Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Chen were boiling maltose in the courtyard. As soon as we stepped through the door, the sweet aroma of malt hit us in the face.

"Auntie!" Yu Yuan stepped forward to pay his respects to Chen.

Chen wiped her hands with the apron around her waist and asked with a smile, "Ayuan, are you here to look for your uncle? He's gone to deliver rice cakes to Tong the shopkeeper, and I'm afraid he won't be back before noon today. What do you want? If you don't want to tell me, just go to the study and leave a note for your uncle."

Tomorrow is the Little New Year, and everything for the New Year has been prepared. Rice cakes are a must-have food for every household during the New Year, and making rice cakes is Chen's specialty, but Chen's health was not good in previous years, so she didn't make them much. Although Chen's health is still not as good as that of an ordinary person this year, it is much better than in previous years. Not only is Yu's family happy, but Chen is also very happy. She personally made more than ten kilograms of rice cakes and gave some to relatives, friends, villagers and neighbors.

"I'm here to look for Atang!" He said as he helped Chen move the maltose that had been cooked to the kitchen. "Is Atang here? We saw some new designs when we went to Hangzhou last time, and I want to discuss them with her."

Chen didn't doubt it and said with a smile, "She's in the study!" Then she cut a piece of maltose with a knife and put it in a bowl and handed it to Yu Yuan, "Here, you two can try it and see if it tastes good."

Yu Yuan happily agreed and went to the study with the bowl.

Yu Tang was holding a brush in his hand, drawing something at his desk.

The warm winter sun shone through the window covered with Korean paper, casting a layer of golden light on her figure, warm and soft.

Yu Yuan was stunned for a moment before calling out "Sister".

Yu Tang looked up and immediately laughed.

Smiles emanated from her eyes, making her look lively.

"Brother, why are you here?" She put down her pen, stood up from behind her desk, and invited Yu Yuan to sit on the armchair by the window. "Don't you need to be busy preparing New Year's gifts for the Prime Minister?"

The wedding date has been set and the marriage certificate has been issued. Although the wedding has not been held yet, Yu Yuan is already the aunt of the Xiang family. Logically, Yu Yuan should go to the Xiang family to pay New Year's greetings on the second day of the Chinese New Year. Wang was worried about the New Year's gifts and blamed Yu Yuan for not taking this matter to heart and not buying anything when she went to Hangzhou City.

Yu Yuan chuckled, completely forgetting about this matter. He said, "Don't I have my mother and aunt? I don't understand this kind of thing. If I buy the wrong thing, I might as well not buy it!"

The last visit from the Xiang family left him with a bad impression, and he was a little reluctant to go there, but for the sake of Miss Xiang's face, he decided to put it all behind him and go to the Xiang family to wish them a happy new year with a humble attitude. But this did not mean that he liked to talk about it.

He put the maltose on the small table and said to Yu Tang, "Auntie gave it to me. Try it and see if it tastes good."

Mother got up early in the morning and started making candy.

When she was little, she would wait impatiently by the stove at this time, but her mother would forcibly take her away every time, and she would end up crying and being stuffed with a piece of maltose.

Until she was ten years old, she burned her mouth because of secretly eating maltose. She saw a doctor and took medicine for more than a month. During the first month of the year, she could only look at all the delicious food. Only then did she stop craving for it.

For Chen and his friends, this happened only five or six years ago, but for her, it happened more than ten years ago.

She sighed in her heart, smiled and went to make a bowl of maltose water for herself and Yu Yuan respectively, said "Brother, try it too", and sat down opposite Yu Yuan again.

Yu Yuan tasted the syrup, which was fragrant and sweet without being dry. He couldn't help but praise: "I didn't expect that Auntie's maltose is also so good. We are in for a treat this year."

In addition to offering sacrifices to the God of Heathenry and entertaining relatives and friends who come to pay New Year's greetings during the Spring Festival, a large part of this maltose is prepared for Yu Yuan's wedding.

Yu Tang pursed his lips and smiled.

Yu Yuan was embarrassed and did not dare to talk about maltose anymore. He explained the purpose of his visit: "I have thought about it carefully. Just as you said, I will help manage the farmland and forests at home. We can plant the trees you mentioned and make preserved fruits."

Yu Tang guessed that this would be the case.

In his previous life, Yu Yuan's business was so successful, but her uncle was still worried and gave him guidance from time to time. In this life, Yu Yuan is just a handyman following his uncle, so it is even more impossible for her uncle to let go and hand over the business in the shop to him.

"I was just about to tell you about this!" Yu Tang said, and stood up and went to the desk, saying, "Brother, come and see, this painting is the kind of tree I was talking about. This year, all the merchants outside will come back. Can you ask those merchants outside to take a look and see if anyone recognizes this kind of tree?"

Yu Yuan walked over and looked at it carefully for a long time before rolling up the painting neatly and saying, "Okay, leave this matter to me. I will give you the news before the 15th."

Yu Tang breathed a sigh of relief, but still felt uneasy. After Yu Yuan left, she drew another sea buckthorn tree and showed it to Yu Wen, who had just returned from delivering rice cakes to Tong Dazhang. "Do you know what kind of tree this is? Can you find someone who knows this kind of tree?"

Many scholars and literati like to grow flowers and plants, so maybe someone here knows it.

Yu Wen smiled and said, "What kind of problem are you giving me?"

Because Yu Tang suggested that when Yu Yuan got married, all the prominent gentry and scholars who passed the imperial examination in Lin'an should be invited to his home for a wedding banquet. Yu Wen's legs were almost worn out during this period. He had finally gotten things done, but in the blink of an eye, Yu Tang drew another strange tree for him to recognize...

Yu Tang smiled shyly, hugged his father's arm and said coquettishly: "This tree is called sea buckthorn. My brother and I are going to plant this tree on the mountain near our home. Dad, please help me ask around! You have to help my brother find someone anyway!"

People are in high spirits when they are happy. He was very happy when his daughter acted coquettishly towards him. He teased Yu Tang for a few words and still brought the painting with him when he went out to deliver wedding invitations.

To Yu Tang's surprise, the person who knew about this tree was Shen Shanyan, the teacher of the county school.

He smiled and asked Yu Wen: "Why are you asking this? Although this tree is rough, it can't survive here. If you don't believe it, you can go to Xiaguang's house and take a look. They have several trees, which Zhou Zijin brought back when he went to Gansu that year. They used to bear fruit there, but after returning, they only grew but didn't bear fruit. Because of this, Zijin even laughed at Xiaguang and said that the soil and water in their house were not good."

Yu Wen didn't expect this result. He was stunned for a long while before he said, "It's my daughter. She heard from someone somewhere that she wanted to plant this tree in our forest and asked me to help her find out!"

Shen Shanyan lived here in seclusion. He had heard about Yu Wen's character. After meeting him a few times, he found that he was on good terms with him. Sometimes they would go out to appreciate flowers and go hiking together. Hearing this, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "It's a pity for you, a concubine. If you had a son, he would be able to do something great even if he didn't study."

Who is Shen Shanyan? He is the son of the Shen family and a talented man from Jiangnan. It is already a great honor for an ordinary scholar to get a word of praise from him, let alone a girl.

Yu Wen was beaming with joy, but he said modestly, "No, no, she just likes to make trouble."

Shen Shanyan said sincerely, "It's already amazing that you can do this, and do it in a dignified way." Then he thought of Miss Yu's marriage, and couldn't help but say, "You have to be careful about your daughter's marriage, don't marry her off rashly."

"Of course, of course." Yu Wen nodded repeatedly.

Even if Shen Shanyan didn't say this, he would not be willing to marry his daughter off to anyone casually. Now after hearing what Shen Shanyan said, he became more determined to find a good son-in-law.