Chapter 81 The Village Workshop Successfully Operational (Yu Cai)
Jiang Fuzheng didn't keep him in suspense, and frowned as he said, "His surname is Yu, he has a leg disability, yet he can still open a shop in the center of the county town."
"If I'm not mistaken, he should be the county magistrate's youngest son, Yu Cai."
"...The county magistrate's youngest son?"
Ye Li was taken aback.
This is definitely someone important.
Although Beiyang County was a special case, with officials stationed at the county government office and those involved in the canal transport, the county lieutenant was only below the county magistrate, which was indeed a high-ranking position for a county.
"Yes, but he hasn't married yet and has been living at his maternal grandparents' house. He doesn't have much contact with County Magistrate Yu."
As Jiang Fu was speaking, a look of reluctance appeared on his face.
Ye Li's gossipy nature was piqued, and he lowered his voice and said, "Uncle Jiang, let's stand back a bit, and you can tell me about him in detail."
"After all, he is our workshop's biggest customer. I might have dealings with him in the future. He has a high status, so I don't want to offend him unintentionally."
That makes sense.
Jiang Fuzheng stepped back a little, and Ye Li quickly followed.
When the two were several feet away from the villagers, Jiang Fuzheng spoke again: "His affairs are a bit complicated."
“As for County Lieutenant Yu, he has been apprenticed to Chief Escort Wu of Xingping Escort Agency in our county since he was a child.”
"Although he came from a poor family, he was exceptionally handsome and learned excellent martial arts from Chief Escort Wu."
"The head镖师 (bodyguard/escort) then betrothed his youngest son, who was also the father of young Yu, to County Magistrate Yu."
"Later, the imperial court opened a military examination, and Wu, the head镖师 (bodyguard), sent Yu, the county magistrate, to try it out."
"After this test, County Magistrate Yu made it all the way to the palace examination and became a third-class military scholar. He was later assigned to the prefectural city's thousand-household office as a centurion."
Upon hearing this, Ye Li couldn't help but say, "That County Magistrate Yu is quite formidable."
He started out as a bodyguard but ended up becoming a military officer.
Isn't this a case of hidden masters among ordinary people?
Upon hearing this, Jiang Fuzheng nodded: "County Commandant Yu is indeed outstanding."
The military examinations tested not only individual martial arts skills but also military strategy.
The fact that Yu, a self-taught镖师 (bodyguard/escort) who came from humble beginnings, could become a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) shows that he was not only intelligent but also worked very hard.
But...
He sighed, looked up at the crowd not far away, and said with a complicated expression, "In the first year that County Magistrate Yu became a centurion, he took a male concubine."
"This concubine and County Magistrate Yu are old acquaintances. Their hometowns are both south of Baxian Town, and the two villages are adjacent."
Ye Li: "..."
An old acquaintance?
Perhaps, or maybe, these two have been hooking up for a long time?
He hurriedly asked, "Uncle Jiang, what is the family background of this concubine?"
Jiang Fuzheng looked at him with some surprise upon hearing this: "You're quick-witted. Before, this concubine's family had a noodle stall in town."
"I see..."
Ye Li understood.
Isn't Magistrate Yu a "phoenix man" (a man from a poor background who achieves success)?
She married Wu because the Wu family was well-off.
"Don't make that face. He's a county magistrate, and he has to be respectful at all times, even in private."
Jiang Fuzheng gave instructions.
"Don't worry, I know what's important. I'm right here in front of you."
"Please continue."
Ye Li quickly put on a serious expression.
Jiang Fuzheng was satisfied now, but thinking about what was to come, he sighed again.
"Wu's husband and this concubine do not get along, but this concubine gets along quite well with Yu County Magistrate's parents."
"At that time, County Commandant Yu was just a centurion in the prefectural city, with a low salary. In addition, his parents and Mr. Wu did not get along, so he bought some land in his hometown so that his parents could live there in their old age."
"He also bought some land for the concubine's parents. Although it wasn't much, they could barely be considered small landlords."
"Then, about twenty years ago, bandits came from the south and not only occupied Baxian Town, but also killed all the local landlords."
"As a result, the county magistrate's parents and the concubine's maternal family were all slaughtered by the bandits."
Ye Li: "..."
This is a turning point, a turning point!
For a moment, he was only shocked and showed no other expression.
Jiang Fuzheng continued, "When the news reached the garrison, the concubine was so grief-stricken that she lost her mind and smashed Yu's leg with a stool."
Ye Li: "?"
His brows furrowed instantly, forgetting all about the massacre of his family just now: "A concubine, so bold? And wasn't anyone protecting Young Master Yu at the time?"
Jiang Fuzheng shook his head: "I don't know the specifics, but ever since then, Yu Xiaoge's right leg has been unable to walk normally."
"Wu Fulang also broke with County Magistrate Yu and moved back to Beiyang County with the two brothers, Yu Xiaoge and his brother."
Ye Li: "...That's it? County Magistrate Yu didn't say anything? And that concubine, has she really gone mad?"
“He’s not crazy. County Magistrate Yu locked up that concubine, and then he was ordered to lead troops to suppress the bandits. He was the one who led the night raid on Baxian Town.”
"He made a great contribution and was transferred to Beiyang County for it, becoming the county magistrate of our county."
A centurion is a sixth-rank official.
The county constable is a rank of eighth grade.
However, a centurion only manages the centurions under his command, and compared to a county constable, the perks are almost nonexistent.
Beiyang County is a large and wealthy county, and its location is coveted by many.
If it weren't for County Lieutenant Yu's meritorious service in suppressing bandits, this position of county lieutenant would not have been easy to obtain.
"After Yu County Magistrate came to Beiyang County, he did not take any more concubines, but Wu Fulang and Yu Xiaoge'er, the two brothers, continued to live in the Wu family and did not have much contact with Yu County Magistrate."
"After the concubine arrived in Beiyang County, she was still imprisoned in the Yu residence, but she had previously borne Yu County Magistrate a son and a daughter."
“A few years ago, his son Yu Shixin got married, so County Magistrate Yu allowed him to leave the mansion.”
"However, it's just going out for walks. Currently, the person in charge of the Yu household is the widowed younger sister of County Magistrate Yu, who has come to live with her parents."
Ye Li: "..."
So, does this mean he served more than ten years in prison after committing a crime?
You can be imprisoned at home, not only without having to work, but you'll also be guaranteed plenty of good food and drink every day.
Seeing that Ye Li remained silent, Jiang Fu continued, "The Zuixianju restaurant in the county town is the largest restaurant in our county. The owner behind it is Yu Shixin."
Ye Li: "...What about Manager Yu's brother?"
Jiang Fuzheng said, "His older brother, Yu Shiting, studies at the county school, but he is not a subsidized student; he is just an ordinary scholar."
“That County Magistrate Yu is so lucky; his sons have all become successful.”
As for Manager Yu, although the hot pot restaurant has not yet opened, as long as the soup base is not bad and the tofu puffs are a signature dish, the business will not be bad.
"I guess so," Jiang Fuzheng nodded.
However, Yu Cai's sudden decision to open a restaurant raises the question: is she trying to compete with Zuixianju?
After thinking for a moment, he instructed, "If you really have any dealings with him in the future, be careful not to mention Zuixianju."
"Don't worry, he's a big customer of ours now, I definitely won't reopen old wounds."
Ye Li nodded hurriedly.
"That's good."
Thinking about Ye Li's usual way of handling things, Jiang Fu felt relieved.
After finishing their business, he said to Ye Li, "You can go back now. I'll keep an eye on things. I'll have someone call you when we're done."
Ye Li nodded: "Okay."
Nowadays, eight stone mills are operating simultaneously in the mill shed, but if you want to make 540 catties of tofu puffs, you need to make 1,080 catties of tofu.
Therefore, I soaked 360 jin of beans last night.
The beans were allocated to each stone mill, and each stone mill was required to grind 45 catties of beans.
The daily tasks are twice as heavy as those for Ye Li's family before.
Therefore, it takes a long time just to grind the beans.
Ye Li went home first.
Liu Yi and Ye Adie have already brought the two little ones back.
When he arrived home, Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya were reciting their lessons in the room, making a lot of noise.
Jiang Ji will be back the day after tomorrow and will check their homework, so the two of them have been working very hard these past two days.
Ye Li then returned to her small living room.
Starting today, the shed behind his house is officially closed. This morning, Jiang Dahe and Jiang Tong did not come to grind tofu.
He finally had some free time.
This leisure time has become a bit boring.
After sitting at the table for a while, he got up and went into the bedroom to wash and clean himself.
After a flurry of activity, by the time he sat down again, it was still early.
Just as they were wondering what else to do, Liu Yi's voice came from the courtyard: "Li Ge'er, how about we have lunch early?"
"After we finish eating, let's go to the workshop to help out and filter the soybean residue as soon as possible."
“…Okay.” Ye Li replied.
I reckon it's not yet 9 o'clock, which is before 9 am.
Ah, how leisurely!
Liu Yi worked very efficiently and quickly prepared the meal, which was neither early nor late.
Sweet potato noodle soup, white flour steamed buns—with higher incomes, Ye Li naturally can't eat cornbread every meal anymore; she wants to eat steamed buns!
There was also a bowl of scrambled eggs and a bowl of stir-fried radish with meat.
After finishing their meal, Ye Li tied her hair up, put on her rabbit-skin hat, picked up her basket, and went to the workshop with Liu Yi and Ye Adie.
There were far fewer people at the workshop; only a dozen or so remained watching the spectacle.
The beans haven't been ground yet, but the pulp from grinding them twice has already filled seven or eight wooden buckets.
Moreover, Jiang Liu, Jiang Dahe, Jiang Tong, and several others who are in charge of making tofu have also arrived.
Each of them wore a hat, with all their hair hidden under it—this was Ye Li's request, to prevent any hair from falling into the soy milk or tofu.
Upon seeing this, Jiang Fuzheng called for all the bystanders to leave.
Although filtering the soybean pulp is not a secret, he still cleared the area in advance.
Because Ye Li's basket contained brine used for making tofu.
The brine for the leaves is already prepared; we can use it directly later.
Soon, only eight people responsible for grinding soybeans and a few others, including Ye Li, remained in the workshop.
Ye Li took out bath beans from the basket and had the people responsible for filtering the bean residue wash their hands.
These bath beans are new ones he bought; they're the unscented kind, but they're not cheap either, costing two or three coins each.
Jiang Dahe thought it was too extravagant and didn't want to use it, so he could only use Manager Yu's name to scare Jiang Dahe—
Manager Yu may send people over for a surprise inspection at any time.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Dahe muttered something and picked up the bath soap to wash his hands.
There is no well here; the water used is all carried from the village's public well.
The wooden bucket used to hold the soy milk and the wooden basin used for washing hands were both newly purchased.
After washing their hands, Ye Li and the others picked up burlap sacks and began filtering the soybean pulp.
This job is simple, tedious, and freezing to the touch. By the time I finished filtering the soybean pulp little by little, it was already noon.
Next, we'll make the tofu.
At this moment, the men who were grinding tofu led their livestock away, but Jiang Fuzheng was still there.
The workshop was laid out the same way as Ye Li’s house, with sheds built against the wall, and the shed next to the mill shed was the stove shed.
Next to the stove shed was a shed for storing miscellaneous items.
To the side were three small rooms.
One of them contains beans.
One of them contained soybean oil.
There's also a container for fried tofu puffs.
There is a curtain on the stove shed.
With many people and eyes around in the workshop, Jiang Fuzheng originally wanted to seal off the stove shed and leave only a small door for the sake of secrecy. However, Ye Li thought it was troublesome and that the darkness would affect the view, so he used his own linen to install a curtain for the stove shed.
The linen is translucent, so even on a sunny day, working inside the stove shed is unaffected and there's no need for a lamp.
There are twelve stoves in the kitchen.
Ye Li, Ye Adie, Liu Yi, Jiang Dahe, Liang Erxiang, Jiang Liu, Jiang Yu, Jiang Dachuan, and Jiang Tong are nine people in charge of making tofu. Ye Li is only temporarily helping out. Once the workshop is on track, the eight people in charge of making tofu will be Ye Adie and the others.
Nine people can easily take care of twelve stoves.
Once the tofu is pressed into the mold, Ye Li can go home.
At this moment, Ye Liang arrived.
Jiang Dahe and Jiang Dachuan stayed in the workshop, waiting for the people in charge of frying tofu to come over.
Twelve stoves, twelve people.
Including the eight people who make tofu and the eight people who grind tofu, the total number of people is twenty-eight. Jiang Fuzheng's family has two people, Zhao Feng and Li Lu, who are both responsible for frying tofu.
Fried tofu puffs are also boring and take a long time.
Just cutting the tofu into cubes and skewers takes a lot of time.
Therefore, Father Ye and the others came to help again.
Otherwise, we'd have to stay up all night.
With the help of Uncle Ye and others, and because there were many stoves, each stove only needed to fry forty or fifty catties, which was similar to the task Ye Li's family had done before.
It took three hours to fry all the tofu puffs.
The time has come to 9 PM.
That is, 9 PM.
Jiang Fuzheng, Ye Li, and Ye Liang soaked another 360 jin of beans.
Zhang Shi brought his big dog over.
Tonight, Jiang Dahe and Aunt Lu's husband, Jiang Rong, are on night watch.
Jiang Rong is responsible for grinding soybeans in the morning; he and Jiang Dahe are neighbors.
After settling things in the workshop and waiting for Ye Li and Ye Liang to return home, another half hour passed.
Having learned from the experience of the first day, the workshop started grinding tofu on the second day when the rooster crowed for the second time.
After having breakfast, Ye Li, along with Jiang Fuzheng and Jiang Tong, went into town to deliver tofu puffs.
As for Ye Liang's thirty catties, Ye Liang will take them back this afternoon along with the thirty catties from today.
This time, they split into two groups again, with Jiang Tong heading to the east of the city.
Ye Li and Jiang Fu were heading to the western part of the city and the semi-idle residence in the city center.
There are few shops in the west of the city, and most people get their goods from the cold noodle shops, so Ye Li and Jiang Fuzheng quickly drove their mule carts to Banxianju.
Banxianju is not actually on the main street. It is located at the intersection of the middle street of Dongsan Hengjie. It is the first shop on this street. You can see the plaque hanging on the door at a glance when you walk from the main street.
The location is also quite good.
Moreover, it has a considerable area, with three floors.
Each floor has an area of over 100 square meters, and there is also a yard at the back.
Yu Cai was not in the store.
Ye Li and Jiang Fu waited for almost half an hour before Yu Cai finally arrived.
Yu Cai did not know Jiang Fuzheng.
This was also the first time Jiang Fuzheng had met him.
However, Jiang Fu was already somewhat famous because of the night raid on Baxian Town twenty years ago, and he also had a good relationship with County Magistrate Yu.
So, after Ye Li introduced him, Yu Cai laughed: "So it's Chief Jiang. I've heard so much about you. Even though twenty years have passed, you still look as valiant as ever."
His expression and tone were normal.
Seeing this, Jiang Fuzheng hurriedly said, "I dare not accept such praise. I am already old, and I was just lucky back then."
"Jiang Lizhang is too modest. If you don't believe me, ask Ye Fulang."
Yu Cai pointed to Ye Li.
Ye Li immediately nodded: "Uncle Jiang, Manager Yu is right. The villagers are usually afraid of you."
Jiang Fuzheng: "..."
Upon seeing this, Ye Li added with a smile, "But they also respect and admire you. A good village chief like you is truly rare."
"Indeed, now that Yezaopo has a good village head and a kind and generous husband named Ye, life will surely get better and better."
Yu Cai also smiled and said.
Hearing this made Ye Li and Jiang Fuzheng feel relieved.
And he was secretly surprised.
Although Yu Cai suffered misfortune in her childhood, she has a very gentle nature.
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, they got down to business.
One hundred jin of tofu puffs filled three baskets.
The baskets were all new, with clean burlap sacks inside.
Yu Cai casually picked up his chopsticks and poked at the food a few times, then weighed it. The weight was fine, so he asked the shopkeeper to settle the bill for Ye Li.
With the heavy copper coin in his hand, Ye Li couldn't help but ask, "Manager Yu, when will your shop open?"
Upon hearing this, Yu Cai said, "I'm inviting some people over for a small gathering this afternoon so they can try the tofu puff hot pot."
"If nothing unexpected happens, we will open for business tomorrow."
"You can still send over 100 catties of tofu puffs tomorrow."
"no problem!"
Ye Li immediately burst into laughter.
They are definitely big customers!
So he said goodbye to Jiang Fuzheng and left the city to go home.
Upon entering the village, they went straight to the workshop.
The workshop was small and hastily built, so Jiang Fuzheng and Ye Li were temporarily put in charge of the accounting.
When Jiang Tong returned, the three of them checked the accounts, and by then the beans were all ground.
Uncle Ye, Jiang Dahe, and others who were in charge of making tofu had already started filtering the soybean residue.
Other villagers, concerned about whether the delivery went smoothly on the first day, also came to the workshop.
When Jiang Fuzheng pointed to the copper coins in his basket and announced that everything was normal and the profits met expectations, the villagers finally breathed a sigh of relief and were genuinely happy.
We started grinding the beans early today, so we finished work early too.
Ye Liang went home early in the afternoon, and Liu Yi took over the tofu puffs he had half-fried.
So on the third day, Ye Li, Jiang Fuzheng, and Jiang Tong went to the county town to deliver goods again.
This time, when Ye Li and Jiang Fu arrived at Banxianju, the area in front of the residence was already covered with a thick layer of firecracker debris.
Moreover, even in the middle of the morning, there were already several tables of diners inside.
Yu Cai was in the store, and Ye Li and Jiang Fu were handing over the goods to him.
Afterwards, Jiang Fu was driving his mule cart home, while Ye Li strolled off to the northeast corner of the county town.
Jiang Ji only attended classes for half a day today.
He's been busy with the workshop these past few days and hasn't seen Jiang Ji for almost a week.
Therefore, he planned to pick Jiang Ji up from school and then go to Banxianju for hot pot.
Without Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya, those two little third wheels, it's the perfect time for a date!
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