Goldfield
Chapter 92: Wet Rice

Every day Butcher Wang slaughtered a pig. Half of the pork is sold to restaurants in the area, and the other half is sold in his store. By the time the day ended, most of the other half of the meat had been purchased.

As usual, Xiaocao spent six copper coins to buy a pig's head. For tripe and intestines, he still gave four copper coins to them. As for the pig's blood, Butcher Wang insisted on giving it away for free.

After lightly rubbing the piece of silver in the purse Brother Six gave him, he also bought two catties of pork belly and one large pig bone. Butcher Wang looked at him in surprise and said, “You bought a lot of meat today. Will you have guests? ”

Xiaocao didn't bother explaining and just smiled, “Mhm, I need to keep visitors who have a certain status, so I need to get some items to make the table more tidy!”

The purchased materials were placed in a wheelbarrow driven by Yu Hai. He then took them to a store in the city that sold rice and other grains. The moment they entered the store, they could hear people making a fuss. The sounds of adult nagging and the wailing of small children mixed into a frenzy.

Xiaocao stood at the entrance, listening for a moment. Apparently, the son of the shop owner's family was naughty and accidentally spilled water onto a bag of glutinous rice. Although the store manager did his best to save on rice, over ten catties of rice had been submerged in water. Everyone knows that rice that has been soaked in water is not good. Even after being allowed to dry, the rice would still shatter into pieces and become a powder. So, more than seventeen to eighteen catties of glutinous rice can no longer be sold!

The entire family of store owners relied on the income from this small rice and grain store, and were only able to make money month after month. The sudden loss of seventeen to eighteen catties of glutinous rice meant that they lost over a hundred copper coins from the sale. How could the manager not feel his heart bleed a little? However, on the other hand, he could not bear to hit his son, so he could only scold the boy.

“Uncle Shopkeeper, I offer three copper coins per catty for all this wet glutinous rice. Are you willing to sell it to me? ” Xiaocao suddenly interjected after assessing the situation.

Although his voice was not too loud, the voice in the shop suddenly broke off and became silent. The shopkeeper looked at him and then glanced at the adult behind him and softly replied, “Little girl, after the rice is soaked with water, it doesn't taste good anymore ..”

“Just because it tastes bad doesn't mean it can't be eaten, right? Uncle store owner, this rice can no longer be sold, how about just given it at a cheap price? Xiaocao smiled sweetly.

When the owner of the rice shop wanted to say something, his wife pulled up her sleeve and said, “Small girl, this glutinous rice is usually eight to nine copper coins one catty. If you want it all, the lowest we can do is five copper coins one catty. Otherwise, we better leave it for us to eat! ”

The shop owner was angry and anxious at the same time. He looked at his wife helplessly with worry. However, his wife glared at him sharply, and the look in his eyes seemed to say, ‘if you dare to say something, then I definitely want to say something to you’.

Xiaocao shrugged and replied, “If that's the case, please save the rice to eat! Dad, let's go to another rice stall to have a look.. ”.

The shopkeeper hurriedly let go of his wife's hand. He rushed forward to block their path and said, “Don't go! Three copper coins per catty, three copper coins per catty! There are nineteen catties of wet glutinous rice all of them, and I will even enter one kati for free.. ”.

Seeing that the shopkeeper was at least honest and sincere, he gave him fifty-four copper coins and had his father load all the glutinous rice onto their wheelbarrow. He also asked them how much wheat flour and plain rice cost, and he thought the price was quite reasonable. So he also bought ten catties of wheat flour and five catties of rice. So, he suddenly spent a hundred and thirty copper coins in the grain store alone.

Fortunately, their business was doing quite well today, and they had obtained over two hundred copper coins from selling boiled food. If he added the two taels of silver pieces Brother Liu gave him, Xiaocao did not feel guilty for spending so much money.

After they exited the rice and grain store, Xiaocao also went to the general goods store to refill a small amount of herbs and seasonings for the family. He even reluctantly spent some money to buy half a catty of white sugar. Now, he had spent quite a lot of the money he had earned from selling boiled food. However, when he thought about how all these herbs would last for at least half a month, he immediately felt happier thinking about all the taels he could obtain from them.

Yu Hai did not say a word as he watched his daughter spend money as if it was water. In fact, the money they earned that morning had not even had time to warm themselves up before it was all gone. Even so, not a single peep came out of his mouth even when he bought glutinous rice that had been soaked in water.

On the way, it was Xiaocao who finally asked why cheerfully, “Dad, why didn't Dad stop me when I bought the soaked glutinous rice?”

Yu Hai pushed the cart with his daughter in it with a satisfied and smiling expression, “Whatever Xiaocao bought me must be of some use. I know you're not a kid who spends money recklessly. Then again, even if you can't do anything with glutinous rice, it still won't go to waste. Even pieces of glutinous flour can be used to make a more palatable porridge than pancakes made from peanut flour! ”

Xiaocao grinned, “Thank you Dad for trusting me. I really have a great idea for this rice! Brother Six asked me to help him make a plate table for his guests. I want to do something special and unique. I need to help him look good, especially because he saved me from those hooligans. My plan was to make pearl meatballs with them. They will be fragrant and tasty, sparkling and pure, and will be considered the best dish, you will judge its appearance or taste. The client will love it. If the sticky rice is ground into glutinous flour, you can make dessert... Also, make pig blood sticky rice is also quite tasty! ”

Seeing her extremely thin daughter's face shining with happiness as she spoke made Yu Hai feel happy and proud of his daughter —— the daughter they once thought would not reach adulthood had actually improved her and shoulder a lot of responsibility for the family!

Arriving at home, Xiaocao began to compile the menu and prepare the groceries. Pearl meatballs need a small steamed basket. Something as simple as this bamboo tool was not difficult for Yu Hai to make. He took some drinking water and started cutting some bamboo, following the instructions his daughter gave him to make a basket.

Xiaocao straightforwardly replied, “Aunt Qian, do you have salted duck eggs? If so, can you sell me some? ”

Ducks generally lay fewer eggs in the winter but they are still difficult to sell. The thing is, most people do not like to eat duck eggs because of its strange smell. In order not to rot, Madam Mao uses coarse sea salt to make pickled duck eggs. He may still have leftovers after eating and sell some of the grain.

“I have some! Xiaocao, how much do you want? But, salted duck eggs are one copper coin each, okay! ” Madam Mao's Personality is like this. He never held back his words and always said things in a straightforward manner. Xiaocao nodded his head. He actually likes this personality type. If duck eggs were offered to him for free, he would feel uncomfortable picking them up. He took out ten copper coins from his embroidery bag and said, “Aunt Qian, please give me ten for now. In the future if I need more, I will definitely come to Auntie to buy more. ”

Madam Mao took out eleven duck eggs from the jar and placed them in her basket. He smiled and said, “My son, Qian Wu, went to your house again this morning to beg for food. I don't have any good stuff in this house, so I'll give you an extra duck egg! ”

Although Madam Mao did not know how to speak her words, she was also not the type of person to take advantage of others. Qian Wen had eaten two pickled fish that morning which resulted in exactly one copper coin. Therefore, he gave Xiaocao an extra duck egg.

Xiaocao did not reject the offer and thanked Madam Mao. When he got home, he discussed the menu in his head again. Brother Six's client is a northerner who needs to eat meat at every meal and likes to eat spicy food.. Ah, I understand! Last afternoon, he had caught a big fish in the pond, so he can make it into ‘ slices of boiled fish with hot’ chili oil and his fish head can be used to make ‘fish head with chopped chili’!

With pearl meatballs as one of them, Xiaocao currently has three kinds of tasty dishes to serve. Are there any other unique foods she can make? Xiaocao racked his mind to look for an idea.it was true! Didn't he buy a pig's stomach before? He remembered that Aunt Zhou made salted vegetables that were dried. If he can borrow a little, he can make ‘steamed pig with salted vegetables’!

These four dishes were all non-vegetarian dishes containing meat, so he needed to create a vegetable-based dish to pair with them all! But in this season, where will he get fresh produce? Xiaocao went to the courtyard to look at the green vegetable buds that had just opened in the afternoon sun. His heart ached at the thought of hurting them early in their cycle. If he really had no other choice, then he would just pluck a few larger leaves and make a bowl of ‘green vegetables and egg’ soup.

Soon he had to go to the tofu seller and buy the dry tofu. The plan is to fry it and then soak it a little with a little boiled seasoning in order to successfully make a plate of ‘know dry boiled’. How about..he should also make a plate of spicy and sour cabbage as well. However, they are limited by the season throughout the year.

Suddenly, a different idea popped into his head. He can make ‘tumis pork swine with sweet bean sauce’. This was a dish that he really liked, so it probably meant they didn't have it in this era, right? It will definitely taste new and delicious to the people here. Therefore, he decided to eliminate ‘fish heads with chopped chili’ from the menu.

Four meat dishes, two vegetarian dishes, and one soup should be more than enough for two people if he also adds the main dish of — yam flour with sweet rice flour cake!

That afternoon, it was still Xiaolian who went with Shitou to the pier to sell pickles of fish. After Yu Hai finished making the bamboo steaming basket, he picked up the ‘’ fish feeder Xiaocao had prepared to catch fish. He had a very important task: he had to catch fish that weighed at least five catties. The best case scenario would be if he could fish for black carp.

Madam Liu found herself preoccupied with the preparation of the pig's head and intestines that afternoon. They plan to use those ingredients to make more boiled food. When Madam Fang came to visit them and saw that she had more work than a single person could handle, she also rolled up her sleeves to help. They are so busy that the whole family wishes they could grow a pair of hands to complete everything that needs to be done.

As for the Xiaocao mission? It was to take a nap because he had to get up early in the morning to prepare food for his client.

Certainly, before sunrise the next morning, Xiaocao automatically woke up. When he got out of bed, he saw Madam Liu was very busy in the kitchen making breakfast. Madam Liu wanted to make sure that her husband and daughter had to eat to their fullest before they left that day.

His mutiara meatballs are made from ground meat. Fortunately, they didn't need much ground meat, so Madam Liu could ‘cut the chopped’ several times with a machete and the amount they needed was up. Xiaocao seasoned the finely chopped meat and then formed each meatball using ground meat and half a duck egg yolk. After forming it, he then rolled each meatball into glutinous rice and then steamed everything for about half an hour.

Slices of boiled fish with hot chili oil are a little more complicated to make, and are best eaten while hot and steamed. Xiaocao decided to bring a small stove of clay that they used to make his father's medicine. When the time came, they could use a few pieces of charcoal and put the dishes on the stove. Can eat hot and spicy boiled fish with a slightly cold sea breeze around it will definitely add to the atmosphere!

With six dishes, one soup, and a staple to make, Xiaocao and her mother spent nearly two hours preparing everything. Similar to yesterday, Yu Hai pushed the wheelbarrow into the city today. The carriage contained the boiled food they planned to sell today as well as the food table that Brother Liu had ordered.

On the way there, Xiaocao also sat in a wheelbarrow, holding two baskets filled with soup. This was to prevent his soup from spilling along the way and ruining all his morning work!

When they reached the dock, Brother Liu was already waiting for them. The place he booked to host his guests was the best building in the area — Lin Family Restaurant. Although arguably the best, in fact only in the form of a three-room building made of mud bricks with a tile roof. Brother Liu had booked the only private room in the restaurant and had mainly hired Xiaocao to bring a food table. From this, one could tell that he actually considered this person to be an important client.

The customer invited by Brother Six was a servant of the Prince Jing Estate. Imperial Prince Jing was responsible for most of the country's sea trade. This time, he arranged for the transportation of grain from south to north.