Wu Chunhua: My heart is aching too! I never imagined that making dried apricots would require so much sugar!
The Qin family harvested apricots for two days. Although the apricot grove on the back mountain was quite large, it couldn't withstand the crowds and mess!
However, some resourceful villagers went to the more distant woods to look for apricots, and surprisingly, they found quite a few.
Following Qin San Niang's advice, Wang Guixiang and her daughter-in-law He Xing sent their husbands to other villages to collect wild apricots.
At first, naturally many people didn't believe it, saying they were joking. Who would be a fool to pay for such a tooth-sore fruit? The men weren't in a hurry, because naturally there were people willing to try.
Sure enough, some villagers thought it was just a little effort and might as well go and pick some to try. In the end, Cheng Shi and Chen Dahe each harvested a lot of wild apricots, totaling more than a thousand catties, making both families extremely happy.
Seven or eight days later, the buying and selling of wild apricots finally came to an end.
Upon calculation, it turned out that more than 2,500 catties had been harvested, which looked quite impressive. Making dried apricots would be even more spectacular.
Fortunately, the sun has been shining brightly these past few days, which is perfect for drying apricots. However, even so, Qin San Niang still feels that it is a bit slow.
However, she had a way. During the day, the women would make and pickle apricots. In the evening, Qin San Niang would take some of the pickled apricot flesh and bake it in the oven in her space. There were several large baking trays, which were originally from the prepared food section of the space supermarket, and they came in handy.
Knowing they were in a hurry, Caihua's family also sent over a winnowing basket and a bamboo mat. The mat was very thick and flat. The winnowing basket was also smooth and round, without a single burr. It was truly a fine work of art, and Qin San Niang almost couldn't bear to use it! Even Liu Shi, who was skilled in weaving, praised it repeatedly.
Needless to say, Caihua's father and Chen Youliang were overjoyed to receive the buyer's approval! Neither of them were good with words, and they could only say, "If you like it, that's good! If you're used to it, that's good!"
Even if all the families worked together, it would still take about half a month to make all these dried apricots.
Of course, Qin San Niang is not the type to compromise herself. Even if she feels that things are urgent, she will not exploit her employees!
Wang Guixiang and the others were paid a high wage here, a full twenty coins a day, more than the men who did manual labor. Actually, the work wasn't easy; anyone could do manual labor, but the steps for making apricot preserves were a secret. All the women had signed confidentiality agreements with her, and they would be held responsible if the recipe was leaked!
Of course, none of them would reveal this, not even if they made it at home! Why? Because white sugar is too expensive! That's not an ordinary cost!
If they have to work overtime, Qin San Niang will pay them overtime pay!
What is overtime pay? The women had never heard of this term before, but that didn't stop them from understanding what it meant. So, there was another burst of joy. What's wrong with working overtime! There's money to be made!
To treat her family, Qin San Niang worked tirelessly to prepare delicious food and provide everyone with extra nutrition. She whipped up all sorts of dishes, including spare ribs, roast pork, pig's head meat, and lion's head meatballs. To make the food more appetizing, she even risked using chili peppers. She had used them before, but always secretly adding a little bit to the dishes, usually chili powder or dried chilies. This time, however, she used fresh green and red chilies.
If your family asks, just say you bought it from the city! They won't actually go to the city to verify it.
Qin San Niang had already figured out what to say, but everyone just asked once and didn't follow up at all. Even He Yingyuan, who had a very complicated mind, didn't ask, so all the lines she had prepared in advance were swallowed back down.
The reason is simple: these dishes are just too delicious!
As the weather gets warmer, everyone is already suffering from the summer heat, so they don't have the habit of wasting food. However, they are still very happy to eat something delicious. And this dish made with chili peppers is exactly what they're looking for!
Qin San Niang used to enjoy spicy food, like Xinjiang fried rice noodles, which she would order extra spicy. However, the spicy version she made for everyone was only mild. People who don't eat spicy food for a long time would definitely not be able to handle eating too much of it!
These past few days, the menu has changed to things like spicy blood curd, mala tang, spicy fish, and chopped chili fish head. Everyone is suffering from the spiciness, with tears and snot flying everywhere, experiencing both pain and joy!
He Yingyuan deeply regretted that in his previous life, his garden had many rare and exotic plants, including this pepper, but sadly, he had only used it for ornamental purposes.
All I remember is that the servant said it was brought from overseas. I wonder if we can find the seeds? If we can, we'll plant a few acres of chili peppers. This vegetable is really delicious.
Of course, Qin San Niang wasn't worried about that now! She had plenty of chili peppers in her space, several different varieties, including chili sauce, dried chilies, and chili powder. In addition, she had carefully preserved the chili seeds and planted some next to the fields in her space, which had already sprouted.
Sigh, having so little space is a constant pain! She can't bear to waste even the smallest plot of land, like the edges of a field.
Despite the change of dynasties, Ruyi Cake Shop seems to have remained unchanged, with everything as before!
"Master, you've finally arrived! Here are our bills for the past few days, please take a look!" Cao Wenshan was overjoyed to see Qin Sanniang appear.
Other business owners would come over to inspect the business every day, but this owner was different; he would leave for half a month at a time, not worried about how the business was doing at all.
Actually, that's a bit unfair to Qin San Niang; she really didn't have time!
She's been incredibly busy these past two weeks! She had previously told Mu Chun that if anything happened, he should come to Shiligou to find her.
Ruyi Cake Shop is not a new store; it's a relatively established business, and there are no problems operating it, as long as no one causes trouble.
Qin San Niang wasn't too worried about this. Given the cooperative relationship between Ruyi Fang and the county magistrate's wife, no one would dare to challenge her. Even Chen Yushan would have to think it over carefully.
He glanced at the recent bills and said, "Business has been good lately, you've all done a great job. You've been here for half a month now, are you adjusting well?"
Based on her experience from her previous life, she also knew how to win over employees; otherwise, why would they work hard for you?
Sure enough, upon hearing his employer's concern for him, Cao Wenshan was so excited that he didn't know what to do and hurriedly said that he was fine and there was nothing he was not used to!
"Good, I see you've done a good job. Keep up the good work, and I certainly won't treat you unfairly!"
"Yes, sir!"
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