HBWnovel Chapter 101 The Salted Eggs Are Ready
Chapter 101 The Salted Eggs Are Ready
The rain lasted for four days.
Finally, on the afternoon of the fourth day, the sky suddenly cleared up. The sky after the rain was like clear glass, a deep blue, and the fragrance of the earth was released as the sun baked it.
The aunties in the workshop quickly dug out the mung bean starch that had settled over the past few days and dried it in the sun. They changed the water every day, and the starch did not spoil.
I've made quite a bit these past two days, probably over 50 kilograms of powder.
Seeing that the rain had stopped, the villagers were all smiles. The wheat was about to be harvested, and if the rain had continued, the wheat might not have survived.
The appointed time for meeting Sifanglou arrived quickly, and a horse-drawn carriage came to the village early in the morning.
Unexpectedly, it was Manager Wang who came in person this time. When Manager Wang arrived, Song Jiaojiao was still eating breakfast. Everyone was stunned when they saw Manager Wang come in.
"Madam Song, I apologize for disturbing you, but I have brought good news today." Manager Wang said with a beaming smile, his voice filled with undisguised joy.
"Good news? It seems that Master Wang has agreed to let Sifang Escort Agency help me collect mung beans and sweet potatoes." Song Jiaojiao put down her bowl and guessed.
"As expected, you can't hide it from Madam Song. Yes, the owner has agreed. Today, besides telling Madam Song this good news, I've also come to collect mung bean powder. I wonder how much there will be?" Manager Wang revealed his purpose, since he couldn't leave the restaurant for too long.
"Let's go, let's go take a look at the workshop." Song Jiaojiao got up and led Manager Wang to the sweet potato workshop.
"Aunt Li, how much mung bean powder have you dried these past two days?" Song Jiaojiao asked her aunt, who was still busy.
"It's all over here, probably weighing around 90 pounds. The stone mill that Wang the stonemason brought after the rain stopped last time has greatly improved the speed." Aunt Li led everyone to the room where the mung bean powder was stored.
Song Jiaojiao had someone weigh her; she weighed exactly 93 jin and 2 liang.
Song Jiaojiao thought that Manager Wang would do the same as before, taking away the whole items and leaving the smaller ones, but she didn't expect that this time he didn't even let go of the two ounces.
"The weather is getting hotter and hotter, so bring it back sooner so we can launch the new products sooner. Time is money. 93 catties and 2 taels is 18 taels, 6 mace and 40 wen. Here is the money, please keep it safe."
The first batch of mung beans should arrive in about five days. Remember to collect them then, Madam Song. I'll have them brought over here directly from there.” Manager Wang instructed Song Jiaojiao before calling for people to load the goods onto the carriage.
"Madam Song, I'll be leaving now. Let's get together again next time." Manager Wang said goodbye to Song Jiaojiao before getting into the carriage.
"You're busy, but we'll get together when you have time. Manager Wang, please be careful on the road." Song Jiaojiao knew that Manager Wang had squeezed out some time today, so she didn't say anything more.
"Madam Song, please wait a moment. Oh, by the way, for mung bean flour, come once every three days. Once the sweet potato flour comes out, you can start coming every day." Manager Wang reminded Song Jiaojiao of this.
“Okay, I’m free anytime.” Song Jiaojiao smiled as she watched the car drive away.
"Jiaojiao, are there sweet potatoes in the back?" Aunt Li asked Song Jiaojiao, puzzled, after hearing what Manager Wang said.
"Yes, Auntie will have to work hard for you later. Things will get busy. Auntie can notify people in advance so we can start work as soon as the supplies arrive. I estimate that the sweet potato workshop won't be enough, so let's move the mung bean flour to the candied fruit workshop first. There's plenty of space there." Song Jiaojiao thought that the escort agency would probably collect a lot of mung beans and sweet potatoes, and it would be easy to get confused if they were all in one workshop. Let's do it in the candied fruit workshop for now, and then see if we need to build a new workshop after the busy farming season.
"It's okay to be busy, everyone's looking forward to it. I'll go tell them after work. Jiaojiao, I'm going to get busy now." Aunt Li said and left, even her back view revealed her happy mood.
Song Jiaojiao thought about it and realized that what everyone feared most was not hard work, but having no work and no harvest. Now, with Song Jiaojiao's workshop, idle people had something to do, and even those who didn't work in the workshop could sell sweet potatoes and mung beans, which were much more expensive than what was offered in town, not to mention the medicinal herbs from He Shou Wu.
Before you know it, the Grain in Ear season has arrived, and the wheat in the soil has turned golden. The children in the village run to the soil every day, guarding the wheat for fear that sparrows will eat it.
Song Jiaojiao's family also lent their oxcart to the villagers to harvest wheat, so they no longer had to carry loads home one by one.
Xu Fang approached Song Jiaojiao and said, "Madam, recently the chickens at home have started laying eggs one after another, and we've accumulated quite a few eggs on the barren mountain. The ducks have also started laying eggs, and there are quite a few as well."
If Xu Fang hadn't mentioned it, Song Jiaojiao would have forgotten about it; the salted eggs she made last time had been pickled for almost twenty days.
"Come on, come on, the salted eggs you pickled last time must be ready. I had completely forgotten about them if you hadn't mentioned them." Song Jiaojiao led Xu Fang to the warehouse where the salted egg jars were kept. She opened one to check, and since there was no white mold in the water, she carried the jar to the kitchen.
"There's a trick to taking out salted duck eggs. It's best to have dry, oil-free hands so the water in the jar won't spoil and you can soak the duck eggs again after washing them next time."
Song Jiaojiao scooped all the eggs out of the jar and boiled them all. Sixty eggs in the pot still looked like quite a lot.
Ten minutes later, the salted eggs were cooked. Song Jiaojiao took one out and, ignoring the scalding heat, cut it in half with a knife. The golden yolk was still dripping with oil. She didn't expect it to be so successful. She took a bite and, hmm, it was the familiar taste, just like the salted eggs her grandmother used to make.
Song Jiaojiao gave the other half to Xu Fang to try. "It's delicious, just a bit salty, but it's still good to eat with rice."
"That's right, this is for eating with rice, especially porridge. You can also use the egg yolk to make desserts and dishes." Song Jiaojiao's mouth watered as she thought of the egg yolk pastries and salted egg yolk mooncakes she had eaten before.
"We've succeeded. Later, take ten to the village chief's house, ten to Uncle San's house, and keep twenty for me to use in town tomorrow. Let's make porridge tonight. We still have some of the cold noodles we made yesterday. We'll go to the fields later and dig up some pig skin hollows (houttuynia cordata) to make a cold dish." Song Jiaojiao arranged the destination of the salted eggs, and then went to the sweet potato shop.
Aunt Li now manages the sweet potato workshop, while her daughter-in-law, Sun Meihua, is in charge of the mung bean flour business.
"Auntie, come here, I need to talk to you." Song Jiaojiao saw Aunt Li call her aside.
"What's wrong, Jiaojiao?" Aunt Li asked, wiping the water off her hands.
“Auntie, I have a new job. This time, I don’t need to find any aunties in the village, just the elderly people. The job is relatively easy. I know it’s the busy farming season now, so it might be hard to find people. Could you ask around for me if anyone is available? We’ll start work around the day after tomorrow.”
"Bring an old person here? This old person can't do much work, can they?" Aunt Li asked incredulously.
"Don't worry, it's not heavy or tiring work. It's very simple, just washing eggs and wiping them dry. You can do it sitting down. But we'll need to find a couple of aunties to move the jars and do some slightly heavier work." Song Jiaojiao thought that washing eggs wasn't tiring, but moving them around would still be difficult for the elderly.