"Huh, I'm so tired." Lin Yan took a gulp of water and fell on the bed to catch his breath.

Zhao Shiyun looked at him with a smile and said, "Are you tired of spending a few copper coins?"

He had only had time to count the copper coins from selling zongzi these past few days, so they were a bit messy, mixed up with the shop's income. But Lin Yan did a rough calculation and figured he had made more than one or two taels of silver.

He sat up again and together with Zhao Shiyun, strung together the counted piles of copper coins with ropes.

"Amo has been coming to help make rice dumplings these days. Do you want to buy some things for her?" Zhao Shiyun said carefully.

"I gave you a gift box on the Dragon Boat Festival. Inside were rice dumplings, brown sugar, and a piece of meat. You didn't blame me for acting on my own, did you?" Lin Yan spoke cautiously.

"How could that be? I was afraid you had forgotten. Aren't this shop, bean curd sheets, and fragrant tofu all because of your coming? You can buy whatever you want with the money you earn and spend it however you want." Zhao Shiyun is not the kind of man who doesn't know what's good for him. He has seen all the changes in the family after Lin Yan got married. Not only do they eat meat every now and then, but they also have more savings and have opened a shop. Anyone who sees this would envy him.

Of course there are those who are jealous, but they just mind their own business behind closed doors. As long as you don't show it in front of them, they can be jealous, and it's none of your business.

Lin Yan put on his copper plate and crawled over to snuggle up to Zhao Shiyun. "Brother Shiyun, do you think we should think of a name for the child in advance?"

Zhao Shiyun was stunned. How could the topic change so quickly? Suddenly, they were talking about the child's name. However, as a rough man, he still named himself according to the generation of the family. "Shi" was the generation name. Yun was given by his father. The villagers always thought it sounded like the name of a scholar. Unfortunately, he didn't finish his studies and dropped out after only completing the initial stage of education.

"Do you have any ideas?" Zhao Shiyun hugged Lin Yan back and bent down to kiss the top of his head.

"Let's take a few more, both the young ones and the men's ones, so we can use whatever is born."

"Haha," Zhao Shiyun couldn't help laughing, "You talk like your own child is some kind of thing."

"Oh, as long as you know what I mean." Lin Yan patted him. He suddenly thought of something: "By the way, do our children need to be ranked according to generation?"

"You can queue up or not. There are several children of my generation who didn't queue up." Zhao Shiyun was still thinking. He was really at a loss as to how to name the child. "How about we ask the old scholar to choose one?" he suggested.

"No, I want to choose my own name. A name reflects parents' expectations for their child. If they put a lot of thought into choosing a name, it shows how much they value their child." He turned over and sat up, his eyes sparkling. "We can each choose two, and we'll use whichever one works best when the time comes."

"Okay, but it's still early for the baby to be born, so there's no rush. I'll get you some water to soak your feet." Zhao Shiyun said as he got up and went out.

*

After the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather became hotter and hotter. Lin Yan planned to sell some drinks in the shop, such as the mung bean soup from last time, or sour plum soup, perilla drink, etc. After boiling them, put them in the well to freeze overnight. Drinking them the next day would be icy and cool, which is very refreshing.

Mung bean soup is easy to make, but sour plum soup requires black plums and hawthorns, which aren't in season yet, so both hawthorns and black plums need to be purchased. Also, perilla leaves, tangerine peel, and licorice root are needed for perilla drink.

Lin Yan thought about it for half a minute and decided that it would be better to sell mung bean soup and sour plum soup. Perilla drink required more ingredients, which Lin Yan found troublesome.

"Brother Shi Yun, let's go buy some hawthorns later. I want to make sour plum soup."

"Okay, are you planning to sell it in the shop?

"Yeah, it's getting hot, let's try making some mung bean soup and sour plum soup and selling them." Lin Yan touched the small bag around his waist. The sour plums and plums were gone. "Brother Shi Yun, the plums are gone. Let's go to the mountains and pick some when we get back."

"We?" Zhao Shiyun looked Lin Yan up and down, his meaning was self-evident.

"Hateful." Lin Yan rolled his eyes at him. "You, you can always do it yourself."

Zhao Shiyun was satisfied. "I still need to do some shopping later. It might be too late to go back home and go up the mountain. I'll go pick them tomorrow. You and Ah Mo come to the shop."

"Yeah, let's buy some sour plums later." Lin Yan's mouth began to water. These plums turn red too quickly. I didn't even eat much, but they were already sweet the next day. He planned to make sour plums so that they could be kept for a few more days.

"Yours is indispensable."

*

After returning home, Lin Yan dug out the dried osmanthus flowers at home, which he had put away when he was cleaning the utility room. His mother said that they were the osmanthus flowers picked last autumn and dried, and they were occasionally used to make tea.

I picked out five black plums and a handful of dried hawthorns. At this time of year, only dried hawthorns are available.

Rinse the black plums and dried hawthorns with clean water to remove any dust. Place them in a pot, add half a pot of water, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Finally, add the malt sugar and continue cooking until it is completely dissolved.

The sour plum soup was still quite hot after it was cooked. Lin Yan filled a bowl with it and prepared to let it cool down before trying the taste.

Almost forgetting the dried osmanthus flowers, Lin Yan pinched a little and sprinkled it into the bowl, then grabbed a handful and sprinkled it into the pot. He was actually making a simple version of sour plum soup; for a richer flavor, he'd add dried tangerine peel and licorice. However, Lin Yan initially thought the ingredients for the perilla drink were too complicated, so why would he bother making a richer version?

Lin Yan comforted himself that the simple version tasted just as good, probably...

After the sour plum soup cooled down a bit, Lin Yan filled a small bowl and took a sip. The taste was a bit bland and there wasn't enough sugar. If it were iced, it would quench thirst, but it wouldn't be tasty enough.

Forget it, I'll buy some tangerine peel and licorice tomorrow and try the mellow version. Since I've gone through all the trouble, I might as well make some basil drink. Lin Yan thought so.