Chen Gu ordered two cups of tea before he saw Lin Yinan lead people into the council hall, carrying a small winnowing basket in her hands.

Lin Yinan placed the small winnowing basket directly on the table in front of Chen Gu.

"Young Master Chen, you've been waiting a long time. Here, have a taste."

Chen Gu picked it up and examined it closely. It looked a lot like a gold ingot, and then he brought it to his nose to smell it.

"What's this?"

Lin Yiheng chuckled and said, "You'll know once you try it."

Chen Gu noticed they were playing cryptic games with him and weren't saying anything. He carefully put it to his lips and licked it. Hmm? Sweet?

He took a bite and savored it. It was candy, but it didn't look like maltose. It tasted sweeter than maltose and had a faint fragrance.

"You made this candy?" Chen Gu asked Lin Yinan.

Lin Yinan pursed her lips, a beautiful smile curving her lips. "Yes, it tastes good, doesn't it?"

Chen Gu glanced at the plump gold ingots in the small winnowing basket, took a bite of the one he was holding, and looked at her with bright eyes.

"Can our Chen family sell this?"

Yun Mo thoughtfully poured Lin Yinan a glass of water, and Lin Yinan picked it up and drank half of it in big gulps. She was still breastfeeding and needed to drink a lot of water every day.

Lin Yinan pondered for a moment, then looked up and said casually, "Young Master Chen, be careful not to bite off more than you can chew."

"Once the affordable salt is released after the New Year, you'll be busy enough," Pan Qingfeng added from the side.

Chen Gu's skin was as thick as an iron wall, and he wasn't embarrassed at all by being rejected. He chuckled and said, "Who wouldn't want something this good? By the way, what's this thing called?"

Lin Yiheng said, "Brown sugar ingots."

"What is it made of?" Chen Gu asked, only to realize he had overstepped his bounds.

Who would easily reveal a secret recipe to others? So he hurriedly explained, "Please don't mind, I was just asking casually."

Lin Yinan twirled the cup in her hand, meeting his gaze with a hint of sharpness, and spoke frankly without any concealment.

"Brown sugar ingots are made from sugarcane."

"Sugarcane?" What is that?

Chen Gu was completely bewildered; he had never heard of this before.

Lin Yinan waved to Afu in the corner and took the sugarcane from his hand. "This is sugarcane. Does it look familiar?"

"All sugarcane!?"

Chen Gu looked at the thing in his hand with surprise. This thing could actually make candy?

Sugarcane was called "Zhu Zhe" in ancient times. According to historical records, Cao Pi even planted sugarcane himself and wrote a poem about it.

“Perhaps we can cooperate,” Lin Yinan said, ignoring the surprise in Chen Gu’s eyes.

Chen Gu snapped out of his reverie upon hearing this, "How do we cooperate?"

Lin Yinan said, "We only started artificially planting sugarcane this year. The yield per mu is not high, and the sugar production is even less. If you can grow sugarcane in Yongqing City next year, I will buy it no matter how much you plant."

"Does this thing even need to be planted? It's everywhere on the mountain!" Chen Gu was even more puzzled.

Lin Yinan looked at Liang Wen, "Manager Liang, please speak to Young Master Chen."

Liang Wen has considerable experience in managing sugarcane fields. He smiled shyly and said, "The sugarcane in our fields were all found in the mountains and forests and transplanted to wasteland. After planting the sugarcane, we have to weed and fertilize it regularly. When it grows to a certain size, we have to peel off the leaves. In this way, one mu of sugarcane can grow five or six thousand jin."

"This year we specifically reserved the robust and high-quality sugarcane for next year's seeds, and we believe that the yield per acre will be even higher next year."

In fact, Chen Gu was already tempted when he heard that the yield per mu was so high.

Lin Shuo noticed his hesitation and said with a smile, "If you don't know how, you can send someone over to learn, or we can send someone to guide you."

“Plant it!” Chen Gu said, “But I need to tell the old man first when I get back.”

Those who had previously learned rice transplanting techniques in Longtan went back and conducted an experiment on ten mu of land. When they compared the yields, they found that the yields were more than fifty jin more than before.

Therefore, he completely believed in the new things that Longtan had come up with.

Lin Yinan said, "I'll bring some brown sugar ingots for Patriarch Chen to try later."

"Lord of the City, are you really not going to consider entrusting this candy to our Chen family as our agent?"

Chen Gu is someone who knows how to seize an opportunity; he will fight for it to the bitter end, no matter how small.

"Young Master Chen, we really can't give you sugar, but we have another condiment made by our sauce factory. Would you be interested?"

Lin Yinan changed the subject, preventing him from dwelling on the brown sugar ingot.

What is it?

"Fermented black beans."

Next, Lin Yinan sent her bodyguard to the sauce factory to bring back a small jar of fermented black beans.

Upon opening the jar, Chen Gu was nearly vomited by the stench.

"This smells like shit, ugh~" Chen Gu said, fanning the air in front of him with his hand.

Lin Yinan ignored his feelings and used her chopsticks to put some food into the bowl.

She picked one up and put it in her mouth; it was salty, fragrant, and delicious.

"Try it, it tastes really good!" She handed the chopsticks to Chen Gu, regardless of whether he was alive or dead.

Seeing her serious expression, Chen Gu picked up a fermented black bean, pinched his nose, and put it in his mouth.

It didn't smell as bad as it initially did; upon closer inspection, it had a unique aroma of fermented beans.

"Beans?" he asked, puzzled.

Hu Shao grabbed a handful and put it in his mouth to chew. He glanced at him with disgust. How could he call such delicious fermented black beans shit?

"Yes, it's made from fermented beans, and it's delicious!"

Chen Gu swallowed one, then picked up another with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. The more he ate, the tastier it became.

"Just eat it like that?"

Lin Yinan said, "Fermented black beans are a seasoning that can be used to stir-fry vegetables or stew meat. The key point is that it's not expensive."

Its uses are quite extensive, and Chen Gu was once again full of admiration. He quickly signed a supply agreement for fermented black beans with Longtan.

Under Lin Yinan's planning, Longtan is developing rapidly.

Meanwhile, Wu Xingwang and his son, far away in Cangwu County, were also busy.

Although they had no connection with any of the top families, the father and son were attending the wedding of Deng Kang, the third-ranked merchant in Cangwu County, and his eldest son.

The father and son were invited to the guest table, where they drank the finest tea and listened to the surrounding guests gossip about the newlyweds' marriage and the bride's family background.

"I heard from Madam that the bride is quite beautiful. Young Master Deng is very lucky!"

"Is the bride not from our Cangwu County?"

"Yes, I heard she is the direct granddaughter of the head of the Su family, a famous scholarly family in the north."

"That's right. If we hadn't come here as refugees, the Deng family wouldn't have been able to marry such a good wife at all."

"It is said that a fallen phoenix is ​​no better than a chicken. Even if it is a scholarly family in the north, when they come to Cangwu, they still have to marry off their women to other families in order to maintain the family's honor."

"That requires the men in the clan to be capable. Otherwise, look at you, you have many sons, but none of them are of any use."

"You're talking about me, and you're no better than me!"

"..."

The group started laughing and joking around.

Wu Xingwang and his son exchanged a glance, then pretended to go to the outhouse and quietly left the Deng residence. The streets were covered with bright red firecracker paper.

According to custom, the father and son bought some gifts on the street.