Zhu Huan watched helplessly as Feng Xin'er left the bookstore, unable to stop her, and could only stomp his feet in frustration.

The bookstore owner, a man of considerable experience, cut to the chase, saying, "You must decide quickly, young lady, whether to buy the rare book or go to court!"

Forced into a corner by the bookstore owner, Zhu Huan could only order his maid, "Go back to the manor immediately and bring me the two hundred taels of silver I have saved!"

This two hundred taels of silver was something Zhu Huan had coaxed from Feng Xin'er over the years, using countless sweet words and practically wearing his lips out.

Now that everything has been lost, she hates her good-for-nothing older brother to death, yet he always puts her first in everything at home!

The maid obeyed and left the bookstore.

Meanwhile, Lu Qiqi and Zhou Yi also received their tickets, watched a wonderful play, and left the bookstore.

Stepping out of the bookstore, Zhou Yi asked, "Is two hundred taels of silver a reasonable price for a rare book?"

This amount of money was far beyond what he had imagined on Monday; he even thought he had misheard.

Lu Qiqi said, "Once this book becomes a unique copy, it means its value will rise and it will be extremely rare."

"If you encounter a book enthusiast who is obsessed with a certain kind of book, even five hundred taels of silver will attract many people."

In order to make books more valuable, people in ancient times would only preserve unique copies and would not make copies.

If a unique copy is destroyed or lost, it will cause a gap in knowledge and information, and much knowledge will not be able to continue.

For example, many medical and military books in history have disappeared into the long river of history.

Zhou Yi understood and nodded as he looked at Lu Qiqi's bright and sunny face.

"Go back and see if there's anything I can help with. I'm going to Nanshi," Lu Qiqi said.

Zhou Yi said, "Why don't I go with you?"

"No need," Lu Qiqi smiled. If she took Zhou Yi with her, she wouldn't have a chance to release the items from her spatial storage.

After saying that, Lu Qiqi turned and left, leaving Zhou Yi alone on the street, holding four books.

...

Inside the dilapidated woodshed of Xiaochunlou, a foul odor emanated from the surroundings. Four or five women, their hair disheveled and faces dirty, were squatting inside, shivering.

"Get inside and stay put!"

Lin was shoved into the woodshed by the big man and fell to the ground.

She hadn't eaten for almost a day and barely had the strength to get up.

But the cold ground wouldn't allow her to lie there any longer, so she had to struggle to get up.

Lin got up, and the door was opened again.

A beam of light shone into the woodshed, so bright it was blinding, and Lin instinctively squinted.

Before them appeared a woman, dressed in gorgeous attire, still possessing a certain charm. A strand of her hair fell loosely beside her face, making her appear alluring and captivating.

What no one expected was that the woman's first words sent chills down the spines of everyone in the woodshed.

"Force the safflower down their throats and crush their hopes of having children."

...

Lu Qiqi strolled around Nanshi and found that there weren't many people selling potatoes there.

She speculated that this was also related to the local people's eating habits, such as northerners preferring noodles and southerners preferring rice.

Lu Qiqi bought a lot of fatty meat from Zhu's butcher shop, planning to render lard to use for frying potato chips tomorrow.

Lu Qiqi returned to the West Market and walked to the back door of the noodle shop. She kept a small portion of the potatoes and corn in her space for planting, and released the rest.

Lu Qiqi banged on the back door and shouted a few times, and the back door opened.

Aunt Niu looked at the large pile of sacks outside the door and asked in surprise, "Shopkeeper, is all this grain?"

Lu Qiqi nodded, "Aunt Niu, quickly tell someone to move the things inside."

"Okay!" Aunt Liu said happily as if she had a joyous occasion at home, and went back to the noodle shop to call for help.

Before long, Zhu Zi, Dun Zi, and the Zhou brothers came out to help move things.

Looking at the large quantity of potatoes, Li Changlong exclaimed with delight, "This is enough for us to make lots of popcorn and potato chips!"

“As long as business is booming, we can keep selling,” Lu Qiqi said, pointing to the fatty meat in the basket at her feet. “Second Brother, let’s render the fat from the fatty meat and use it directly tomorrow.”

With the help of pillars and blocks, the sacks were quickly moved into the noodle shop's storage room.

In the kitchen.

Li Changlong cleaned the fatty meat and cut it into pieces.

My job on Monday is to start the fire.

Lu Qiqi put a spoonful of water into the pot, and then put a piece of ginger into the pot to remove the fishy smell.

Li Changlong saw Lu Qiqi put a spoonful of water in the bowl and asked, "Qiqi, why are you putting water in the bowl?"

Lu Qiqi put the fatty meat into the pot and stir-fried it evenly, making sure it didn't stick to the bottom of the pot, and said, "To render lard, you can render lard with oil or water."

"Won't the oil and water splatter when we use it?" Li Changlong was a little worried because it was the first time he had ever heard of using water to make oil.

Lu Qiqi smiled and said, "The methods are different, but the oil produced is still the same."

"Water and oil don't mix. Once the water boils away, what's left is all lard. It won't splatter, so don't worry."

Li Changlong didn't understand why water and oil don't mix. If you pour them together, won't they just mix together? How can you tell them apart?

But when he heard Lu Qiqi's confident words, he stopped worrying. Anyway, Lu Qiqi knew a lot, so he would just listen to her and do as she said.

Once the lard was rendered, Lu Qiqi brought over a large earthenware jar and poured in the cooled lard.

Stir-fry the remaining cracklings until dry, then sprinkle with a little salt for seasoning.

Lu Qiqi picked up a small piece with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth, making a crunchy sound.

Lu Qiqi narrowed her eyes and sighed inwardly, "This is so delicious! This is the taste of my childhood!"

"Second Brother, take this plate of fried pork cracklings out and let everyone have a taste," Lu Qiqi said, handing the fried pork cracklings to Li Changlong.

After tidying up the kitchen, Lu Qiqi also came to the noodle shop's main hall.

The Zhou brothers and Zhu Zi were all sitting around a table, eating fried pork cracklings, their mouths glistening with oil.

On the other side, Liu Tong and Hu Jinfei stood together discussing matters.

Lu Qiqi stepped forward and said, "Uncle Liu, Uncle Hu, why don't you try some?"

Upon seeing Lu Qiqi, Liu Tong quickly asked, "Qiqi, the weather is getting colder and colder. Will we still be able to supply vegetables?"

Lu Qiqi didn't expect that Liu Tong was worried about vegetables. She had a lot of vegetables in her space, enough to supply the noodle shop for two winters.

Lu Qiqi smiled and said, "Uncle Liu, don't worry, I guarantee that the vegetables will be supplied and it will definitely not affect our noodle shop's business!"

With Lu Qiqi's assurance, the fog in Liu Tong's eyes instantly dissipated.

He had just discussed with Hu Jinfei that if they didn't have any vegetables, they wouldn't sell plain noodles anymore.

To avoid customers seeing the picture and thinking the noodles don't match the picture, which would damage the reputation of their noodle shop and be a loss.

Fortunately, Lu Qiqi was able to resolve the issue.

Liu Tong gave Lu Qiqi a thumbs up and said, "Qiqi, you're really capable! You can solve anything!"