Selling beef
Before we knew it, November was coming to an end.
"It's getting colder and colder!" Stepping from outside into the room, the temperature noticeably warmed up. Ginkgo sniffed, couldn't help but breathe on her hands, rubbed them together, and asked Fu Zhi Qiao, "Miss, shall we open the window?"
"Open it up, let it get some fresh air."
Ginkgo obediently opened the window, and a gust of cold wind rushed in, causing the gauze curtains in the room to flutter in the wind.
Fu Zhiqiao hadn't expected the wind to be so strong, and quickly told Yinxing, "Just open a crack for ventilation."
Ginkgo nodded to indicate that she understood.
Fu Zhiqiao asked, "Have you bought all the charcoal for this winter?"
"It's all done. When Defu bought charcoal for Taibai Tower, he also bought the charcoal we need for our mansion."
Fu Zhi Qiao nodded, "Okay, go tell everyone that we can burn charcoal for heating tomorrow."
Upon hearing this, Ginkgo smiled broadly and said, "You are the kindest person I could ever be!"
The social hierarchy in the Great Wei Dynasty was very clear. Masters could enjoy the warmth of charcoal fires at any time, but servants could not. Servants were generally not allowed to burn charcoal for warmth unless it snowed. Fu Zhiqiao's act of letting the servants in her household use charcoal with her was an extremely generous gesture.
Charcoal is not cheap, and only wealthy families can afford it. Ordinary people cannot afford to use charcoal as they please; they only use it during the coldest month of the year, and can only burn firewood for warmth during other cold months.
The disadvantages of burning firewood for heating are obvious: it produces a lot of smoke, is suffocating, and is also dangerous. The houses in Dawei are all built of wood, and burning firewood inside could easily burn down the entire house.
After Fu Zhi Qiao gave the order, the next day, Granny Cui distributed charcoal according to the number of people. Soon, everyone in the Fu household started burning charcoal for warmth.
The room warmed up instantly as soon as the charcoal stove was lit.
Fu Zhiqiao hasn't been to Taibailou to inspect the restaurant these past few days. Defu sent someone over to say that the number of diners at Taibailou has noticeably decreased.
As winter approaches, the cold wind howls, and even wearing three or four layers of padded jackets won't keep you warm. Cold air seeps in through the gaps in your clothes, so it's understandable that everyone stays at home and doesn't want to go out.
A continued decline in business is not good news.
Fu Zhiqiao frowned. She was worried about the business of Taibai Tower and couldn't relax. If she wanted the business to improve, she would have to wait for Wang Qi to buy the beef and mutton back.
December is almost here, and I wonder when Wang Qi will return with his caravan.
Fortunately, Wang Qi returned with the caravan in less than two days, and everyone in the caravan looked weathered and worn.
Upon seeing Fu Zhiqiao, Wang Qi bowed and said, "Thanks to you, young lady, everything is going smoothly."
Then, he moved aside so that Fu Zhiqiao could see the dozen or so horse-drawn carts behind them, which were filled to the brim with beef and mutton.
The weight of the meat plus the weight of the ice was considerable. Dragging such a load of meat over mountains and valleys was no easy task. Not only did they have to pay attention to safety along the way, but they also needed to assign someone to watch the wagon to prevent the beef and mutton from thawing along the way.
Although it wasn't freshly killed meat, the color of the meat still looked very fresh.
According to Wang Qi, when he led his caravan to the Wenya Grassland, some areas were already covered in snow. After arriving at the farm, they immediately had the local herders slaughter the cattle and sheep, pour water over them, and freeze them into solid blocks of ice. They repeated this process several times until the ice was very thick.
Because of the cold weather, the meat was poured with water several times, sealing it inside the ice and freezing it solid. Even after traveling for over twenty days, the ice hadn't completely melted. Furthermore, Wang Qi had two layers of thick blankets placed in each carriage to prevent the cold air from escaping and the ice from melting.
To ensure the freshness of the beef to the greatest extent possible, Wang Qi led the caravan day and night, and finally returned to the capital before December.
Fu Zhiqiao immediately ordered people to unload the goods and put all the beef and mutton into the ice cellar.
It was already 7:15 PM. The caravan members and several servants from the Fu family carried lanterns as they unloaded the beef and mutton from the carriages and placed them in the Fu family's ice cellar.
Looking at the chilling meat, Fu Zhi Qiao was delighted and waved her hand generously at Wang Qi: "Reward! Everyone in the caravan will be rewarded!"
Thirty cows and thirty-eight sheep.
The only pity is that the beef and mutton were all brought back already slaughtered, without any offal. Otherwise, using the offal and bones to make beef offal soup or mutton offal soup would be a great choice.
It's not impossible to bring back the offal, but offal like beef tripe and intestines, and sheep tripe and intestines, must be processed. Offal has a strong smell and is troublesome to process, so Fu Zhiqiao gave up on that and only took the meat, leaving the offal to the local herders.
In addition to the frozen meat, Wang Qi also brought back two live cows and two live sheep.
Transporting frozen meat was already difficult, but transporting live animals back was even more challenging. The bumpy journey back to Beijing caused the cattle and sheep to lose a lot of weight. Fu Zhiqiao instructed his servants to feed them carefully and not let them get any thinner.
She said to Wang Qi, "Tomorrow, take the travel permit to Taibai Tower and find Defu. You two go to the government office together to register these two live cows."
After arranging everything, Fu Zhiqiao added, "Go back to Granny Cui's place to collect the reward money later. You take thirty taels, and the other brothers each take twenty taels."
"Thank you, young lady." Wang Qi was overjoyed. Sure enough, the young lady was never stingy when it came to rewards.
The next day, after Wang Qi and Defu finished their business at the government office, he returned and told the caravan members that Fu Zhiqiao was going to reward each person with twenty taels of silver.
Upon hearing that there was a reward of twenty taels of silver, the caravan members immediately perked up and shouted at the top of their lungs.
"What a generous girl!"
"That's right, the girl is so generous!"
Wang Qi raised his hand and made a downward gesture to signal everyone to be quiet: "The young lady, considering our hard journey, specially granted us a few days off."
Wow!
Cheers erupted again from the caravan.
Wang Qi's eyes and brows beamed with joy: "The girl also said that she'll treat us all to beef soup later."
The caravan members all knew that the beef was sold at Taibai Tower. It took them nearly a month to bring the beef back and forth. They knew very well how rare this meat was. How could they not be happy that Fu Zhi Qiao let them taste the beef?
"The young lady is wise!" someone shouted first.
"You are wise, young lady!"
"You are wise, young lady!"
Shouts rose and fell in an instant.
Wang Qi smiled broadly. He had followed the leader—oh, he couldn't call him the leader anymore—down the mountain with Brother Cheng to pursue the girl, and it was the best thing he had ever done in his life.
*
Yu Roulan only found out the next day that Fu Zhiqiao had someone bring back live beef and mutton. Looking at the several cattle and sheep raised in the kitchen courtyard, she was amazed.
"Can we really kill these two cows?"
Fu Zhiqiao nodded, "I have already sent someone to the government office to register it."
Regarding business matters, Yu Roulan had complete confidence in Fu Zhiqiao. After inspecting the cattle and sheep, Yu Roulan inquired about Fu Zhiqiao's plans.
Upon hearing Fu Zhiqiao mention that she had bought several thousand kilograms of beef and mutton, Yu Roulan couldn't help but ask, "How much did all that meat cost?"
Fu Zhiqiao handed her the ledger. Yu Roulan took it, glanced at it briefly, and was shocked. "This...this is so expensive?"
The figures recorded in the ledgers far exceeded her expectations.
Fu Zhiqiao really spent a lot of money on this trip to Wenya Grassland to buy beef and mutton.
The cattle on the grassland are all fat and strong, each weighing about five or six hundred catties, and after removing the internal organs and hides, they still weigh about three or four hundred catties.
The purchase of these cattle and sheep alone cost five or six thousand taels of silver. In addition, the travel expenses and escort fees for his own caravan and Peng Gaofei's caravan, etc., added up to nearly ten thousand taels of silver.
It would take Taibai Tower at least two or three months to earn back ten thousand taels of silver, and Yu Roulan felt a little distressed.
Fu Zhiqiao said confidently, "Although I spend a lot of money, I can earn even more back."
With the beef and mutton purchased, Fu Zhi Qiao formally drafted the menu. Her plan was to introduce beef first, and mutton would be introduced later, once deep winter had arrived.
The colder the weather, the better the mutton soup will sell. Fu Zhiqiao plans to sell beef in December and mutton in January. Once all the meat is sold out, winter will be over.
Fu Zhiqiao didn't play any tricks with the name of the dish; it was very straightforward.
Braised beef shank is called "flower shank beef slices," while beef from other parts such as brisket and flank is called beef slices. Meat from parts such as tenderloin, belly, and brisket is used for grilling.
Among them, Fu Zhiqiao's favorite is grilled beef skewers.
As long as the braising liquid is prepared well, braised beef will taste good no matter how you cook it. But grilled beef skewers are different. They can't be grilled too long or too short. The heat must be just right.
With the beef and mutton in place, she also wanted to test Gao Xiangfeng's grilling skills.
After a period of practice, Gao Xiangfeng's control over the heat of grilling meat can be described as superb. However, just to be on the safe side, Fu Zhiqiao decided to let him try grilling beef before officially starting to sell it.
"Young lady, what kind of meat is this? Why is it so bright red?"
"beef."
"Huh?" Gao Xiangfeng's eyes widened as he pointed at the meat on the cutting board: "Miss, is this beef?"
Fu Zhiqiao nodded.
Gao Xiangfeng's face flushed red, and he stammered, "No, no, that won't do." He was so anxious he was almost crying, "Young lady, you absolutely mustn't! Killing a cow is a serious crime!"
"It's okay, just keep grilling your meat."
Gao Xiangfeng and Jiang Shun were unaware that they were going to use beef in their cooking. Fu Zhiqiao had used pork when she taught them, so they naturally assumed that they were going to use pork.
Fu Zhiqiao left the small kitchen after saying, "Go ahead and bake it without worry."
Looking at the bright red beef in front of him, Gao Xiangfeng was a little at a loss. The beef chunks were not large, and looked to weigh about two or three pounds.
His fingers touched the beef; it was soft and resilient. The thought of cutting it made Gao Xiangfeng's hand tremble slightly. He took a deep breath and told himself to calm down, to treat it like a piece of pork, and to cut it as he practiced.
The cleaver was very sharp; in just a few strokes, a whole piece of beef was evenly cut into small pieces. It was then poured into the braising liquid to marinate, and while the meat was marinating, the charcoal was lit…
The beef skewers were ready in no time.
On the third floor of Taibai Tower, Gao Xiangfeng carefully knocked on the door of Fu Zhiqiao's private lounge.
"Girl, the beef skewers are ready."
Fu Zhiqiao randomly picked up a skewer of meat. She carefully examined the appearance of the grilled beef skewers. She had to admit that Gao Xiangfeng had a very good grasp of the heat. The surface of the beef was not only not burnt, but the seasoning powder was also sprinkled very evenly.
Taking a bite of beef, Fu Zhiqiao chewed slowly and carefully, savoring the flavor.
"very good!"
With Fu Zhiqiao's affirmation, Gao Xiangfeng finally felt relieved.
After tasting the food and being satisfied, Fu Zhiqiao immediately made a decision to have Defu release the news that Taibailou was going to sell beef the next day.
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