When the spicy skewers without skewers were ready, the heavy snow that had started falling in the early morning of the day before finally stopped.
Qiao Ruichen took the time to sweep the roof and cleared a path. The rest of the place was covered in white. It was cold, but the house, with the traces of old age hidden, looked exceptionally clean and bright.
No one cared anymore, mainly because there were too many people and the Qiao family’s small courtyard couldn’t be opened.
In order to take care of the pregnant women and let the women and children sit at the table to eat, the men squatted beside the stove in the main room with their bowls.
The snow shimmering at the door made the soup and ingredients in their coarse porcelain bowls look even more delicious, and they all ate with relish.
The meatballs, chopped and then pounded vigorously by Qiao Ruichen, are still a bit chewy when bitten.
The aroma of chewy meat and the sweetness of vegetables roll into your mouth, making you puff up your cheeks and eat hard. You can't help but salivate and wish you could have another mouth to eat faster.
In the cold winter, eating hot and stimulating spicy food, paired with bone soup with a strong meaty aroma, will make your whole body feel hot and seem to warm your heart.
Most people in the northwest can eat dogwood. The adults' lips become red and bright after eating it. When paired with the strong liquor brought by Butcher Zhang, who wouldn't want to slap their thigh and shout "refreshing"?
The children and Qiao Shengwen were awakened by the delicious smell. Although they couldn't eat spicy food, the bone broth was added with nutmeg and beet sugar, and the meatballs and vegetable cakes cooked in it were sweet and fragrant, making people want to eat more and more.
If Geng hadn't remembered that her husband wanted to take medicine and stopped him, even Qiao Shengwen would have eaten too much, which made the former Minister of Revenue feel very embarrassed.
This made the Zhang family feel much more comfortable.
Originally, the Zhang family felt that Qiao Shengwen and his son, who had been high-ranking officials, were different from them, ordinary people, and they always had a sense of awe in them.
Now it seems that we are all like-minded people who don’t look up while eating and wipe the greasy mouth after eating, so there is no need to be restrained.
Zhang Erzhuang was in charge of the stall at the tile market. His face flushed red, perhaps because he'd drunk too much liquor or was just too excited. "Awan, how about we start selling spicy skewers later? They're much better than braised meat this winter."
Zhang Sanzhuang thought more prudently, "Our restaurant still needs braised food. At worst, we can just make less every day. Anyway, we prepare all the spicy skewers a day in advance. If we make less braised food the next day, we should be able to handle the workload."
At this point, Zhang Sanzhuang raised everyone's question, "This way we cook it today is both delicious and convenient. We can cook the spicy soup and bone broth separately while the ingredients are hot. If anyone wants to eat, we can just take them out. Why do we call them skewers?"
Where is the string?
Miao Wan also thought about making malatang, but after thinking about it, she decided that skewers were more suitable.
"It's much more convenient to sell them on skewers and collect money by the bunch. First, customers can choose what they want to eat. Second, the skewers left in the pot will inevitably get greasy. We can prepare soap and soap on site for customers to clean."
Those who can afford to spend dozens of taels of silver and pay attention to delicious food are either rich people or traveling merchants who spend the winter in Xining Town. These are all customers.
Once they discover the benefits of these things, they don’t have to look for shops to sell them, they can directly connect with first-hand suppliers.
Zhang Sanzhuang's eyes lit up. "If you hadn't told me, I would have forgotten. Our children have been using scented soap, and they haven't had any chapped skin this year. The laundry smells good with both soap and scented soap. My father-in-law even scolded me a while ago, asking if I was secretly using my wife's scented powder."
Everyone burst into laughter at Zhang Sanzhuang's amusement.
Yu interrupted with a smile, "I sent two pieces of fragrant soap back to my parents' home. They wanted to buy some too. But I thought Awan said she wouldn't sell the toothbrushes yet, so I didn't agree."
"I also sent some fragrant soap back to my mother's home. My nephew suffers from frostbite every year, but the symptoms are much milder this year. My mother came to ask for it again. Before leaving, she stuffed three copper coins into Donkey Egg's pocket. I forgot to tell you." Yang said a little embarrassedly.
Qiao Shengwen and Qiao Ruichen looked at each other calmly. The father and son discovered yesterday that this daughter-in-law knows a lot, whether it is milk cubes or fragrant soap, they are all good things.
Yesterday, Geng had used scented soap to clean Qiao Shengwen's face, and his old face, which had been worn out by the outdoors, immediately felt much better.
As assistant ministers of the Ministry of Revenue and imperial guards of the Front Palace, the father and son thought more.
Not only does the milk curd taste better, it also lasts longer than fresh milk. Geng said Miao Wan is still working on making milk tofu that lasts even longer.
If used well, it might even play a big role in the Saint's instructions. Qiao Shengwen no longer felt sorry for the money and was determined to stay.
He takes care of the elderly and children at home, which is much more useful than working in the government mines.
Miao Wan didn't waste any words. "Then it's settled. From now on, we'll make 40 kilograms of braised meat every day, half for the restaurant and half for the stall. If we can't sell it, we can just put the braised meat in spicy skewers and oden later."
Everyone nodded. They had just tasted the braised food in the spicy soup. It was indeed more delicious than eating braised meat alone. Soaked in the soup, it was not greasy at all.
"To make spicy skewers, there are a few problems that need to be solved." Miao Wan showed an expression that everyone was ready with money. "First, we need to make a rectangular stall with a hollowed-out center to accommodate the stove. It needs to be large enough."
Madam Zhang immediately said, "That's easy. Your sister-in-law's family is a carpenter."
Miao Wan clapped her hands and said, "That's great. We'll also need to make some more square stools so people can eat around the stall cart and the stove. When the stall is closed, we can just put the stools under the stall cart and push them back. I can draw a rough design for my sister-in-law, but I'll have to trouble Yu Jia to figure out the details."
She had seen similar mobile spicy skewers stalls, but she didn't know how to make the cart specifically, so she thought it would require a professional craftsman.
Yu nodded in agreement, "My Ada and my elder brother and younger brother are all good at carpentry, so it should be no problem."
Miao Wan counted on her fingers, "Secondly, we need to make a square iron cauldron that can be placed in the hollowed-out space of the stall. It should be shaped like a trough, with an iron plate blocking the middle. I'll put the spicy soup and bone broth in there separately."
Madam Zhang pointed at Yang again and said, "That's easy. Your second sister-in-law's family is a blacksmith."
Miao Wan was stunned, holding her belly. The Zhang family was really good at marrying off women. If they had more sons, would they even be able to hire a tailor?
Yu was amused when she saw Miao Wan's confused and admiring expression as she held her belly with her eyes wide open.
She explained, "Artisans make a living by their craft, so when they marry into a family, their primary concern is to prevent their daughter-in-law or son-in-law from stealing their skills and passing them on. We don't know about other places, but here we mostly marry into each other's families."
Miao Wan understood that among the classes of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, the importance of marrying someone of equal social status was always important.
The common people of the gentry dared not even think about it. Life was not as romantic as in novels. Even if one was lucky, the most one could do was become a concubine.
Craftsmen usually earn more than farmers, so they look down on ordinary farmers.
As for landlords and scholars, they would of course prefer to marry someone of equal social status.
Merchants make a lot of money but have a low status, so they are the easiest to learn skills from others.
Therefore, most craftsmen nowadays marry into the families of other craftsmen and help each other.
There is more than one pig butcher in Xining Town, and there are naturally many other craftsmen. If there is no suitable relative, there are towns farther away.
Then their preparation work will be easier.
Miao Wan smiled and said, "Making spicy skewers requires constant fire, which consumes a lot of coal. We don't have enough coal in stock right now."
Yang said, "My mother's family also uses a lot of charcoal for blacksmithing. My Ada knows where to buy some. I'll ask when I make the iron trough later."
She clapped her hands. "Okay, then I'll trouble you, Second Sister-in-law. There's one thing left, and it's the most important one. We need a tent like the ones the Northern Mongols use. It doesn't need to be very big, a small one will do."
This really put everyone in a difficult position.
Butcher Zhang hesitated and said, "Northern Mongolians mostly use hides from cattle, horses, and sheep, and also have felt blankets made from camel hair. They're reluctant to sell tents to outsiders."
Miao Wan said, "How about milk cubes..."
“No…”
"Leave it to me."
Qiao Shengwen and Qiao Ruichen interrupted her in unison.
Qiao Shengwen was still weak and his voice was relatively low, so no one heard it except Geng.
Qiao Ruichen spoke gently but firmly, "We also need to set up tents when marching and fighting. Simple ones only require oilcloth and wood. I know how to make one. If you're afraid of the cold, just sew a layer of old bedding inside the oilcloth."
Miao Wan thought it was a good idea. Since the people in Northern Mongolia attached great importance to tents, even if they could buy them, they would be very expensive. They still had to save money to open a shop, so there was no need to waste money on this.
Yu said, "The Yu family is right next to Lao Miao Mountain outside the town. There's plenty of wood there. When the time comes, just have Brother Qiao and Da Zhuang go to my mother's house together."
Most of the problems were solved. Miao Wan glanced at Zhang Sanzhuang and didn't say anything else. She encouraged everyone to get ready quickly and start making money early.
In fact, she was a little worried. Zhang Erzhuang worked efficiently, but they were going to set up a mobile stall in Wa City, and they would also have to negotiate with traveling merchants, so she couldn't show up.
Sun is due to give birth around the Chinese New Year, and Miao Wan is due in February. The other people in both families have a lot of work to do.
If there are orders later, even if the buyer comes back, someone has to keep an eye on it.
The Qiao family has Qiao Shengwen and Geng, and the Zhang family's Zhang Erzhuang may not be able to do it. The eloquent Zhang Sanzhuang is more suitable.
But Zhang Sanzhuang learned cooking from his father-in-law and may not be willing to work outside.
Before she could even open her mouth to test the waters, the restaurant down the street made the decision for her.
Butcher Zhang bought a few pigs from another butcher. He continued to sell braised goods as usual in Wa City while waiting for the stall and tent to be ready.
Even though we make less every day, we can still sell them all.
As a result, just two days later, Zhang Sanzhuang came back with a dark face and a rage.
"The boss said that the restaurant's other chef, Chef Chang, has learned how to make braised food on his own and will no longer buy from us. Since our two businesses will be the same, it would be difficult for him to keep me."
This is clearly a case of killing the donkey after it has done its work. Moreover, the restaurant wants to steal the Zhang family's business, so it is better to drive him away to prevent Zhang Sanzhuang from doing bad things in the restaurant.
He glanced at Sun and said, "My father-in-law hasn't been in the restaurant since yesterday. He said he was away on a long trip. Every time I bring the braised food over, there's no broth. I've watched them all when I sell them. So how did the master learn this?"
Sun's face turned pale. "My mom came over twice and said she wanted to buy some braised food for my brother. She wanted some broth to cook noodles, so I gave it to her."
The author has something to say:
Is there anything more infuriating than always imitating others and never being surpassed?
Miao Wan touched her chin: Really, see you tomorrow~
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