Chapter 288 Pickling Kimchi
The weather was getting colder and colder, and the cabbages in the field would be frozen if they were not harvested. That afternoon, the snowflake salt that Shen Xiangwan had requested was brought back. She went to find Zhao Dashan again and asked him to help find people to harvest the cabbages. The next day, just after dawn, the villagers were busy in the fields. Yuan Yue, following Shen Xiangwan's instructions, also went to the fields early.
Yuan Ying stopped everyone before the ointment and brewing workshops started working, and told them that they did not need to work today. Everyone had to help pickle the cabbage in the open space outside. At the same time, they were divided into three groups. One group was responsible for cleaning, one group was responsible for pickling, and the remaining group was responsible for covering the ceramic jars of pickled cabbage with oilcloth and sending them to the warehouse behind the main house for storage.
"Wanwan, is that so?"
After sending the children to school at Chenshi, Shen Xiangwan personally taught everyone how to pickle kimchi. Under her guidance, the person in charge of cleaning cut the huge cabbage in half, and the person who pickled it put the cabbage into a huge ceramic jar, stacking it layer by layer of cabbage and salt. Each layer must be pressed tightly and compacted. Finally, the jar was sealed, and it must be airtight. After the first jar of kimchi they made independently was made, Aunt Wang called Shen Xiangwan worriedly and said that if there was no problem, they could seal the jar.
"Yes, that's it."
After going over to check it out, Shen Xiangwan nodded in approval: "I have had the salt divided separately. Next, just follow these steps to pickle it. No matter how much cabbage we harvest today, I hope everyone can pickle it all."
"good."
Led by Aunt Wang, hundreds of people responded in unison. Soon they divided the work among themselves and quickly got busy. Seeing them working enthusiastically, Shen Xiangwan unconsciously smiled and joined them in pickling.
The cabbages in the field cannot be harvested in one day. They have to continue pickling them for the next few days. Shen Xiangwan, who has a rare few days of free time, is so busy that her back aches and waist aches. She has to go back to the space to take a bath every night. Wei Chengyi feels so distressed that he dares not to bother her anymore and personally gives her a massage to relax every night.
"Wanwan, can you sell us some of your cabbage?"
Aunt Wang found Shen Xiangwan a little embarrassedly. They usually couldn't eat any vegetables in winter. After knowing that kimchi could be stored for a long time, she had some ideas. To be precise, it was not just her, many people in the village had ideas. Every household made money this year. If she was willing to sell, they would be willing to buy some and pickle it themselves.
"How much do you need?"
Looking up at her, Shen Xiangwan continued to spread chili powder on the cabbage. Now she was making spicy cabbage. Because she was not sure whether everyone would like it, she only planned to make a few thousand kilograms, and the rest were all kimchi.
"We and the second and third families need 2,000 kilograms each, and the rest of the households need about 4,000 kilograms each, so the total is about 10,000 kilograms."
Although this amount is not small, it is pitifully small for a village with more than 200 households. It is not that people do not want to buy more, but mainly because salt is too expensive and many people cannot bear to buy it.
"Okay, I'll talk to Yuanyue later and ask her to send you 10,000 kilograms directly. You can divide it among yourselves. You will get one penny per kilogram."
Shen Xiangwan agreed after a moment's hesitation. In fact, it would be fine to give these things directly to them, and she was not short of that little money. However, there were many cases of gratitude and resentment. She did not want them to reach that point one day. Only by collecting some money appropriately could their relationship last.
"One penny per pound, wouldn't that be too much of a loss for you?"
Hearing this, Aunt Wang was still a little worried. Vegetables in winter are not cheap and you can't buy them even if you have money. One cent per pound is too cheap.
"Do I look like someone who would make a losing trade?"
Shen Xiangwan smiled slightly. She knew that if these cabbages were sold outside, they would definitely fetch more than a penny per pound, but she didn't really want to make money from selling vegetables, so the amount of money was not important.
"Okay, then I won't be polite to you."
Seeing this, Aunt Wang stopped worrying and continued to ask, "Wanwan, how much salt do you need to pickle these kimchi? I'll ask the eldest brother to go to the county town to buy some later."
Don't blame her for not knowing the ratio of vegetables and salt after pickling them for several days. The main thing is how much salt to put in each jar of vegetables. Chen Xiangwan had someone weigh it out separately, and they just spread it on the cabbage without knowing the specific ratio at all.
"It takes half a pound of salt to pickle ten pounds of kimchi. How about I give it to you? I'll charge you ten cents per pound."
"No, no, we can just go to the county town and buy it ourselves."
This time, Aunt Wang was determined not to take advantage of her again. She waved her hands repeatedly to decline her kindness. They were using pure white snowflake salt, how could it be worth only ten coins per pound? You know, the lowest quality coarse salt on the market costs dozens of coins per pound. Cabbage is fine, but she couldn't take advantage of her salt again.
"hehe···"
Shen Xiangwan couldn't help laughing when she saw this. Since the deal had been settled, Aunt Wang didn't linger any longer and turned around to continue helping to pickle the cabbage.
Not only the village, but the army was also rushing to harvest cabbages. They only stored a portion in the cellar, and the rest, like Shen Xiangwan, were all made into kimchi. The army should not be short of vegetables to eat next year.
It took more than ten days to harvest the cabbages from more than 2,000 acres of land. Since the seeds that Shen Xiangwan used were of high quality and high yield, even though the sandy soil was relatively thin and difficult to retain water and fertilizer, the yield per acre reached 3,000 to 4,000 kilograms. A total of millions of kilograms were harvested, and the huge ceramic jars for pickling kimchi filled one warehouse after another.
In order to prevent the land from being insufficiently fertile next year, after the cabbage harvest, Zhao Dashan led the strong laborers in the village to plow the land and apply fertilizer. Fortunately, the manure they had fermented was ready to use and could be poured directly into the plowed ditches. There was no need to go to the mountains to collect humus soil, which was not a difficult task.
"Finally I'm back."
In mid-December, dozens of cavalrymen accompanied by more than a dozen carriages drove into the village. After Shen Xiangwan received the news, the first person she saw when she went out was Wei Chengyi, who was leading the group and riding on a tall horse. A brilliant arc unconsciously curved her lips. Although they met in the space almost every night, the meaning of his presence or absence was completely different.
"Wanwan."
Seeing her from afar, Wei Chengyi flew up and landed in front of her in the blink of an eye: "I'm back."
"Well, do you want me to welcome you with drums and gongs?"
Looking up, Shen Xiangwan's eyes were full of teasing and mocking.
"Naughty!"
Wei Chengyi, who was originally a little excited, was stunned for a moment, then he couldn't help laughing and reached out to hold her hand.
"If I weren't naughty, you would cry."
Blinking, Shen Xiangwan said meaningfully.
“···”
Hearing this, Wei Chengyi wanted to cry but had no tears. He could only tighten his hand holding hers and sigh helplessly in his heart. Who made him end up with such a naughty wife?
[End of this chapter]
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