Yunling gestured to Chen Jie, suggesting that this person might be the owner of Yu Ji's shop. Chen Jie, not bothering to finish the pickled radish in his mouth, nodded in agreement like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Thank you all for coming. On behalf of the Yu family, I would like to say thank you. Today we have prepared fine wine and food, so please enjoy yourselves."

As soon as the words were spoken, cheers and applause erupted, and with a shout of "Serve the food!", people carrying dishes filed in from both sides.

The sheer variety of dishes left Yunling somewhat overwhelmed. Among them, a duck that appeared to be sprinkled with minced garlic caught her eye, and she couldn't help but exclaim curiously, "Garlic duck, that's quite unique."

Hearing Yunling's words, the woman next to her couldn't help but laugh. "Young man, you're not from around here, are you? This is called pickled duck, and the top is fermented rice wine. It's a really good dish. The duck has been pickled in the jar for five or six years. You can only get to eat it on special occasions."

"Oh? Wouldn't a single banquet consume most of the ducks?"

"That's not quite right. After all, having a grandson is a matter for both families. My maternal family also brought a lot of pickled duck and pickled fish, so they can at least cover some of the expenses."

Yunling was irresistibly drawn in by the tangy and fragrant aroma. She picked up a piece with her chopsticks and put it in her bowl, then tore it apart with her hands to eat. The texture was neither dry nor tough, but very chewy, somewhat similar to eating a long, hard strip of meat.

"Not bad, delicious."

"If you like it, take another piece, otherwise it'll be gone in no time."

As Yunling listened, she picked up a piece of food, and the moment she put down her chopsticks, the sour duck in her bowl was snatched away. This was outrageous.

After eating until they were about 70-80% full, the middle-aged man brought the baby over for everyone to see. The people at the same table commented, "This baby is so handsome," and "This baby doesn't cry or fuss, he's so well-behaved."

Yunling was immersed in the celebratory sounds, recalling a social etiquette class she had taken before, which taught her what to say when attending a child's one-month celebration.

This is a multiple-choice question with only two answers. The accuracy rate is 99%. Only one person got it wrong. That person chose the second answer and said, "The baby is so cute, it's just a pity that he will die sooner or later."

This caused a burst of laughter. The little girl next to Yunling kept asking her why she wasn't laughing, and Yunling only replied, "Guess why I'm not laughing?"

The one who answered incorrectly was Yunling. When the doll was brought to her, she finally came to her senses. She still couldn't bring herself to say her blessings, so she changed the subject:

"Are you the owner of Yu Ji Shop?"

Shopkeeper Yu then noticed that the people in front of him were somewhat unfamiliar, but since they hadn't caused any trouble and had even given him generous gifts, he should greet them with a smile. "Yes, that's me. Do you need something from me?"

“We wanted to buy some things from the shop, but the owner of the cotton workshop said that the shop was busy, so we came here instead. We hope the shop owner will understand.”

"It's nothing, it's nothing." Shopkeeper Yu handed the doll in his arms to the woman beside him and then invited Yunling and the others into the inner room. "I wonder what you gentlemen would like to buy?"

How many beef tendon shops offer?

"We don't have much, just ten or eight yuan. After all, we're a legitimate shop and we don't do anything illegal."

"Is it always this little? Or did someone order a large batch, so this is all that's left?"

Shopkeeper Yu's eyes narrowed as he carefully examined the man before him. This man had mentioned the cotton workshop, so he must be connected to the He family and might even know about him. Therefore, he immediately resumed his amiable demeanor.

"These are all existing stock. If you want a large quantity, you'll have to place an order in advance. We'll have to search around for them, won't we?"

Yunling nodded. "I understand. I'll take the rest. Was it two or three hundred coins a piece?"

Shopkeeper Yu raised an eyebrow, clearly recognizing him as a "regular customer." "Twelve dollars, all of it, two strings of cash, eight hundred coins."

Yunling roughly calculated in her mind that it was about 230 coins each, which was the price she was looking for. So she didn't say anything more, took out three strings of coins from her waist, and then took back 200 coins.

Seeing that the people were so straightforward, Shopkeeper Yu didn't dawdle. He led Yunling and the others around to the back door, walked all the way to the back door of the shop, and then quickly opened the door to take out the beef tendons from the box. The transaction between the two was thus completed.

Seeing that the cotton and beef tendons had been purchased, Chen Jie dared not delay any longer. He took the receipt to the cotton workshop to retrieve the goods, then spent one last night at the inn. The next day at dawn, he urged Yun Ling to hurry on their way.

Because they only brought one carriage, all the cotton and cotton cloth were stuffed into the carriage, and Yunling only had a small corner to fit in.

As they traveled back, the weather gradually turned colder, and it even started snowing. Seeing that Chen Jie and the others hadn't brought many clothes, Yunling distributed the padded jackets that Zhang had prepared for her, so as to save space in the carriage.

There were many vehicles on the road, all hurrying home for the New Year. This made Chen Jie even more anxious. He quickly waved the reins and whipped the horse to run faster, afraid that Zhang would blame him.

Zhang was indeed talking about how, ever since Yunling went to Qingcheng, she had left the cooking to Yunling's parents and followed Yun Ruoxia to the county town to sell mushrooms and honey. Every time they went, they would pass by the escort agency. She would calculate the time and estimate that Yunling would be back soon, so she would wait at the escort agency, sometimes for a whole day.

The day she had been waiting for finally arrived.

Chen Jie was the first to see Zhang Shi. He was a little flustered, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized that their return journey wouldn't take a month, and there was still more than a month until the New Year. So he smiled and said, "Auntie, we're back. Everyone is fine and nothing happened."

Upon hearing Chen Jie's words, Yunling immediately raised the carriage curtain, waved to Zhang Shi, and rushed into Zhang Shi's arms after the carriage stopped.

"Mother, have you been waiting here all this time?"

"No, Mother just arrived. It's such a coincidence that Mother ran into you."

Tears welled up in Zhang's eyes, blurring her smile. She quickly wiped them away, leaned back, and carefully examined Yunling, complaining, "Look at you, you've gotten so thin. You must not be eating properly."

“Mother is mistaken. This is what I always looked like. I ate a lot of good food in Qingcheng, including sour duck. Mother, do you know what sour duck is made of?”

"Sour duck, isn't that..."

When the topic of cooking came up, Zhang would chatter on and on. The warmth of their conversation softened the longing they felt after being apart and dispelled the chill of the winter.

After settling the bill with Chen Jie, they went to the Fu family's business, said hello to Yun Shenghua, and then hired a donkey cart to go home.

Yun Ruoxia spotted a donkey cart heading home from afar by the river and immediately picked up her wooden basin and ran back.