The rest of the family hasn't returned yet.
Mrs. Li took Liu Guang, Liu Lu, Liu Yun, and Liu Yao to the mountains to chop wood. They have a day off at school today and tomorrow.
Liu Daling went to the tofu shop.
Liu Yuhan didn't expect that the village chief would act so quickly. He had opened the tofu shop in just half a month.
In an empty yard near their home, tiles were laid on the roof, the house was reinforced with yellow mud, the ground was compacted with gravel and yellow mud, and the yard was surrounded by a high wall.
The courtyard had five rooms. One was used to store ingredients, two were used as kitchens for making soy milk, with six stoves in total. One was used to make and store tofu, and the other was used as a living room.
Half of the yard was covered with thatched roofs. There were two large millstones underneath, plus the medium-sized millstone they had bought earlier, making a total of three millstones. They also bought a donkey.
The money for buying the small courtyard and the donkey, as well as the money for repairing the house, were shared by Liu Daling and Liu Xiaoman's family.
Liu Daling would occasionally visit, but his family wasn't involved in the tofu shop. The profits were split 70/30: after deducting labor costs from the profits, Liu Xiaoman's family would get 70% and his family would get 30%.
The tofu business has expanded to the county town. They sell not only white tofu and bean curd cakes, but also fried tofu. Fried tofu requires oil, so it's more expensive, costing ten coins per pound.
We don't fry a lot every day, 50 kilograms is the fixed amount, and it's all sent to the county town to be sold. If you want to eat fried tofu, you can buy your own tofu and fry it at home.
They currently have a fixed supply to three restaurants in the county, each of which supplies 50 to 80 kilograms per day. In addition to those sold at stalls, the amount prepared in Changle County is at least 400 kilograms per day.
Yukou Town sells a fixed 80 to 150 kilograms of seafood every day, and sells more during market hours.
This way, they can consistently sell around 500 kilograms a day, earning a net profit of 700 to 800 kilograms. While making tofu every day is hard work, where else can one earn so much in a single day? It's already pretty good!
It seems that grandpa is quite good at doing business. Our family now has a second industry.
In Liu Yuhan's heart, crops are her number one industry.
After Old Lady Jiang and the others had tidied up the room, they started preparing dinner. Liu Shihu went up the mountain to pick up the firewood choppers and called Liu Yang, who was composting in the mountains, back home.
Liu Yuhan, grandma, mother and others were busy preparing dinner.
Grandma Qin was still a little restrained, as she had been the one rushing to do the work for so many days.
She watched the young ladies busy at work, so how could she possibly sit down? This was the young lady she had raised with the Madam. She had been so careless and hadn't taken good care of her. How guilty and tormented she had felt all those years! Now that she had finally found her, she was truly blessed!
Old Mrs. Jiang had already asked Xiaowu to call Liu Daling back to sit with the guests in the main hall.
Liu Shinan was responsible for killing and plucking the chickens, and two chickens were killed because there were more people.
Liu Yuhan entered the room and secretly put the vegetables from the space into a backpack and took them into the kitchen. The basket contained chestnuts, potatoes, green vegetables, winter melons, and sea fish ribs.
Liu Yuhan was the head chef and cooked roasted chicken with chestnuts, stewed pork ribs with potatoes, steamed sea bass, stir-fried winter melon, stir-fried bok choy, scrambled eggs with leeks, and egg and scallion soup—all homely dishes. The staple food was white rice.
Tonight's dinner was served in two portions. The men ate in the main room, while the women and children ate in the kitchen compartment. Everyone enjoyed the meal together.
It wasn't quite dark yet, so after dinner, he walked around the yard to help digest his food. Liu Yuhan took out 50 kilograms of corn seeds from his room and prepared to soak them in cold water overnight.
Corn seeds do not usually need to be soaked before planting. However, they are sometimes soaked before planting.
Soaking corn seeds is an optional practice that can increase seed germination and growth, reduce the occurrence of pests and diseases, and increase corn yields.
Liu Yang, who was preparing to find a master to practice martial arts with, hurried forward.
"Xiaohan, what did you mention? Just let big brother get it."
"Then big brother, please bring it to the kitchen for me. This is also grain."
Xiao Si pulled Huo Dong forward to take a look.
Liu Yang took a large wooden basin and poured out small yellow fruits. They must be fruits, but they looked very strange. He poured them out and added water to cover them.
Seeing their confusion, Liu Yuhan said, "Well, this is a grain seed we found by chance. It's called corn. Corn is drought-resistant. It grows into stalks, about the same height as the two of you, with small cobs growing on the sides. The cobs produce kernels like this. When the corn is tender, it can be eaten raw, but it's usually cooked. When the corn gets older and dried, it becomes hard like this. You can grind it into powder and make corn porridge or steamed buns. In short, it can be used as food. The corn stalks and the threshed cobs can also be used as feed for poultry or as firewood."
"It's a pity that sandy fields aren't fertile enough. Corn thrives in rich, moist soil, where it can produce a lot of corn."
"Could you tell me more about the corn that Xiaohan mentioned? If it's a crop that can be used as food, its appearance would definitely cause a sensation. Have you mentioned it to anyone?"
"No, except for potatoes and sweet potatoes, which are two of the crops I took you to see this afternoon. Potatoes are what we'll cook in the pork ribs tonight. I've already told County Magistrate Zhu about these two crops."
"Brother Huo Dong, this is what I told you before. I'm giving you a great gift, and that gift is corn. This season is perfect for growing corn. You can take it to your farm and plant it. You know us small farmers, if you can..."
"Your idea is correct. From now on, no matter who asks, just say that the corn seeds came from my Huo family, okay?"
Liu Yuhan and Liu Yang nodded.
"This is a serious matter. I will ask Huo Yi to return home tomorrow to explain it to Grandfather. Could you please get me some corn seeds? Write down the planting instructions for me. This corn was discovered by you. Whether we buy the seeds or harvest them later, we will reward you. I will never forget this."
"No need, Brother Huo Dong. This is what I give you. Just accept it. If we can expand the planting, more people will be able to grow and eat corn, and there will be fewer people starving."
"Miss Xiaohan is righteous. In short, when the time comes, just take what's yours."
"Oh, you... I'll get a pen and paper, and we'll go to the main room."
Liu Yuhan lit the oil lamp, spread out the paper, thought for a while, and then picked up the pen to write. Huo Dong stood beside her and unconsciously helped her grind the ink.
"Brother Huo Dong, we are going to plant corn tomorrow. You can ask Brother Huo Yi to come and see how we plant it. Then, combined with the planting method I wrote, it will be very clear."
"Okay. I'll go help with Huo tomorrow."
Liu Yuhan wrote down the steps to grow corn: one... two... three...
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