He Zhiran nodded: "Yes, since pendants are meant to be hung on clothes or backpacks, they naturally can't be too big."
After listening to He Zhiran's explanation, Sixth Sister-in-Law picked up the blueprint and studied it carefully.
The other sisters-in-law also craned their necks to look together.
After a few minutes, Sixth Sister-in-Law put down the blueprint.
"Ninth younger sister, let me make a finished product first to try it out."
"Great. With so much rabbit fur, sisters feel free to try it out," He Zhiran generously pushed all the rabbit fur in front of the sisters-in-law.
By dusk, Sixth Sister-in-Law had made a rosy red long-eared rabbit pendant.
The eyes of the long-eared rabbit were ready-made products that He Zhiran had bought from Taobao Mall, and the four claws at the ends of the long-eared rabbit were all white, making it look very cute.
He Zhiran picked it up and examined it carefully, constantly praising Sixth Sister-in-Law's dexterity.
"Sixth Sister-in-Law, this is how it should be. Just make them according to this standard in the future."
It was truly perfect. It was identical to, if not better than, those sold at Taobao Mall.
The only thing missing was that the long-eared rabbit pendants sold at Taobao Mall had a metal hook, and she had to think of a suitable item to replace it.
Just as He Zhiran was thinking about what to replace the hook with, Eldest Sister-in-Law spoke up.
"Ninth younger sister, looking at the design of your blueprint, there should be something like a rope on the pendant, right? I learned how to tie knots from my mother when I was young. Let me try."
After speaking, Eldest Sister-in-Law found a coil of red thread, separated it into strands to thicken the thread, and then started braiding in front of everyone.
Soon, a red monkey's fist knot was made.
When He Zhiran saw the red monkey's fist knot in Eldest Sister-in-Law's hand, her eyes lit up at once.
"Eldest Sister-in-Law, this will work. We'll use this monkey's fist knot as decoration on the finished long-eared rabbit pendants."
Having gotten the approval of her ninth younger sister-in-law, Eldest Sister-in-Law said with a smile, "Sounds good. We'll use this monkey's fist knot on the pendants we make."
Now, a finished pendant was completely done. He Zhiran didn't need to worry about the sisters-in-law's craftsmanship either. So she could let go of making the pendants again.
The family could no longer provide cold rabbit meat dishes, and Tang Mingrui had taken away a lot of plush toys to sell last time, so he probably wouldn't come again for a while.
But thanks to the sisters-in-law's efforts, the family had produced one hundred pendants in various colors in just three days.
Now the time was nearing the twelfth lunar month, and there was one month left until New Year's. He Zhiran thought that the time before New Year's was when people were most willing to spend money. So she took the initiative to look for Tang Mingrui.
Her timing happened to be perfect. Tang Mingrui had just returned last night from going out to sell plush toys these past few days. If they hadn't caught him, their trip could very likely have been in vain.
When Tang Mingrui saw these pendants made with real rabbit fur, even a grown man like him couldn't help but fiddle with them lovingly in his hands.
He couldn't hide the surprise and delight on his face at all: "Ninth Sister-in-Law, these are pendants?"
"Yes, does Brother Tang think these will sell well?" He Zhiran asked knowingly.
Let alone getting them into Tang Mingrui's hands, even she, someone who didn't understand business, knew that pendants like these appearing on the market would definitely be very popular.
"Of course, Ninth Sister-in-Law, don't worry. Brother will definitely sell these great pendants for a good price."
He Zhiran didn't ask for more. Although the pendants were made with real rabbit fur, they didn't cost much for her. What made them special was the variety of colors and the sisters-in-laws' fine craftsmanship.
Also, the pendants were much smaller than the plush toys. It would be pretty high already if they could sell for a few taels of silver each.
Tang Mingrui didn't estimate the price of the pendants in advance this time. For such exquisite little things, he planned to try selling them at a high price.
When He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye came over, they brought all one hundred pendants made at home and handed them over to Tang Mingrui before leaving.
They thought Tang Mingrui wouldn't come for a few days, but who knew, he came early the next morning.
He took those one hundred pendants to sell at the prefectural city. Unexpectedly, the young ladies and daughters-in-law of those wealthy families in the city adored these delicate and petite pendants.
With word spreading from one to ten to a hundred, the one hundred pendants he brought were far from enough to sell.
Not only that, many people wanted to place preorders with him.
Also, the price Tang Mingrui sold the pendants for was higher than for the plush toys, fetching as much as twelve taels each. He Zhiran thus got a higher commission as well.
He Zhiran didn't know that the reason Tang Mingrui could sell the pendants at such a high price had to do with the gemstone-like rabbit eyes inset on them.
Although he couldn't tell what material they were, each one was shiny, round, and plump - clearly no ordinary object. Hence, after Tang Mingrui made up some words about the rabbit eyes, the buyers all felt they got their money's worth.
The pendants were popular, which could have been taken advantage of to make a lot of money, but unfortunately, the rabbit fur at home was limited. To produce them in large quantities, they'd have to wait until after New Year's when they slaughtered another batch of male rabbits.
Luckily Tang Mingrui didn't accept those preorder orders, otherwise he would have lost credibility with customers.
Of course, He Zhiran wouldn't get involved in how Tang Mingrui did business. Right now the fur fabric and rabbit fur at home were used up. What she needed to do was prepare for the first New Year's she'd spend since arriving in this different world.
On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, it was the day people made offerings to the Kitchen God, also marking the start of the entire Spring Festival.
Old Lady Mo placed great importance on these solar terms, and didn't neglect the spring cleaning and Kitchen God offerings.
The family started busy preparations early in the morning. Old Lady Mo found Mo Chongyuan and asked him to try painting an image of the Kitchen God.
She had raised nine sons; Mo Chongyuan's martial arts were weaker than his eight brothers, but he was slightly better at working with ink.
If he hadn't been born in a family of military generals, it was very likely Mo Chongyuan would have chosen a scholarly path instead.
However, life played with people, not only making him suffer so much at such a young age, but ultimately ending up losing his memory.
Actually, the reason Old Lady Mo arranged for Mo Chongyuan to paint the Kitchen God image was also hoping it could evoke some of his memories.
In previous years when the family worshipped the Kitchen God during the New Year, the images were always painted by Mo Chongyuan. She hoped he could still paint them despite his amnesia.
Mo Chongyuan was still a bit dazed when called over from the rabbit shed.
"Mother, you called me?"
Old Lady Mo put the paper and brush on the table in front of her.
"In the past, the Kitchen God images in our family were always painted by you. This time I hope you'll paint them again."
Upon hearing his mother mention that he had painted Kitchen God images for the family before, Mo Chongyuan reflexively tried to recall it.
He didn't know why, but recently whenever anyone mentioned anything about the past to him, as long as he tried hard to remember it, he would get a splitting headache.
And the harder he tried to remember, the more severe this feeling became.
When this happened, Fifth Sister-in-Law would run to find He Zhiran.
With Fifth Elder Brother conscious now, He Zhiran could only check his pulse for him.
After checking, He Zhiran didn't find anything wrong with Fifth Elder Brother. Adding her experience as a doctor in her previous life, she figured that Fifth Elder Brother's condition was probably not a bad thing. It was likely the blood clots in his brain slowly being absorbed, a sign that his memories were being triggered.
Still, He Zhiran instructed that Fifth Elder Brother should keep a peaceful state of mind and not force anything. His memories would return sooner or later.
