Chapter 92 Jiang Gui (Additional chapter for Yunqi's recommendation votes of 35,000)
Is there anyone selling ginger at the market?
There was no ginger on the street stalls. Zhou Erlang saw them wandering around like headless flies, so he grabbed Zhou Wulang by the back of his collar, made him turn half a circle, and pointed to the door of the old doctor's house: "That's where they sell ginger."
Ginger can dispel cold and remove the smell of mutton, so during the Chinese New Year, if you want to cook mutton, many people will go to the pharmacy or doctor's house to buy some ginger.
Wulang is not young anymore, it’s time for him to be sensible.
Zhou Wulang looked at the door of the old doctor's house and had a bad feeling. He and Liulang led Manbao over.
The old doctor had already opened the door and was sitting in a rattan chair, rocking back and forth to catch up on his sleep. Seeing two teenagers and a child standing in front of him, he narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang. He found that they looked familiar, but he could not quite remember their names, so he looked at Manbao.
Well, this is an acquaintance.
The old doctor waved to Manbao and said, "You look rosy, you don't look sick. What's wrong? Is your mother sick again?"
When Manbao was younger, she fell ill every few days. The old doctor was very familiar with her. Several times, she was carried to the Zhou family's house by the Zhou brothers late at night.
Manbao was also deeply impressed by the old doctor, because every time he saw her, he either gave her an acupuncture or gave her bitter medicine, so Manbao was very afraid of him.
She pointed her little finger and whispered, "I want to buy some ginger."
"Oh, that's a good thing. How much do you want?"
"One pound!"
The old doctor's forehead twitched. He looked at the little thing and asked with a smile, "What do you want so much ginger for?"
"To make soup. My third brother is going to serve in the army, and I need to make ginger soup for them."
The old doctor thought for a moment and said, "It's a good idea to drive away the cold and warm the body, but ginger is expensive. One pound costs sixty coins."
"Oh, why is it more expensive than Ligustrum lucidum?"
The old doctor was stunned for a moment and then laughed: "You also know about Ligustrum lucidum."
He thought for a moment and said, "Ligustrum lucidum fruit is used less often in prescriptions than ginger slices. Rich people all like to use ginger in cooking and even drink tea with it. Rare ginger makes it valuable. Ginger is scarce and used a lot, so of course it's expensive."
"But ginger is easy to grow."
"Hmm?" The old doctor sat up slightly and asked with a smile, "Do you know how to grow seeds?"
Manbao said without any concern: "Jiangxi's soil is fertile and moist. As long as we bury a piece, we can harvest a large piece."
This is noted in the entry, and Koko also said that ginger is easy to grow. In the future, due to large-scale human migration, many species will disappear or decrease, but some species will not only not decrease, but will become more and more numerous. Ginger is one of the species that is very easy to survive.
The old doctor seemed to be lost in thought. He stood up, took out a piece of ginger and handed it to her, saying, "Ginger can be divided into fresh ginger and dried ginger. I only have dried ginger here. Dried ginger must be buried in the ground for at least three years. It has a strong smell and is milder. You probably want fresh ginger. If you want more, come back next time during the market."
He added, "It's cold now. In addition to ginger, you can also cook more radish. In fact, ginger slices are better to eat in summer, and radish is even better in winter. Instead of making ginger soup, you might as well make radish soup."
The old doctor smiled at Manbao and winked at her playfully, saying, "Radish and meat go well together."
Manbao swallowed her saliva, wiped the corner of her mouth, and asked in a low voice, "Besides radish, what else can be put in it?"
"It's a pity that it's winter now, and there are no other vegetables except radish. Otherwise, I could add some vegetable leaves, and the soup would be delicious after boiling."
Wulang and Liulang saw that their sister was drooling and felt that the old doctor was unreliable. They came to buy ginger, so how could he teach them how to make soup?
And did he mean soup?
That was a real treat. Zhou Wulang quickly pulled Manbao to say goodbye, fearing that his younger sister would be persuaded to do so. If that happened, they would not make money from this business, but would lose money instead.
Wu Lang wanted to pay for the piece of ginger, but the old doctor was very generous and waved his hand and said, "It's just a small piece of ginger. Just give me two cents."
Zhou Wulang felt that two cents was too expensive. They wanted to boil a large pot of water and planned to use a lot of ginger.
If two cents only buy this piece, how much ginger would be needed to boil a pot of water?
Zhou Wulang was a little worried.
Seeing his two younger brothers return with sad faces, Zhou Erlang was satisfied. However, the expression on Manbao's face didn't match the truth. He asked, "Did you buy the ginger?"
Manbao nodded repeatedly, still thinking about the white radish stewed with meat. She asked Zhou Erlang with her mouth watering, "Second brother, do white radish and meat go well together?"
Zhou Erlang looked down at Yaomei and felt that the corners of her mouth were a little shiny. He nodded and said, "Yes, they are a good match."
Zhou Wulang immediately said, "Manbao, don't listen to the old doctor. A bowl of soup with meat and radish for a penny is not just a loss, it's going to cost you everything you own."
"Then I'll sell it for two cents."
"Two cents won't make any money," Zhou Wulang said. He wasn't Manbao. He knew how much meat cost and could probably calculate how much meat was needed to make a pot of soup fragrant. So he said, "A bowl of broth with ginger, meat, and radish will cost at least four or five cents to break even. You have to sell it for at least six cents to make a profit. Who would be willing to spend six cents on a bowl of soup every day?"
Zhou Wulang reiterated, "Two cents doesn't make any money."
Manbao swallowed his saliva and said, "Let's go take a look at the meat first."
There are also meat sellers at the market, but there are few, basically only two stalls, one selling mutton and the other selling pork.
Like most people, Manbao prefers mutton, which is more expensive than pork.
So Manbao subconsciously went to look at the mutton first. After asking the price, he stood aside and counted the cost on his fingers. It seemed a bit high.
Koko reminded: "Host, bones can also be used to make soup."
Manbao said, "Bones are also expensive."
"I'm not talking about bones with meat. I'm talking about bones with no meat." Keke directed Manbao to look at the cleanly shaved bones on the pork stall next to them.
Manbao came over to take a look, and the stall owner asked the three of them with a smile, "Buy meat?"
Manbao asked, "How much is pork?"
The stall owner divided the meat into sections and pointed, saying, "This pile is ten cents a pound, this pile is nine cents, and this pile is eight cents."
It is divided according to fatness or leanness, the fatter it is, the more expensive it is.
Manbao rarely eats pork and didn't miss it very much. He pointed at the bone and asked, "What about this?"
"Six coins."
There is a lot of meat on the bones, but it is undeniable that the bones are also heavy. One bone weighs more than one pound, but there is not much meat to eat, so he prices it relatively cheaply.
The mutton next to it is much more expensive than pork.
Manbao turned his finger half a circle and asked the bones he had piled aside, "What about this one?"
Those were bones that had been cleaned of meat by the stall owner. The stall owner was stunned for a moment and said, "Young lady, do you want to make bone soup?"
(End of this chapter)
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