Chapter 56
Gu Xinxin thought it was too troublesome to use a ladle, so she thought about getting a water pipe, turning it on and flushing it, so as to avoid reusing the same ladle of water.
But she had a headache about how to pump water up from this pipe. After much thought, she came up with a stupid method - put the bucket higher, like a wine jar, make a hole at the bottom, and plug a pipe into it. The bucket can also be fixed on the wall. Except that it is a bit troublesome to pour water every day, it is also very convenient to use it as a water pipe for washing hands.
This work was done by a carpenter from the village.
In the hustle and bustle, we made a total of 3,000 small fried dough twists on the first day, of which only 2,000 met the standards. The remaining 1,000 were either over-fried or over-baked, in any case, they were defective.
Defective items cannot be delivered.
So they could only continue on the third day. Gu Xinxin asked Gu Daniu to add four more ovens and two oil pans, and then asked the village chief for four people, two aunts and two girls.
The two new girls are responsible for watching the ovens. There is an hourglass in front of each oven. They need to keep an eye on it all the time and take out the small fried dough twists inside when the time comes.
As for the new lady, she was assigned to the dough kneading group. Kneading dough is not only about kneading the dough, but also about kneading it. It is a strenuous job and it cannot be done without enough people.
Now that there are a few more people, Gu Xinxin has some free time. She only needs to apply honey water and egg liquid. When she has time, she will walk around the kitchen and the oven, and emphasize the degree of frying and baking time. Naturally, she doesn't have to be so tired.
Gu Daniu set off in his carriage at noon, first to the town and then to the county seat. The quantities had been counted, so there was no need to stop in the town. However, it was almost dark when he arrived in the county seat, so he had to stay overnight. He would leave the town before dawn the next day and return to the village around noon. After lunch, he would have to make another delivery.
Gu Xinxin was most satisfied with Gu Daniu's busyness. Although living in the county town was more expensive, it was better than him being domineering at home.
With him away and Gu Xinxin in charge, the atmosphere in the Gu family felt much more relaxed. Gu Chenshi didn't dare to show any displeasure towards Gu Xinxin anymore. Gu Qiuhe was still young, and Old Lady Gu was content with having food. Gu Wenshu and Gu Xiangrong were also away, having to go to school during the day.
Gu Xinxin couldn't help but sigh that after traveling through time for so long, she could finally live a normal life.
What is a normal life?
Having three normal meals a day, earning money from work, not having to worry about being beaten day or night, and being able to work peacefully—this is the life of a normal person.
Well, her own private treasury finally began to fill up - because she now held the power of the Gu family, all the money for Gu Xiangrong's schooling was taken from the public account, and she kept all the commissions from the second aunt, the eldest aunt, and the workshop for herself.
Of course, the account book still needs to be kept, and she needs to know how much the Gu family earns.
The workshop was busy and the village was also bustling with activity because Gu Xinxin needed firewood. This did not require the labor of adults, and the children in the village only needed to walk around the foot of the mountain every day.
The children can also earn money, and the atmosphere in the whole village becomes more and more cheerful, with laughter and joy.
Gu Xinxin plans to hire a husband for herself.
This matter was brought up at the dinner table, and Gu Daniu was very impatient at first: "You are almost at the age of getting married, why do you want to hire a husband?"
Gu Xinxin snorted, "Of course it's about accounting. I can do some simple math, but that's because our business is small right now. If the business grows in the future, and there are more accounts, I won't be able to keep up."
She could still do the math, but she was a little rusty on the abacus, and besides, she needed a reason to use it. She couldn't just learn without a teacher, right?
Gu Chen quickly said, "Can Qiu He come along and learn with you? Qiu He is not young anymore and can help you now. If she learns more, she will be able to help you more in the future."
She is better at judging the situation than Gu Daniu.
Nowadays, because of the workshop, Gu Xinxin has to employ more than twenty people for the nearly two hundred households in the village - originally there were sixteen, but later Gu Daniu could not deliver the goods on time, so he hired two more people to drive the cart to deliver the goods, and also to knead the dough.
The old lady who used to knead the dough couldn't stand the strenuous work and was transferred to the kitchen after two days. Nowadays, the work of kneading dough is moved to the yard. As long as there is a kneading basin, water and flour, it will be done.
The dough can be made and left to rise, and then kneaded when it is needed again, and the ladies can still do the work.
Let's say one person from each family, and more than 20 families in the village have benefited.
In addition, Gu Daniu no longer managed the family's finances. Now all the family's money was in Gu Xinxin's hands. Gu Xinxin had the final say on what to eat at home every day, and she would give Gu Chenshi money the night before to buy meat for the next day. So Gu Chenshi had already deeply realized that the Gu family had really changed.
Since even Gu Daniu can't do anything to Gu Xinxin, she, as her stepmother, can't shake Gu Xinxin's position.
There's nothing we can do about it. If she insists on hitting a rock even though she knows it's like an egg hitting a rock, then there's something wrong with her brain. If there's nothing wrong with her brain, then how should she face Gu Xinxin? Is there any need to ask?
Since she couldn't touch her for now, she would just try to please her first. Just like Gu Daniu said, Gu Xinxin would get married sooner or later. When the time came, she would have to carefully check Gu Xiangrong's marriage.
"Want to learn?" Gu Xinxin asked Gu Qiuhe instead of Gu Chenshi.
Gu Qiuhe hesitated, looking at Gu Daniu and then at Gu Chenshi. Gu Chenshi was anxious and stretched out her hand to twist her arm. Gu Qiuhe broke free, lowered her head and rubbed her arm. After a moment, she said, "Sister, I want to learn."
What the eldest sister wants to learn must be good things.
Gu Xinxin nodded: "Okay, then you can come with me to study. I will ask Shopkeeper Qian first to see if he can introduce us to a teacher."
Putting down the bowl and chopsticks, Gu Xinxin said again: "I'm going to Guzhuang and Xiaosongzhuang later. Dad, please accompany me."
Gu Daniu frowned: "What are you going there for?"
"Talking about business, seeing if the local dim sum shop wants the fried dough twists. Also, I want to change the flavor of the fried dough twists."
Almost everyone likes sweet things because they rarely have the opportunity to eat sugar. However, there are bound to be some people who naturally prefer salty things. Xiao Mahua (small twisted dough sticks) already come in several flavors, so selling only one would be a bit too monotonous.
She wanted to make the five-spice version first. Besides the five-spice version, there were also seaweed and salt and pepper versions, but finding these two ingredients was definitely not easy. She decided to wait until she had more money.
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