At this time, the processing skills of beans were not good. They would prick the throat and taste bad. Therefore, unless there was a famine or their families were so poor that they could not afford wheat, they would only not eat soybeans.
That was why Madam Liang said that.
Zhao Leiguang shook his head and went to pack up the mill. As Zhao Dong had ground wet beans, he had to clean up the mill.
Madam Liang pursed her lips and said again, "I heard from the neighbors that Zhao Dong's family doesn't know how to live anymore. Life is already so difficult, yet he still buys candy for his daughter. Do you think he sold the flour to buy candy for his daughter?"
Zhao Leiguang lowered his head and busied himself with not answering her. Madam Liang continued to talk to herself.
"In my opinion, father-in-law shouldn't lend him flour. Who knows if he can still afford it? What if he clings to our family in the future? We should be closer to Aunt Wang's family. His son is the most promising in the village. In the future, when her grandson becomes an official, it will be helpful to our family. Don't you think so?"
She talked for a long time, but her man ignored her. Madam Liang leaned over angrily and patted Zhao Leiguang. "Hey, I'm talking to you. Did you hear me?"
"I'm listening." Zhao Leiguang said unhappily, "Let me tell you, don't say what you just said in the future. If Father hears it, he will definitely be angry."
"Also, Father has his reasons. I think Father is right. Brother Dong is a good person. He values friendship and loyalty. He's in trouble and our family is the village chief. It's only right for us to help. Don't spout nonsense outside in the future."
After being scolded by her man, Madam Liang felt a little embarrassed and stopped talking angrily.
Zhao Dong, who had already walked far away, naturally did not hear these words. Even if he did, he would not care too much.
When he got home, Sun Mei was already up and washing up in the courtyard.
Seeing that Zhao Dong had parked the cart, she hurriedly went forward to help carry the soy milk to the kitchen. Then, she closed the door and pulled Zhao Dong towards the vegetable field mysteriously. "Hubby, look at these vegetables. Aren't they much bigger than last night?"
Zhao Dong looked at them and was stunned.
Although most of the vegetables in the vegetable garden were still inedible, they had obviously grown a lot since last night.
They actually grew so tall overnight?
Zhao Dong asked in surprise, "What, what's going on?"
Sun Mei was an old bookworm. She instantly thought of something and asked softly, "Do you still remember our girl watering the vegetables last night?"
Zhao Dong was confused. "I remember. Why?"
Sun Mei rolled her eyes at him. "Who told you to despise me for reading novels? In this situation, it must be our daughter's golden finger. It's always written like this in novels. It's probably some kind of luck."
Seeing Zhao Dong's disbelief, Sun Mei shrugged. "You don't believe me? Why don't you explain why the vegetables grew so quickly overnight?"
Zhao Dong hurriedly smiled apologetically. "How would I dare not believe my wife?"
Speaking of this, his expression became more serious. "However, whether it's a golden or silver finger, this matter must be kept a secret. You must not let a fourth person know."
"Yes, yes, yes." Sun Mei nodded repeatedly. "I'll tell Tongtong not to spread rumors later."
Zhao Dong nodded. "We can't be careless about this. I'll go to the mountain to cut some bamboo later and surround the vegetable garden. That way, people won't be able to see the vegetables in the vegetable garden when they open the door."
Hence, Zhao Dong, who had just returned from grinding tofu, did not rest at all. He immediately went to chop bamboo to make a fence.
…
Today could be said to be the busiest day since he transmigrated.
After breakfast, Sun Mei and Zhao Dong began to cut bamboo and build the fence in the courtyard. They worked until almost noon. Sun Mei had to go to school to cook, so Zhao Dong went to Carpenter Wang's house at the village entrance to order tofu frames.
As there was no such thing here, Zhao Dong was worried that he wouldn't know how to make it. Therefore, he even drew a diagram for him and explained it carefully. Only when Carpenter Wang successfully made the first one did Zhao Dong leave in peace.
He had customized a total of twenty sets of molds. He might not be able to produce them in a day. He would probably only be able to collect them tomorrow.
However, Zhao Dong took one back to use first.
After leaving Carpenter Wang's house, Zhao Dong did not go back directly. Instead, he went to Blacksmith Zhao's place in the village and ordered a large iron pot.
After Sun Mei returned from cooking, she did not rest and started to make tofu.
The process of making tofu was actually very simple. First, she had to filter the grounded beans. Sun Mei did not throw away the filtered soybean dregs. She fried them with onions and rolled them into a pancake to eat. It was very fragrant.
The filtered liquid was soybean milk. The next step was to boil soybean milk. Cooking soybean milk was also a technical job. It could not be too long, or it would affect the quality of soybean milk.
After the cooking was done, it was the most crucial step. The technique of using the gypsum to make tofu could only be trained and not passed on verbally. Whether it was old or tender, it was all due to practice.
Sun Mei had thought about it in her previous life and could still grasp it well.
She made a total of two types, a box of tofu and a pot of beancurd.
When Zhao Dong rushed back, the tofu was about to be shaped. The tofu frame he brought back was timely.
Zhao Dong asked the carpenter to carve a pattern under the tofu frame. It was four rows and five rows of small squares. After the tofu was formed, there would be patterns on the surface, making it convenient to cut the tofu.
Half an hour later, the tofu was ready.
He took off the press and opened the steamer. The white and tender tofu was ready!
Sun Mei also mixed a secret sauce to accompany the tofu. In fact, she also wanted to make something sweet and convenient. She just needed to sprinkle some white sugar, but the sugar here was very expensive.
According to Zhao Dong, the ones sold in the market cost 26 copper coins per catty. Although there were some in the space, Sun Mei wanted to keep them for herself.
It was just right to make it salty. In the northern region, most people liked salty tofu.
Before Sun Mei cut it, Zhao Dong weighed and calculated it. One catty of beans produced about three catties of tofu. If it was made into beancurd, one catty of beans could produce twelve and a half catties of beancurd. It could be made into eighteen bowls.
According to the price that the two of them had discussed previously, a catty of tofu was sold for three copper coins, and a bowl of soybeans cost one copper coin.
The cost price of beans was only one copper coin per catty. In that case, there was still a lot of profit.
Thinking of this, Sun Mei suddenly felt a little excited.
Zhao Dong said, "Let's keep one for ourselves for dinner. We'll split the rest and send it to the village chief and Shitou."
"Sure."
Last night, Zhao Dong had already thought of sending those people some samples.
He had to give them to the village chief's family. Ever since they split up, the village chief had taken good care of their family. Moreover, the village chief's family had high prestige and was trustworthy.
Zhao Dong wanted to send some to Butcher Zhao's house.
Although they had not interacted much before, he had met Butcher Zhao who sold meat at the market last time. Although this person looked burly, he was a good person and was meticulous.
Knowing that he had plans to do business and even enthusiastically told him various things to take note of when doing business, Zhao Dong felt that he could ask him for his advice.
—-
After cutting it, Sun Mei carried a bowl of tofu and a bowl of accompanying beancurd to the village chief's house.
The village chief's eldest daughter-in-law, Madam Tian, was pulling her son's arm at the door to teach him a lesson. When she saw Sun Mei coming over, she let go. The child seemed to have been saved and scurried home.