Chapter 118: Chapter 115: Clean Up the Tracks

Li Xiangyang looked at her, and his ears suddenly felt a bit hot. He quickly turned his head and pointed to the two large back baskets hanging on his rear seat. “I heard you were looking for these. Take a look and see if they’re what you wanted.”

Lin Lan let out a sigh of relief and said sincerely, “Thank you! Once I’ve baked the mooncakes, you’ll be the first to try them.”

“I think ham mooncakes are pretty good. Do you know how to make them?” Li Xiangyang glanced at her with a grin, then took the metal sheets out of the basket and placed them on the stone steps.

Lin Lan, holding a baking pan, smiled. “If I have ham, I can give it a try.”

Li Xiangyang said with a smile, “My family has ham. I’ll supply you.” Every year, besides the hams custom-cured for regular customers, his family also submitted a batch to the cooperative.

Lin Lan’s eyes lit up. “That would be perfect! Once the earthen oven is built, I’ll test it out.” She had originally planned to make red bean paste mooncakes, egg yolk mooncakes, and five-nut mooncakes. With ham, she could add another variety.

Lin Yuezhen came out with a cup of honey water, saw the two of them chatting and laughing happily, and handed it to him with a knowing smile.

“Have a drink. I’ll go get the money for you.”

Lin Lan went inside to get the money and also came out with a bamboo tube of tea leaves for him. “My mom and sister-in-law picked and roasted these wild tea leaves from the mountains. They taste pretty good. Take them home and try some. If you like it, I’ll bring you more next time!”

Li Xiangyang accepted it readily. “Thanks! I have to go back and prepare the pork for my stall.” At the gate, he added, “Just let me know when you need the ham, and I’ll bring it over.”

“Okay.”

Lin Lan saw him to the courtyard gate and watched him ride away on his bike. When she returned, she looked at the metal sheets and baking pans on the stone steps and sighed, “Li Xiangyang is such a kind-hearted person.”

Lin Yuezhen looked at her, smiling and nodding. ’I’d say he’s especially kind-hearted toward *you*,’ she thought.

Zhao Dehai helped buy the bricks and cement and dig up the clay. Then, Master Lu came to build the earthen oven.

Lin Lan chose a spot in the eastern wing’s corridor for the earthen oven. Master Lu and his son spent a day building it, with only the oven door and chimney left to finish.

The next day, Master Lu wrapped the remaining metal sheet around a thick wooden board and attached it to the opening with hinges, making it look quite similar to the ovens in a pastry shop.

Master Lu grabbed the handle, opening and closing it a few times with a satisfied nod. Seeing that his son had also finished the chimney, he called Lin Lan over with a smile. “Alright, bring over some straw. I’m going to test if the flue is clear.”

“Okay.” Lin Lan went inside, brought out a bundle of straw, and gave it to Master Lu.

“Little Lin, the oven isn’t completely dry yet. Start by using a small fire to slowly cure it. Once it’s fully dried, you can use it properly.” As he spoke, Master Lu lit the bundle of straw and placed it in the oven chamber. When he saw the smoke rising out of the chimney, he nodded in relief. “There we go. Let it air out for a few days. Once it’s bone dry, it’ll heat up much faster.”

“Thank you, Master Lu!” Lin Lan thanked him politely, paid him for his work, and gave him some kidney bean rolls and mung bean cakes as she saw the father and son off.

Once the oven was built, Lin Lan bought red paper and kraft paper, cut them, and started pasting together paper bags. Little Douzi stopped going out to play and helped at home every day, and Little Kai and Little Yun came over too.

While the children helped, Lin Lan bought them candy and fruit to eat. Seeing a mature pumpkin on the vine, she used glutinous rice flour to steam it and make pumpkin cakes for them.

In the afternoon, after Zhao Dehai and Wang Zhixue came to take a look, they found time to cut some bamboo and pulled a few pieces of timber down from the pigsty roof. They then built a thatched lean-to against the eastern wing’s wall.

Lin Lan then had them use the bamboo to build a row of shelves for storage. She also went to ask a carving master to engrave the name “Lanxiang House Pastries,” which was the name of her old shop.

She planned to print her shop’s name on the packaging paper and use this brand when she opened a shop in the future.

After the oven was completely dry, Lin Lan used flour to test the baking time for each type of mooncake and the time it took for the oven to heat up, recording everything and posting the notes on the wall.

When Li Xiangyang heard the oven was finished, he brought a ham to Lin Lan’s house and said with a smile, “I brought you a two-year-old cured ham. Ham aged for this long has the best flavor.”

Lin Lan saw that the ham he was carrying had a deep amber color and glossy meat, and it smelled faintly of toasted sesame seeds. She praised, “Uncle Li’s cured hams are really excellent.”

Li Xiangyang smiled and nodded. “Yep! The old man’s cured hams are indeed excellent. The broth made from it is rich and savory.” As he spoke, he took another back basket from his rear seat. “These watermelons are from the pig farm. I brought them for you all to try.”

Seeing that the basket was filled to the brim, Lin Lan said, feeling a bit embarrassed, “That’s too much. We can just take two to try.”

Li Xiangyang lifted the basket onto the stone steps and set it down. “These are just the leftovers after the fruit sellers took their pick. They’re not worth much.”

Lin Lan saw that the melons were all perfectly round and didn’t look like leftovers. Since he had already put them down, she didn’t want to argue and accepted them. She smiled and said, “When I’ve made the ham mooncakes, you and Uncle Li will be the first to try them.” After saying that, she asked how much the ham cost and paid him for it.

“Then I’ll be waiting. I’ll be buying this year’s festival mooncakes from you.” Li Xiangyang took the money from Lin Lan and reluctantly rode his bike to Yang Dingbang’s house.

Yang Dingbang looked at him and chuckled, “Even the victim isn’t as invested as you are.”

Li Xiangyang shot him a glare. “A few days ago, Ye San’s family even went to Lin Lan’s house to cause trouble. Have you guys figured out his motive for the crime or not?”

“We did!” Yang Dingbang’s face darkened. “He said that back in April, Liu Jinbao hired Old Gui to hit on Lin Lan, but he failed and was nearly crippled by Lin Lan and her sister-in-law. Old Gui then extorted over two hundred yuan from Liu Jinbao for medical fees.”

“A while ago, Liu Jinbao was ambushed, stuffed in a burlap sack, and beaten up. He couldn’t let it go, so while gambling at Old Gui’s house, he declared that he would give two hundred yuan to whoever ’took care of’ Lin Lan.”

“Ye San was tempted. He figured that fewer people would be out during the Ghost Festival, and they’d be sleepy after the sacrificial rites and drinking. So he mixed the rat poison he’d already prepared with some fatty meat, threw it into the courtyard for Dahuang to eat, then climbed the wall, entered the courtyard, and beat Dahuang to death…”

“We brought Liu Jinbao in for questioning yesterday, but he flatly denied it. He claims Ye San is just framing him to shift the blame.”

“We also questioned Old Gui and Zhang Hua. They also said Liu Jinbao never said anything like that. They even claimed that Ye San heard Lin Lan was running a booming business at her stall in the Eucalyptus Forest and was planning to go to her house and rob her.”

Li Xiangyang slammed his fist on the table. “That piece of filth is worse than an animal…”

Seeing Li Xiangyang’s face so dark it looked like it could drip water, Yang Dingbang knew he was planning to go after Liu Jinbao. He grabbed Li Xiangyang’s shoulders and looked at him. “Don’t you dare do anything reckless. If you get into trouble, no one can cover for you.”

“Liu Jinbao might not be well-liked by the Liu family, but if something really happened to him, they would definitely protect their own.”

Li Xiangyang snorted. “I’m not an idiot. I’m not going to go after him in broad daylight.”

Yang Dingbang warned, “Teaching him a lesson is one thing, but whatever you do, don’t kill him. And clean up your tracks.”

Li Xiangyang nodded. “I know what I’m doing.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep