Chapter 71
Gu Daniu certainly knew what an old man was. He had seen them when he went to the city to sell things. While everyone else was busy making money to support their families, the old men were either strolling the streets with bird cages, or sitting in teahouses drinking tea and eating snacks, sitting there for most of the day. Or, in those places, they would hug two women, and there would be beautiful girls surrounding them to massage their shoulders and backs.
Will he be able to live like this one day?
Gu Daniu suddenly stopped talking.
Gu Xinxin said to go to the county town, so let’s go.
Gu Xinxin first went to the Su family pastry shop and asked where they bought their sugar. The pastry shop used a lot of sugar, so it was definitely not from small families. If they were to buy sugar, they would buy it from big workshops.
Shopkeeper Su thought she wanted to purchase some goods. After all, small fried dough twists also use sugar, so he introduced them to her enthusiastically.
Gu Xinxin also bought some sugar. Although spicy noodles are spicy, they also use white sugar to enhance the flavor. She went to the address given by Shopkeeper Su and saw a lot of sugarcane outside the door. Of course, they were all processed and probably shipped from the south. They looked a little dry.
She called out from outside the door, and someone came out to see: "What are you doing?"
"Are you selling this sugarcane?" Gu Xinxin asked hurriedly. Seeing that she was a little girl, the people waved their hands repeatedly and said, "No, if you want to eat sugarcane, go to the grocery store and buy it. Our sugarcane is useful."
"I want to buy candy too, but I want to see yours first," Gu Xinxin said. Before anyone could object, she added, "I was introduced here by Shopkeeper Su. My family also runs a snack business. If your candy is good, I'll buy more."
Anyway, the weather here is dry, so the sugar you buy can be stored for a long time, one or two years, two or three years. As long as it is not destroyed by rats, it can be kept forever.
The man looked at Gu Xinxin with some doubt. Gu Xinxin smiled and said, "The small fried dough twists in Su Ji's shop are made by my family."
The man was skeptical, but seeing that Gu Xinxin was followed by the tall and strong Gu Daniu, he paused and finally led them in: "Okay, take a look, we have two kinds of sugar here, white sugar and brown sugar."
White sugar is called white sugar, but it is actually a bit yellow in color. On the other hand, brown sugar has a slightly brighter color.
Gu Xinxin also asked about the sugarcane: "Do you buy this sugarcane from the south? How much is one stick? How much sugar can be produced from one pound of sugarcane?"
Perhaps because she might be a customer, the man still said dutifully, "I bought them from the south. They cost eight copper coins each, but you have to factor in the shipping cost too. It's all the way from north to south, and then back again, plus the loading and unloading costs. So, twenty copper coins isn't too expensive."
So don’t complain about the high price of sugar, it’s because the ingredients are expensive.
Gu Xinxin smiled and said, "I want to buy some sugarcane. Also, do you have any connections to the south? If so, could you bring me some sugarcane seeds next time you go? I'll pay."
"You want to grow sugarcane? It's hard to grow here, and the sugarcane isn't sweet." The man said. Gu Xinxin smiled and said, "I know, I'm just trying it out. Now, how many pieces of sugarcane can you sell me? How about a hundred pieces?"
Twenty copper coins each, so one hundred would cost two taels of silver.
Gu Xinxin initially wanted to buy sugarcane seeds, but wasn't that the case? Since sugarcane seeds weren't available yet, she could just buy some sugarcane. Even though it was a little dry now, she'd try to see if she could grow any sprouts.
If not... then make candy, it won’t be wasted anyway.
The asking price was twenty, and she bargained for twelve. After some haggling, they finally settled on sixteen copper coins each. She also bought ten kilograms of white sugar and ten kilograms of brown sugar.
He had spent almost all the money he brought with him, so he stayed in the county town for another night and hurried home the next day.
After returning home, she covered the sugarcane with a wet cloth. This step was to grow sprouts. She didn't know if it would work. After all, she had never tried it before. She just learned for a few days at the sugarcane base. They used ready-made sugarcane sprouts and there was no sprout-growing step at all.
Fortunately, the stone mill was delivered soon, and Gu Xinxin had no time to take care of the sugarcane for the time being.
She asked Gu Chen's two nephews to help grind a pot of soy milk, and then began to pick the bean skin, which is the simplest way to make spicy strips.
The selected bean curd skin is slightly dried, then fried, preferably with chili oil, and then sprinkled with seasoning powder.
Ever since she started working, Mrs. Gu has been walking around the kitchen. When she finally finished a dish, she quickly came over and asked, "This smells really strong. Can I eat it?"
Gu Xinxin stuffed two into her mouth and said, "Try it first. If you can eat it, eat it. If you can't, don't force yourself."
Then he asked Gu Daniu and Gu Chenshi to prepare a special portion for Li the accountant, and also for Gu Qiuhe, two or three sticks each, with different flavors - spicy and spiced.
Gu Daniu took a bite and his face instantly turned red. The spiciness made Gu Chen cough non-stop: "Xinxin, is this too spicy?"
But as he spoke, he couldn't control himself and lowered his head to take another bite.
Gu Qiuhe also laughed: "It's spicy, spicy, too spicy. Big sister, can you put less chili?"
After a pause, he added, "But it's still delicious and very chewy."
She is considered to be more cultured than Gu Daniu and Gu Chenshi.
Accountant Li refused to lose face, so he covered the lower half of his face with his sleeves and gave Gu Xinxin some advice with difficulty: "This five-spice one is okay. It has a strong flavor and a fragrant aroma. It's also oily and has a bit of a chewy texture. It's perfect as a side dish for drinking. As for the spicy one, it's too spicy."
Well, it seems that the Gu family doesn't like spicy food. To a certain extent, the Gu family's taste can represent the local popular taste.
Because within a region, the taste for spicy food is relatively uniform. Just like Sichuan people can eat spicy food, but Guangdong people can't, it seems like a stereotype, but to some extent, it is also a general taste statistic in a region.
Of course, there are also some rebellious people. For example, there are people in Sichuan who cannot eat spicy food, and there are people in Guangdong who can eat spicy food very well.
But if Gu Xinxin wants to do business, she has to take into account the tastes of the general public, not just a single taste.
So she thought that the spiciness should be reduced.
Well, the spicy strips are quite profitable. A bowl of beans costs a copper coin, which can make two bowls of soy milk, a large pot of tofu skin, and a lot of spicy strips. Of course, frying is bound to waste oil and water, and the seasonings such as chili peppers are also quite expensive.
But overall, if it is sold, it should still be quite profitable.
Gu Xinxin asked Gu Daniu to deliver it to Shopkeepers Qian and Su: "Although it's not very suitable for making snacks, if they are willing to take it, since they are regular customers, we will give them a discount. If they don't want it, you can ask the pickle shop if they want it."
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