Chapter 8 changed the topic of doing business too quickly; there wasn't even time to teach Jiang Zhenniang...

The topic changed so quickly that Jiang Zhenniang didn't even have time to react. She was a beat slow to catch on, first letting out an "Ah!", then looking at Su Zhihan with suspicion, wondering if she had guessed wrong: "Han-jie? You mean you want to...do business?"

"Mother, you are so clever!"

"That's... no! Don't try to fool me with those words." Jiang Zhenniang was proud for a moment, then immediately came to her senses. She reached out and poked Su Zhihan's forehead, trying to put on a stern face: "You shouldn't even think about doing business. We are now people of the Marquis's mansion."

If she were free, Jiang Zhenniang would probably agree to her daughter's plan and give it a try. However, as a servant in the Marquis's mansion, she has endless chores to do from morning till night, so where would she find the time to set up a stall and do business?

Most importantly, the maids and servants of the Marquis's mansion setting up stalls to sell food? If word got out, it wouldn't sound good.

Jiang Zhenniang shook her head, stroked her daughter's hair, and patiently advised, "Han'er, you should focus on your work. If you want to stay in the kitchen, then learn cooking skills properly. Later, you can become a kitchen lady or a head chef in the girls' courtyard."

Jiang Zhenniang recalled the taste of that bowl of fried sauce and had great trust in her daughter's cooking skills. Then she thought for a moment and added, "Of course, I don't necessarily want you to stay in the kitchen to learn the skills. If you find life in the kitchen too hard, then wait for me to save up some more money."

"Once Mother has saved enough money, she will talk to the steward and send you to the girls' quarters. We can go to the sewing room, or raise birds and cats, either would be fine."

“Mother, I know all this, but I… want to stay in the kitchen to learn the craft, I don’t want to go to the Second Miss’s courtyard anymore.” Su Zhihan hesitated for a moment, then put the baked sugar cakes into Jiang Zhenniang’s bowl and told her her plan.

This matter eventually needs to be addressed.

Su Zhihan lowered her head, not daring to look at Jiang Zhenniang's expression. In fact, during the half-day she was away from the manor, although she encountered some incidents, she did not waste time, but carefully observed the market.

Su Zhihan also knew that the premise of doing business was not to affect the work in the mansion, and it was best not to let the people in the mansion know about her business.

The market we visited today, though close by and crowded, is a favorite haunt of the Marquis's servants. If Su Zhihan were to do business here, the whole mansion would probably know about it within three to five days.

Thinking of this, Su Zhihan spoke up before Jiang Zhenniang could say, "You and I saved up two months' wages, plus the savings we had left over, and we could barely afford a bolt of silk, and it was the most ordinary kind."

“But I saw it today.” Su Zhihan glanced at Jiang Zhenniang and then talked about the pearls and others she saw today. Although they were second- or third-class maids, their attire was already quite good: “Sister Pearl and the others were all wearing silk clothes and shoes made of silk fabric. A set of their clothes would cost at least thirty or fifty strings of cash, not to mention the accessories they used.”

There's also the Wang family's daughter-in-law next door. Although she stays at home to raise her children and doesn't work in the mansion, the two jackets she often wears are made of silk.

Su Zhihan said, "If Mother wants to build a good relationship with Zhang Mama, it's not enough to send her something every two or three months. She should also send her some food and gifts during festivals."

"Besides, since Mother gave Zhang Mama a gift, the head of the laundry room should also give one."

“I’m thinking of saving up more money so I can buy some things, at least so that my mother can be more comfortable and avoid suffering in the winter.”

As the weather turned colder, the work in the laundry room became increasingly difficult. Su Zhihan had visited the laundry room before. Although there were water channels and washing tubs in the laundry room, so the servants didn't have to fetch water themselves, the water was drawn from the well, and it was bone-chillingly cold to the touch at the moment.

It's only just past the Frost's Descent solar term. Once the heavy snow is over, I'm afraid the water will freeze, making washing clothes and vegetables a real ordeal.

More importantly—

Su Zhihan grasped Jiang Zhenniang's hand, noticing numerous tiny scratches on her slightly rough knuckles: "It's not even winter yet, and your hands are already cracked like this. What will happen later—"

Jiang Zhenniang quickly withdrew her hand, rubbing her palms helplessly, and muttered, "...It's just washing clothes. I wash clothes a lot at home. Besides, I bought lard hand cream and apply it every day."

Lard hand cream is cheap. In addition to lard, it also contains herbs such as saposhnikovia, astragalus, and angelica. Because of its unpleasant smell and the fact that lard and other substances tend to stick to silk and satin, it is not allowed to be used before or after washing clothes.

“Mother, wouldn’t you like to find a different job running errands?” Su Zhihan interrupted Jiang Zhenniang and asked in return.

Given that Jiang Zhenniang was originally a servant of the aunt and was also her wet nurse, she shouldn't have ended up working as a laundry maid in the laundry room. The reason for this was that the current head housekeeper and the aunt had some disagreements before she got married.

With the eldest daughter-in-law marrying far away, the eldest daughter-in-law took charge of many affairs in the mansion. The stewards in the mansion naturally flattered the powerful and belittled the weak, and were happy to belittle those who had connections with the eldest daughter-in-law in order to curry favor with the eldest daughter-in-law.

As for whether the eldest daughter-in-law and others knew about it, Su Zhihan thought it was really uncertain. The Marquis's wife making things difficult for married girls and wet nurses? It would be embarrassing if word got out.

Su Zhihan was puzzled, but she didn't dare to speculate too much. Most of the novels she had read revolved around the Yongping Earl's Mansion, the main character, and there was very little about the Zhongyong Marquis's Mansion. As a result, she knew nothing about the specific situation of this mansion. She only knew that they had a marriage alliance with the Prince of Rong's heir and then collapsed with the Prince of Rong's rebellion. However, she had no idea why the Prince of Rong rebelled or how deeply the Zhongyong Marquis's Mansion was involved.

Su Zhihan didn't say much, but held Jiang Zhenniang's hands again and said softly, "Originally I wanted to go into the Second Miss's courtyard, so that I could teach Mother to go into the Miss's courtyard with me in the future, and that I could have some peace and quiet."

The girls will all be getting married in the future, so the courtyard needs to be fully staffed with people of all ranks. Most of them are families who go in as maids—daughters as servants, fathers as accountants, shopkeepers, and errand runners, and mothers as errand runners and other miscellaneous tasks.

Once I'm inside the Second Sister's courtyard, it's only a matter of time before I bring my mother in too.

These were Su Zhihan's original plans.

Since she planned to stay in the main kitchen for the time being and try to save money to redeem herself and leave the Marquis's mansion, she naturally couldn't think of having her mother come to the young lady's courtyard. Instead, she had to find something else to do in the mansion.

"Now, I want to learn in the kitchen."

“But the positions in the kitchen are all filled by fixed people, and besides, doing odd jobs here isn’t much better than working in the laundry room.” Su Zhihan explained to Jiang Zhenniang, “I want to save some money so that you can find a better job, Mother.”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhenniang's heart softened. She hugged Su Zhihan and called her her darling, then got up and took out the family's money box, generously pushing it to her daughter's side: "All the money in the family is here, including the money Second Mistress gave you last time. Han'er, take it and use it."

"No need." Su Zhihan pushed the money box back into Jiang Zhenniang's hands, picked up the money bag and shook it: "My own money is enough."

"You only have a little over a hundred coins in total, what kind of business can you do?" Jiang Zhenniang was puzzled when she saw that her daughter didn't want a single coin. "Renting a clay stove and a pot will probably use it all up, and it might not even be enough."

"I don't need to buy those things."

"You're planning to make it at home and then take it out to sell?" Jiang Zhenniang suddenly realized, unable to hide her curiosity: "You've already decided? What are you planning to make?"

"I've thought it through."

"I plan to make braised tofu."

"Braised tofu, I think this is the first time I've ever heard of it?" Jiang Zhenniang thought for a moment, but she didn't remember much. She had seen dried tofu before. In the past, wealthy families in the village would teach their wives to cut it into thin strips and mix it with sesame oil, but she had never heard of it being braised in soy sauce.

"I heard it from outside." Su Zhihan couldn't reveal the source of the skill, so she had to tell another lie. She said that she used to sell things in town and heard two officials dressed in silk talking about it. They said it was a snack served at official banquets.

"Snacks served at official banquets!?"

“That’s right.” Su Zhihan said with a straight face, trying her best to convince her mother. In fact, she had given her decision to sell braised tofu a lot of thought.

While shopping today, Su Zhihan noticed that people nowadays only eat breakfast and dinner, and even restaurants close for a break from noon to afternoon, while teahouses and restaurants continue to operate.

The prices at taverns and teahouses vary, and not everyone can afford them. Therefore, many people would choose to buy a few ounces of wine at a liquor store, then go to the market to buy some snacks to go with the wine, and find a place to sit and eat by the river or bridge.

Su Zhihan wasn't the only one who could see the market potential; as she passed by, she saw many young women and old ladies carrying bamboo baskets, selling all sorts of food.

Su Zhihan also went up and wandered around for a while. There were vendors selling fried watermelon seeds, fried soybeans, boiled edamame, and snacks like sweet and sour eggplant. Of course, there were also quite a few vendors selling pickled vegetables, preserved vegetables, and braised dishes.

Su Zhihan initially had the idea of ​​cooking braised chicken intestines and other similar dishes, but after looking around, she gave up the idea. She then realized that the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion used various offal dishes for the common people not to save money, but because the people at the time liked to eat all kinds of offal.

Just today, Su Zhihan saw at least ten shops selling various kinds of tripe soup in the market, as well as blood duck, pig blood balls, and sheep blood sausage. It was truly dazzling.

Because of the large market, the price of raw offal is not low, and for people like Su Zhihan who buy it in bulk to make food, the cost is even a bit high.

On the way back, Su Zhihan kept thinking. The first time she went to the market to sell food, the price of the food could not be too high, which meant that the price of raw materials had to be kept as low as possible. It would be best if the food could be carried with her so that it could be easily sold in foot-feed shops or by the river or under the bridge.

After much searching, Su Zhihan's target finally settled on tofu. Nowadays, there are all sorts of tofu products, such as soft tofu, firm tofu, fried tofu, dried tofu sheets, soybean dregs cakes, and even fermented tofu, all of which can be found in tofu shops, and dried tofu is also among them.

“But can you make it taste good just by following a recipe you heard? Why don’t we make that fried sauce? It’ll definitely sell well.” Jiang Zhenniang was still thinking about the fried sauce, planning to buy another piece of pork belly one day and teach her daughter how to make it.

“That amount of fried sauce is too much to carry around.” Su Zhihan was both amused and exasperated, and quickly suppressed Jiang Zhenniang’s whimsical idea: “The dried tofu I’m talking about is not the kind of dried tofu that Mother knows. I’ll make it tomorrow, and you’ll know once you try it.”

"Alright, alright." Jiang Zhenniang couldn't understand what was so good about dried tofu, and was somewhat puzzled, but chose to trust her daughter. She nodded, then hesitated before asking, "Then what do you need your mother to do?"

Su Zhihan originally wanted to say no, but after seeing the faint expectation in Jiang Zhenniang's eyes, she changed her mind and said, "I'm not very good at hawking things. After I finish making them tomorrow... Mother, can you come with me to try?"

Jiang Zhenniang's eyes lit up, and she readily agreed: "When I go to town to sell things, I always call out my wares myself. I'm very skilled at it. Leave this to me!"