The opening was a slam dunk, with five sheets of tofu sold out before 3:00 p.m. Sales were highest at noon, with one and a half sheets of fried tofu and almost one sheet of raw tofu sold.
Lin Yan's heart was filled with joy. Thinking about today's income, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but smile. He knew that this was all due to the tender and smooth texture of his tofu and the high quality, coupled with the good chili sauce of Ah Mo.
Zhou Chunlan's vegetables were almost sold out, so they planned to pack up and go home. Someone who had heard about the fragrant tofu came over and saw them packing up. They asked, "Have you sold out of the fragrant tofu?"
Lin Yan smiled and replied, "I'm sorry, we're sold out today."
The man was extremely disappointed and asked, "Is there any left tomorrow?"
"Yes, yes. I'll bring more tofu tomorrow."
The man could only leave reluctantly.
*
When they got home, everyone helped unload the things. Li Yuemei was anxious and asked hurriedly, "How's business? Are you all sold out?"
Zhao Qiming smiled and said, "Look at this empty tofu box, don't you understand?"
Li Yuemei glared at him and said, "You're the only one who talks too much." Then she quickly walked over to Lin Yan, took his hand and asked, "Brother Yan, are you tired? Sit down and take a rest."
Lin Yan scratched his head and sat down in the yard. Yu Geer brought him a bowl of water and said, "Brother, drink some water."
Zhao Shiyun yelled, "Where's mine?" Yu Ge'er pouted proudly, "If you want a drink, pour it yourself."
"Tsk, so biased..." Zhao Shiyun muttered softly, but a smile appeared on his lips.
Lin Yan finished his water and took out his purse and handed it to Li Yuemei. "Mo, we've sold all the tofu today, and we haven't counted the coins yet." Li Yuemei opened it and smiled, her eyes narrowing into slits. She kept saying, "Okay, okay, let's count together."
Everyone planned to count after dinner, otherwise they were afraid of being seen in broad daylight.
After resting enough, Lin Yan looked at the bean dregs in the yard and asked, "Mo, how do you usually deal with the bean dregs left over from making tofu?"
Li Yuemei replied, "People who raise pigs at home will come to buy some to feed their pigs."
"Then why don't we raise pigs?" Lin Yan asked curiously.
"Yes, we have raised piglets in previous years. But last year we were so busy that we forgot to buy some piglets. We will definitely make more tofu this year, so we can raise a few more and use up some of the bean dregs."
It is really difficult to deal with the excess bean dregs. Even if someone wants to buy them, they won’t buy too much. Raising a few more pigs at home can not only consume the bean dregs, but also provide income when they grow up. Moreover, the pig manure can be used as fertilizer for the land.
*
After resting enough, Lin Yan went to the kitchen to prepare dinner, and Yu Ge'er helped to light the fire. They didn't eat at home during the day, so there was a lot of porridge left, so they would eat porridge as the main meal tonight.
There was only a small piece of meat at home, so Lin Yan planned to make some minced meat and egg custard, then stir-fry some tofu with chili sauce, and then stir-fry some vegetables.
He cracked the eggs into a bowl, beat them with chopsticks, added an appropriate amount of salt and water, stirred them evenly, and then filtered them through a fine gauze cloth to remove the foam on the surface. This was what his grandmother taught him, and it made the egg custard smoother and more delicious.
Lin Yan poured the processed egg liquid into a deep bowl, placed a plate on it, put it into a steamer with boiling water, and steamed it slowly over low heat.
While the eggs are steaming, Lin Yan begins to stir-fry the minced pork. He heats a wok and adds a little lard. When the oil is about 40% to 50% hot, he adds the chopped pork and stir-fries. Once the pork changes color, he adds salt and other seasonings.
By the time the meat was almost done, the egg custard wasn't ready yet. Yu Ge'er pulled out a piece of firewood and turned the heat down to low. Lin Yan added half a spoonful of water and simmered the pork.
After the egg custard is steamed, Lin Yan takes it out with a cloth towel, spreads the fried minced meat evenly on the egg custard, and sprinkles with chopped green onions.
"It smells so good~" Yu Ge'er couldn't help it.
Lin Yan smiled and said, "Stir-fry some tofu and some vegetables, it will be ready soon."
Cut the tofu into pieces and blanch it in water. Pour the hot oil in and stir-fry. When it’s almost done, add a spoonful of chili sauce and continue stir-frying. The chili sauce itself is salty, so Lin Yan only adds a little salt when serving, and sprinkles with chopped green onions, and it’s done.
The porridge was heated up early in the morning. Lin Yan and Yu Ge'er brought the dishes to the yard and shouted, "It's time to eat!"
*
After dinner, it was getting a little dark, so everyone sat in the main room, lit the oil lamps, and started counting copper coins.
"Crash~"
Zhao Shiyun poured the copper coins onto the table and everyone began to count them, while Lin Yan calculated the day's income.
There are 5 plates of tofu, each plate has 25 pieces of tofu. The raw tofu sells for a little more than one plate, which is about 35 pieces. If one piece costs one cent, it will cost 35 cents.
The fragrant tofu cost a little over three and a half plates, about 90 blocks. Each block was cut into 12 small pieces, and Lin Yan sold 10 large portions for 50 coins. He didn't count the small portions, and he fried some for the vendors on West Street to taste.
Although the copper coins looked like a lot, there weren't actually that many. I counted a hundred of them and strung them together. After making four strings, I added 30 coins as loose change.
"A total of 430 Wen." Li Yuemei said in surprise.
Here, one tael of silver is worth one thousand coins. If you earn more than four hundred coins every day, you'll have nearly ten taels a month, not counting the money you earn selling in the village. If you're not extravagant, one tael of silver is enough to support your family for several months.
Yu Ge'er happily exclaimed, "Brother, that's a lot of money."
Lin Yan also laughed. In the past, he and his mother would earn around 100 or 200 wen from selling vegetables, and around 70 or 80 wen from selling vegetables. But today, they had earned over 400 wen in half a day. How could he not be happy?
Lin Yan handed the copper coin to Li Yuemei, "Ah, take this."
Li Yuemei refused: "How can this be possible? This is what you earned."
Lin Yan reasoned with her: "But we use tofu from home."
"What about the chili sauce? Isn't it made by you?" Li Yuemei insisted.
"It was my mom who picked the peppers." Lin Yan pushed it back.
Li Yuemei glanced at Zhao Shiyun and said, "Shiyun has already given me the money for the chili peppers."
Lin Yan blinked in surprise. Her husband really hadn't told him.
"How about this, I'll take one hundred coins, which will be the cost price for the tofu you buy. That should be fine, right? From now on, when you go to the town to sell tofu and fragrant tofu, you can keep the money yourself and give me the cost price, and it will be as if you are selling tofu from me. This tofu is made by Shi Yun, so there's no need to calculate it so clearly." Li Yuemei made the decision.
She put the remaining copper coins back into the purse and stuffed them into Lin Yan's hand. "Now that you're married, you don't have to hand over all your money. Save it. When you have children, the expenses will be huge."
Lin Yan held the purse and nodded.
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