She had heard of and seen many kinds of wine, but this was the first time she had ever heard of lychee glutinous rice wine.
Pei Yao explained, "It's wine made with lychees and glutinous rice."
"Is it the red wild fruit we ate yesterday?" Yunniang was a little shocked. She had heard Pei Yao say yesterday that the wild fruit was called lychee.
Pei Yao nodded: "Yes."
Yunniang and Chen Fang never imagined that the sweet lychee could be used to make wine; they had never even heard of it.
Seeing that the two of them were still discussing the lychee wine, Pei Yao reached into her purse and took out the fifty taels of silver she had hidden there.
The shopkeeper gave them small amounts of silver, filling a large bag, which astonished the two men.
Chen Fang stared at the silver in disbelief, then looked at Pei Yao and asked, "Yao girl, where did you get so much silver?"
The goods that my family delivers to Deyun Restaurant are worth at most six taels of silver, but this pile in front of me is probably worth more than fifty taels.
Indeed, with the payment given to Deyun Restaurant this morning, it amounted to more than fifty taels.
Afraid that the two of them would misunderstand, Pei Yao quickly explained the whole story of selling recipes today to them.
“Mother, Aunt, right now we need to earn more money so that when Manager Qian finds out about Father and Uncle, we can rescue them.”
After Pei Yao finished speaking, she gave all the silver to Chen Fang and told her to save it.
Chen Fang stared blankly at the silver in her hand for a long time before looking up at Pei Yao and saying, "Hey, I'll keep it for now. We've saved up more than twenty taels of silver these days from the money we usually give to the restaurant. With this fifty taels, it'll be about seventy taels."
Chen Fang has a habit of keeping accounts, so whenever there is income at home, she buys notebooks and pens and records every single expense during that period.
Although the family has been receiving a daily income, they have also spent a considerable amount of money on some new purchases.
Pei Yao nodded. Eighty taels was already quite good, considering that not much time had passed. However, if they wanted to rescue Pei Dalang and Pei Erlang, this was far from enough. The officials had said it would be one hundred taels of silver per person, but now this wasn't even enough to redeem one of them.
Pei Yao thought to herself that she still needed to work hard to make money.
......
Pei Yao gave the candied hawthorns she had specially bought to Pei Xuan and Pei Yichen.
Xiao Xuan'er visibly cheered up, and Pei Yichen was also in a good mood.
After Niu Qingshan left, Pei Yao went over.
Yunniang left lunch for Pei Yao; she could just heat it up and eat it.
After Pei Yao finished eating, she went to check on the yeast. The yeast had dried out, which was a good result. It looked like they could make lychee wine today.
With that thought in mind, Pei Yao immediately took action, soaking all the soybeans in water and then soaking the glutinous rice.
When Yunniang and Chenfang washed the wooden buckets they had delivered at the stream at the village entrance and returned, they saw that Pei Yao had soaked so much grain.
Remembering what the girl had just said about making soy sauce and lychee wine, Yunniang came over and asked, "Yao'er, do you need any help?"
Pei Yao nodded; she really did need help right now.
Soybeans need to be soaked overnight before steaming, but glutinous rice only needs to be soaked for one or two hours before it can be cooked.
There are still quite a few lychees left from yesterday's picking. Since lychees are a warming food, eating too many can easily cause internal heat.
Pei Yao was worried that they might experience discomfort if they ate too much at once, since it was their first time eating it, so she didn't let them eat too much at once.
Pei Yao took out the lychees, which were about half a basket left. It wasn't enough to go with the 20 jin of glutinous rice. If there weren't enough lychees, the lychee wine she made might not be fragrant enough.
Pei Yao glanced at the sky. It was still early. If she went up the mountain quickly and came back, it would only take about four hours. She estimated that she could be back before dinner.
Thinking this way, Pei Yao did just that. She emptied the lychees from her basket into a clean place, took the two cloth bags she had used to pack the kiwis yesterday, and then prepared to go out with the basket on her back: "Mother, Auntie doesn't have enough lychees, I'll go pick some more."
After Pei Yao finished speaking, she told Yun Niang and the others to stay at home and, after the glutinous rice had soaked and expanded, to put it in a pot and steam it in the wooden bucket she had bought.
Then she peeled and pitted the lychees in the house one by one. She demonstrated to the two of them how to quickly remove the pits by taking a thin bamboo stick about the size of a chopstick and poking the pit out directly from the bottom of the peeled lychee.
These bamboo stalks were pulled up by her when she passed a small grove of water bamboo on her way back; she specifically used them to remove lychee pits.
Seeing that Yunniang understood, Pei Yao prepared to go out. Chen Fang quickly called over Pei Yichen: "Xiaochen, you go with your cousin."
"Okay, I'm coming." Pei Yichen, who had just been feeding the rabbits and chicks, immediately ran over.
"Xiao Chen, help your cousin carry some things on the way," Chen Fang said, watching her son's hurried figure disappear into the distance.
"I understand, Mother..." The young boy said and disappeared at the courtyard gate, catching up with Pei Yao, who had just walked a short distance ahead.
"Cousin, wait for me."
The two siblings went up the mountain today with a clear purpose: to pick lychees.
Unlike yesterday, when they looked around aimlessly, they quickly followed the same path up the mountain.
So the two of them soon arrived at the place where they had picked lychees the day before.
...
Yunniang and Chen Fang followed Pei Yao's instructions to process the fresh lychees. At first, they were a little unskilled, but they soon became proficient and the process became much simpler.
Seeing the time, Yunniang poured out the soaked glutinous rice, rinsed it clean, and then, following Pei Yao's instructions, first lined the wooden bucket with a layer of gauze, then poured in the glutinous rice and put it in the wooden bucket to steam.
After the glutinous rice was steamed, she went out to peel lychees again, and Yunniang tore the peeled lychee flesh into thin strips.
Every now and then, you could hear the footsteps of others walking past the courtyard gate, and the two of them would glance at the gate each time someone passed by.
This was the fifth time the two of them had looked towards the door. Yunniang sighed, "Why haven't those two children come back yet..."
Chen Fang chimed in, "They've been gone for a while now, they should be back soon..."
...
"Almost there, we'll be there soon." Pei Yao stood on the slope, a spot from which she could see his yard.
She glanced back at Pei Yichen behind her and said, "Just a little longer and we'll be home."
Pei Yichen carried a bag of lychees and followed behind Pei Yao. When he heard that they were almost home, he gritted his teeth and quickened his pace.
Pei Yao was also carrying a bag on her back and holding a small bag in her arms.
By the time the two of them got home, Yunniang and the others had just finished peeling the lychees.
Before she could catch her breath, Pei Yao emptied all the lychees from her basket and bag.
Then the family continued peeling the lychee flesh.
They peeled almost a whole basin of lychee flesh before stopping.
The glutinous rice in the wooden bucket is almost done steaming until there are no hard grains left. Then, spread the shredded lychee flesh on top and continue steaming for a while.
This step effectively breaks down the enzymes in the fruit, making it less prone to spoilage and allowing it to be stored for a longer period.
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