Chapter 51

A sound night's sleep later, before daybreak the next morning, the rooster in the back yard dutifully began its calling service.

Sang Luo got up in the dark, went into the kitchen, felt around for the fire starter, and lit the stove fire. While boiling water, she used the light from the stove to process the last batch of solidified fairy tofu. Once everything was neatly sliced, she scooped out two large bowls of the smaller corner pieces.

The water in the iron cauldron came to a boil. Sang Luo turned the heat down a little and scooped out all the water. When the bottom of the cauldron gradually dried, she spooned a ladle of lard into the pan. Once the oil was hot, she added a bowl of the leftover okara from making tofu the previous night, stir-fried it a few times, and poured in the freshly boiled hot water to let it simmer.

Meanwhile, she dug out the remaining wild green onions from the cutting board, which she hadn't used the night before, and chopped them up. After waiting a good while for the okara in the cauldron to boil thoroughly and ensuring it was completely cooked through, she added salt and soy sauce for seasoning, finally sprinkled it with chopped green onions, and ladled it out of the cauldron into a large soup bowl.

She rinsed the earthenware cauldron with hot water, then stir-fried a bowl of fairy tofu. Breakfast for the three of them was thus served.

In truth, ingredients at home were limited; otherwise, using okara to make flatbreads would have been the ultimate breakfast choice.

Shen Ning came in, rubbing her eyes. She stared at the large soup bowl on the table for quite a while before realization dawned on her: "Elder sister-in-law, is this the okara left over from making tofu last night?"

Sang Luo smiled and said, "Yes, we'll be having this and fairy tofu for breakfast. Go wash up, then come and eat."

Shen Ning was astonished. So this could be eaten too? Well, soybeans could be eaten in the first place, so why couldn't the pulp residue be eaten?

Seeing that her sister-in-law had already prepared breakfast, she turned and went to wash up. When the brother and sister arrived, Sang Luo was using the wooden steamer to steam the remaining okara. Seeing them approach, she invited them to eat while giving instructions: "Okara is nutritious and tastes good, but you shouldn't eat too much of it. The most important thing to note is that it must be cooked thoroughly and left to boil for quite a while before you can eat it. Otherwise, it's very easy to get an upset stomach, or even worse, food poisoning."

Seeing both little ones looking a bit stunned, fearing they had been frightened, she added, "Don't worry, thoroughly cooked okara won't be toxic. I'm steaming the leftovers today. At noon, you can stir-fry them slightly with a little oil yourselves, then add water, bring it to a boil, and add seasonings to make a dish. You can also take some to feed the chickens. It must also be steamed; you can't feed it to them raw. Mix it with the ratio of wild vegetables, barnyard grass, and rice bran you used yesterday. If you're feeding chickens, other things should make up ninety percent, and the amount of cooked okara only needs to be ten percent. It shouldn't be given in too large amounts."

Shen Ning's eyes lit up: "This can feed chickens?"

She hadn't looked nearly this joyful when it came to food for humans.

"Elder sister-in-law, then we can raise a few more chickens."

Raising chickens mainly consumed bran and grain. If this okara could replace a portion of the bran, they could raise a few more chickens. After all, wild vegetables and barnyard grass didn't cost money.

Sang Luo thought about it and realized it was entirely feasible.

"Alright, it might be hard to buy more in the village, but I'll keep an eye out in the future. Ducks and geese can eat this too, so I'll buy a few ducks and geese back later."

If they really raised too many and the bran wasn't enough, she could just buy some extra bran.

After eating breakfast in the dark and instructing little Xiao Ya that the ducks could still only be fed half-cooked grain for the next few days and must be frequently provided with fresh water, Chen Youtian and Qin Fangniang knocked on the Shen family's courtyard door from outside.

When picking up the goods, the very first thing Chen Youtian noticed was the square, shallow wooden frame Sang Luo had asked him to make previously. Surprisingly, it was also going to be taken to the county town today, and there was clearly something inside it.

Seeing him look, Sang Luo smiled and said, "Buying the stone mill was specifically to make this food. The quantity isn't large today, so I'll sell it myself. Tomorrow, when you, uncle and aunt, come to my house for the banquet, I'll make some for you to try. If aunt wishes to sell it, you can just come over to my place to pick up stock after the farming busy season."

Before Chen Youtian could say anything, Qin Fangniang's eyes were already shining: "You've come up with a new food? Can I take a look?"

"Of course you can," Sang Luo said as she lifted the lid of one board of tofu, then peeled back the cloth for the two of them to see.

It was still quite dark, but once eyes adapted to the brightness, things could be seen, albeit not very clearly: "It's very similar to fairy tofu, but the color is different. We haven't seen anything like this around here."

Whether it existed or not was hard to say. In the original owner's memories, this item did exist in this Great Qian Dynasty, but the method of making it seemed to have always been tightly held in the hands of certain aristocratic and powerful clans. Once social status reached a certain height, those people didn't rely on this for profit; what they wanted was uniqueness, even if this so-called uniqueness wasn't one of a kind. The mistresses of allied aristocratic households would gift recipes to each other, but that was strictly limited to their own circle.

What did commoners eat?

Ha, what did that have to do with them?

The reason aristocratic families were aristocratic was because they held many resources and inheritances that others lacked, such as books, ancient artifacts, paintings, and various recipes, all of which fell under the category of heritage.

For daughters born into aristocratic families, a large part of their dowry upon marriage consisted of items of this nature. These possessions were often held in even higher regard than gold, silver, and fine jade.

Naturally, Sang Luo was just entertaining the thought. She smiled and took up Qin Fangniang's words, saying, "It is very similar, but the texture is also different. Aunt, you can try some tomorrow. This makes an even better dish than fairy tofu. If we really sell it, this should sell even better than fairy tofu."

Qin Fangniang was thrilled. To be honest, after setting up the stall for ten days or so, the family had saved up a full four strings of copper coins. This was something she wouldn't even dare to imagine in the past. Earning four strings of coins in less than half a month—if she set up the stall for a month and a half, wouldn't that be over twelve hundred wen?

That could directly be exchanged for one tael of silver.

Earlier, she had harbored a vague worry about whether the raw material for fairy tofu would be seasonal. Now that there was a new item to succeed it, how could Qin Fangniang not be excited? The fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes piled up as she smiled: "We'll sell it, absolutely sell it. I'll get to taste it tomorrow."

Saying this, she realized something: tomorrow wasn't just any ordinary day for their family to be guests, so Ah Lie's wife was planning to let the Shi family and Lu family also know about this tofu thing?

Was she just going to use this food to treat them, or also let them know that she was the one who made it?

This thought only flashed through her mind before Qin Fangniang cast it behind her. Whether to let them know or not was ultimately Sang Luo's decision. Even if the Shi and Lu families found out and were tempted to sell it themselves, it would be entirely reasonable for Sang Luo to agree. This was Sang Luo's livelihood, and being given a share of it already showed consideration for their family.

The group walked down the mountain in the dark, loaded the cart, and set off.

...

County town, West Market.

With yesterday's warm-up, the sale of hawthorn cake attracted quite a few returning customers today. Presumably, the women and children at home had tasted it and liked it, and many of them wanted a fair amount. As for the tofu, with fairy tofu preceding it, quite a few people felt curious about this new item. After listening to Sang Luo introduce its various cooking methods, most transactions were successful.

In contrast, fairy tofu was somewhat affected by the tofu. While there were people who bought both, those who kept a tight budget had to choose between the two, naturally picking the one they hadn't tried yet. Thus, the sales of fairy tofu were slightly slower than usual.

Fortunately, there were only three boards of tofu, totaling forty-eight blocks in all. They sold out within half an hour of the morning market, and only then did the sales of fairy tofu pick up speed again.

Busy until noon, the things brought along were completely sold out. Sang Luo tidied up, handed in her tax token, and wandered around the West Market. Calculating the money in her hands, she bought a live chicken and a live duck. Fearing she wouldn't have enough money later when buying a kitchen knife, she didn't dare buy anything else and waited at the entrance of the West Market for Qin Fangniang to pick her up.

This was because she was selling quite a lot of goods now. Once sold out, it was almost impossible to push the cart all the way to the East Market to find Qin Fangniang on her own. The two had agreed early in the morning that today she should just wait at the entrance of the West Market.

Sang Luo sat on a stone platform at the entrance of the West Market. After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Qin Fangniang came pulling her handcart. Catching sight of Sang Luo from afar, Qin Fangniang quickened her pace.

Meeting up and seeing that Sang Luo had bought both a chicken and a duck, and noting how plump they were, she estimated in her mind that this would cost no less than a hundred and twenty-wen.

She clicked her tongue inwardly, thinking to herself that tomorrow's banqueting spread would certainly have plenty of oily richness.

You must know that because the spring rent and taxes had been collected a year early this spring, aside from households with deep foundations like Village Chief Zhou and Bailiff Zhou, ordinary families in the entire county had tightened their belts and drank thin gruel for the past half year or more. Even when encountering a joyous occasion, who would dare to be so extravagant?

As she thought this to herself, she helped Sang Luo load the items onto the handcart and asked, "Are we buying anything else today?"

Sang Luo replied, "I need to buy a kitchen knife. I was afraid I wouldn't have enough money earlier in the West Market, so apart from this chicken and duck, I didn't dare buy anything else at all."

Hearing this, Qin Fangniang thought for a moment and said, "It should cost around three hundred and forty to three hundred and fifty wen, right? Ever since the wars started, anything made with added iron has been expensive. But that's just my guess; the one we use at home is still an iron knife brought from our old hometown during our flight from the famine."

A ruined home is worth tens of thousands of strings of cash. Back when fleeing the famine, truly bulky and clumsy things couldn't be carried, but items like kitchen knives, hoes, and axes—things that were both valuable and could serve as weapons for self-defense—were all brought along.

After speaking, she fished out the money pouch from inside her tunic: "This is today's money from selling tofu. Count it."

Having done this business for a long time, she could keep clear accounts of her own small business. Usually, she kept her own share in her sleeve pocket and put everything meant for Sang Luo straight into the money pouch, sparing herself the trouble of painstakingly recounting everything after the business day ended.

Sang Luo took it and counted it. Standing on the street fiddling with copper coins leisurely made her afraid of being targeted by petty thieves, so she simply shoved the money pouch straight into her tunic and said, "This looks like enough. Let's go buy the kitchen knife. I'll return this pouch to you after I finish buying things."

Once the shopping was done, the pouch would be empty anyway.

Qin Fangniang also found it quite amusing, while feeling that it hadn't been easy for Sang Luo. Evidently earning more money than her, yet after so many days, she still hadn't managed to save a single bit of it.

Inquiring about the price at the ironmongery, there were finished products already forged, which were quite a bit more expensive than Qin Fangniang's estimate: three hundred and eighty-five wen.

Sang Luo emptied Qin Fangniang's money pouch completely, then started feeling around in her sleeve pocket, and finally her own money pouch. Tsk... using copper coins was truly not easy; these things took up way too much space and were terribly heavy. Buying a kitchen knife required rummaging through how many pockets?

It was truly both wretched and comical.

Therefore, saying "girded with ten thousand strings of cash" was pure nonsense. If one really tried to gird themselves with ten thousand strings of cash, wrapping a person layer by layer like a framework until the person couldn't even be seen, they still might not successfully wrap all ten thousand strings onto themselves.

Emptying several pockets in exchange for a kitchen knife, Sang Luo sighed over the high prices of the era and the inconvenience of using the currency. Seeing that she only had thirty-eight coins left, she figured she might as well not return empty-handed. Stowing the kitchen knife away carefully, she and Qin Fangniang made another trip to the grain shop.

The targets were flour and soybeans.

Needless to say about the soybeans, she would have to make tofu in the middle of the night tonight to sell on the market tomorrow, earning some money to buy meat and eggs. As for the flour, there would be fresh okara at home after making tofu. While making breakfast today, she had set her heart on okara pancakes and okara meatballs. Alas, apart from a little rice, her household was starkly poor, and she simply couldn't scrape together the seasonings.

Now it was all good; she had a little money left. Buying some flour today, and earning enough tomorrow to buy some eggs—not only would this satisfy her own craving, but wouldn't this also provide a pastry and a hearty main dish for entertaining guests?

Delighted, she mentally gave herself a thumbs-up for being clever and good at managing a household.

Calculating meticulously, she bought just enough of the required quantities. With the last few coins remaining, she turned into an apothecary to buy a small amount of braising spices like star anise and cinnamon bark.

That's right, braising spices back then could only be bought at the apothecary. Their function as seasonings was still little known to most people, though not entirely unknown. Presumably, she wasn't the only one doing this sort of thing; the apothecary's errand boy knew a thing or two, and upon hearing the names of the medicinal herbs Sang Luo requested, he likely guessed they were being bought to cook with.

He wasn't surprised that Sang Luo only wanted a tiny pinch of each. After all, buying things by the qian at a pharmacy was quite normal.

A paper parcel containing a jumble of miscellaneous items emptied the very last coins from Sang Luo's pouch.

However, the braising ingredients were secured.