person and had to wait longer, she could listen to more of the instructions in the meantime. Maybe she’d be even more skilled by then. She couldn’t afford to lose face. Her husband had told her that Xiaohan had ruined one batch. Her goal was to also mess up only one. Even if she couldn’t match Xiaohan, she absolutely couldn’t fall too far behind the others.

Her mind was working quickly. Some of the others kept up, some didn’t, but either way, everyone quickly lined up.

Li Xiaohan could finally focus on teaching. “Place your hand over the pan. Once you feel the heat, you can start stir-frying. I suggest using a new pan. If it’s been patched, the heat will be uneven. That’s not ideal. Also, pans that have been used for too long tend to hold leftover smells. Since we’re working with herbs, it’s important to do things properly.”

As she stir-fried, she continued explaining. The others nodded constantly, eager to commit everything to memory.

About half an hour later…

“Alright, it should look like this when it’s done.” Li Xiaohan scooped the cooked bark into a clean basket and reminded them, “Take a piece and break it open. Once it’s properly cooked, the bark won’t have those silvery threads anymore. It should also have a faint scent of wood and salt. Be careful, it’s hot.”

Everyone picked up a piece, broke it into smaller bits, and tasted it seriously like it was some kind of rare delicacy.

…

By evening, the sun was setting.

Because there wasn’t much bark that had finished soaking, Li Xiaohan only cooked four batches before running out.

She used a basket to place the finished bark under the eaves to cool. Once cool, she would pack it into burlap sacks.

Under the eaves, several trays of soaked bark were laid out, and the freshly harvested bark that hadn’t been processed yet was leaned against the wall to keep it from getting moldy.

All of this had been organized with the help of the women who came today. Aside from stir-frying, Li Xiaohan didn’t have to do anything else—everyone had scrambled to help.

“These city craftsmen really know how to build. Look at how useful this eave is. We can store bark here without worrying about dew at night or sudden storms ruining it,” one of the more observant aunties commented.

“That’s right. Xiandong’s family really has foresight. This money was well spent. They’ll earn it all back in no time,” Madam Zhao added.

She glanced at the pile of unpeeled bark in the woodshed, hesitated several times, then couldn’t help herself. “Xiaohan, Auntie heard you’re really good at peeling bark too. Um… would you be willing to teach me?”