Chapter 84: Is the Sang Family Getting Rich?

Sang Luo didn’t sell all one hundred and twenty-seven pieces of fermented bean curd.

As it was the first time this new product was being sold, all three families were trying it out. After consulting with all three parties, Sang Luo divided the one hundred and twenty pieces of fermented bean curd equally, with each family receiving forty pieces to start, and they would take orders the next day.

Before they left, Sang Luo asked Qin Fangniang to bring back a large jar and two round sifters of the same size as those at home with the money they received from Dongfu Restaurant for the vegetarian tripe.

It was time for each family to start drying vegetables, and she couldn’t always borrow sifters from a few families. This expense couldn’t be avoided. As for the large jar, Qin Fangniang initially thought Sang Luo was going to buy a water jar, but Sang Luo actually intended to use it to store the dried konjac slices. Using bags would be too susceptible to moisture, but Sang Luo didn’t elaborate, just roughly described the size and purpose of the jar, which Qin Fangniang agreed to.

The remaining seven pieces of fermented bean curd were kept by Sang Luo. Three pieces were added to their own lunch, and the other four pieces were taken by Sang Luo and Shen An to the mountains in the direction of Sanli Village early in the morning. They picked sour jujubes on the way and successfully sold the four pieces of fermented bean curd to the butcher’s shop. This allowed them to improve their meals for themselves and the two children, exchanging the meat for almost half a pound from the butcher.

This bit of meat made Shen An’s face light up with excitement.

Because of the sudden taxation and the need for warm clothes and bedding in the cold weather, their family hadn’t eaten meat for quite some time. The last time they tasted meat was when Shen Jin brought over the oil residue, and before that, it was when they set up the wine in their house, which was almost twenty days ago.

Not having eaten it was one thing, but now that they could afford it, children wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation of meat, and Sang Luo was tempted too.

On the way back, they walked a little further into the village, to an area between two villages where they hadn’t gone mushroom picking before, which turned out to be a big surprise for Sang Luo.

Unfortunately, because this road wasn’t often taken, they picked a lot of sour jujubes. By now, both baskets were full, with wild vegetables piled on top.

Sang Luo could

 only remember the location, take Shen An back, and immediately return to this area after emptying the baskets.

Busy until mid-morning, it was time to prepare lunch when they returned home. Shen Ning and Shen An didn’t know how to cook the fermented bean curd and meat to make them delicious, so they didn’t dare to start. They finished other tasks and waited for Sang Luo to handle those two dishes.

Good food was something that couldn’t be compromised, and meals couldn’t be skimped on.

Sang Luo brought a bowl of fresh tofu dregs and exchanged them with Shi Erlang’s wife for a large bunch of garlic shoots. For lunch, they had white rice, garlic shoots stir-fried with fermented bean curd, naturally with meat added, and a soup made from steamed meatballs.

These two dishes were the first time Shen An and Shen Ning had seen or eaten them. The meatball soup aside, both children were so delighted with the taste that they wished they could lick the bottom of the bowl clean. As for the garlic shoots stir-fried with fermented bean curd, it went without saying – garlic shoots, meat, and fermented bean curd, what wasn’t delicious about them?

In the afternoon, Sang Luo dug up two batches of konjac, originally planning to make sour jujube cakes with them.

However, Qin Fangniang and the others returned quickly today and came straight to Sang Luo’s place.

The fermented bean curd was too popular.

In the morning, Qin Fangniang first took tofu and vegetarian tripe to Dongfu Restaurant. Naturally, she recommended this new dish to Head Chef Yu first.

In the past ten days or so, Dongfu Restaurant had done quite well because of tofu and vegetarian tripe. Seeing that Sang Luo had come up with another new dish, they couldn’t refuse. After asking about the cooking method, they immediately took all forty pieces for the day.

As soon as Qin Fangniang left, Head Chef Yu started to try cooking this dish, gathering with the manager and a few others. After tasting it, they were delighted. Head Chef Yu went straight to the Eastern Market and asked Qin Fangniang for a daily order of sixty pieces.

Once Qin Fangniang accepted the order here, the Gan family in the Western Market also received an order from Hongyun Restaurant across from Dongfu Restaurant.

Yes, it was the first time Sang Luo went to sell vegetarian tripe, and they specifically targeted the largest family with the chef’s special recipe.

To talk about the Gan family’s order, one must first talk about the competitive relationship between Dongfu Restaurant and Hongyun Restaurant. As the two largest restaurants in the county, they had been competing since they opened, but after several years, they were evenly matched and neither could truly surpass the other.

A few days ago, the customer flow at Hongyun Restaurant suddenly decreased. Initially, they didn’t think much of it, attributing it to the impact of taxation and disasters in various states, thinking that some people might be worried. However, when they paid attention to the business downturn, they looked across to Dongfu Restaurant, standing with their hands clasped behind their backs, often looking towards the other side, and soon discovered something was amiss.

Whoever was worried were just the common people at the bottom; these young and old masters who wore silk and satin still ate and drank, and even if they were worried, it was while eating meat and drinking wine, a kind of worry that involved pushing cups and exchanging cups. The business at Dongfu Restaurant across the street wasn’t affected in the slightest.

No, it seemed to be doing even better?

The manager of Hongyun Restaurant observed for a day and confirmed that it was because they saw many old customers who used to come here now going across to the other side.

As restaurant managers, they had their own methods. He beckoned a waiter and gave a few instructions, and soon found the right person to go to Dongfu Restaurant.

In less than an hour, several new dishes from Dongfu Restaurant were brought directly from the back door to a elegant private room where the manager and head chef of Hongyun Restaurant were located, placed in front of them.

All the dishes were delivered to the back kitchen of the restaurant, and the manager of Hongyun Restaurant…

It turned out that the other side had made a big move.

Immediately, he instructed a waiter to find that tofu the next morning.

The waiter lived closer to the Western Market and happened to bump into the Gan family, who had just changed shifts and set up their stall in the Western Market.

He found the tofu, bought twenty pieces, and carried them back.

Hongyun Restaurant introduced several new dishes that day.

But this wasn’t the end of it. The manager of Hongyun Restaurant set his sights on Dongfu Restaurant. He asked the waiter, “Have you seen anyone selling those vegetarian tripe?”

Of course, they hadn’t. Sang Luo couldn’t produce so much, and it was an exclusive item for Manager Xu. Where else could they find it?

Initially, she had gone to Hongyun Restaurant first, but the chef there had rudely turned her away without even hearing what she was selling, so how would they know that this vegetarian tripe had originally been sent to them?

After searching for two days in the county and failing to find any of this vegetarian tripe, Hongyun Restaurant started buying people from Dongfu Restaurant, picking the least conspicuous ones.

The news about this fermented bean curd was passed on by a waiter who had received benefits to the waiter at Hongyun Restaurant the first day Sang Luo tried making it. This information was then passed on to the manager’s contact at Hongyun Restaurant.

This was why Dongfu Restaurant introduced new dishes in the morning and Gan’s shop received an order from Hongyun Restaurant at noon.

With just these two restaurants, they would order one hundred and twenty pieces of fermented bean curd a day, which meant that the fifteen boards made by Chen Youtian were simply not enough.

Chen Youtian naturally didn’t hesitate and immediately agreed to make more.

Sang Luo: …

She hurriedly told Chen Youtian not to make too many, and twenty boards were enough.

She couldn’t handle any more for the time being.

Grinding beans was truly exhausting, and she didn’t use the large iron pot or ceramic pot she used in her own time and space to make tofu. Even though she bought the largest ones possible, they were still limited. With other businesses to run, Sang Luo couldn’t manage it all.

Making money and living were one thing; wearing herself out for the sake of making money was another. Sang Luo wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t worth it.

…

A large jar and two round sifters were added to the house, and Chen Youtian and the others helped move the millstone out of the kitchen. A large jar was placed there, leaving space for a rack.

The originally spacious kitchen now felt cramped.

Three dining stools finally

 returned to the table at this time.

During this period, the manager of Dongfu Restaurant, because Hongyun Restaurant was catching up with the speed of fermented bean curd, kept an eye on it and hired a cleaning boy.

Of course, Sang Luo didn’t know about all of this.

On September 20th, it rained continuously for two days, and the weather became even colder. The wind in the mountains made people in thin clothes instinctively shrink their necks. At night, it was even colder, and even with several layers of blankets and clothes, it couldn’t resist the chill. It seemed like they had crossed from autumn to early winter all at once.

—

Yeah, once October rolls around, it’s definitely winter.

It’s just that the climate changes between autumn and summer here aren’t all that noticeable.

On September 22nd, Sang Luo took another trip to Yongfeng Restaurant with newly made jujube candies and sour jujube cakes. This time, she brought back over three kilograms of cotton and only spent the income from Yongfeng Restaurant. The savings from selling vegetarian tripe, tofu, and fermented bean curd on regular days were all stored in an old broken jar under the bed, untouched.

Sang Luo began to organize the making of cotton quilts.

With over six kilograms of cotton, she thought about making two beds with over three kilograms each. These days, they wouldn’t need to squeeze three people onto one bed. One person, one bed, and when it got colder, they could put the two beds together to make one bed. That way, they could get through the winter comfortably.

Neither Sang Luo nor Mrs. Chen knew how to make cotton quilts, so it was Mrs. Chen who helped in the end.

Sang Luo witnessed the versatility of ancient old ladies for the first time. They picked cotton together, using tools borrowed from the Zheng family in Zhou Village. Carrying the tools back to Sang Luo’s yard, Mrs. Chen took charge and brought Sang Luo, Shen Ning, and Chen Xiaoya, the three helpers and apprentices, along.

Sang Luo had only seen this kind of thing in movies and TV dramas. She followed Mrs. Chen from start to finish, realizing that there were over a dozen steps in the process.

The cotton filling for two beds weighing over three kilograms each was quite heavy. Since Mrs. Chen wasn’t very experienced either, they didn’t rest at noon. Sang Luo quickly made some food for them to eat and then continued working until the sun began to set. It wasn’t until then that both beds were finally finished.

Sang Luo wrapped the first bed herself. Mrs. Chen looked at the sky and asked Sang Luo to take out the bed sheets for the first bed and helped her sew the quilt.

At this time, making a bed was different from modern times. It wasn’t simply a matter of putting the quilt in and zipping it up. Instead, it involved wrapping the quilt with a cover and sewing it stitch by stitch, neatly and evenly. If it needed to be washed, it had to be taken apart first.

After everything was done, Mrs. Chen said, “Alright, everything’s done. You can sleep warmly tonight. Save up a bit more these days and prepare some winter clothes. When the weather gets colder, make another mattress. With one mattress and one quilt each, you’ll be able to get through this winter comfortably.”

Sang Luo smiled and agreed. She offered to let Mrs. Chen stay for dinner, but Mrs. Chen waved her hand and said, “No trouble. Your aunt has already made dinner at home. Just go with me to return these borrowed items to the Zhou family.”

After returning from the Zhou family, Shen An and Shen Ning were already happily rolling on the quilt. When they saw Sang Luo come back, Shen Ning bounced off the bed and happily rubbed against Sang Luo, saying, “Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, we can use the new cotton quilt tonight! It won’t be cold tonight.”

Sang Luo smiled and patted the little one’s head, “It’s all the hard work you two put in every day. Let’s work a little harder and earn some more money for mattresses and padded jackets.”

Both children nodded vigorously and loudly agreed, then happily rolled into a pile on the quilt.

Sang Luo didn’t know that when she and Mrs. Chen returned the tools for making cotton quilts to the Zhou family, they were seen by Aunt Li, who was picking vegetables on the nearby mountain.

Since the separation of the two families, Aunt Li had come across the hill where they used to live for the first time.

The dilapidated grass hut halfway up the mountain had now become a large courtyard, with chicken coops and duck coops outside. The house had completely changed its appearance.

She looked at it for a long time, avoiding Sang Luo who had returned, and returned to her home alone. She stayed silent for a long time, then talked to her husband about it at night, murmuring, “I really saw it with my own eyes. If the reeds weren’t useful, not only would the house be built, but now that it’s so cold, even the quilts are prepared. I wonder… has the Sang family really made a fortune? How did they earn so much money?”