Walking into the Red Mansion starts from the maid

Chapter 26 Sweet Potatoes
Not long after, the two sisters held a bowl of mochi and slurped directly in the kitchen, enjoying a moment of peace and serenity. The soft and sweet taste of sweet potatoes burst into their mouths, and Yunzhu's eyes lit up.

"Zhao San! I got it!" She held half a bowl of sweet potato cubes and said in surprise as if she had found a treasure.

After eating too much sweet potato, she became bloated, so later generations processed it into sweet potato starch, sweet potato syrup, and sweet potato vermicelli... Yunzhu recalled the tutorials she had read in her mind, and even talked about the production process with Zhao San with gestures.

Zhao San, whose eyes became brighter and brighter, would have jumped up if he hadn't been holding a bowl in his hand. Maltose, whether bought as sugar or wheat to make by himself, is expensive.

If it's sweet potatoes... Seeing that Liu'er's words are reasonable and well-founded, she just took it as the method of the Duke's mansion, and agreed immediately: "Listen to you, you can try the syrup, but those two are a waste of effort. When your brother-in-law comes back, we will try it tomorrow!"

Zhao San's answer was so firm, but Yunzhu didn't know what to do. She had only read about this method in the book before, and the specific situation would depend on the actual operation, so she simply said without doing it, "It's still early, why don't we try it first, and you can convince your brother-in-law with the finished product.

If it doesn't work, we can also make it into dried sweet potatoes, so it won't be wasted anyway. "

After hearing a thousand words, it's better to start again. Zhao San looked in the direction of the city gate and saw that the sun was still there, so he nodded: "You are right, it sounds like you just need to burn some firewood, just wait for me."

Zhao San struggled to remove the hay in the firewood house and an old wooden basin, and there was a small cellar entrance underneath. Looking at the piles of sweet potatoes inside, Yunzhu had to admire Zhao Laosan's ability to live.

"The sweet potatoes were put outside like this, and they germinated within half a month. I just thought that when we went up the mountain, those sweet potatoes that fell into the stone holes, even if they were dry, did not germinate. It must be because of the lack of sunlight.

Later, I asked your brother-in-law to dig the cellar, and all the soil that was dug out was placed in the yard. Digging carefully and slowly, the neighbors didn't even know we had a cellar! Zhao San stooped halfway into the mouth of the cellar, and kept throwing sweet potatoes out, Yunzhu had to pick it up behind him with a wooden basin.

It is very common to have a cellar in the north, and almost every household in the peasant family has one, but it is a rare thing in the city.

In the city, digging a cellar is a technical job. If it is too big, it is prone to landslides, and if it is too small, it can’t hold anything. Therefore, most of the cellars in the city are funded by a few families, and special craftsmen are invited to dig the cellar.

Second, if a poor family has a cellar, when the owner goes out to earn a living during the day, the unguarded cellar will be like a candle in the dark in the eyes of thieves, and it will pass by for 30 years.

But Zhao San's method is extremely clever, dig a small cellar, and then cover it, anyone who comes in and sees this bare-walled family will never think that there are so many things in the house.

"Enough is enough!" Seeing that the wooden basin was half filled, Yunzhu kept making noises, just making a sample first, that's enough.

To make sweet potato syrup, the main raw material should be as sweet as possible. Nowadays, sweet potatoes are produced in large quantities, and are cheap and high-quality, which is suitable for some fine processing, but it is a waste of fire and labor, but firewood in the city is also an expense. Watching Zhao San pick up the broken hay one by one and put them into the stove, Yunzhu suddenly felt a little reckless.

If you can't make syrup well, drying sweet potato mash is also a ration.

But the firewood needs to be bought with real money. The Duke’s Mansion is rich, and the best silver charcoal in the tea room can be burned for a whole day. No one cares about the cost, but what are the conditions of the Zhao Sanjia?The kitchen is next to the firewood room, and the stacked dry firewood is only a small bundle, most of which are messy hay. Yunzhu's men hesitated to peel the skin, "Firewood is expensive, right?"

puff
Zhao San covered his face and smiled, and couldn't help laughing at her: "You're still so petty, you're not expensive, we're close to the city gate, and there are mountains and forests two or three miles out of the city. Although the owner's forest is not allowed to collect firewood, it's easy to cut some hay and twigs. Don't worry, just ask your brother-in-law to go two more times."

Liu Ping created some space for the two sisters, went back and forth twice and saw that Yunzhu was there, then went out in silence, Zhao San didn't leave him behind, and silently filled a large bowl and left it in the pot while eating sesame food, and let it sit on the stove with the remaining warmth.

Seeing that the boiled sweet potato slices leaked juice, and the juice was slowly boiling in the pot, Yunzhu found a bamboo, peeled off a layer of bamboo, carefully spread the remaining sweet potato puree evenly on the bamboo, put it in a place where there was no open flame on the stove, and baked it carefully until the sugar water in the pot was drawn.

The two finished tossing all the hay in the firewood room, leaving only the bundle of dry firewood alone, which will cover the entrance of the cellar.

As soon as Liu Ping came back with a bundle of hay, he rubbed his eyes, stared at Zhao San in disbelief, and asked what did you guys do?

He wanted to ask if you were taking a bath at home, but then he remembered that his aunt Yunzhu was only a half-grown girl, so he changed his mind: "If there is not enough firewood, I will pick another bundle and bring it back."

Zhao San didn't answer directly, but stuffed the chopsticks dipped in syrup into Liu Ping's mouth: "Mr. Lang, taste what this is first!"

"Sugar! So sweet!" Liu Ping was overjoyed at first, and then frowned again, "Didn't we say that this syrup takes time, effort and money, but it doesn't bring much profit, so we won't make it in the future?"

Looking at the empty firewood room, and at the bowl of red syrup on the kitchen stove, Liu Ping looked forward to Zhao San's eyes. Liu Ping tried his best to complain, but he tried his best to be tactful, for fear of losing Zhao San's face in front of his sister-in-law.

He is a man, let not be as violent as a stranger to his wife.

"Brother-in-law, try this again." The tender white hand handed over a yellowish-brown candied fruit in front of his eyes. Liu Ping asked his wife before accepting it.

The dried sweet potatoes were a bit burnt, it was all because of Yunzhu's lack of ability to control fire, not the sweet potatoes.Liu Ping put it on his nose and sniffed it lightly. There was a scorched and sweet smell in the paste. After confirming that it was food, the big man who hadn't eaten lunch couldn't help but took a bite and chewed it carefully in his mouth.

Wholeness looked even more surprised, and suddenly stuffed the remaining half into his mouth: "This is sweet potato?! It's sweeter than usual."

Looking at two girls, one big and one small, standing in front of him, waiting for his comment with anticipation, Liu Ping has never read a book, so he can't say any beautiful words, so he just nodded repeatedly: "This sweet potato preserves are good, and this sweet potato syrup is also good, not bad."

After a while, he said again: "Hay is not burned, even though a house of grass is not worth money, how many sweet potatoes are used?"

Zhao San rummaged through the bamboo basket containing dried sweet potatoes, intending to find a decent-looking dried sweet potato. While picking up, he said, "About ten catties of sweet potatoes, I only have this bowl of syrup, but I have made a lot of candied fruit. Try it again, maybe you can sell it?"

Liu Ping listened carefully to the production process of the two sisters. Although it is a meticulous job, the cost is quite low. Now two big money can buy five or six catties of sweet potatoes in the market, and ten catties of sweet potatoes plus some firewood can get more than a catty of syrup, and there are so many dried sweet potatoes in addition.

Compared with the high cost of mainstream maltose, this sweet potato candy is a huge profit.

After thinking about the key points, Liu Ping got up and bowed deeply to Yunzhu, and said solemnly: "Auntie, I offended you in the first place, Liu Ping is here to apologize to my auntie!"

Regardless of Yunzhu's repeated wave of hands, he took the mochi from Zhao San and put it beside him, and hurriedly asked, "My aunt is smart, so I won't go around in circles. I've been walking around the streets now, and I've never seen this sweet potato candy. I wonder if my aunt will sell this craft to me?"

No sweet potato syrup in Beijing?

Yunzhu was startled, and then remembered that this practice seemed to have originated in the south, and it may not have been introduced into the capital, so she thought: "This is not a new craft, and the master chef who specializes in meals can figure out the key to it after a few more tastes. Now that you are talking about business, I have a new method. Just see if my brother-in-law will believe me."

The three whispered to each other, and Liu Ping was even more amazed, almost showing a respectful look towards Yunzhu, is this everyone's maidservant?Thinking about it again, I vaguely looked down on Yunzhu being a slave at the beginning, now I just want to slap myself twice, I am illiterate, I am illiterate!
Yunzhu didn't hide her secrets, and when Liu Ping was smacking her chest to make sure that she would share [-]% of the net profit after that, she racked her brains and explained to the husband and wife how to make sweet potato vermicelli and sweet potato starch.

At the moment, no one expected that Liu Ping would solemnly hand over 200 taels of silver to Yunzhu in the next year, which was thought to be a small act of testing the waters.

The peddler also has a business name, and his sensitivity to the market is far more than that of Zhao and the three sisters. When Yunzhu mentioned sweet potato vermicelli, he immediately thought of the signature dish in Huixiang Building, Subei.

Liu Ping once sold a Mohele in front of the Huixiang Tower. It was dark and rainy that day, and the kid who bought the Mohele was struggling to get a windmill on it. The windmill was just a thing made of paper, worthless and afraid of rain, so he gave the child along with it.

Seeing that the child's elders had returned with a full load, they gave him half a bowl of vegetarian turtles with good etiquette, and listened to the boy's vivid description of how the turtle was a sign in Huixianglou, and how it was the only one in Beijing.

It's really delicious. If the sweet potato vermicelli skin tastes as good as my aunt said, wouldn't I...

Post it!

He thought carefully about the color and fragrance of the plain soft-shelled turtle, and when he heard Yunzhu say that bamboo charcoal powder can be used to dye black shapes, and it also has the effect of clearing away heat and detoxifying, he wished that he could sell himself into the Duke's mansion. If he learns just a few of these amazing skills, he will be able to eat them for a lifetime!
Before the three of them had finished their fun, the sky was full of red clouds outside, and many officials were already standing at the door and knocked on the door.

Zhao San, who was overwhelmed by hearing it, thought of Liu'er saying that she had to go back when it was dark, and couldn't help feeling sad again. She described the oval face carefully, and held back her sadness and said, "I heard that there are many rules in those people. It's not easy to come out. Let's see you next time. I don't know when it will be. You have to be good, be good, and we will always see you again."

(End of this chapter)