Chapter 301: Auntie with the Basket

Lin Dong asked Ma Chun for two jars of red wine enhanced with the Wine King’s formula. After greeting Shanye City and Yunlan, and giving Liu Hua and Wu Guang a day off, he returned to his room to practice.
The next day, at dawn, Lin Dong returned to Qiufeng City early. Carrying the two jars of wine from Ma Chun, he walked to Old Ding’s room and knocked gently a few times.
“How many times already? Don’t you know I never lock the door?” Old Ding’s lazy voice came through.
Lin Dong smiled, pushed open the door, and immediately saw Old Ding lying in bed, yawning. He waved the jar in his hand toward Old Ding, then raised his left arm—sending one of the jars flying toward him with a whooshing sound. Just as it was about to hit Old Ding’s head, the jar mysteriously stopped, hovering beside it.
Reaching out, Old Ding picked up the jar, removed the mud seal, and inhaled deeply at the rich aroma of the wine. “Not bad, good wine!” he said, smacking his lips.
Lin Dong tore open the seal of the other jar, walked over to the bed, and handed it over. Old Ding bumped his jar against it, and foam splashed. Lin Dong smiled, raised his hand, and the wine poured into his mouth. Old Ding slapped his jar, and a stream of red wine shot out, flowing straight into his throat. After downing half a jar in one gulp, Lin Dong stopped and let out a belch.
“It’s rare to come here to drink with an old man. What do you need my help with?” Old Ding asked, also stopping and squinting.
“Nothing major. Just want you to dress me up so no one can recognize me,” Lin Dong said with a smile.
“That’s easy. Drink first.” Old Ding sized Lin Dong up and asked, “Have you improved in strength again?”
Lin Dong nodded. “Lucky enough to get the inner core of a mutated golden-armored snake. Would you like some to go with it?”
“Good stuff,” Old Ding nodded. “A little won’t hurt.”
Lin Dong smiled, threw two bulging water bags onto the bed, then raised his jar again, and the two drank more. By the time Lin Dong left the room, it was already light, and his face was noticeably darker—his appearance had changed significantly. Back in his room, he changed into clothes he had never worn before and waited leisurely. He believed that aside from Old Ding, no one at Lin’s Inn could recognize him.
Before long, there was a knock at the door.

Outside the door, Ma Chun seemed startled by something, jumping back and glancing around before turning his attention back to Lin Dong.
“It’s me! It’s not convenient for me to show my face,” Lin Dong said calmly. “Are you ready?”
Ma Chun finally realized that the person before him was indeed the shop owner. He must have asked Old Master Ding to change his appearance.
Once his racing heart settled down, Ma Chun nodded, his frightened expression turning excited. “Everything is ready. We’re just waiting for your command.”
“Since everything is ready, let’s start now!” Lin Dong said firmly. “Also, send someone to keep an eye on the activities at Fenglin Tavern.”
“Okay!” Ma Chun took a deep breath and turned to run off.
Lin Dong closed the door and strode to the back door, stepping out quickly.
When he reached the main street, the inn was already open for business. Outside, a flat-bottomed carriage, much larger in size, stood quietly at the entrance. Many passersby stopped. The reason was that many had seen this carriage before—it was used by Lin’s Inn during its last promotion of VIP cards. Its reappearance at Lin’s Inn’s entrance meant that there was likely another major promotion coming.
The onlookers weren’t disappointed. Soon, nearly a hundred young men dressed in blue short jackets gathered at the entrance, carrying either brochures or buckets of glue and brushes.
This sight drew even more passersby, filling the otherwise quiet street. If not for Lin Dong’s strength, he would have been pushed to the back.
As the sun slowly rose and began to warm the air, Ma Chun, Jiang Zhen, and others came out of Lin’s Inn.
They hurried to the carriage. Jiang Zhen gently pressed his thumb on the storage spirit ring on his ring finger. In the next moment, an iron frame about one meter tall appeared silently.
Placing the frame in the center of the carriage’s flat surface, another flash later, a giant spirit stone fan, six meters long with a diameter of over two meters just for the iron cover, appeared under everyone’s gaze.
A wave of excitement swept through the onlookers, who stared at the fan, puzzled about its purpose.
“This thing isn’t meant to be given to guests by Lin’s Inn, is it?”
“Yes! It’s too big. Just the craftsmanship and materials would cost thousands of silver taels to produce.”
“Not necessarily. Lin’s Inn made an incredibly large VIP card last time too. I guess this is just a much larger sample, similar to that card.”
“That makes sense. But what is this thing for?”

“It’s probably used for drying cured meat. Even if it’s scaled down, it can still dry dozens of pounds of cured meat.”
“Drying cured meat?” Lin Dong was amused by the auntie carrying a vegetable basket beside him and couldn’t help asking, “How do you do that?”
“Can’t you tell?” The auntie with the basket glanced at Lin Dong disdainfully, then held up her basket and explained with gestures, “Take a closer look. There’s an iron cage outside, and cured meat is tied to it—how convenient for drying! I bet this iron cage can rotate.”
Lin Dong was at a loss, saying, “Why?”
“So it can dry evenly!” the auntie hummed. “Dry it for an entire morning, then turn the cage in the afternoon and change its direction. That way, every part of the cured meat gets enough sunlight. It’s far better than hanging it on a bamboo pole with a rope.”
“It can be done like that?” Lin Dong was astonished.
“Of course!” The auntie pointed at the iron cage. “Look inside—aren’t there three metal plates? Believe it or not, they’re definitely used to hold oil.”
“Hold oil?” Lin Dong was confused.
“You’re so silly! When drying cured meat under such strong sunlight, wouldn’t the meat drip oil?” The auntie gestured. “If you hang it on a bamboo pole, you’d need to put a bowl under each piece of meat to catch the oil. Every family has kids—just to catch that oil, they might even break the bowls. Even if you use porcelain pieces, the kids would get covered in oil. It’s better to let it drip on the ground and waste it. Look at how well-secured the iron cage is in Lin Ji Inn—small enough that kids can’t reach in, yet it catches oil and prevents them from playing around.”
Lin Dong wasn’t convinced. “Those three metal plates must be vertical, right? How is oil stored?”
“There must be something oil-absorbing applied to the plates,” the auntie said impatiently. “I heard Lin Ji Inn is connected to a sect—what’s hard about using some spiritual material that can absorb oil from a distance of a few feet? Enough, it should start soon. You’ll understand then.”
Lin Dong was stunned. If cost wasn’t a concern, applying some oil-absorbing spiritual material to the fan blades and making the fan cover rotatable—this spiritual stone fan could indeed be used for drying cured meat.
“May I ask your name, auntie?” Lin Dong asked with a smile.
The auntie sized Lin Dong up. Though he seemed unfamiliar, he didn’t look like a bad person.
“Just call me Aunt Wang. It’s my family that runs Wang’s Tofu Shop on the street. If you want tofu, go there—our tofu is softer than anywhere else, generous in portion, and reasonably priced.”
“Definitely!”

Lin Dong nodded repeatedly, already deciding in his heart that he needed to talk to Ma Chun later.
The flyers for Lin’s Inn hadn’t been distributed yet, and there were all sorts of guesses around, but none of them were as well-organized as those from this basket-wearing aunt. Setting aside whether it was worth going to such lengths to make a large basket and coat it with spiritual materials just to dry cured meat more evenly, or to collect some unknown edible oils, her explanation was far more flawless than any guess.
This undoubtedly meant that, despite her seemingly ordinary appearance, this basket-wearing aunt was actually a talent—at least, she had a rich imagination. Lin Dong believed that, even if someone else were involved, even if they often dried cured meat and guessed its purpose, they would never be able to come up with such a well-organized explanation.
With careful thinking, a rich imagination, a broad knowledge base, and strong practical skills, one could become an inventor. Even if this basket-wearing aunt lacked a broad knowledge base and practical skills, her careful thinking and rich imagination alone made her worth recruiting.
Although Peng Qiao was a genius inventor, even geniuses faced countless failures. Having a helper with a vivid imagination and careful thinking could provide her with a breakthrough idea at critical moments.
Just for that reason, as long as the cost wasn’t too high, Lin Dong was willing to pay a high price to bring this basket-wearing aunt to Lin’s Inn to work as Peng Qiao’s assistant.
If more could be recruited, they might even form a research team.
Noticing Lin Dong’s occasional glances, the basket-wearing aunt grew wary, fearing he might have ulterior motives. She quietly moved away and then slipped out of the crowd.
Lin Dong chuckled. Seeing that Jiang Zhen had already placed the large spiritual stone fan horizontally on the iron frame, he didn’t bother chasing after her to explain. Since he already knew her identity, he wasn’t worried she would run away. Moreover, he had changed his appearance himself, so he didn’t have to worry about being mistaken for a villain if they met again.
As many guessed, after setting up the spiritual stone fan, Jiang Zhen took out several regular-sized spiritual stone fans and placed them along the edges of the flat surface on three sides. Unlike the large fan, these regular-sized fans were placed vertically.
As speculation reached its peak, Jiang Zhen moved swiftly, circling the carriage in an instant. The blades of the three spiritual stone fans also began to spin suddenly.
As the speed of the spinning blades increased and the onlookers grew confused, Jiang Zhen leaped onto the carriage and tapped its footrest. Suddenly, the three huge blades began to spin as well.
Whoosh…

A fierce gust of wind howled, its sound overpowering even the noise around them. Jiang Zhen glanced around the scene, turned his right wrist, and a square iron plate about three meters long and wide appeared in his palm. He gave Xiao Munan beside him a signal, and the two grabbed the edges of the iron plate, bent their legs slightly, and flew upward toward the top of the Spirit Stone Fan. Buzz… As the iron plate reached above the Spirit Stone Fan, the intensity of the wind suddenly changed. While maintaining their balance with their core strength, something astonishing happened—the entire iron plate miraculously hovered three meters above the Spirit Stone Fan, with the two of them also more than a meter off the ground. Under the strong residual wind, their loose clothes flapped violently. Ma Chun looked up at the increasingly warm sunrise, mounted his horse, waved his hand, and declared with enthusiasm, “Let’s go!” The carriage moved slowly, and Jiang Zhen and the other person subtly twisted their waists, causing the suspended iron plate to move forward along with the upward-driven hurricane. Boom… The entire street suddenly erupted into chaos.