Chapter 27 Cherry Tomatoes
Jia Lian thought to himself: The household expenses are too high, and now Feng'er, the steward, is in a very difficult position. As Feng'er's husband and the future number one heir of the Rongguo Mansion, he should naturally find a way to help Feng'er.
Asking them to cut costs is probably not an option; what if they increase their income?
He doesn't have the guts to embezzle, break the law, or take on too much responsibility right now, mainly because he doesn't hold any official position. If he were to use his father Jia She's name card to do things, it wouldn't show his own abilities.
Moreover, for the past six months, Feng'er has been constantly reminding herself to accumulate good deeds and leave some blessings for her daughter.
Having heard so much about such dirty dealings, Jia Lian began to look down on them.
Jia Lian sat in his study for half the night, and Wang'er had to urge him to sleep three or four times before he finally went to bed.
In Rongyue Courtyard, just as dawn broke, Yuan Hongqu went to the kitchen to prepare.
Last night before going to bed, Baoyu and the three sisters sent people over to say that today was Daiyu's first day of school, and they would all come to Rongyue Courtyard to have breakfast with Daiyu and then go to school together.
Although the main kitchen will deliver the individual portions of food for everyone later, Rongyueyuan still needs to prepare some.
This morning, Yuan Hongqu prepared lotus leaf pancakes, small and cute semi-circular leavened pancakes shaped like lotus leaves.
I simmered the beef over low heat for half the night, and then sliced it into thin pieces.
Yuan Hongqu's knife skills are excellent; the beef slices are almost translucent, comparable to beef slices from a ramen shop.
She neatly arranged the sliced beef on a plate, with bright green butter lettuce at the bottom. The simple arrangement was quite pleasing to the eye, and the lettuce was, of course, from the space.
Another dish is the common tomato and egg dumpling soup. The lotus leaf and lotus seed soup in Dream of the Red Chamber is just a dumpling with fancy shapes.
The original red lotus root soup made two kinds of dough dumplings. One kind was made with yam puree and flour, and the dough dumplings were no different from the usual kind.
Another type uses vegetable puree and flour without adding a drop of water. This is shaped into small spindles, bright green, and becomes translucent after cooking, somewhat resembling miniature noodle fish.
Because it was so difficult for her daughter Daiyu to eat vegetables, she had to find ways to make the vegetables look different so that Daiyu could get enough vitamins without even realizing it.
The tomatoes were peeled and stir-fried into a tomato sauce. Apart from the reddish-brown tomato soup, you couldn't see any tomatoes at all.
Yuan Hongqu seasoned the tomato soup before adding the dough pieces. She cooked the dough pieces until they became slightly sticky, then garnished them with a few egg flowers. As soon as the soup was ready, the unique aroma of the tomato dough piece soup filled the air.
After she finished these two dishes, the main kitchen also sent over the special dishes for Baoyu and the three springs. The old lady had an early breakfast and thought the green rice porridge was quite good today, so she specially had it sent over, along with two dishes with auspicious meanings.
Several children were having breakfast. A table was set with all sorts of side dishes, porridge, rice, and snacks, but the two most popular dishes were those made in Rongyueyuan's small kitchen.
"Granny Yuan, this soup tastes delicious." After the meal, Jia Baoyu made a point of praising it to Yuan Hongqu.
"The lotus leaf and lotus seed soup that my family used to make was a bit bland, so they added some pepper, but it became too pungent. Your soup is just the right consistency, it's both appetizing and warming, it's really good."
"Yes, Granny Yuan, I tasted a very unique flavor, like sourness, but it's completely different from the sourness of vinegar or apricots." Xi Chun loved it after tasting it; she really adored the flavor.
Yuan Hongqu knew perfectly well that few children could resist the taste of tomatoes. Last night, she hadn't even taken out the ketchup with the fried chicken yet, because that's what kids love most!
Daiyu had eaten tomatoes before, and she often ate cherry tomatoes as well. To her, the taste of tomatoes was just an ordinary dish in her home, and there was nothing special about it.
Does the capital not produce such items?
She seemed to see Granny Yuan in a dream, picking big and small bright red tomatoes in a courtyard. Granny Yuan picked them and ate them directly in the courtyard, and they looked very delicious.
When Daiyu woke up the next day, she asked Granny Yuan what the fruit was, because it looked delicious.
Granny Yuan said that it was a crop from a foreign land called tomato. Some people here also grow it, but the taste is just average, not as good as the one she found.
These fruits range in size from no more than the size of a fist to as small as a luminous pearl, and they do resemble the ginseng seeds on the ginseng in the painting.
Daiyu attended a plant science class with Yuan Hongqu, who also brought out some tomato seedlings for Lin Daiyu to try planting, and they eventually bore fruit.
When they went to the capital, Lin Daiyu left the tomato plant at home and asked her father to take good care of it.
There was also a small plate of cherry tomatoes on their table, which was the dessert that Yuan Hongqu had brought.
Perhaps because no one except Daiyu had ever seen it before, no one touched the plate of cherry tomatoes.
Daiyu held up the small plate to Xichun and said, "Xichun, have a taste."
This variety is the best cherry tomato in the space. It is only the size of a grape, purely sweet with almost no sourness. Although it has the advantage of the space, the yield is not high.
Xichun hesitated for a moment, then picked up a tomato, took a small bite, and the tomato juice immediately filled her mouth. She
Her tongue first tasted a unique sweetness, within which seemed to hide a subtle hint of sourness. It was this hint of sourness that neutralized the sweetness of the small fruit, making it not cloyingly sweet, but just right to be perfectly acceptable. Too much sweetness would be too much, and too little would lack flavor.
The taste was somewhat similar to the soup they had just eaten, making it clear at a glance that it was from the same crop, yet it was a completely different taste experience.
"Sister Lin, what kind of fruit is this? I've never eaten it before."
Xichun fell in love with this fruit almost instantly.
“Sister, these are cherry tomatoes. I planted a few pots at my home in Yangzhou, but it’s a pity the journey is too far and it’s difficult to transport them. Otherwise, I would definitely bring them to the capital.” Daiyu also picked up a cherry tomato and said.
Everyone picked up a tomato to taste, and when Baoyu heard Daiyu say that she had grown tomatoes before, he immediately asked Lin Daiyu to tell them the origin of the little fruit.
However, Baoyu had to go to the family school, which was a bit far away, so he had to leave now. Xiren outside urged him several times before he reluctantly followed her out.
The girls got ready and went to school. They'd deal with the cherry tomato issue when they got back.
Since Yuan Hongqu had brought out the tomatoes, she naturally wasn't afraid of being suspected. Her trip out yesterday wasn't for nothing.
With such a large capital city, resources were naturally abundant, so things from overseas foreign lands were not uncommon.
She used this excuse; did she expect those children to investigate the source of the information?
Even if she were to trace the place of origin, she wouldn't be afraid. She was the owner of the shop where she bought her things, and now there was only a young salesman acting as the manager.
The shop was just purchased yesterday. It's near Ningrong Street, close to that little street, but not quite on that street.
Because of its poor location, passersby rarely notice the shop, and sometimes it goes three days without a single customer.
The original owner had wanted to sell the shop for a long time, but no one had come to buy it. Finally, he found a sucker like Yuan Hongqu, so he simply sold the shop's young apprentice to Yuan Hongqu as well.
Fearing that Yuan Hongqu might change her mind, the boss hurriedly left the capital and returned to his hometown after the transfer was completed.
This shop has a small storefront but a large interior. If you don't go through the courtyard, you have to take a long detour to get from the back door to the front street.
However, if you go out through the back gate and walk five miles east, you will reach the city gate.
Yuan Hongqu was very satisfied with the shop. She planned to sell only all kinds of strange and unusual fruits and vegetables in the shop and deliver goods to the shop every few days.
This shop is mainly used to conceal the origin of the items produced in the space. The items sold inside are all extremely expensive. Whether they can be sold or whether a profit can be made is secondary.
For now, that's fine. She'll figure it out later, and eventually find a plot of land in the suburbs of Beijing to build a greenhouse and hire people to grow these fruits and vegetables.
If we can't grow those rare southern fruits, we can grow cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, and other off-season fruits and vegetables. It's that easy!
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