When Wang Yan returned from the Marquis's residence, she carried a very large piece of ham on her back, which was packed by Uncle Lu.
He bought it with his own money and gave it to Wang Yan. Of course, it wasn't expensive; he only spent 100 coins to buy Jinhua ham, which is very expensive outside.
This ham has a savory and slightly sweet lean meat, and a fragrant but not greasy fatty meat. It can be steamed, stir-fried, or boiled.
Looking at the large piece of ham, Aunt Wang's eyes lit up. "Slice this ham, steam it, and sell it as a dish. Five or six slices can fetch 100 coins!"
Wang Yan quickly hugged the basket on her back and hid behind, shaking her head vigorously.
"No, no, this was specially brought back by Luber for me to make ham and bamboo shoot soup. I don't want to eat tofu tonight."
Aunt Wang clicked her tongue and said, "They really don't know how lucky they are. Outsiders have to pay 15 coins just to buy a spoonful of our tofu!"
He glanced at the large piece of ham with regret, then said, "Fine, fine, do whatever you want with it, eat it however you like!"
There are no fresh bamboo shoots available this season, so let's use dried bamboo shoots instead.
Soak dried bamboo shoots in spring water for half an hour, cut a piece of ham and arrange it on a plate, put scallions under the ham and ginger on top.
Pour some Shaoxing wine over the vegetables and steam for 15 minutes. Shred the leafy greens, mushrooms, and wood ear mushrooms and set aside.
Then she boiled another pot of water, using a small stove, the kind used for heating and brewing tea.
Add scallion and ginger slices, salt, and Shaoxing wine to the pot, then add the dried bamboo shoots and cook for a while until they are softened.
After slicing the bamboo shoots into thin strips, Wang Yan looked at her own strips and realized they were worlds apart from Wang Pangzi's knife skills.
This was the result after three years of training in the backyard, with Grandma Sun giving her extra lessons from time to time.
After the ham is steamed, take it out and cut it into thin strips. Then boil a pot of spring water and put all the ingredients into the pot.
Add salt and rice wine in sequence. After the water boils three times, remove it and put it in a bowl.
A flavorful and refreshing ham and bamboo shoot soup is ready.
Wang Yan first scooped out three bowls of soup, and the three of them each drank a bowl of clear soup.
After finishing the first bowl of clear soup, she would scoop some rice and soak it in the soup to eat. Aunt Wang simply stopped eating rice altogether.
She only drank the soup. It had been more than a year since she left the manor, and it had been a long time since she had drunk this soup.
She couldn't bear to use such delicious soup to soak her rice, and glared at Wang Yan as she drank.
"Look, look, if it weren't for you guys, I'd still be working as a gatekeeper in the mansion, working so hard from dawn till dusk every day."
How much is this ham worth? How much can we get for it?
Wang Yan chuckled, turned her back, and twisted her body to ignore her.
Wang Ying laughed, "Mother, how about we slice the remaining ham, steam it, and sell it?"
Aunt Wang was speechless, and now she was far from willing to sell the ham.
Let's keep it to make soup at home, it'll taste so delicious! After finishing the soup, the family decided to head home.
Just then, the old man selling tofu came over and said, "Madam Wang, could you please buy all the remaining tofu from our store?"
Business wasn't good today; we still have so much tofu left, we just can't sell it.
Aunt Wang hesitated. She wouldn't do it herself, but this was a business opportunity for her that evening.
But seeing the old man's pitiful appearance, they couldn't bear to refuse, so they accepted another basket of tofu.
Okay then, don't go back so early, let's get the pot ready. The tofu from Wangjiajiao shop never has trouble selling.
Even some people who came for a walk along the river after dinner were drawn by the irresistible aroma and rushed over to buy a bowl.
Don't say you can't eat; this spicy and delicious tofu will make you eat more.
"Auntie, are you still selling tofu tomorrow night? If so, we'll come and buy some tonight."
"No, no, we can't handle it if we add a late-night snack. Today is a special case."
The diners who had been circling around were all deflated after hearing this, even though they had managed to buy some tofu.
Then Aunt Wang announced some news that shocked them to their core.
"My dear sisters, my brothers and sisters-in-law, our business will be closed for three days, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that. We need to go buy some seasonings. We'll be back on time in three days."
Hey, this little shop is really amazing! There are dozens of foot massage shops on both sides of the river, but none of them sell in fixed quantities and at fixed times like this one.
Am I stupid? Am I stupid? Why not make money when there's plenty of it to be made!
Wang Yan shrugged and said, "There's nothing we can do; our family can't handle it all."
Even if we work non-stop, we're not a perpetual motion machine, we can't keep going, lol!
………………………………………………
The shop is closed for three days. What are we going to do? Wang Xing will be back from the academy tomorrow. We'll go up the mountain together to collect the last batch of chili peppers this year.
Wang Xing only had one day off. Fortunately, the villagers in the mountains had gotten used to cooperating over the years and had already collected, crushed, and bagged the food well in advance.
They could even help with deliveries to the capital, so Wang Xing came along for only one purpose: to finalize the contract.
This time, they placed a five-year order, meaning all the chili peppers produced on this mountain will belong to them.
To be honest, this was a last resort, and the contract's enforceability might not be very strong. But something is better than nothing, so let's just leave it at that for now.
This year's last batch of chili powder yielded ten bags, and the key point is that the villagers found that Aunt Wang and her family were very good at keeping their contracts.
The money will be delivered immediately after the goods are delivered, and they will buy as much chili powder as you need.
So in the past two years, they have intentionally sown more seeds, because these things are easy to grow.
So the chili powder was delivered to their home in one day, and it took them two days to move it from their home to the small restaurant.
However, now Wang Xing will have a place to stay when he goes home. The main room has been cleared out, and someone will be found to partition off a space for him with only a single bed.
Anyway, he doesn't come back often, so as long as he has a place to stay when he does come back, that's fine.
Wang Xing: ...Okay!
However, he made a request: he didn't want those "small rooms" with a full brick ceiling partitioned off; he just wanted a half-brick partition.
Hanging a curtain around the top in a corner of the main room separates everything without interfering with anything—how wonderful!
After thinking for a moment, Aunt Wang thought, "Hmm, that works too!"
………………………………………………
They didn't return for three days. When they went to the shop the next morning, it was already three days later.
Suddenly, I noticed that there were several baskets of tofu piled on the boxes outside, and two baskets of vegetables.
Wang Yan, Wang Ying, and the others looked at each other, wondering what was going on.
After waiting a while, I found the old man selling tofu again. "Grandpa, did you deliver too much tofu today? We only need two baskets a day!"
The old man tidied up the newly brought tofu, smacked his lips a couple of times.
"I was just thinking that since you haven't been here for the past few days, there would definitely be a lot of customers today, so I was giving you a few extra baskets. You're a kind person, so please accept them all, okay?"
These words made Wang Yan laugh in anger, and she thought to herself, "What? Is the customer flow high or low? Or did you decide? Just because you're kind, you have to buy so many baskets of tofu."
I set performance targets for you, right? Oh, and you haven't met them yet. You'd better catch up in the next couple of days!
Granny Wang worked as a gatekeeper in the Marquis's mansion, a job that inevitably offended people.
She always has a smile on her face, so you wouldn't guess it. But when it comes to finding fault, no one can out-criticize her! After all, she has decades of experience!
"Oh, old man, what you're saying isn't very reasonable. Today, my family only needs two baskets of tofu, and I'll only pay you for two baskets. As for the rest, you can carry them yourself."
He got straight to the point, speaking quickly and frankly, expressing his attitude and stance in just two sentences!
Seeing the other party's assertive attitude, the old man didn't dare to force the sale. He had no choice but to reluctantly take the tofu back.
Aunt Wang was furious early in the morning. "Hey, I haven't met anyone like this since I left the manor! They're so damn infuriating!"
After selling out at noon today, I closed the shop in the afternoon and took Wang Yan to find a new tofu shop to deliver the goods.
There are two tofu shops in our market, and Wang Yan's family ordered from another one.
Of course, they also have other businesses on Ma Xing Street, so they just deliver these things over as a side business.
The old tofu maker hadn't expected this little shop to be so assertive, and he looked on sheepishly as Wang Yan came over to deliver his message.
He was the only tofu shop in this half of the neighborhood, and he forced many other small shops to buy his products. To save trouble, not many people objected.
So when he heard that the tofu from his family might not be safe, the old man was very unwilling, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Wang Yan was also annoyed and planned to go back and think about it some more to see if there were any other delicious foods to sell.
Otherwise, with such a single source of ingredients, it's too easy to be constrained by others.
If I hadn't found another tofu shop and had a falling out with this old man today, it would have been so annoying to buy tofu from him again!
I couldn't come up with a solution after thinking for a long time, so I decided to brew some tea first. I made a cup of hot orange tea.
She took a small spoonful of the local wild grape variety; this was what her sister Qingqian had prepared for her when she was redeemed from her servitude.
It's a huge jar, filled with several different varieties of tea.
It was wrapped in paper for her, but it contained all kinds of expensive tea, such as Shuangjing tea, Jian'an tea, and Xianglin tea.
Place the small stove for brewing tea on the stove, pour in spring water, add a small spoonful of tea leaves, and boil it. Remove the hot tea after it is cooked.
Crush the orange pieces, remove the outer peel, and put them in a bowl.
Then pour the hot tea evenly into the orange, add a little yellow rock sugar, and simmer for a few more minutes.
Once the rock sugar has dissolved, turn off the heat. It will be warm, fragrant, and sweet.
The refreshing aroma of fruit complements the fragrance and sweetness of tea, leaving a sweet aftertaste. Wang Yan drank two cups in a row and felt her mind clear up.
"Mom, sister, I've thought of a new product! How about we sell fried tofu?"
Sprinkle on a layer of chili peppers, and you've got a different variety, haven't you?"
Grandma Wang—the meme-worthy elderly woman on the subway: "My goodness, what nonsense are you spouting? What are you selling? What kind of product do you want to exchange?"
Wang Yan looked confused. "What's wrong?"
Wang Ying chuckled and quickly put down the needle and thread in her hand, afraid that she would prick herself if she laughed too hard.
I laughed for a long time, clutching my stomach, and then asked her, "So tell me, what's the difference between the ingredients for pan-fried tofu and stir-fried tofu?"
Oh dear! Wang Yan suddenly realized and couldn't help but laugh out loud. No, no, I need to drink two more cups of tea and get some fresh air; my mind isn't clear yet.
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