"Ling-jie, how many more times do you have to do this?"

Yun Ruoxia was exhausted and her back ached. The cotton was heavy when it was wet, and she had to move it around a lot. She couldn't do this job if she didn't eat more.

"There are two more times, and then we can dry the cotton."

"There are still two more times before we can dry them!" Yun Ruoxia couldn't help but pound her old waist. "Ling-jie, it seems we have to set the price high, so it will be easier to hire servants in the future. Your aunt just wants to be lazy and slack off, but I can't afford to keep using them like this."

Yunling said happily, "Auntie is right."

She sorted the herbs, picked the useful ones, and put them into a pot to boil in proportion. After boiling, two large pots of herbs emitted a faint fragrance.

While waiting for it to cool down, Yunling, along with Zhang and Yun Ruoxia, used wooden sticks to scoop the cotton out of the alkaline water, and then rinsed it with plenty of water. The rinsed cotton was much whiter than the original cotton.

Yunling poured out the last bit of alkaline water from the wooden basins, rinsed them with water, then poured the herbal juice into the basins one by one, and then soaked cotton in them for fifteen minutes.

As the sun gradually set, the sound of Old Man Yun pounding his dough continued. Yun Ruochun and Yun Chu returned from school, followed closely by Old Man Yun, who was also carrying a rolling pin.

With the help of the three, the cotton was scooped out and hung on a bamboo pole to dry. The light green herbal juice dripped down the cotton, emitting an unusual glow in the afterglow of the twilight.

Three days later, the temperature plummeted, and the heavy snow that fell at night continued into the next day. Yunling struggled to get out of bed, drank a bowl of hot tea, put on the sleeves specially made by Zhang, checked the condition of the bee colony, and then, after adding some warm blankets, followed Yun Shenghua into the city.

The father-in-law was already waiting in the shop. When he saw Yunling arrive in the snow, his tense expression finally changed a little.

"Old man, I thought you weren't coming."

"How could that be? Since I made an appointment with Grandpa in five days, I should at least come and see him, even if it's not for anything else."

"Alright, alright, stop with the family stuff. We still need to settle the accounts."

Even so, Yunling still noticed the smile on his lips; he really was a proud little old man.

"Take a look at this slingshot and see if it works well. Also, you forgot to add a cotton ball hammer, so I made it for you too."

Yunling responded and picked up the cotton slingshot on the table. When would she finally see such exquisite craftsmanship without widening her eyes in surprise and looking like she'd never seen anything like it before?

She lightly plucked the ox-tendon string, and the urgency from her fingertips seemed to tug at her heartstrings. She happily carried the bow on her back, picked up the cotton slingshot in her left hand and the cotton fluffing hammer in her right hand, looking quite professional.

"You little brat, do you want to be a cotton fluffer?"

"Why not? 'The Flower-Pink Girl' is a pretty nice song too."

This was, of course, Yunling's teasing remark. She got the inspiration from fluffing cotton quilts, and she wanted to fluff the cotton into a thin sheet in that way so that it would be convenient and comfortable to stuff into menstrual cloth.

The father-in-law chuckled and then took out the millstone and the ox-tendon string and put them on the table. “If you’re not careful when playing the zither, this ox-tendon string will easily break. Here are some spares. If you run out, remember to bring some ox-tendon to repair the string. I don’t have such things.”

"Thank you for your guidance, sir. How many copper coins does this total?"

"You brought the beef tendon, so the old man will only earn a processing fee. He'll give you three strings of cash in total."

"Thank you, Grandpa."

Yunling took out three strings of copper coins and handed them to her father-in-law. "By the way, Grandpa, the New Year is almost here. I wish you a happy New Year and good health in advance."

"Go, go, go. Without you bothering me, this old man is quite happy."

"That won't do, I'll miss Grandpa."

The father-in-law's eyes were a little moist. He immediately lowered his head, turned his back, and pretended to look for something. "Hurry up, hurry up, the old man still has a lot of work to do."

"Then I'll be going now, goodbye Grandpa."

Yunling picked up her things and walked out. Her father-in-law only looked up after hearing her footsteps fade into the distance, muttered "You brat" before starting his work.

Unaware that someone was talking behind her back, Yun Ling left the shop and headed left to find Yun Ruoxia. The shop entrance was piled high with packaging boxes. Upon closer inspection, the craftsmanship wasn't particularly exquisite, but for packaging, it was more than enough.

After counting the money and paying the coins, the two hired a donkey cart, first went to the Fu family's trading company to say hello to Yun Shenghua, and then went home.

When Zhang learned that Yunling and Yunruoxia had gone to the county town to pick up something, she quickly swept away the snow piled up at the gate and in the yard as soon as the snow stopped, making room for them.

After she put the broom down, she saw the donkey cart slowly stop at the gate. Little White wagged its tail and came forward, and she quickly went forward to help carry things.

Yunling ignored the matter, grabbed her things, jumped out of the car, and hurried inside. She took everything from the dining table back to the kitchen, carefully wiped the tabletop twice with a rag, and waited for the watermarks to disappear, revealing a shiny surface before spreading the dried cotton on it.

Just like she had tried it at the shop, Yunling slung the bow over her shoulder, holding the slingshot in one hand and a hammer in the other. But when she actually tried to use it, she found it wasn't as easy as she had imagined. She couldn't control the force with which she struck the bowstring with the hammer.

If you use too little force, the cotton won't bounce; if you use too much force, the bowstring will break. Yunling pondered the force in her hands repeatedly and kept adjusting the tension of the bowstring. After trying four or five times, she finally found the knack for getting started.

After the cotton was fluffed up, Yunling took out some yarn and arranged it into three different styles according to the shape of the menstrual cloth. Yunling's parents had already stood by and peeked out out of curiosity, occasionally exclaiming in surprise. Yun Ruoxia, however, felt that the process was complicated and the price should be higher.

Yunling then took out a millstone, smeared some wax on it, and then ironed it evenly onto the cotton. This required meticulous skill, and Yunling had no experience in this area, so she could only adjust it as she ground, and it took her half an hour to make three different styles.

Yun Ruoxia picked up the smallest piece; it was so light, almost weightless, that it felt weightless in her hand. "Ling-jie, can this really absorb water?"

"Try it and you'll see."

"No way, it's not a simple thing to make, lest it be ruined."

"If you don't give it a try, how are you going to describe the features and benefits of this menstrual cloth to your customers later?"

Yun Ruoxia thought this made sense. Only after repeatedly confirming that it was really safe to test it in the water did she boldly pour a cup of water onto the surface. The water was quickly absorbed. "Ling-jie, look."

Yunling focused only on the yarn in her hands and didn't look up. "Aunt, try to wring out some water."