Goldfield
Chapter 74: Collaboration

When Yu Hang noticed that his sister kept glancing at his clothes, his eyes blinked evasively, and he smiled, “It was uh.... When I moved the wood, I accidentally got my coat stuck on the branch ..”

“If any branch perforates your fur, it will leave a triangle-sized hole, right? How can it be small pieces? ” Little Shitou asked doubtfully. She likes to climb trees and sometimes her clothes get stuck on the branches.

Yu Hang coughed and said, “If I say a twig grazes my clothes, then it is a twig! Kids shouldn't talk much! … Sister, how's Dad's leg injury now? ”

“Pad's injuries have mostly healed, and he can even walk on crutches now. Brother, our family has already separated and we also repaired the old residence. If you don't feel good staying here, come home with us! Now we don't have to deal with Grandma who constantly scolds us or the sour comments from Oldest Aunt! ”

Yu Xiaocao knew that the scar on his clothes seemed to be caused by the whip. Moreover, every time he came to see her, her elder brother always seemed to have new wounds on her. Therefore, he wanted to bring Yu Hang home.

When Yu Hang found out that their branch had finally separated from the others, a true smile finally appeared on his face. However, when he recalled the ruthless personality of Shopkeeper Zhang, he knew that the man would not let him off so easily. He remembered that the last time one of the apprentice family members came to take him home, they were told that they had to hand him twenty taels to take him out. He could not help but frown at that memory.

When they separated from the family, her stingy grandmother would definitely not give much money to their branch. In addition, they have to rebuild the house, buy furniture, and buy household supplies. He believes his family owes him. As the eldest son of the family, he was not in a position to help them with their problems, therefore, he was definitely unable to add to their problems!

With great difficulty, Yu Hang broke his urge to leave and slowly shook his head, “Master at the store treated me quite well, and he has already taught me a lot of carpentry skills. I want to stay here a little longer and it won't be too late to go home once I master this trade.

Yu Xiaocao tried again to convince her but Yu Hang stubbornly insisted on staying, so there was nothing else he could do. He put the meat bun he had brought into his hand and gave him fifty copper coins. Only after he did that did he quietly leave.

As he looked at the slowly disappearing figures of his younger brother and sister, Yu Hang did his best to hold back his tears. He hoped to last long enough to see his brothers again in the future…

Brother, where should we go now? Little Shitou felt a bit sad because she could feel something was wrong.

Xiaocao pondered the question and then said, “Now it is still morning, we should go to Zhenxiu Restaurant and see if Third Young Master Zhou is there.”

When they reached Zhenxiu Restaurant, the manager informed them that Young Master had gone to the capital to oversee the details surrounding the opening of the branch restaurant. He was so busy that he could not even spare time for the seasoning factory and could only have Steward Zhou watch it.

After leaving the Zhenxiu Restaurant, Yu Xiaocao thought for a moment and then brought his younger brother over to take a look at the food market.

Since they grow vegetables at home, it is necessary to explore the food market. The market in Tanggu is on the most remote street in the city and is named ‘North Market’. During the day, the market does not happen much. Only a few stalls were open, and they sold turnips and Chinese cabbage that did not look fresh. It was obvious that they had been kept in the basement during the winter.

Yu Xiaocao pulled his younger brother into a pickled vegetable stall and found that there was not much variety. There was a thick black paste that smelled slightly of mushroom, a type of dried horseradish that had been salted, and a salty Chinese cabbage that looked diluted, having over twenty varieties of pickles and salted vegetables, this is quite disappointing.

Xiaocao rubbed his nose and began to plan. Should he make pickled salted vegetables and leave them here for sale? However, even if he wanted to make it, he wouldn't be able to do it this year. The family storehouse of radishes and Chinese cabbage is very little. He wasn't even sure if there was enough pickle leftover for his own family to eat.

“Small girl, do you want to buy salted vegetables?” The owner of the shop was a young man aged sixteen to seventeen. He greeted them in a friendly manner even though their clothes looked shabby.

Yu Xiaocao timidly replied, “I just want to see if you have a pickled cucumber ..”

“Acar cucumber? Is that also a kind of pickled vegetable? Can you pickle cucumbers? ” The young man asked humbly as his voice carried a stream of excitement.

This pickled vegetable kiosk was opened by his mother while still alive. At that time, his mother was very good at preserving and marinating vegetables. People from faraway villages will come and buy jugs from him. His mother later fell ill and died, and he only learned some methods of preservation. In addition, the taste of the pickle can not even come close to how delicious the taste of his mother's pickle. Gradually, the effort at his stall decreased. Jiang Yu felt anxious and angry as she watched her mother's work slowly decline in her own hands.

“Ah... when cucumber is in season, I will make pickled cucumber and bring it for you to taste. If you think it feels good, I plan on placing it in your stall for sale. ”Yu Xiaocao smiled haughtily.

Jiang Yu sighed heavily and said, “I'm afraid my stall won't last until then ..”

Yu Xiaocao thought for a moment and then said, “Ah, brother ..”

Yu Xiaocao nodded and continued, “Jiang Yu, I have some pickled vegetable recipes and they taste quite good...do you know how to write? I'll let you know when you write it. You can follow my recipe and see the results. ”

“We are not brothers or friends, how could I possibly take your pickled vegetable recipe? … How about this, if pickled vegetables turn out good and sell, I'll give you a portion of the profits. I need to pay rent and taxes, so I will take seventy percent and give thirty. What do you think?” Jiang Yu was still quite young but had good thoughts for business.

Yu Xiaocao slowly shook his head and smiled to calm Jiang Yu who had opened her mouth to speak, “You need to take into account the cost of the manufacture and ingredients, while I only give you a prescription. I don't need thirty percent of the profits. How about we divide twenty-eighty, you will take eighty percent and only need to give me twenty percent. ”

Jiang Yu did not know how his recipe would taste but inwardly promised that if the sale went well, he would give him a bigger cut of the profit. She replied, “When my mother was alive, she had sent me to private school for a few years, then .. anyhow, I could handle writing some recipes.”

In her previous life, she had worked early on because her two younger siblings had to pay for school and dormitory expenses. There are times when they have difficulty meeting the needs of life. In an effort to save money, he had learned how to marinate several types of pickled vegetables. His younger brother and sister both said that pickled vegetables sold in stores could not even come close to ten percent of how good it tasted. Even after they graduated college and went to various cities to work and settle down, they still asked him to make pickled vegetables and send them.

He recited the recipe he mastered and let Jiang Yu carefully write down the details. The types of recipes he gave were: spicy and numbed dry radish slices, spicy young radish, Korean kimchi, spicy seaweed cuts, soybeans in grapes, and pickled beans.

At first he felt bad that the teen's business was not going well and did not want his stall to go bankrupt so he only planned to teach him two kinds of pickled vegetables for the sake of it. But now that he had his own share, then it was fine to tell him more recipes. The good thing is that all the herbs and seasonings, in addition to MSG that young people have never heard of, are used in the preservation of vegetables, all of which can be found in public stores or pharmacies.

For example: star anise, fennel, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, all used by later generations as herbs and spices. However, in ancient times, these were all medicinal plants. Only after Emperor Emeritus and the current emperor ascended the throne did this spice begin to be used as a spice in food. This medicine is not too expensive. However, the Xiaocao family could barely feed everyone. In fact, using oil to cook their food is considered a luxury for them. So, it was only natural that they were reluctant to spend money on these spices.

Under Jiang Yu's recommendation, Xiaocao went to a relatively remote part of the food market and found a common goods stall where he could buy cheap herbs and spices. During the day, other than the bearded shopkeeper like a mountain goat sleeping on a chair, not a single soul was found in the stall.

This particular item kiosk only had a few items for daily use. Inside the stall were two large barrels and they distributed the smell of soy sauce and vinegar. When the two scents were combined, it did not smell very good. Next to the wall was a long table with many wooden boxes. These boxes contained the herbs Xiaocao wanted to buy.

“Shopkeeper, how is this spice sold?” Xiaocao asked anxiously as he rubbed the chest pouch containing the old embroidered pouch with about a hundred or so copper coins inside.

When the old shopkeeper heard his voice, he suddenly raised his head and sleepily blinked a few times. His mountain goat beard moved up and down as he said, “Do you want to weigh the spices separately or everything?”

“How much does it cost to weigh spices separately versus together?” Yu Xiaocao asked after thinking for a moment.

“If you weigh it separately, Chinese cinnamon is eighteen copper coins per ounce, bay leaf is fifteen copper, twenty-six copper star fennel, gold, sichuan pepper twenty copper and fennel is twenty copper.” The old shopkeeper glanced at his two siblings and proposed, “If you buy in larger quantities, it is usually better if you buy them separately.”

Yu Xiaocao bit her lips and smiled shyly, “Then? I just want spices for an ounce to be used for a while. ”.

“Good!” The shopkeeper took out a square-shaped piece of rough straw paper and folded it into a tube shape and started picking up some herbs.

Xiaocao hesitated but then spoke, “Kakek Shopkeeper, can I add my own seasoning?” After running a boiled food store in his past life, he had already memorized the ratio of seasonings needed for his food. Now that he was pressed for money, he did not want to waste a single bit of spices.

The old shopkeeper hesitated for a moment and his eyes scanned the two brothers and their old, neat clothes. In the end, he nodded his head in agreement.

Xiaocao followed the proportions he had memorized and carefully picked up the spices from the wooden box. When the old shopkeeper noticed that he was not trying to play a small trick and only picked up expensive spices, he tidied his beard with his hands and inwardly nodded his head in agreement.

When he thought the weight was right, Xiaocao folded the canister and handed it to the old shopkeeper for him to weigh in. The scale of the shop owner is similar to that used in pharmacies. It is very small and can weigh items very precisely. It weighed out to one ounce and three mace, the result of which was a total of twenty-five copper coins.

Xiaocao looked at the two big barrels again and hesitated before he said, “Grandfather of the Shopkeeper, I also want to buy soy sauce and vinegar, but I did not bring any containers ..”

The old man took two small bamboo tubes and smiled, “No problem. Since you are calling me ‘grandfather shop’ keeper then I will let you borrow these two containers. Next time you come to buy the spices, you can return them to me. Now tell me, how much soy sauce and vinegar do you want? ”

He knew that these two containers were items sold by the store. Once the soy sauce and vinegar get into it, it will definitely dye the container a different color and also leave a smell. Once used, these containers most likely cannot be sold anymore. Xiaocao's heart warmed.