After a male student transmigrated into the body of a widow,

Zheng Hao's eyes showed a hint of helplessness, but he did not continue to explain.

Without any hindrance, Gu Lin followed Zheng Hao into the prefectural school.

As early as at the entrance of the prefectural school, Zheng Hao took the food box that Gu Lin was carrying. As they walked, Zheng Hao said to the young man beside him, "There are other people in the school, let's go to the pavilion by the pond."

Gu Lin readily agreed. He nodded and followed Zheng Hao through the artificial hill and woods, arriving at a secluded spot.

Gu Lin raised his head slightly and saw an empty pavilion standing in front of him. The place was already remote and desolate, and now, with the autumn wind blowing, it was even more shady.

Gu Lin looked around and immediately understood why the place was so shady. It turned out that there was a lush bamboo forest behind the pavilion and a pool of clear green water next to it. The bamboo forest blocked the sunlight, keeping the pavilion in the shade year after year. In addition, the proximity to the pool made the pavilion even more shady.

With a few "plop" sounds, Gu Lin looked over and saw several red koi leaping on the surface of the pool.

Gu Lin was captivated by the koi in the pool. While he was admiring the scenery, Zheng Hao walked to the stone table in the pavilion, took out food from the food box and placed it on the table. Then he turned around and saw that Uncle Gu was still staring intently at the koi in the pool. Zheng Hao stepped closer and stood next to the young man, saying, "These koi were raised from fry taken from the headmaster's house. They are very popular with the teachers in the academy. A few students were caught catching koi by the teachers and were punished by being sent home to reflect for ten days. They also had to copy the Four Books and Five Classics before the teachers were appeased."

It was rare for Zheng Hao to share such gossip about the academy with Gu Lin. Gu Lin listened with growing interest, even ignoring the fish in the pond, and turned his head to look at the boy in front of him with bright, light brown eyes.

Even after the other person finished speaking, Gu Lin still had a look of anticipation on his face, clearly not wanting to hear enough and wanting the other person to tell some more rumors and interesting stories about the academy.

Uncle Gu's gaze was too intense, and the other man looked at him with curiosity and urging. Zheng Hao's slightly dry throat felt a little hot. He lowered his eyes and looked down, but continued, "Originally, this place was all pond water, with no pavilion or bamboo forest. Uncle Gu, do you think the pond water has shrunk and there is a pavilion and bamboo forest now?"

Although Zheng Hao is aloof and cold when talking to people, he is different in front of Gu Lin.

No one understood Uncle Gu better than him. To outsiders, Uncle Gu was calm and considerate, but Zheng Hao knew that Uncle Gu was full of vitality at heart. He didn't like highbrow art, playing the zither and studying literature, but he liked reading folk tales and listening to interesting stories and rumors.

The gentle voice was like a hook, successfully arousing Gu Lin's curiosity. He looked intently at the boy beside him and asked, "Why?"

After asking the question, Gu Lin said thoughtfully, "Could it be that your headmaster and teachers felt there were too few places for students to rest in the academy, so they specially built a pavilion?"

From the moment Gu Lin followed Zheng Hao into the academy to the pavilion, he didn't see many places where people could sit and rest. This place was remote and rarely visited, but there were bamboo groves and pavilions. Gu Lin made this guess based on this.

Looking down slightly, Zheng Hao saw Uncle Gu deep in thought. Initially, he had remained calm upon learning the origins of the pavilion and bamboo grove, but now, listening to the other's conjecture, he smiled slightly, thinking that Uncle Gu...

Concealing his emotions, Zheng Hao shook his head slightly and said to Gu Lin, "That's not the case; in fact, the opposite is true."

Gu Lin looked slightly surprised, even his eyes showed as he looked at the boy in front of him with astonishment.

Zheng Hao's eyes, which were once as cold and aloof as well water, seemed to melt away like ice and snow, gradually revealing a gentle warmth as he looked at the young man in front of him. He explained, "This place used to be a lotus pond, filled with lotus flowers. There were also several small boats moored on the shore. Every summer, the teachers and students would take boats into the lotus pond to enjoy the scenery."

"However," Zheng Hao changed the subject, glancing down at the young man in front of him who was looking at him intently. Zheng Hao softened his tone slightly and said, "The year before last, some students skipped class and were nowhere to be seen from morning to afternoon. The teachers and the students' parents were very worried. When they could no longer find them, they had no choice but to report to the authorities."

Finally, the constables arrived at the prefectural school and searched through the classrooms, dormitories, and canteen all the way to the lotus pond. Seeing several small boats that had disappeared on the shore, the constables boarded one of the boats and entered the pond, finding the missing students fast asleep inside.

"After this incident, the headmaster and his teachers learned their lesson and filled in half of the original lotus pond, turning it into the small pond we see today. However, with the lotus pond suddenly filled in, the area looked empty. For aesthetic reasons, the headmaster took the initiative to build the pavilion in front of us."

Hearing Zheng Hao's explanation, Gu Lin's lips parted slightly in surprise. He hadn't expected that a provincial key school like the Prefectural School, which gathered the top students in the entire prefecture, would have students skipping classes. Gu Lin found it a bit unbelievable.

Seeing the surprised expression on the young man's face, Zheng Hao smiled slightly and said calmly, "Although the students in the prefectural school are among the most outstanding scholars in the prefectural city, their personalities are all different, so it is not surprising that they would do such a thing."

Shifting his gaze from the pavilion, Gu Lin asked, "Then why was a bamboo grove planted behind the pavilion?"

Zheng Hao paused slightly, then slowly replied under Gu Lin's curious gaze: "The Four Gentlemen are plum blossom, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum. Plum blossoms bloom in winter and have a fragrant aroma, but some students feel that they are a bit too sentimental. Orchids and chrysanthemums are expensive and difficult to cultivate, so the academy chose bamboo to plant."

From the very beginning, when Zheng Hao started gossiping about the academy, Gu Lin's mouth hadn't stopped moving. Now, hearing the other party offer such an explanation, which didn't fit the image of a scholar who regarded money as dirt, Gu Lin didn't find it particularly strange.

Seeing Uncle Gu go from surprise to calm acceptance, Zheng Hao's lips curled slightly, his cold expression softening a bit, and he said softly to Gu Lin, "The headmasters and teachers are also human beings, no different from us."

Zheng Hao spoke tactfully, but Gu Lin, having spent a considerable amount of time with him, naturally understood the implication.

Headmasters and teachers are also human beings. Humans need to eat, drink, and relieve themselves, just like them. So they naturally need to learn to be frugal.

Who would have thought that the handsome young man before him would say such a thing? Gu Lin pursed his lips slightly, but his upturned eyes and smiling round eyes revealed that he was amused by the young man's words. Under the yellow sunlight, his fair and translucent skin paired with his light brown and bright eyes made Gu Lin seem to glow.

Zheng Hao's expression remained unchanged, but his gaze lingered on the young man in front of him for a long time. After a moment, he lowered his eyes to hide the mistake he had made.

After having lunch with Zheng Hao in the pavilion and drinking pear soup, Gu Lin went back.

.

In September, Lin Xiaoyao brought the account book to report to Gu Lin on the summer profits of Haoyunlou. She then said to Gu Lin, "Master, the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon. Although there are many people coming to Haoyunlou to buy cakes recently, the number of cakes sold has obviously decreased. The customers are going to those old-established pastry shops to order mooncakes."

Looking at Lin Xiaoyao, who seemed calm but was actually a little anxious and agitated, Gu Lin teased her slightly: "We are a restaurant that mainly sells hot pot and barbecue. Selling cakes was just a spur-of-the-moment thing. Now that the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, it's normal for customers to go to the pastry shop to buy mooncakes. Look, our Manager Lin is practically drooling."

Lin Xiaoyao felt a little embarrassed by Gu Lin's teasing.

He wasn't some naive newcomer who fantasized that he could keep customers who couldn't stay at other restaurants for long. But with the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, customers flocked to pastry shops to order mooncakes, and the sales of cakes at Good Fortune Restaurant gradually declined, which made Lin Xiaoyao a little anxious.

You should know that the profit margin for cakes is much higher than that for hot pot and barbecue.

Gu Lin picked up the clean, slightly flawed teacup. He had found it in a shop that specialized in imported goods. Such a teacup would be considered a flawed item in modern times, but it was a rare piece of white porcelain in ancient times.

Gu Lin spent a considerable amount of money to buy the tea set that matched the teacup. If he hadn't always felt that drinking water from an earthenware bowl was dirty with its yellowish-brown and blackish bottom, Gu Lin would not have wasted this money.

Lifting the lid of the teapot, Gu Lin lowered his head slightly and took a sip of the chrysanthemum tea he had brewed. Autumn is a season when it is easy to get internal heat. After autumn arrived, Gu Lin occasionally felt that his eyes were dry, so he would brew some chrysanthemum tea to clear his eyes and reduce internal heat. However, Gu Lin really couldn't accept the taste of chrysanthemum tea.

So, Gu Lin added two spoonfuls of osmanthus honey. When he drank it, the chrysanthemum tea in the cup not only had the fragrance of chrysanthemum and osmanthus, but also a sweet taste.

After drinking half of his tea and setting down the teacup, Gu Lin raised his head slightly and looked at Lin Xiaoyao, saying, "Given your character, the fact that you can say such things to me means you must have already thought of a way to deal with it. Tell me."

Lin Xiaoyao was not surprised by his boss's sharp eyes. He knew that although the young man in front of him seemed lazy and didn't care about anything, he had a clear understanding of the affairs of Good Fortune Tower and the people around him. Therefore, Lin Xiaoyao never thought of deceiving him.

Lin Xiaoyao said to Gu Lin, "Boss, since our cakes have been well received, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is just over ten days away, why don't we launch mooncakes and take this opportunity to build the reputation of our Good Luck Pavilion pastries?"

Instead of immediately rejecting the idea, Gu Lin asked, "Do you still remember what kind of business our Lucky House does?"

Lin Xiaoyao understood that his employer was reminding him not to put the cart before the horse, but he had been thinking about this idea for a while.

Lin Xiaoyao said to Gu Lin, "Boss, we don't need to take too big a step and open a pastry shop directly. We can first set aside a place in Haoyunlou to sell mooncakes. If our mooncakes sell well this Mid-Autumn Festival, we can start from scratch and open another pastry shop."

Looking at the confidence beneath the other person's handsome face, Gu Lin said, "In the city, every pastry shop that can stand firm has one or more unique pastries that other shops don't have, in addition to the most basic ones. Even mooncakes are no exception. We don't have a signature dish to offer, so we have no chance of winning if we try to sell mooncakes."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiaoyao smiled and said to Gu Lin, "I have considered this, boss."

Gu Lin looked at Lin Xiaoyao and said to him, "Zhao's sister-in-law's niece is Xiao Cui. She is very talented in cooking. After learning from the master chef for a few months, she can cook many dishes. No matter how difficult the dish is, as long as she sees it once, she can make it taste almost the same. After making it a few more times, she surpasses her master and even surpasses the dishes made by those master chefs."

Lin Xiaoyao continued, "A few days ago, you told me in Haoyunlou that you wanted to order some mooncakes to distribute to the waiters in the restaurant. You said that there were too few flavors of mooncakes on the market, such as lotus seed paste with egg yolk, rose bean paste, or molten custard. I'm a blockhead and forgot about it as soon as I heard it, but Xiaocui remembered it. Based on the method you gave her that day, she bought the ingredients and started making mooncakes herself. I didn't expect that she would actually make them."

Upon hearing this, Gu Lin's face lit up with interest, and he asked Lin Xiaoyao, "Have you ever tried the mooncakes made by Xiao Cui?"

Lin Xiaoyao nodded and continued, "I originally wanted to bring it over for you to eat, but Xiaocui said that freshly made food tastes better, so I'm making it now and will bring it over for you to try later."

As soon as Lin Xiaoyao finished speaking, there was a knock on the courtyard gate.

Gu Lin nodded in acknowledgment, and Lin Xiaoyao lifted her leg to open the door. Sure enough, it was Xiao Cui carrying a food box.

Lin Xiaoyao's body blocked the other party from entering the door, so Gu Lin couldn't see Xiao Cui's figure. He thought that Xiao Cui was timid, and if he didn't speak up, he didn't know if the other party would dare to come in.

Gu Lin said in a slightly louder voice, "Xiao Cui, come in."

The door closed again, and Xiao Cui followed Lin Xiaoyao in. Gu Lin smiled at Xiao Cui and said, "It's been a long time since I've seen you. My sister-in-law has been talking about you these past few days. Please sit down, don't stand. I'm tired just looking up at you all, even if you're not tired."

Looking at the kind young man in front of her, Xiao Cui relaxed slightly, and then sat down opposite Gu Lin with Lin Xiaoyao.

Gu Lin's gaze shifted slightly, landing on the food box that Xiao Cui had placed on the table.

Seeing this, Xiao Cui mustered her courage and said to the young man opposite her, "Uncle Gu, I made mooncakes based on the recipes you gave me. I don't know if they taste like what you want. Please try them."

Compared to her taciturn nature a few months ago, Xiao Cui is now able to speak fluently and at length in front of others.

Seeing the other person's nervousness, Gu Lin became even more amiable and said, "Then I'm in for a treat. I heard from your little brother that he was the first to taste the mooncakes you made, and I'll be the second. If your sister-in-law finds out, I wonder how jealous she'll be."

Looking at the smiling young man in front of her, Xiao Cui whispered, "No, it won't happen."

She knew how much her aunt doted on the young man in front of her. Even though he had lived with her before, her aunt was still most worried about Uncle Gu. She was afraid that if she wasn't by his side, Uncle Gu would catch a cold and have a fever in the middle of the night and no one would know. When she went to the market to buy things, she would think of bringing back anything delicious for Uncle Gu to try. She treated Uncle Gu like a child, so much so that even Brother Dagen had to take a step back.