Chapter 10 Zeng Xiaoyan is greedy

When making konjac tofu yesterday, Xu Zhichun thought of jelly as he watched the konjac tofu taking shape in the large bowl.

When selling konjac tofu, wouldn’t it be better if you also sold jelly together?

There are a huge number of books in the harbor warehouse. She spent a long time browsing through them last night before she found the ancient method of making jelly. She is a person with strong hands-on skills, so she understood it after studying it carefully a few times and decided to give it a try.

What is lacking now is the raw materials. Agar-agar seeds, ficus pumila fruit, and agar-agar grass will all be fine. She has no impression of ficus pumila fruit and agar-agar grass, but she seems to have seen agar-agar seeds in the mountains, and there are quite a few of them. She plans to go look for them today.

Following the vague impression in his memory, Xu Zhichun spent half a day and finally found the stone flower seeds in a valley.

A large patch of densely packed trees grows among the bushes and weeds, with round, lantern-like fruits hanging on the branches.

Stone flower seeds are short, half a person's height, and are very easy to pick.

Once you have the agar-agar seeds, all you need is lime water.

Well, there is lime in the harbor warehouse. She took out a pound and a half of it and said that she had bought it last year to disinfect the chicken coop and had not used it up yet.

In order to prevent chicken plague in the summer, many families in the village buy lime to disinfect the chicken coops, which is indeed effective.

Alright, try it today.

In a short while, Xu Zhichun picked half a basket of agar-agar seeds, weighing about two to three kilograms.

Just a try today, that's enough.

After collecting some grass for the pigs, Xu Zhichun went back.

Unexpectedly, Zeng Xiaoyan was wandering around her door with a chicken in her hand.

Seeing her return, Zeng Xiaoyan trotted over, beaming: "Sister Zhichun, you're finally back. Look, I brought a chicken. How about we kill it for lunch? Your chicken is so delicious!"

She couldn't stop thinking about it and tried to hold it back, so she simply bought a chicken and brought it over.

She also specially picked a big rooster, which was very heavy.

Xu Zhichun was speechless.

He invited her into the house, put down his backpack and basket, and said with a smile, "This isn't a good idea, is it? You bought a chicken and brought it to my house to kill it. What if your family knew about it?"

Zeng Xiaoyan disagreed. "I've already told my mother-in-law about this, and she didn't object. Who cares what others think? I bought this with my own money. When it's ready, we'll eat half and I'll take the other half home. Aunt Zhu'er wasn't home just now, so I don't know if she's back yet. I'll go get her to join us."

Look how clear the arrangement is!

Xu Zhichun couldn't help but ask again, "Did Aunt Liang really not say anything?"

"Of course, why would I lie to you?"

"Okay, I'll boil some water and then kill a chicken and stew it."

"Okay!"

"Go and see if Aunt Zhu'er is here."

After they left, she could get some dried lilies, wolfberries, and dried mushrooms from the harbor warehouse to stew the chicken later.

"I'll go right away." Zeng Xiaoyan didn't doubt him and went happily.

As soon as Aunt Zhu'er came back from the vegetable garden, Zeng Xiaoyan pulled her over.

Killing chickens to eat is always a happy thing, and the three of them chatted and laughed as they got busy.

Xu Zhichun took the opportunity to introduce konjac tofu to the two of them: "Later, we will use half a chicken to make soup, and the other half to stew this konjac tofu. You can all try it and see how it tastes. If it's good, we can make this konjac tofu and sell it. How about that?"

Zeng Xiaoyan and Aunt Zhu'er were very surprised. "Zhichun (Sister-in-law Zhichun), you're thinking of starting a business right now? That's great!"

Zeng Xiaoyan was even more proud: "It seems that I came to the right place today, haha!"

Sister Zhuer smiled and said, "Then I'll make the soup and cook. Zhichun, tell me how to do it."

I have a clay pot at home, which is perfect for making soup.

Chop half a chicken into pieces, wash away the blood and put it into a ceramic pot, and also put the soaked wolfberries, dried lilies and mushrooms in.

Xu Zhichun had no radishes left at home, so Zeng Xiaoyan went to Zhu'er's sister-in-law's vegetable garden and picked some.

When she came back from pulling out the radishes, the konjac tofu had already been cut into small pieces and stir-fried with the chicken.

Cut the radish into pieces and stew it in a soup pot. Stir-fry the konjac tofu and chicken pieces until they change color and become fragrant. Add the chopped dried chilies and add water to stew.

When it’s almost time to serve, add a handful of garlic sprouts and stir-fry quickly for a few times before serving.

Zeng Xiaoyan sniffed hard, "What a nice smell! Aunt Zhu'er's cooking skills are really good!"

Aunt Zhuer smiled: "I always do what Zhichun says. Zhichun is better at it."

Xu Zhichun waved his hand and smiled, "I can only say that what I did is definitely not as good as Aunt Zhu'er's."

The rice was steamed and stewed in the pot. It would take at least half an hour for it to be ready. Xu Zhichun said, "There's another delicacy from my hometown that I want to make today. I don't have any brown sugar at home. Do you have any? Not much, just a little will do."

There are not only brown sugar, but also white sugar, rock sugar and other kinds of sugar in the harbor warehouse. If Zeng Xiaoyan, Aunt Zhuer and others were not here, she could make it herself and add sugar to taste.

As long as the thing can be made, it's fine.

Zeng Xiaoyan said hurriedly: "I still have more than a pound. I usually drink it with brown sugar water. I'll go back and get it."

Xu Zhichun grabbed her and said with a smile, "Listen to me first. Look here, I just picked some kiwi fruit. The delicacy I mentioned is made with these kiwi fruit. Just add a little brown sugar water and it'll be delicious. We can sell it together with the konjac tofu later."

Lantern fruit is the name used by the locals, and Xu Zhichun also called it that because he followed the local customs.

Zeng Xiaoyan had never seen one before, and was very curious. She took two and examined them in her hands. "How do you cook this? Is this also a dish?"

Aunt Zhu'er was surprised: "There are plenty of lantern fruits on the mountain. They are not delicious when eaten raw. Children sometimes pick them and toss them around for fun. Do they taste good when cooked?"

Aunt Zhuer had a look on her face that said, "I'll try next time."

"Of course not," Xu Zhichun said with a smile, "You'll know once I do it. It's very simple. The key is to find the right balance. If you get it right, you'll succeed in one try. If you don't get it right the first time, you'll get it right after two tries."

Zeng Xiaoyan smiled and said, "In that case, I'll go back and get the brown sugar."

Xu Zhichun said hurriedly: "A little is enough."

"Oh, I know!"

When Zeng Xiaoyan returned, Xu Zhichun and Aunt Zhu'er were also busy picking and washing the lantern fruits.

There were not many snacks in the countryside, so Zeng Xiaoyan would buy two kilograms of brown sugar from time to time, give half a kilogram to her mother-in-law, and keep the rest for herself. Whenever she felt like eating something sweet, she would make two bowls of brown sugar water, one for her and one for her husband.

As for others, they have no share.

It's not that she is stingy, but it's hers originally. It would be inappropriate for her not to give it to her once. If she is not happy to give it to her every time, she might as well not give it to her at all.

Her parents-in-law didn't say anything, but her father-in-law asked her mother-in-law to tell her that it would be best for her to eat these things in her own room and not in front of others, as it was not good.

(End of this chapter)