Jiang Yuwei also set aside a bowl of tofu pudding and made two kinds of toppings for it: one was a sweet tofu pudding with honey and red beans, and the other was a savory tofu pudding with chili oil and chives.
After making tofu pudding, Jiang Yuwei mixed the soybean pulp with scallions and seasoned it to make a dish of scallion-mixed soybean pulp. Then she chopped up some greens and mixed them with soybean pulp to make fried vegetable balls. She also chopped minced meat and mixed it with soybean pulp to make a batch of fried meatballs.
Looking at the large bowl of soybean pulp left, Jiang Yuwei thought of making soybean pulp pancakes by slicing carrots and mixing them with scallions. Then she stir-fried the remaining soybean pulp with green and red peppers to make a side dish called stir-fried soybean pulp with peppers. She also mixed the remaining soybean pulp with some honey and eggs and steamed a large pot of soybean pulp cakes.
There was some leftover soybean residue, and Jiang Yuwei thought she could feed it to the ewes with foals in the backyard to help them recover. So she mixed it with cornmeal, chopped some vegetable leaves, poured hot water over them, and carried them to the backyard to feed the sheep.
After all that fuss, it got dark. Jiang Yuwei called everyone to come to the front yard for dinner. She cut a piece of drained tofu and made a bowl of minced garlic. She said that the best way to eat it was to dip the freshly made, hot tofu directly in the minced garlic to enjoy its original flavor.
Everyone in the courtyard was amazed by the tofu feast prepared by Jiang Yuwei. They had never eaten so many kinds of bean products before, and each one was delicious. They didn't even have time to chat anymore and were shoveling food into their mouths. No one even ate the steamed buns. Everyone ate a bite of bean curd cake, a bite of bean curd pancake, and a sip of tofu pudding to make it go down smoothly. The whole courtyard was filled with the aroma of food and the sound of everyone eating.
At this moment, the village head also returned from town with his men, having bought the bricks and tiles and helped Jiang Yuwei carry them to the backyard. Jiang Yuwei smiled and said:
"Village head, you absolutely have to eat here tonight. I've cooked a lot, and we can't finish it all by tomorrow. Quickly wash your hands and sit down to eat."
As Jiang Yuwei spoke, she brought out another table and served each of the villagers a portion of food. There weren't enough chairs in the house, so they had to eat standing up, but no one cared. Their stomachs were already growling with hunger, and seeing how much the others in the yard were enjoying their food, they couldn't resist and started eating right away.
After everyone had eaten their fill, Jiang Yuwei saw them out. This time, the village head handed the land deed to Jiang Yuwei.
"Yuwei, I've already processed the land deed for you. If you need more bricks or tiles in the future, just let me know and I'll buy them for you. I've already taken care of Zhang Laizi's matter, so you don't need to worry anymore."
While packing the fried vegetable and meat balls into lotus leaves, Jiang Yuwei also packed some bean curd cakes and bean curd pancakes, and handed them to the village head, saying:
"Thank you so much for today, Village Head. Take these back and let Aunt Ning and Ning Qiu have a taste. They're nothing valuable, so please don't refuse, Village Head."
The village head also found the tofu feast tonight very delicious, so he accepted it without hesitation.
“Look, every time I come to your house, I eat and take things with me. I feel a little bad about it. Next time you have time, you can bring Huaizhi and Wan’er to our house and try your Aunt Ning’s cooking.”
Jiang Yuwei smiled and nodded, saying:
“There will definitely be opportunities in the future. By the way, village head, I ran into Ning Qiu’s cousin, Ning Daya, when I went to your house last time. I was thinking of asking her if she could come with us to the market next time. I don’t have enough people here.”
The village head pondered for a moment and nodded, saying:
"Okay, I'll go ask her tomorrow. Da Ya is an honest and hardworking girl, you'll definitely have no problem using her!"
After seeing the village head off, Jiang Yuwei cut the drained tofu into square pieces of the same size. Then, she used pieces of white cotton cloth that she had bought earlier to wrap each piece of tofu. She also put the wood ash she had collected into a large basin.
Wrap the tofu in cotton cloth and place it in wood ash. Change the wood ash every two days, and repeat this process three times. Then, put the tofu that has been ashed into a pot, season it, bring it to a boil, and let it soak overnight to absorb the flavor. Then, you can take it to the market to sell.
After storing all the tofu, Jiang Yuwei locked the courtyard gate and went back to her room to sleep.
The next morning, the villagers came to work early again. As soon as Jiang Yuwei opened the courtyard gate, many aunts and women were waiting at the door for her to weigh and collect the wood ash they had brought.
Jiang Yuwei still had them line up, then asked Ning Huaizhi to help weigh the items, while she was in charge of calculating the bill and paying. The villagers were overjoyed to see that wood ash could really be exchanged for money, and they all said they would go back and collect more wood ash to sell. Some even prepared to go up the mountain to peel the bark of paper mulberry trees after they sold all their wood ash.
As everyone was queuing to sell wood ash, Chen Guixiang and Sun Shi arrived at the courtyard with two large baskets of wood ash on their backs. Unexpectedly, the two of them did not queue up and went straight to the front of the line to have Ning Huaizhi weigh them.
Jiang Yuwei stepped forward, raised her hand to block the two, and said in a deep voice:
"Mother-in-law, everyone else has been queuing up for a long time. You and Mrs. Sun also need to go to the back of the line! You can't cut in line!"
Chen Guixiang was furious when she saw Jiang Yuwei treat her like this in front of everyone.
"You lowly bastard, you little whore born of such a vile wretch! Who taught you to treat your mother-in-law like this? You unfilial descendant, I'm not going to wait in line, wait in your mother's line! Why should I wait in line for my own business? Today I'll see what you can do to me if I don't wait in line!"
After saying this, Chen Guixiang put her hands on her hips and pointed to the villagers queuing behind her, saying:
"This is our own business. We have enough wood ash. You don't need to come here and bother us. You're really shameless for a few coins. Don't even think about taking a penny from us. Get out! Take your wood ash and go back home!"
Seeing Chen Guixiang disrupting her business, Jiang Yuwei angrily said:
“Mother-in-law, you seem to have forgotten that we have already separated our family. We have no relation to the Ning family anymore, and our family’s money has nothing to do with you. You should be the one not coveting our family’s property.”
The mere mention of dividing the family property filled Chen Guixiang with deep regret. She had initially looked down on the family of four as a burden, but after finally separating the eldest son's family, they had thrived. Whenever Chen Guixiang passed by the small courtyard and saw the six large brick houses they had built, she would beat her chest in regret. If she hadn't divided the family property so early, she should have been living in those big brick houses herself.
Chen Guixiang glared at Jiang Yuwei with a gloomy expression and cursed:
"You unfilial daughter, no matter how the family is divided, I am still Huaizhi's mother. It's not your place to lecture me!"
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