These women had no choice but to agree. They had just received gifts from Granny Yun yesterday, so they would be willing to clean the toilets even if it meant doing so. They quickly nodded in agreement.

Even with six fewer people in the crowd, it still felt crowded and bustling. Yunling had originally planned to invite ten people, but then she thought that the task wasn't too much, so she decided to give it all to these six people, which would also help her build a stronger bond with them.

However, when Old Lady Lin saw that Yunling stopped calling for help, she became a little anxious. She put her hands on her hips, raised her voice, and said to Yunling:

“Ling’er, you’re being a bit unfair. If you just want these familiar sisters-in-law to work for you, you can just go and ask them. There’s no need to make such a big show of recruiting people, trick us into coming here, and then not give us any work. Who will believe you next time?”

The others who hadn't found work also sided with Old Lady Lin, "denouncing" Yun Ling.

"That's right. I even resigned from the job that someone asked me to do, thinking that I could get to know the Yun family and help them out. Who knew it would turn out like this?"

"I'm in a worse situation. I was supposed to go to the city today to help out as a cook at a banquet, but I heard early this morning that the Yun family was hiring, so I quickly told my husband to quit his job. Now I can't go anywhere else, and nobody wants me here. What am I going to do?"

As Yunling listened to their comments, she didn't know how much of it was true and how much was false, but regardless of the truth, the fact remained that the story had been uttered and spread to others.

Yunling suddenly remembered that there was still a thousand catties of cotton stored inside, her eyes lit up, and she said:

"Here's what we'll do. I still have a thousand catties of cotton to wash, but we haven't ordered that much food and drink. It'll be thirty coins a day, excluding food and drink. You just have to do the work well. If you try to cheat or slack off, you don't need to come back tomorrow."

Old Lady Lin raised her hand first and said:

"Ling-jie, let me handle it. How about these few in front of us? I'll keep an eye on them for you and make sure they don't try anything funny."

"Yes, yes, we will never slack off."

Yunling wasn't worried that Old Lady Lin would try anything funny; with Yun Ruoxia watching over her, she wouldn't be able to cause any trouble.

"Okay, let's do as Grandma Lin says."

Just as Yunling finalized the matter, Sister-in-law Fan came out to join in the fun. They were having a bit too much work to handle, and seeing that the Yun family was hiring, they took the opportunity to invite two sisters-in-law who seemed easy to get along with to go to the Fan family to help with some cutting cloth. Food and drink were not provided, and they were paid fifteen coins a day.

Although the two women's salaries were not as high as the Yun family's, fifteen coins a day, just cutting cloth, was a decent way to supplement their household income, so they nodded in agreement.

As for the others present, without Old Lady Lin's encouragement and instigation, they had no choice but to resign themselves to going home, hoping to get a similar good opportunity next time.

Yun Ruoxia took over the task of washing cotton with Lin Laoniang and the others, but since she was alone, she was sometimes unable to take care of everything. She was afraid that Lin Laoniang, that old woman, would secretly steal cotton to take home for herself, so she called Gangzi to watch over it together.

As Yunling watched them carry the cotton out one after another, she began to busy herself with her own affairs. First, she brought out the low stools that she had previously seized at the Xiangguo Temple for them to sit on. Then she divided the six people into two groups: one group hammered the cow back tendons, and the other group hammered the wool.

Hammering the cow back tendon wasn't difficult; Yunling gave them a hint and they understood immediately. It was the wool that was a bit tricky, as the wool needed to be wetted before hammering, and getting the thickness right was a little difficult.

"Okay, I'll hammer one first to show you, and then you can hammer one to the same thickness as mine."

As Yunling spoke, she pulled a handful of wool from the bag. It was the height of summer, and the wool had a distinct smell because it had been tied up in the bag.

Yunling couldn't help but frown. She quickly told them to pour out all the wool and let it dry in the sun for two hours before demonstrating how to make wool felt.

Although wool felting looks easy, when you actually try it, even with a template, you still fall short of the mark.

Yunling had no choice but to join them in the kneading, sometimes offering guidance, sometimes correcting mistakes. After two days, the three women were finally able to knead the wool felt that Yunling wanted.

Seeing that it was effective, Yunling was able to free up her hands to go up the mountain to collect herbs. However, as soon as she put on her basket and stepped out of the gate, she saw a familiar face standing not far away.

Today, Lu Yinghuai was wearing a light green gradient robe. Because of his fair skin, he seemed to glow in the sunlight. He knew how to make people, dogs, and cats' eyes light up.

Yunling found it amusing to see Xiaobai and Dahei pestering him, trying every trick in the book to get some jerky from him. She stepped forward and teased them:

"Why are you wearing new clothes today? Are you going to a banquet later?"

"Is it pretty?"

Lu Yinghuai had listened to Lu Jiamin's advice, which was that if one could adopt a new image when spending time together, it would give the other a fresh impression and subsequently foster a more intimate relationship.

He changed into this new robe after hearing this, and judging from Yunling's reaction, it did have a good effect.

“That’s completely irrelevant,” Yun Ling said, shifting her gaze away from him, but quickly refocusing it on him. “Young Master, is there something urgent that brings you here?”

Lu Yinghuai broke the remaining strip of jerky in half, giving one half to Xiaobai and one half to Dahei, then let them go play somewhere else.

"It seems that Mr. Yun is really forgetful, having completely forgotten about the estate he was going to buy."

Yunling suddenly realized, slapped her forehead, and exclaimed:

"Really? Hey, you've found a good estate?"

"Yes, there is, but it's quite far from the city. It takes two or three days to travel there and back. With the boss being so busy, I'm afraid he won't have the time."

These words struck a chord with Yunling, bringing her back to her senses. She needed to go up the mountain to gather herbs and didn't have time to linger and chat with Lu Yinghuai. So she started walking towards the mountain, waving to Lu Yinghuai as she went.

"In that case, young master, you may return for now. I will visit you another day when I have time to discuss this further."

But since Lu Yinghuai had already come, he wasn't about to turn back so easily. He quickly caught up with Yunling and walked beside her, not daring to hold her hand, only daring to gently press the back of his hand against the back of hers.

"The Qin family has chosen an auspicious day to present the betrothal gifts, aren't you in a hurry?"

Yunling was somewhat puzzled.

"Me, in a hurry? No, I don't know if the Qin family is going to give a dowry, so our Yun family has to show them a list of dowries too?"

"We need the dowry list, but we won't give it to them when they give us the betrothal gifts."