Chapter 10 Wang Pozi's Misfortune Meanwhile, Wang, who had drunk a bellyful of cold water...
Meanwhile, Granny Wang, who had drunk a bellyful of cold water, felt particularly uneasy. Her gaze kept drifting towards the Jiang family's house. How come Jiang Zhen's family was suddenly living such a good life?
First came stewed pork, then fried pigeons, and now this delicious aroma is wafting from the house.
The fragrance wafting from the Jiang family's house was faint and elusive. Although it wasn't as alluring as the previous two times, for some reason, Granny Wang couldn't tear her gaze away, her nose twitching as she greedily inhaled the aroma.
"Squeak—" Hearing the noise, Granny Wang hurriedly crawled back into the house. She peeked out through the crack in the door and saw Jiang Zhenniang and Su Zhihan passing by the front door one after the other: "Mother, are the doors and windows locked?"
"It's locked."
"Okay, then we'll come back after work at noon, okay?"
"I know, don't worry!" Jiang Zhenniang nodded repeatedly, urging her daughter to leave early: "Hurry to the kitchen, or you'll be late."
"Okay, I'm leaving now."
"Okay, I'm going to the laundry room too."
The mother and daughter's voices grew softer and softer until they were completely inaudible. Granny Wang opened the door a crack and watched the mother and daughter's figures disappear into the distance.
Granny Wang hurriedly opened the door, picked up the bowl on the table, and pretended to be looking for the Jiang family. In reality, she lifted her skirt and ran to the Jiang family's door.
"Madam Jiang, Madam Jiang," Granny Wang called out twice, then reached out and pulled on the door and the window. Just as Jiang Zhenniang had said, the doors and windows were locked securely.
Undeterred, she licked her fingers, poked another hole in the window, and peered inside.
It was pitch black inside, and I couldn't see anything clearly.
Just as Granny Wang was still unwilling to give up and was about to enlarge the hole in the window paper, a shout came from behind her: "Who is it! Who is peeping through my window—Granny Wang!?"
Granny Wang was startled and turned around abruptly. She saw Jiang Zhenniang and Su Zhihan, who had just left, standing behind her, staring at her with wide eyes and full of shock.
Oh no!
Before Wang Pozi could speak, Jiang Zhenniang raised her eyebrows and shouted angrily, "My God—Wang Pozi, you, you, you are actually a thief!"
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"What do you mean by talking nonsense? Then tell me why you're peering out my window? What are you doing?" Jiang Zhenniang had long disliked Wang Pozi, but she hadn't found fault with her before. Now, seizing the opportunity, she immediately started yelling.
"I...I just wanted to take a look!"
"Oh my, you came over to look at us as soon as we left the house?" Jiang Zhenniang had lived in the village for a long time and was most familiar with people like Granny Wang.
Just like she taught her daughter in the marketplace, there are good people in the village, but there are even more scoundrels and rogues, otherwise they would have no choice but to run away overnight and sell themselves into slavery.
For the past two months, Jiang Zhenniang had been busy settling down, but now that she had finally caught Wang Pozi red-handed, she naturally wanted to take down her arrogance in one fell swoop.
Jiang Zhenniang strode forward, shouting at the top of her lungs, "Oh dear! This thief still thinks he's right! Help! Catch the thief! Catch the thief!"
As soon as the words "Catch the thief" were uttered, people immediately came out from the surrounding houses and surrounded Jiang Zhenniang and the others to inquire about the situation.
You should know that things aren't always peaceful in the servants' quarters. If you take advantage of someone today, they might take advantage of you tomorrow. It's common for things to go wrong, like missing undergarments, embroidered shoes, or losing jewelry.
Not to mention earlier incidents, just last month when Wu's mother's family was holding a wedding, they were robbed. They said that a silver hairpin was stolen on the wedding day and has not been found to this day.
After hearing Jiang Zhenniang's description, their suspicious gazes all turned to Wang Pozi: "Wang Pozi... how could you do such a thing?"
"Was Granny Wang there when Wu Mama's son got married last time?"
"I've gone, I've gone."
"I remember she even went to look at the new bride's jewelry..."
Hearing the murmurs, Granny Wang's face flushed red with anxiety. She shouted, "How can you talk such nonsense? I... I borrowed some scallions from you yesterday and was looking around your door to return them!"
It would have been better if Granny Wang hadn't said anything, but Su Zhihan was amused after she did. She pointed to the bamboo basket placed in front of Granny Wang's house, and then to the scallions swaying in the wind inside: "You clearly have so many scallions, why did you come to borrow them from my house yesterday?"
The onlookers looked at Wang Pozi with even stranger expressions. Even the servants who had initially come to watch the spectacle and gloat began to have doubts: "Could it be that Wang Pozi...is stealing from the Jiang family? We can't tell..."
"It would be strange if a thief could tell."
"You bunch of rascals, what nonsense are you spouting?" Wang's wife had just come out when she heard these words, and immediately rolled her eyes: "How could our family steal things from the Jiang family?! What could possibly be in that dilapidated thatched hut?"
"If that's not stealing, then what are you doing?"
"I... I just went to take a look."
"You glanced at him? That furtive fellow couldn't be—" a young wife blurted out instinctively, "...peeping!?"
In an instant, the courtyard fell silent.
Especially when the servants saw the hole poked by a finger in the window behind Wang Pozi, they believed the guess even more. They all took a step back, and the discussion became louder and louder.
Under the gaze of everyone, Wang Pozi wished she could just smash her head against a wall and die. She dragged her daughter-in-law into the house and locked the door tightly.
The surrounding chatter didn't stop, and people were still talking about it by the afternoon. However, as the rumors spread, by the time they reached Su Zhihan's ears, the version was that Granny Wang was lustful and liked to steal other women's bellybands and underwear.
It's not that anyone actually believed Wang Pozi stole things, or that she had any special fetishes; in fact, most of the servants knew that she liked to spy on other people's affairs.
But who would have thought that Granny Wang would be caught red-handed and lose face so badly on the spot? She immediately became the laughing stock of everyone, and it seems unlikely that the matter will be resolved in three to five days.
While listening to the servants' idle chatter, Su Zhihan poured the stir-fried vegetables into a basin and then stacked the flatbreads high.
After finishing her lunch break, she hurried home.
Jiang Zhenniang returned even earlier than Su Zhihan and was currently packaging dried tofu. Su Zhihan put down what she was doing, washed her hands, and joined in the work.
Each bamboo paper bag contained ten pieces of dried tofu, and nine pieces of firm tofu made up sixty bags in total. She cut up the remaining loose pieces of braised dried tofu with scissors, intending to use them for tasting later.
After everything was packed, Jiang Zhenniang became a little uneasy again. She put the bamboo paper bag into the bamboo basket, looked at the full basket, and couldn't help but frown: "So much dried bean curd, I don't know if we can sell it all in such a short time."
Su Zhihan was very confident in her skills and the market she was optimistic about. Upon hearing this, she reassured her without hesitation, "Don't worry, Mother, I think we'll definitely sell out."
Jiang Zhenniang roused herself and responded emphatically. Then she and her daughter each carried a bamboo basket and walked towards the door.
As the two left, they glanced at Granny Wang's house. Granny Wang, who usually loved to secretly spy on the mother and daughter, was not there today, or rather, the doors and windows of Granny Wang's house were locked, and there was no movement at all.
The mother and daughter smiled at each other and walked out the back door along the path. They first went to a general store to buy a jar of toothpicks, and then followed the market to the riverbank. Looking around, they saw that the place was already very lively.
Some people sat in the pavilion sipping a drink, some sat crookedly on the rocks playing chess, and others held a wine jug and gulped down their drinks.
In addition, there were street performers, musicians, singers, vendors selling pancakes and steamed buns, and of course, young women selling food among the crowds.
They came from all ages, each carrying a bamboo basket on their arm, and would approach anyone they met, promoting their own food.
Seeing that so many people had already started selling food, Jiang Zhenniang was immediately full of energy: "Han-jie, are you ready?"
Su Zhihan looked puzzled, then saw Jiang Zhenniang dash ahead of another vendor, securing a good vantage point, and immediately begin hawking her wares: "Braised tofu! Braised tofu! Braised tofu made with honey and spices, free samples!!!"
Su Zhihan: "…………"
Jiang Zhenniang wasn't lying to Su Zhihan; she was indeed a seasoned seller.
In fact, free tasting is not a new promotional method, but Jiang Zhenniang's loud voice and the food she mentioned were things that no one had ever heard of before, instantly attracting a lot of attention.
"Braised tofu, what's that?"
"Could it be dried tofu? Cold dried tofu salad?"
"Everyone says it's stewed with honey and spices, how could it be cold tofu?"
"...Oh right."
"Come on, let's go try it!"
"Since it's free, let's go try it!"
Many passersby gathered around upon hearing the words "free tasting," and upon getting closer, some of them smelled an enticing aroma.
"Hmm... what's this smell?"
"Is that dried tofu? Why does dried tofu look like that?" Another sharp-eyed person had already spotted the dried tofu in the bamboo basket.
The braised tofu, which has been deep-fried, then braised and stir-fried, has a wrinkled surface and a reddish-brown, glossy color, which is quite different from the smooth and tender tofu.
Of course, there's also that subtle fragrance that goes straight into your nostrils.
Many people who originally came just to join in the fun found their eyes glued to the braised tofu, unable to look away.
Su Zhihan snapped out of her daze and quickly squeezed into the crowd. She took out a toothpick container from the bamboo basket, unscrewed the lid, took out bamboo toothpicks, stuck one into a piece of bread, and handed it to the diners in front of her.
"Your little stall is so particular." The customer standing in front laughed, took a toothpick, smelled the aroma, and then put it in his mouth.
The diner was stunned the moment he took a bite. In his imagination, dried tofu was quite chewy and slightly crunchy, but the braised dried tofu in his mouth... wow! How could it be so soft and tender?
With its wrinkled outer skin and fluffy, plump interior, this tofu is soaked in braising sauce, giving it a slightly sweet flavor. The sweet and salty taste dances on the tongue, gently knocking on the door of the taste buds.
This food is actually dried tofu?
The diner was taken aback. He closed his eyes and savored the taste. With each chew, more juice would gush out from the small tofu, a perfect blend of salty, sweet, and bean flavors.
The only regret is... there are just too few!
The diner had long forgotten his initial thought of just taking a bite and leaving. He excitedly asked, "How much is this dried tofu?"
A note from the author:
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