The next morning, Yu Xiaoshan came early again to help Qin Rong.

The fish balls had sold well yesterday, so Qin Rong prepared a bit more today.

She also made forty pieces of pumpkin blossom cakes.

For these cakes, she didn’t add any red bean paste filling, just beat a few eggs into the mixture for flavor. So, she priced them at five copper coins for two pieces.

Since they arrived early, Qin Rong and Yu Xiaoshan managed to secure a good spot at the market.

Because the fish balls were so delicious, some customers who had tasted them yesterday but hadn’t had enough came back early. “Little miss, give me two servings of fish balls,” one of them called out.

“Sure thing!” Qin Rong swiftly served two portions and handed them over.

The customer used a bamboo skewer to pick up a fish ball and popped it into his mouth.

His eyes narrowed in delight, clearly savoring the taste.

After finishing one portion, he noticed the tender yellow cakes sitting beside the pot and asked,
“What kind of cake is this? It looks so nice—it’s just as good-looking as the ones sold in proper shops.”

Qin Rong smiled, “Uncle, this is pumpkin blossom cake. It tastes really good. I’ll cut you a small piece to try, no charge.”

The customer eagerly agreed, “Great! My daughter at home loves these kinds of treats. If it tastes good, I’ll buy a few.”

Qin Rong cut a small piece with a bamboo knife and handed it over. The customer hadn’t expected the pumpkin cake to taste so good—it was just sweet enough and had a lingering flavor, even though he normally didn’t care for sweets.

“How much for the pumpkin blossom cake?”

“Five copper coins for two pieces.”

“I’ll take ten pieces!”

“Coming right up!”

Qin Rong hadn’t expected him to be so generous.

In just a short while, she had already sold more than one-third of the cakes.

The fish balls and pumpkin cakes sold out quickly that day—within an hour, most of the items were gone.

After packing up, Qin Rong told Yu Xiaoshan, “Xiaoshan, you push the cart back first. I’m going to buy ingredients for tomorrow’s fish balls and cakes. Remember to stay for lunch—we’ve got something new today.”

Hearing this, Yu Xiaoshan looked troubled.

Yesterday he had stayed for lunch, and his mother scolded him severely when she found out they had braised pork.

But Qin Rong’s cooking was just too delicious.

And now she mentioned there would be something new to try—he was very tempted.

Qin Rong saw his hesitation and guessed his aunt must’ve said something. After thinking a moment, she said seriously, “Xiaoshan, I’d like to talk to you about something.”

Seeing how serious she was, Yu Xiaoshan quickly said, “Sister Rong, go ahead.”

“If you’re free at home, I’d like you to help me every day. I want to hand off the fish ball mixing work to you—you’re strong, and you do a great job preparing the fish.”

“My mom already told me to come help,” Yu Xiaoshan replied, confused as to why Qin Rong was being so formal.

Qin Rong shook her head and smiled, “What I mean is—I want to pay you. It’s still a small business, so how about I cover your lunch and pay you five copper coins a day?”

Yu Xiaoshan’s eyes widened.

He would get food and money?

But how would his mother allow that?

“No no no, Sister Rong, I can’t take your money! My aunt would beat me!”

“Xiaoshan, go home and talk to her about it. If you take this job, you’ll need to come every day. Helping out is one thing—but I can’t ask you to do that without paying you. If you accept wages, then it’s a proper job. When the business grows, I’ll pay you more.”

Qin Rong explained her reasoning carefully, urging Yu Xiaoshan to discuss it properly with his mother.

Yu Xiaoshan nodded dazedly.

He was just a teenage boy, not old enough for manual labor jobs, and if he wanted to be an apprentice somewhere, not only would he not earn money—he’d have to pay a fee.

But working for Qin Rong meant the tasks weren’t too hard, and he’d get paid.

What could be better?

After talking with him, Qin Rong took her basket and headed to the docks, where many people would be selling fish at this hour.

Since she sold more fish balls than yesterday, she also earned twice as much.

Plus, she sold pumpkin cakes worth one hundred copper coins.

After subtracting the costs, she still earned around seventy coins from the cakes.

She made one hundred fifty coins from fish balls and seventy coins from the cakes—a total of two hundred twenty coins that day.

Some of the ingredients came from her inn space (a kind of magical stash), so she didn’t calculate all the costs too carefully. Right now, her priority was earning as much money as possible—she’d account for the rest later.

With Yu Xiaoshan helping, Qin Rong bought a few more fish.

When they returned home, she found that Qin Yue had already started cooking rice.

Yesterday, she had taught Qin Yue and Yu Xiaoshan how to clean and gut the fish, so she handed them the fish to prep and entered the kitchen to cook.

There had been some farmers selling asparagus shoots at the dock—fresh seasonal vegetables—so Qin Rong had bought some.

After stir-frying the asparagus, she moved on to today’s new dish: Perilla Snails with Pickled Mustard Greens.

The snails had been purged of sand overnight.

Qin Rong started by boiling slices of ginger with salt and cooking wine, then parboiled the snails and drained them.

Then she began stir-frying the snails with perilla.

She poured oil into the pan, added scallions, ginger, and garlic until fragrant, then added chili peppers. In Lihua Town, chili peppers weren’t common—people usually used zanthoxylum (Sichuan pepper) as a substitute.

The chili peppers she used were from her inn space.

She didn’t have many, so she was careful with them.

But she had already planted quite a few chili seeds in both her front and back yards.

Green chilies mature fast, while red ones take longer—soon, she’d have plenty of chilies to use freely.

As the aroma filled the kitchen, Qin Yue and Yu Xiaoshan exchanged excited glances.

The smell was irresistible.

Qin Rong added a spoonful of fermented black bean sauce, stirred in perilla leaves, and finally tossed in a bowl full of snails.

After adding a bit of water and reducing the sauce, a fragrant, spicy dish was ready.

“Lunch is ready!”

Qin Yue, Qin Yi, and Yu Xiaoshan all stood up in unison when they heard Qin Rong’s call.

Time for something new!

After all, they were just kids, and their eyes lit up with excitement.

None of them had ever tried snails before.

After sitting down, all three turned to look at Qin Rong expectantly.

She almost melted under their puppy-dog eyes.

After giving them each a bamboo skewer and teaching them how to eat snails, she picked one up herself and tasted it.

The snails had been cleaned thoroughly, with no earthy taste—spicy, fresh, and flavorful. Qin Rong ended up eating quite a few herself.

Looking up, she saw Qin Yue and Qin Yi eating with tears in their eyes from the spice, but their hands never stopped moving.

Yu Xiaoshan seemed immune to the spice—he didn’t even blink.

“Xiaoshan, take a plate of these perilla snails home later so everyone can try some,” Qin Rong said.

“Mm-hmm!” Yu Xiaoshan nodded vigorously.