Looking at Ning Chunlin's appearance, Jiang Yuwei suddenly thought of something and said calmly:
"You're here to collect the money for the paper mulberry bark?"
Ning Chunlin nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.
Jiang Yuwei smiled and said:
"Alright, you have an extra ten catties of wet tree bark here, which is worth twenty coins in total. You can bring more tree bark to sell in the future."
As Jiang Yuwei spoke, she took out twenty coins from her purse and handed them to Ning Chunlin. Ning Chunlin took the money, counted it one by one, and after confirming that the amount was correct, he nodded in satisfaction and smiled:
"Okay, I'll go and get some more tree bark to sell in the next few days."
After seeing Ning Chunlin take the silver and leave, Jiang Yuwei turned to Ning Huaizhi and said:
"If your younger brother can focus on peeling bark to make money in the future, that would be good. At least he won't have time to gamble."
Ning Huaizhi glanced worriedly at Ning Chunlin's retreating figure and said calmly:
"Gambling is not something that can be easily quit. I hope he can change."
Jiang Yuwei said with a smile:
"Everyone has their own destiny; we should just live our own lives well."
After saying that, Jiang Yuwei busied herself unloading everything from the car and helped Ning Huaizhi down. When Ning Daya saw Jiang Yuwei return, she rushed over to help her move things. Now that she had Ning Daya as a helper both at home and outside, Jiang Yuwei felt much more relaxed.
At the time, she spent two taels of silver to hire her to work as a long-term worker at her home. Although she wanted to help her through the difficult times, Jiang Yuwei also considered that there would be more work to be done at home in the future, and she would need to train a few trusted helpers. Therefore, she decisively signed a contract with Granny Sun.
After everything was packed up, Jiang Yuwei realized that Ning Daya had already prepared the meal, which made her even happier. It was so nice not having to cook for herself.
As Ning Daya placed the food on the table, she asked:
"Sister Yuwei, we're going to the market tomorrow. Have we prepared everything we need?"
Jiang Yuwei pondered for a moment and then smiled:
"I've already netted the crayfish we need for tomorrow's market. I'll have you and Ning Wan go to the pond to fetch them later, and have your brother Huaizhi cook them this afternoon. I'll also check on how the gray tofu and preserved eggs are doing. The weather is getting hotter and hotter, so I'm planning to make some iced tofu pudding to sell at the market tomorrow. I'll soak the beans this afternoon, and you can grind them by evening."
Ning Daya nodded happily. She was happy as long as there was work for her to do, because only in this way would she feel that it was worth it for Jiang Yuwei to spend two taels of silver to hire her.
After finishing her meal, Jiang Yuwei first went to check on the gray tofu and preserved eggs. Seeing that the preserved eggs were ready, she took out the gray tofu, cleaned it, seasoned and stewed it in a large pot, and instructed Ning Huaizhi to help watch the pot. She then went to the backyard to study papermaking.
When Tie Zhu and Ning Wu saw Jiang Yuwei arrive, they hurriedly reported the progress of papermaking to her:
"Sister Yuwei, we only need to finish 200 of the 500 reams of paper. I've calculated the time, and we might be able to deliver the goods ahead of schedule."
Jiang Yuwei nodded with great satisfaction and smiled.
"You two are becoming more and more like master craftsmen! In the future, when our paper mill hires new workers, you two will be in charge of training them."
Ning Wu and Tie Zhu exchanged a glance and smiled sheepishly after hearing this.
"What master chef or not? My mom told us to just follow Sister Yuwei and do whatever she says."
Jiang Yuwei took out the gold powder from her bosom, smiled at the two of them, and said:
"Today I'm going to research something new. If it turns out well, this paper will become the signature product of our paper mill. You two should learn from it."
Jiang Yuwei found a piece of paper that was half-dried and another piece that was completely wet, and laid them out. She carefully spread out the gold powder and tried blowing it with her mouth and sprinkling it with her hands. She then directed Ning Wu to make paper in the pool, while Tie Zhu sprinkled the gold powder on the side.
After trying these methods, Jiang Yuwei compared them and found that the paper presented by hand-sprinkling was the most beautiful. Sprinkling gold powder on the surface when the paper is 80% wet not only saves gold powder, but also better integrates the paper and gold powder, making it look very beautiful, especially sparkling in the sunlight.
Ning Wu and Tie Zhu, who were standing to the side, were stunned by Jiang Yuwei's actions. When they saw the finished product, they nodded and praised her repeatedly.
"Oh my god, Sister Yuwei, this is so beautiful! How can it be so beautiful?"
Jiang Yuwei was also very satisfied with the results of the experiment. Holding the paper, she looked it over from left to right and nodded, saying:
"From now on, this paper will be called gold powder paper. This gold powder is very precious, so you two must take good care of it and use it carefully. You must not waste it. After you finish making five hundred reams of paper, make all the gold powder paper. I will take it to the bookstore to show the shopkeeper."
Tie Zhu and Ning Wu nodded repeatedly and said:
"Don't worry, Sister Yuwei, we'll get it done right away!"
After giving instructions for the backyard, Jiang Yuwei went to the front yard. She needed to prepare ingredients for the market the next day. The pounded pepper and preserved egg were already prepared. Next, she needed to take the cooked gray tofu out and put it into a bucket. When she saw that it was almost flavorful, Jiang Yuwei put the tofu and soup into the bamboo bucket together. This way, it would be more flavorful when she took it to the market the next day, and the gray tofu would also be preserved for longer.
Ning Wan was in charge of tending the fire, while Ning Huaizhi focused on making spicy crayfish. Having watched Jiang Yuwei make it so many times, he had long since memorized the methods and steps. Ning Huaizhi learned things very quickly, and he wanted to help Jiang Yuwei with what he could, not wanting to be a useless person. Therefore, he took extra care in the housework. Before long, the crayfish in Ning Huaizhi's pot were all stewing.
Jiang Yuwei walked over, sniffed hard, and laughed:
"Mmm, this is the taste! Chef Ning's cooking is pretty good!"
Ning Huaizhi felt a little shy when Jiang Yuwei praised him, but he still puffed out his chest and smiled:
"Yuwei, you're teasing me again. What I make is definitely not as good as yours."
Jiang Yuwei waved her hand and said:
"I'm not joking, I'm just telling the truth!"
When Ning Daya saw that the beans were soaked, she started grinding them. Ning Wan insisted on helping Ning Daya pour the beans, but Jiang Yuwei didn't stop her. She just found a small stool for Ning Wan to stand on and used a ladle to scoop the beans into the millstone.
Jiang Yuwei thought that eating only iced tofu pudding would be too monotonous, so she took out some tapioca flour, started a fire, steamed a pot of purple sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes, and taro, and also washed the red beans she had soaked earlier and put them in the pot to cook.
Soon, a large pot of food was steamed and cooked. Jiang Yuwei then peeled the purple sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes, and taro, mashed them separately, mixed them with tapioca flour, and kneaded them into dough. She rolled the dough into long strips and then cut them into squares of the same size. After that, she boiled water in a pot, put these ingredients into the pot, cooked them, and served them.
After dividing the ingredients into bowls, Jiang Yuwei poured in a lot of honey and stirred it well. She also mixed the cooked red beans with honey, and finally the toppings for the tofu pudding were ready.
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