Chapter 21 Is Ye Wen really in that much pain?
Jiang Liu took the copper coins and left, while Ye Li went into the kitchen to prepare fried tofu puffs and large skewers.
Before frying the large skewers, you need to cut diamond-shaped patterns on the tofu blocks with a knife.
This isn't difficult. Use two chopsticks to hold the tofu block in place. Even a beginner won't be able to cut the tofu block with these two chopsticks.
He was cutting quickly when someone called him from outside the door: "Brother Li."
Upon hearing the shout, he immediately put down the cleaver and went out of the kitchen.
Sure enough, standing at the courtyard gate was the original owner's second brother: Ye Wen.
Ye Wen's second brother is twenty-one years old this year. Compared with Ye Liang, Ye Wen doesn't show much signs of aging.
Moreover, Ye Liang had been taciturn due to the hardships of life, while Ye Wen was naturally shy and quiet, just like his name suggested.
"Second brother, what brings you here? Have you eaten? Where's eldest brother? Come in quickly, I've saved some food for you."
Ye Li greeted them warmly while asking Ye Liang questions.
Ye Wen entered the courtyard, scratched his head, and instead of looking at Ye Li, stared at the road beneath his feet: "Hmm... Yesterday afternoon, Uncle Zhang from next door came to my door to arrange a marriage for me. The young man is from Xiaowangzhuang, so my father asked me to come and carry some tofu puffs."
Xiaowangzhuang is located between Baxian Town and Beiyang County, and it just so happened to be on his way.
"Oh my, this is wonderful news!"
Ye Li never expected that the reason Ye Liang hadn't arrived was this!
Great joy! Great joy!
My cheap second brother is definitely a spinster, and my cheap father is so worried that he can't sleep at night.
After selling tofu puffs for less than half a month, someone actually started a matchmaking process for them!
"Second brother, how's that young man? Do you like him? Does he like you?"
Ignoring Ye Wen's shyness, he kept pressing for details.
Ye Wen was so annoyed by his question that she wished she could walk along the base of the wall.
He mumbled, "It's...it's alright."
That young man is really good-looking, but he's only seventeen.
He is old and poor.
well.
He scratched his head, stepped into the kitchen, and a look of melancholy flashed across his face.
Just then, Ye Li behind him said, "Second brother, speaking of your marriage, it's perfect timing, I have something to tell you."
“Now that I can earn money, I will support Jiang Ji’s studies. The three taels of silver per year that we agreed on before will no longer need to be paid by the Ye family.”
"From now on, Father and Brother, you should focus on saving money and try to get your marriage arranged this year."
These words came out of nowhere, and Ye Wen was extremely surprised. He turned around to look at him.
"You're supporting Xiao Ji's education?"
"Yes, I talked to him this morning, and he agreed."
Although the Ye family wasn't mentioned at the time—mainly because he wasn't the original owner of this body, and the original owner harbored deep resentment towards those three taels of silver, feeling that it was her cheap husband who had dragged the Ye family down.
But for him, having neither spent any money nor undertaken any work for the Ye family, his feeling about this matter can be summed up in three words: utterly indifferent.
Therefore, he hadn't even thought about it at the time.
But now that I've thought of it, I absolutely cannot let the Ye family pay any more money.
“Studying is too expensive, and it’s too hard on you to rely on yourself alone. Anyway, we have a small business now, and it’s easier to make money than before. Let’s support Xiao Ji for a few more years.”
Ye Wen shook his head, deflecting Ye Li's words.
Ye Li also shook his head and said sincerely, "Second brother, all the money I earn every day is mine. What you and eldest brother earn should be divided in two. If you continue to support Jiang Ji's studies, when will you be able to get married?"
The Ye family's previous rule was that everyone's earnings had to be handed over to Father Ye, who would then take care of the family's food, drink, and daily needs.
Later, Ye Liang married Liu Yi and started her own family, so she naturally had to consider her family's needs.
Of the money they earned, they only had to hand over half.
The tofu puff business was mainly managed by Ye Liang and Liu Yi, but Ye Adie would help out, while Ye Wen and Ye Daji took on all the work in the fields.
Therefore, Liu Yi still handed over half of the profits from the pancakes with vegetables.
Ye Li felt that half the profit was too little, but Ye Wen was extremely satisfied.
He smiled and said, "Business is pretty good. Even if I split the profits with my elder brother, it will be enough to support Xiao Ji and won't delay my wedding."
"Tofu puffs and large skewers are really profitable."
These past two days, because Jiang Ji has been at home, he's been grinding a lot of tofu, and Ye Li has been making a lot of tofu puffs and large skewers, amounting to as much as 25 jin a day.
For every pound sold, the Ye family earns five coins.
Twenty-five catties equals one hundred and twenty-five coins.
With the addition of tofu, eggs, and vegetables, the daily profit can reach 160 or 170 coins.
If you divide it in two, that's about eighty coins.
At eighty coins, he could earn three taels of silver in just over thirty days.
Of course, this is the ideal situation.
If it's windy or rainy, then you can't set up your stall.
But such weather is ultimately rare.
Therefore, it is possible to have both.
As long as that young man doesn't make too many demands today, he will surely be able to balance his studies and marriage.
But what if...
Suppressing his worries, he added, "Xiao Ji spends all day at the private school, and you've been supporting this business and this family all by yourself. It's not easy for you. You and Xiao Ji should just live a good life together."
“Our family has always managed to get by before, and now that money comes in so easily, how can we stop making payments?”
Seeing that Ye Li was about to persuade him again, he quickly said, "By the way, there are competitors now. Other pancake stalls have started selling red oil sesame paste pancakes with fillings."
"Other pancake stalls have started selling pancakes with fillings too?!"
Ye Li exclaimed in surprise, his attention drawn to the matter, and quickly asked, "When did this happen?!"
"Just yesterday, the bakery in town that makes pancakes started selling pancakes with fillings."
"But don't worry, it won't take away too much business. Before I left today, my older brother came back and said business is still good."
Because other places don't have tofu puffs or large skewers!
The reason why people are willing to spend four or five coins to buy a pancake with vegetables is mostly because they are looking for these two novel foods.
Otherwise, how many people would be willing to spend this unnecessary money to buy eggs, tofu, and leafy greens?
It's not like we can't eat it on ordinary days!
He chuckled and added, "Don't worry, our family hasn't been affected too much."
But Ye Li still frowned.
The fact that it wasn't affected much means it was still affected.
However, having competitors is fine too, as it can help share some of the Ye and Liu families' attention.
Liu's pancake stall is thriving, with a monthly profit of several taels of silver, which is quite remarkable for a small stall with no one to rely on.
Now that there's competition, it's a good thing, I suppose.
Sigh, I still have to rely on my cheap husband.
Throughout history, the rich have never been as fortunate as the powerful.
He chatted with Ye Wen for a few more minutes, and then brought out the noodles he had saved for Ye Wen to eat.
Ye Wen was really hungry. Like Ye Liang, even if he passed through the county town and had copper coins in his pocket, he would never spend a single one.
After Ye Wen finished eating his noodles, Ye Li finished cutting up the large skewers.
Start frying.
Jiang Liu returned in the middle, bringing back forty-six eggs.
Not long after Jiang Liu left, Jiang Ji also returned.
Ye Li then asked Jiang Ji to grind the dried wheat into flour, and he planned to fry some sesame leaves as a snack.
When Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya returned after a while, they could only go into the kitchen to drink water; they weren't given any snacks!
That's so pitiful.
He hadn't thought of it before, but now that he has, he'll definitely prepare some snacks.
Jiang Ji had no objection to this, and he carried the wheat to the mill.
He ground the wheat again and again until Ye Li saw Ye Wen off, and only then did he stop.
Sift the bran through a clean sieve; the remaining flour is slightly yellow, delicate, and full of wheat aroma.
He put the flour into bags and carried them into the kitchen, where Ye Li kneaded the dough and fried the sesame leaves. He then returned to the mill, swept up the sifted bran with a broom, put it in a winnowing basket, and took it to the backyard to feed the chickens.
After finishing all that, he went into the kitchen.
Ye Li has already kneaded the dough and is ready to roll it into sheets.
Fried dough leaves are made by rolling out flour into dough sheets, cutting them into pieces, and then frying them in oil.
This dish requires no special skills, but since it involves both flour and deep-frying, it's a delicacy that ordinary farmers only dare to eat during festivals.
When Jiangmai and Jiangya, the two little ones, dragged the firewood back, Yeli had already finished frying the hemp leaves and was preparing to make preserved eggs.
"Xiaomai, Yage'er, I just fried some sesame leaves. Wash your hands and eat them," he said to the two little ones.
"Wow!" Jiang Ya exclaimed with delight, and skipped into the kitchen.
The hemp leaves were filled in a ceramic basin, a whole basin full.
He was overjoyed and quickly pulled Jiang Mai to wash her hands.
After washing his hands, he grabbed one in each of his little hands, taking a bite from the left and a bite from the right.
The freshly cooked jute leaves were not only crispy but also fragrant. He ate them with a big smile on his face and hopped out of the kitchen with his short legs.
In the courtyard, Ye Li and Jiang Ji were squatting by the well, making preserved eggs.
Making preserved eggs requires edible alkali, and Ye Li doesn't know if Beiyang County has this stuff, in any case, the original owner's memories don't include it.
But that's not important.
Wood ash can completely replace mortar.
First, pour water into the wood ash to make a wood ash solution.
With the solution ready, the next step is to add quicklime to it.
Since there were fewer eggs this time, he only added one pound of quicklime to the solution.
Quicklime boils quickly when it comes into contact with water.
Jiang Ya and Jiang Mai were astonished and instinctively stepped back.
Once the quicklime turns into a brown paste, you can add the eggs.
The eggs were slippery from the lime paste, making them difficult to pick up with chopsticks. So Ye Li had Jiang Ji weave a hollow spoon out of willow twigs to retrieve the eggs from the lime paste.
Roll the eggs coated with lime paste in sawdust until they are fully coated, then place them in the jar.
Forty-six eggs filled a whole jar.
Finally, Ye Li had Jiang Ji mix some mud and seal the jar.
That's it. Just leave it for fifteen days, and the preserved egg will be ready.
"The method is so simple?" Jiang Ji was quite surprised.
“I can’t handle complicated ones either,” Ye Li said, gesturing for him to carry the jar to the mill.
Jiang Ji: "..."
He suppressed his doubts and placed the jar in the mill.
Ye Li stretched lazily at the entrance of the mill: "I've been busy for so long, I'm going to lie down now. Jiang Ji, dinner is up to you, just stir-fry some tofu."
He was actually still feeling a little unwell.
And just now I stood there frying for an hour—no, I can't even count how long, since I also fried hemp leaves.
Jiang Ya and Jiang Mai assumed he hadn't slept well, but Jiang Ji understood why.
When Jiang Ji came out of the mill, he happened to see Ye Li slowly entering the house, supporting his waist and with a slightly hunched back.
As the sun set, night quickly fell.
After a simple dinner, the family of four washed up and went to their respective rooms.
Jiang Ji lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), his eyes closed, but Zhou Gong (the Duke of Zhou) did not come as usual.
The scene of Ye Li returning to the main room that afternoon kept replaying in his mind.
Is it really that painful?
He turned over, from lying flat to facing away from the door.
Ye Li has changed her personality; she wouldn't pretend to be upset on purpose...
After tossing and turning for a while, he sighed and opened his eyes resignedly.
He put on his shoes and walked lightly out of the east room.
The door to the west room was closed.
But a faint light shone through the crack in the door.
Clearly, Ye Li was still awake.
After hesitating for a moment, he took a few steps forward, deliberately making his footsteps louder.
Upon arriving at the door of the west wing, he whispered, "Ye Li?"
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