Previous
Fiction Page
Next
Font Size:
Chapter 50
The seemingly simple task turned out to be much more complicated than expected. After more than two hours, Shen An’s hands were sore, and the cutting board had only been sawed less than a third of the way.
The little man was dumbfounded.
Sang Lou smiled and took the saw. “Come on, let me help you.”
With each of them taking turns for about a quarter of an hour, even Shen Ning tried her hand at it. It took more than half an hour before they finally sawed off the cutting board. When they gathered around to take a look, it turned out surprisingly well.
Shen An and Shen Ning were overjoyed. The sense of achievement and satisfaction from personally participating in sawing the cutting board was indescribable. It was already evening, and the two youngsters eagerly urged Sang Lou, “Sister-in-law, let’s make dinner.”
Sang Lou glanced at the sky and decided it was still feasible. She collected the sun-dried hawthorn cakes from outside the house and stored them in the jar that had been emptied today. Then, she began preparing dinner.
Having two stoves had its advantages: one stove was used for steaming rice, and the other was used for cooking soup and dishes, which saved a lot of time. However, when it came to chopping vegetables, although the cutting board was good, cutting eggplants with a bamboo knife required some skillful strength. Sounds contradictory? Not really.
You had to use the sharp end to pierce the skin of the eggplant before you could cut through it, which required skillful strength. But to pierce the skin of the eggplant, you needed some force.
“We still lack a water tank and a kitchen knife among the commonly used items in our house.”
These two items were not cheap, especially the kitchen knife. Iron-made items were not cheap at this time.
Sang Lou pinched the money bag hanging from her waist. There was hardly any money left. She estimated that there were less than ten coins left. Tomorrow, selling immortal tofu and hawthorn cakes would bring in over four hundred coins. Buying both of these items was out of the question. They could use a wooden barrel instead of a water tank for now. Buying a kitchen knife alone might wipe out all the money she had left and what she would earn tomorrow.
They also had to treat guests the day after tomorrow. Shouldn’t they leave some money for buying vegetables?
Sang Lou couldn’t help but cast her gaze towards the millstone in the kitchen.
Shen An had long wanted to ask what the millstone was for.
However, ever since his sister-in-law returned, she hadn’t stopped. She arranged too many things, from buying chickens and ducks to installing a new bed, even arranging straw and mats. She continued to work tirelessly, covering everything from weaving duck nests to building chicken coops and making cutting boards. They were really too busy to appreciate the millstone they had brought home at the very beginning.
Now, seeing his sister-in-law talking about buying a kitchen knife and pinching the money bag, then glancing at the millstone, Shen An finally remembered.
“Sister-in-law, what did we buy the millstone for?”
Sang Lou smiled. “To make money.”
She patted Shen An. “Sister-in-law will make something delicious for you today. Well, I guess you won’t be able to eat it until midnight.”
Then, amidst the siblings’ puzzled yet hopeful expressions, she took down the bag of soybeans hanging from the beam in the kitchen.
Shen An had long known that his sister-in-law had another use for those soybeans. After waiting for so long without seeing any movement, he finally saw his sister-in-law take it out today. The siblings exchanged glances and approached together.
“Sister-in-law, are these soybeans going to be used to make something to eat with the millstone?”
Sang Lou nodded with a smile. “Yes.”
Shen An and Shen Ning were a little puzzled. Soybeans, everyone had eaten them. When there was no grain, they were eaten as rice, but soybean rice wasn’t that delicious. It was far inferior to rice. When there was grain, they were used as a side dish, and they could also be used to make sauce. Other than that, what else could they be used for?
Sang Lou didn’t say anything. These days, she had been setting up stalls mostly in the county, and bartering was rare. Most transactions were done directly with copper coins. So, the soybeans were still the same ones she had traded for at the market and carried on her shoulders into various villages, totaling five liters.
When selling at the stall, this amount of soybeans wasn’t much. Sang Lou poured them all into a bucket, carried the bucket out, fetched water from the mountain spring, washed the beans twice, then refilled the bucket with water and brought it back to the kitchen.
Shen An and Shen Ning followed along with the whole process. Was that all?
Their expressions showed their confusion, and Sang Lou chuckled. “Let them soak for two hours first. Let’s cook dinner.”
She had made up her mind not to say, so the siblings could only restrain their curiosity and help with preparing the meal.
Sang Lou was most patient when preparing food. Even if the knife wasn’t sharp enough, she meticulously sliced the eggplant into thick slices, then cut them into thin strips, each the thickness of a little finger. After finishing the cutting, she grabbed a ceramic basin from the counter, placed all the eggplant strips in it, sprinkled some salt over them, and stirred them to draw out the moisture.
When making eggplant dishes, this step was crucial. Eggplants that had their moisture drawn out didn’t need much oil when cooking, and they still retained their tender texture when done. Of course, Sang Lou believed that the variety and cultivation conditions of eggplants were also important. The eggplants she bought from the supermarket in her previous life tasted completely different from the ones she grew herself in the mountains.
To this end, many things in the city were rushed and couldn’t compare to what one grew oneself in the countryside.
After marinating the eggplants, Sang Lou took out a filter cloth used for making fairy tofu and placed it in an empty ceramic basin. She then placed all the eggplants into the cloth, wrapped them up, squeezed out as much water as possible, and then let Shen Ning light the stove on the cooking side.
Shen Ning watched attentively, asking questions about anything she didn’t understand while starting the fire. With the joint effort of the two women, a dish of mint-flavored eggplant and another of scrambled eggs with wild chives were soon ready. They also added some dandelions, which were picked for the chickens, to the table, prepared by Mrs. Chen.
After dinner, Sang Lou took the two children to tidy up the rough bamboo branches that had accumulated over the past day and afternoon and moved them to the backyard vegetable garden. Since they were raising chickens, they needed to fence the garden with bamboo fences; otherwise, some vegetables would be dug up by the chickens before they could sprout.
Compared to building a chicken coop, this task was much simpler, and both Shen An and Shen Ning could handle it. It just took time.
By the time the sky turned completely dark, only half of the work was done.
Since it was too dark to see anything, Sang Lou stopped working. Thinking about the chickens and ducks in the backyard, she was afraid of attracting snakes or rats, so she took out the bag of snake repellent powder that Mrs. Chen had given her and sprinkled it around the outer wall of the house.
With this, they could sleep soundly.
Mrs. Chen had said that this stuff was made from some herbs and didn’t harm humans, chickens, or ducks. Seeing that she used it quickly, she gave her a big bag of it in advance.
As usual, fairy tofu was to be made in the evening. However, this time, while waiting for the second batch of fairy tofu to solidify, Sang Lou saw that the beans had soaked enough. Taking Shen An and Shen Ning with her, she started making tofu.
The siblings followed along the whole process, not only tasting the soy milk but also witnessing Sang Lou perform a magic trick of gradually solidifying the soy milk in the pot, just like when she made fairy tofu before.
After working until late into the night, each of them enjoyed a bowl of sweet tofu pudding. They thought that was the final state, only to realize there was more to it. The mixture had to be scooped into a wooden frame lined with a filter cloth, then pressed with a matching board and topped with a large stone. After about half an hour, Shen An and Shen Ning watched in excitement as Sang Lou removed the stone, lifted the board, and peeled back the tofu cloth. Their hearts pounded with anticipation.
Just like fairy tofu, it had solidified into blocks.
They were both amazed and not surprised at the same time. After all, Sang Lou had already made fairy tofu and sour date cakes.
“This is done. We made a small batch today. Tomorrow morning, I’ll take them all to the county to sell. When we have the banquet the day after tomorrow, I’ll make a few tofu dishes for you both,” Sang Lou said.
Shen An and Shen Ning nodded eagerly. They had tried fairy tofu before, but what would tofu made from soybeans taste like?
The banquet day hadn’t arrived yet, but they were already looking forward to it.
Sang Lou inspected the three tofu blocks and was very satisfied with their quality. They looked just as good as those sold in supermarkets.
She took out a bamboo knife to cut them. Each block yielded sixteen pieces, totaling forty-eight pieces. After rewrapping the tofu cloth, she began to consider the pricing. Should she sell them for two or three coins each?
The cost was indeed low. Twenty coins for five liters of soybeans. Selling them for two coins each would still be profitable. Forty-eight pieces of tofu would earn ninety-six coins; deducting the cost, she could make a profit of seventy-six coins.
As for the small cost of gypsum, it could be ignored.
In fact, with more experience and skill improvement in the future, she would be able to make more tofu from one liter of soybeans. But that was a matter for later. For now, the cost was about this much.
Since she made only a small batch today, she would sell all the tofu herself tomorrow. With ninety-six coins in hand, Sang Lou calculated that it should be enough to buy a chicken and a duck each. As for meat and eggs, she couldn’t stock them up. She would have to buy them fresh early on the 25th, a busy day for everyone. There might not be many people at the market, but she could still sell some tofu and fairy tofu in the villages.
Buying some meat with the money from selling fairy tofu and exchanging it for eggs would still earn her some profit. She would keep some tofu for herself, and with the addition of the vegetables sent over by the three families, she could manage to prepare a decent feast.
With these calculations in mind, she felt at ease.
There was a bathtub at home. After working up a sweat, Sang Lou took a relaxing bath before checking on the chickens and ducks to ensure they were fine. Then she returned to her room to prepare for sleep.
Shen An and Shen Ning were both overly excited today; it was rare for them to stay up until the same time as Sang Lou.
One new bed, one old bed. Shen An had enough of the new bed during the day, so now he went to the old one. The new bed was prepared for Mrs. Chen and her sister.
Sang Lou waved her hand and declined, “If An Ning wants to sleep on the new bed, she can. I don’t need it.”
She preferred the position near the wall, and she drew a curtain for privacy. As for the siblings sharing a bed, at their age, it was still fine in the countryside. When they raised the land next year and leveled it with the family’s homestead, they could expand with two more rooms, and each sibling would have their own room.
Confirming that she indeed didn’t want to sleep on the new bed, the siblings didn’t need to be told twice. They both jumped onto the new bed.
Shen Ning liked sticking close to Sang Lou. As she ran to the new bed, she promised Sang Lou, “Big Sister, I’ll sleep on the new bed tonight, but I’ll come back to sleep with you tomorrow.”
Sang Lou chuckled. “I don’t need you to accompany me. Sleeping alone is quite spacious. You go ahead and sleep on the new bed.”
Hearing this, Shen Ning felt a bit disappointed, but for now, the new bed seemed more appealing. Tomorrow was another day. With a cheerful demeanor, she hopped onto the new bed.
Shen An knew he was a boy, and it wasn’t suitable to sleep with Mrs. Chen and his sister. Without saying a word, he abandoned his usual calm demeanor and happily rolled around on the new bed and new mattress.
After having enough fun, each of them found an old piece of clothing to cover themselves and lay down, even though they had blankets.
Sang Lou watched and made a mental note. They still lacked two sets of pillows and blankets. Maybe she should buy an oil lamp too. Relying on moonlight and the kitchen fire was possible but not convenient.
She laid down herself.
Since time travel, it was the first time Sang Lou could sleep alone on a bed. She stretched her limbs and rolled around for a while, suddenly understanding why the two children enjoyed somersaulting on the bed.
Seeing Mrs. Chen also rolling around on the bed, Shen An and Shen Ning burst into laughter on the other bed.
Previous
Fiction Page
Next
It’s funny that Sang Luo suddenly became “Mrs. Chen” later in the chapter, lol. As for the tofu, I’m interested to see how she’ll market the new product and the variety of ways it can be eaten.
Thanks for the chapter! 😀