When Xia Chunmei got home, it was already dawn.

She went home, washed up, and took a nap. No one knew what she did that night.

Time flies, and it's already August 13th.

At the beginning of the Yin hour that day, Xia Chunmei and others went to Xujiawan.

Xujiawan is a bit far; it took almost an hour to get there.

The stoves were set up in advance by Xia Chunmei, Xia Huohua, and Xia Mingshi; there were a total of five temporary stoves.

Xia Qiumei started stewing the soup, Chen Xiaoyu washed the scallions, ginger and sour sauce, Xia Huohua and Chen Jinlian killed the fish, and Xia Mingshi and Aunt Lihua chopped the fish meat into mince. In order to save costs, the longevity peach buns will not be filled this time, so there is no need to prepare red bean paste, saving a step.

This time, they planned to have 60 tables and prepare more than 600 longevity peach buns, which would require kneading more than 50 kilograms of flour. Xia Chunmei took Xia Ping with her and taught her how to knead the dough.

“Chunmei, this is your special technique. This… let Qiumei knead it with you,” Xia Mingshi said.

"Qiu Mei is too young and not strong enough, so let Sister Ping come with me. It's okay."

Xia Chunmei had already mixed the alkaline water she brought with the well water in a bucket, so learning how to knead dough didn't mean she could make longevity peach buns independently.

“This… Xia Ping quickly knelt down and kowtowed to Chunmei. If Chunmei can teach you skills, it’s because your ancestors’ graves are emitting auspicious smoke.”

As soon as Xia Mingshi finished speaking, Xia Ping immediately knelt down in front of Xia Chunmei: "Master, please accept my bow."

Xia Chunmei: "..."

It was a bit sudden.

After a moment of hesitation, Xia Chunmei said, "Don't rush to become my disciple. I never said I would take you as my apprentice."

"It's alright, Master. Even if you only taught me how to knead dough, it would still be an immense favor."

Aunt Lihua and Chen Jinlian were extremely envious.

In their view, the fact that Xia Chunmei could teach Xia Ping how to knead dough at least proved that Xia Chunmei trusted her, and that as long as the banquet continued, Xia Ping would always have a place in the team.

Aunt Pear Blossom thought of her daughter, Xia Guixiang, again. Oh, that good-for-nothing...

...

Around 1:30 p.m., the birthday banquet started on time.

Needless to say, it received unanimous positive reviews.

Many people expressed their desire to hire Xia Chunmei as a chef, but due to scheduling conflicts, Xia Chunmei only accepted three wedding banquet orders, charging a deposit of fifty coins for each order, with the dates being August 18th, August 30th, and September 2nd respectively.

The birthday banquet had a total of sixty tables. Xia Chunmei received a total of six hundred coins. After deducting the wages of others, she actually earned four hundred and nineteen coins.

Including the deposits she had previously saved and the deposits she had received, Xia Chunmei's savings now exceeded two taels of silver. Of course, this did not include the money she had taken from the human traffickers.

Not feeling comfortable leaving so much money at home, Xia Chunmei plans to keep a small portion for emergencies and use the rest to purchase supplies when she goes to the market the day after tomorrow.

The day after tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also market day. Business will definitely be good that morning. Since there are no banquets to hold these two days, we must arrange fishing.

After returning from the banquet last time, Xia Chunmei and her sister did not go fishing. At the time, Xia Chunmei was thinking of accumulating the three chances to use the next day, but she found out the next day that it was not possible at all.

If you don't use it that day, it's essentially wasted.

So night fishing is a must tonight; we can't waste this precious opportunity.

Anyway, they won't die if you catch them and keep them for a few days.

"Sister Ping, are you going night fishing again tonight?"

Upon hearing about night fishing, Xia Ping immediately perked up: "Go! Master Chun, did your father appear in your dream again?"

As soon as Xia Ping finished speaking, everyone else stared intently at Xia Chunmei.

Xia Chunmei thought for a moment and then said, "Yes, my dad said we should go fishing between 9 PM and midnight tonight and tomorrow night."

"Then I'll definitely go." Xia Ping had already tasted the benefits, so naturally she didn't want to miss out.

Aunt Lihua and Chen Jinlian also bought fishhooks at the last market, and they both said they wanted to go too.

"We should keep this low-key. If my dream doesn't come true, I'm worried that others will blame me."

Chen Jinlian immediately stated, "You don't need to tell us that. We definitely won't tell you. At the hour of Hai (9-11 PM), our families will quietly come to find you."

Chen Jinlian's idea was simple: if everyone in the village went, whether they caught anything was one thing, but if they all caught something, who would she sell her fish to on the festival day?

Others shared her idea. Aunt Lihua said, "Dongmei is afraid at home, so I'll have Guixiang go and keep her company."

"But we have to invite Aunt Xiangcao's family too. Her house is right next to ours, and it wouldn't be right not to invite her." Xia Chunmei knew she was outnumbered, so for the sake of a peaceful life in the future, she wanted to unite all the neighbors around her.

"Then it's settled. We'll go together at 9 PM. You must make sure the children keep their mouths shut," Xia Mingshi instructed again.

When she got home, Xia Chunmei first hid the money separately, then took a shower, washed her hair, and went straight to sleep because she was too tired.

I slept until exactly 9 PM.

When I woke up, the others had already arrived with their tools.

These people really trusted Xia Chunmei. They all carried buckets and large wooden basins, as if they were sure to have a great harvest tonight.

Before 9 PM, they arrived at the riverbank and began fishing.

Xia Chunmei only began making her wish after 9 PM.

The first time, everyone caught a grass carp weighing five pounds.

The second time, Xia Chunmei caught three grass carp weighing six pounds each, while the others caught carp weighing three to five pounds each.

The third time, Xia Chunmei caught two grass carp weighing six jin each and a mandarin fish weighing six jin each, while the others caught bighead carp weighing around five or six jin each.

Xia Chunmei made a wish every half hour, so after using up all three chances, it was almost 9:45 PM.

“My buckets and basins are all full, uncles and aunts, why don’t you go back first?” Xia Chunmei said.

"That's about enough. Bring a few more big ones, I don't have room to put them all here." Li Xiangcao was so happy she couldn't stop smiling. With so many fish, she could have a good Mid-Autumn Festival this year.

“When we go to the market again, we should all buy some paper money to burn for peace,” Xia Mingshi said.

"Auntie is right, it's settled then. We'll all go up the mountain together to burn it," Xia Qiang agreed.

"Okay, no problem."

Tonight, everyone except Chen Jinlian caught six big fish, because Chen Jinlian only brought one fishing rod, while everyone else had two.

Chen Jinlian was filled with regret, regretting that she hadn't prepared more fishing hooks and lines at home.

Fortunately, I can come again tomorrow night, and I can borrow a couple of tools during the day tomorrow.

"Chunmei, you can't carry so many fish, let me pick some for you."

"Huohua, let me do it. You can choose your house. It just so happens that my house is next to Chunmei's."

Xia Qiang and Xia Huohua both vied to help.

Chen Jinlian glared at Xia Tianji beside her, thinking to herself that he was a blockhead who didn't know how to behave in front of Xia Chunmei, his lucky star.