Chapter 30 Coarse Salt
When Mrs. Cui thought about how expensive salt was, her heart ached.
However, salt is something that must be bought. It is used in daily cooking. If you don’t add salt to the dishes, they will have no taste at all and will be difficult to swallow.
Mrs. Cui still listened to Zhiluo and said, "Okay."
Jiang Zhiluo and Mrs. Cui went to the butcher's counter to buy meat first.
The two men were going to the butcher's stall on the other side of the market, where it was bustling.
However, if you want to go there, you have to pass through the Medical Hall just now to avoid attracting attention.
They decided to go through the secluded alley at the back.
But when I was about to pass this alley, I unexpectedly saw a meat stall.
It's a small stall in a remote area, but it's kept clean.
A plump girl in neat clothes was tidying the meat chopping board.
Madam Cui was also taken aback. "There's actually a butcher's stall here. Isn't it too remote?"
“But it looks clean.”
Jiang Zhiluo looked at the cleanup and pulled Mrs. Cui over.
"Sister, how much is the pork belly at your stall?"
The plump girl saw the customer coming and said with a smile, "Nineteen cents a pound."
Mrs. Cui's eyes lit up. This meat was cheaper than the meat at the market.
"If you and your sister want to buy some meat, I have some pig offal here, so I'll give it to you."
Old Madam Cui couldn't believe it. She leaned over to Jiang Zhiluo's ear and whispered, "It's really a good deal."
Nowadays, some people buy pig offal to eat, but it is difficult to clean, so pig offal is cheap, and a pair may cost only one or two cents.
A penny or two is still money.
Jiang Zhiluo naturally knew the market situation, and this was considered a cheap price. At the butcher's stall over at the market, because of its good location, pork belly cost twenty-one cents per pound, and ordinary meat cost twenty cents.
Seeing that the two were silent, the fat girl smiled and said, "Don't worry, our pork is all fresh, and it's from pigs raised at home."
At this moment, a young boy of about thirteen or fourteen ran out and said, "My parents just killed a pig this morning. It's the freshest."
The boy is not like the fat girl. He has a well-proportioned body. He is a sunny boy and looks very energetic.
This reminded Jiang Zhiluo of her younger brother.
The fat girl said gently: "Brother, why are you here?"
"I came here to help my sister."
Jiang Zhiluo asked, "Is this a newly opened stall?"
The plump girl explained with a smile, "It's been open for many years. We originally slaughtered pigs in the village, and only moved to the town in the past two years. Usually, it's the nearby residents who buy the meat."
"Also, when there's a market or festival in the village, we go there to help with the pig slaughtering."
"But it used to be at the market. After my dad got injured, we stopped setting it up there, so I moved here."
Jiang Zhiluo talked to the fat girl and learned that her name was Lin Zhuzhu and understood some things.
Lin Zhuzhu's parents used to be butchers in the village. Their family was well off, so they supported her younger brother's education.
But last year, his father fell and became ill, and his mother was weak, so she took over the butcher stall.
She is now eighteen years old. In recent years, because she has been exposed to the public in the butcher business, people have been gossiping about her. A few years ago, her family arranged a marriage for her, but it was rejected because of her bad reputation.
But she herself doesn't care about these things. She is upright and not afraid of what others say.
After she took over the butcher stall, she was able to earn money to treat her father's illness and to allow her younger brother to go to school. She didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
"At first, people wondered how a girl could do such a thing as butchering pigs. But I thought, if men can do something, why can't women do it? I've always been strong, and I've been helping my dad do these things since I was a kid. I'm more skilled at butchering pigs than they are..."
When Lin Zhuzhu said this, there was a smile in her eyes.
Although she looks fat, she looks pretty when she smiles.
Jiang Zhiluo said, "I'll buy a pound of pork belly first."
Although Jiang Zhiluo only bought one kilogram, Lin Zhuzhu also weighed it high.
He also gave Jiang Zhiluo a set of pig offal.
Jiang Zhiluo was very happy, because pig offal is a good thing.
This way she doesn't have to make dumplings, she can use pig offal to make roujiamo.
Mrs. Cui couldn't stand the smell of pig offal.
"Zhiluo, do we really want to eat this? We don't know how to process this pig's offal."
The most important thing is, Mrs. Cui thought, her handsome son probably wouldn't eat this thing.
My son loves cleanliness so much, he is a mysophobia person, I guess he can't even smell the odor.
Jiang Zhiluo said, "Don't worry, Mom. I will take care of it."
Normally, it can be treated with flour, but flour is too expensive, so it is cleaned with wood ash.
This saves money.
Next, they went to the grocery store to buy salt.
But a pound of salt costs seventy coins.
When Jiang Zhiluo heard the price, she frowned.
"This salt is too expensive, is there any cheaper?"
"Then we only have coarse salt. This kind of large-grain coarse salt costs thirty-five cents per pound." The shopkeeper looked at the coarse salt placed in the corner. Not many people bought these large-grain coarse salts.
The main reason is that people think eating this kind of coarse salt is not good for the body.
Jiang Zhiluo had an idea and she knew how to use coarse salt to extract fine salt.
Jiang Zhiluo said, "Then buy two kilograms of coarse salt."
Madam Cui grabbed Jiang Zhiluo's hand and said, "Zhiluo, eating coarse salt is not good for you. I heard it's poisonous."
Jiang Zhiluo knew that some coarse salt contained some chemical substances.
But just follow the filtration and purification method.
Some of these impurities can be neutralized by boiling wood ash.
"Mom, don't worry, it's okay."
Jiang Zhiluo looked at Mrs. Cui with a calm expression.
When Mrs. Cui looked at Jiang Zhiluo's expression, for some reason, she felt convinced.
It's like whatever she says is right.
Mrs. Cui thought that thirty cents was expensive, and if it couldn't be used, it would be a waste.
Her heart ached a little, but when she thought that the money was also earned by Zhiluo, she thought, let Zhiluo do whatever she wants.
The shopkeeper looked at them in surprise.
But seeing how poorly they were dressed, I thought they couldn't afford salt.
The money earned from selling brown sugar is not enough to buy two kilograms of coarse salt.
Jiang Zhiluo took out some of the few hundred coins that she had previously stored in her space and bought two kilograms of coarse salt.
She looked around again and bought some spices at the grocery store. The spices were not complete, so she went to the market and bought some things, including peppercorns and chili peppers, and some wine, spending more than fifty coins.
The main reason is that these seasonings are difficult to buy. If you buy them from the spice stalls, the price will be more expensive. The most common wine costs eighteen cents per pound.
Mrs. Cui didn't know what to say.
She was really worried that she wouldn't be able to save any money if she spent it this way, but after thinking about it, she decided that as long as her daughter-in-law was happy, it would be fine.
Just make more money.
After that, Jiang Zhiluo didn't buy anything else, but went home with Mrs. Cui.
As soon as she got home, Jiang Zhiluo started burning wood ash and then used the ash to clean the pig offal.
Mrs. Cui felt that she should do such dirty work, and she didn't want her daughter-in-law's delicate and beautiful hands to be rough.
"Zhiluo, I'll just do these things. I can wash them clean."
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