Chapter 55: Trying to Stir-fry Chestnuts
Qianhua had saved more than 12 taels of silver. On the day when she invited the villagers to dinner, she spent half a tael of silver on buying wine, meat and vegetables in the town, 20 taels of silver on buying wasteland and getting a government deed, 17 taels of silver on breaking off the marriage, and 3 taels of silver on treating her father's leg. Now she only had and a half taels left out of the more than taels of silver.
Qianhuan took out half a tael of silver, went to the meat stall first and spent 50 cents to weigh two pounds of meat bones, and then went to the shop selling oil paper bags.
"Boss, can you customize the oil paper bag with words printed on it?"
"Of course, what kind of customization would you like?"
"I want to print the words 'Liu Ji Kai Kai Xiao Ban Li' on each oil paper bag."
Now that her family has severed ties with the Liang family, she naturally cannot use Liang Ji. Her mother's surname is Liu, so she just calls her own chestnuts "Liu Ji Smiling Chestnuts."
"Okay, how many do you need to order?"
"Let's order one thousand for now."
“定制的油纸包价格贵一些，普通的油纸包是1文钱100个，这印了字的油纸包，1文钱只有50个。1000个一共是20文。”
"Okay, how soon can you come to pick up the goods?" Qianhuan took out copper coins from her bosom and counted out 20 copper coins to the shopkeeper.
"You can come and pick it up early the day after tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll come pick it up the day after tomorrow morning."
After Qianhuan left the store, Liu asked in confusion, "Qianhuan, why do we have to spend twice as much to customize the printed oil paper bags? Can't we just use the ordinary oil paper bags we used before?"
"Mom, I've already given the recipe for sugar-roasted chestnuts to my uncle's family. They'll be setting up a stall soon. Plus, there are already two stalls selling sugar-roasted chestnuts on the street. From now on, our chestnuts will be called Liuji's Smiling Chestnuts. I printed the name of our chestnuts on the oil paper package so that customers can distinguish our chestnuts from those of others."
In fact, this is the modern brand effect. Of course, she would not tell Liu about this, because even if she did, Liu might not understand.
"Oh, mother knows." Liu Shi actually still didn't quite understand, but she now trusted her daughter's decision very much, and whatever her daughter said was the truth.
Qianhuan asked Old Man Wang to drive the ox cart to the door of the clinic, and several medicine boys from the clinic helped to lift Liang Laoer onto the ox cart.
"Grandpa Wang, my father's leg has been re-set, so he can only lie on your ox cart today. I'm afraid it will take up two more seats. I'll give you 10 cents for the fare today. Please drive more steadily today. My father can't stand the bumps now." Qianhuan said as she handed Old Man Wang 10 cents.
"Okay, Qianhuan, don't worry. Grandpa Wang will make sure the ox cart is steady today and won't shake your father." Old man Wang took the copper coin and agreed with a smile.
The ox cart drove smoothly all the way to the door of the house. Old Man Wang really did what he said and did not let Old Man Liang suffer any bumps.
Liu went next door to call Brother Zhang and the eldest son of the Xie family, and Old Man Wang came to help. Together, they carried Liang Laoer back into the house.
After settling Liang Laoer down, Liu went to the kitchen to make bone soup and dinner.
At the Liang family's old house, after learning the specific method of making sugar-roasted chestnuts, Old Lady Liang immediately went home with Mrs. Zhu and her granddaughter-in-law Wang Zhaodi to the river to pick up sand and gravel. Qianhuan did not tell them that they must pick river sand of uniform size. The three of them picked up a big bag of river sand, but it was all big and small.
Old Mrs. Liang took out some silver and asked Old Man Liang to go to the town to buy some maltose and cooking oil. Following Qianhuan's instructions, the three women began to try to make sugar-roasted chestnuts at home in the afternoon.
Zhu was in charge of cooking and stir-frying, her eldest daughter-in-law Wang Zhaodi was lighting the fire, and Grandma Liang was directing from the side. Finally, they worked together to stir-fry the first pot of sugar-roasted chestnuts.
Old Mrs. Liang was the first to take one and taste it impatiently.
"Mom, how does it taste? Is it as delicious as the one made by that stinky girl?"
While asking Old Lady Liang, Zhu picked up a hot chestnut, peeled it and put it in her mouth.
"It seems to taste a little worse than the one made by that stinky girl, but it's still edible. If it's fried a few more times, it should taste the same as theirs." Old Mrs. Liang took another one to try the taste.
"Zhao Di, come here and try it." Zhu waved to her daughter-in-law.
Zhaodi got up from the kitchen, picked up a chestnut, peeled it, put it in her mouth, and chewed it carefully.
"How does it taste?" Zhu asked Zhaodi anxiously.
"Mom, it doesn't seem as delicious as the one cooked by my second uncle."
Last time Liang Laoer's family hosted a dinner for the villagers, Zhaodi went with Wen Yong. Liu placed ten kilograms of chestnuts on each table, so Zhaodi naturally knew the taste of the sugar-roasted chestnuts made by Liang Laoer's family.
"Zhao Di, our two families have severed their relationship, and he is no longer your second uncle." When Zhu saw her eldest daughter-in-law calling her second uncle, she immediately corrected her with an unhappy face.
"Yes, mother, I understand. From now on I will not call you second uncle, but Liang Laoer." Seeing that her mother-in-law was unhappy, Zhaodi quickly changed her words obediently.
"Well, it's good that you know. Go and call your grandfather, father-in-law and your husband over to taste our fried chestnuts together."
"Okay, Mom, I'll go call them right away."
Seeing that Zhaodi was so obedient to her as a mother-in-law, Zhu was very satisfied.
Thinking back to when she married into the Liang family, she was always told by Old Lady Liang to do this and that. Later, when Liu came into the family, Old Lady Liang shifted most of her attention to Liu, and she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Now, after being a daughter-in-law for many years, she has finally become a mother-in-law and can finally command her daughters-in-law to do work. It feels so good to be able to give orders every day. No wonder Mrs. Liang also liked to give orders to her three sisters-in-law before.
After several men had tasted it, Zhu asked anxiously, "What do you think of the taste? Can we take it to the county town to set up a stall and sell it?"
"Mom, it doesn't seem as delicious as the one cooked by sister Qianhuan." Wen Yong was the first to frown and say.
"What sister Qianhuan? That little bitch has already severed ties with our family. You are not allowed to call her sister in the future. Remember, your only sister is Cuihua. If I hear you call her sister again, don't blame me for being ruthless." Zhu scolded her son with an angry look on her face.
"Yes, Mom, I won't call you anymore in the future. The sugar-roasted chestnuts you make are not as delicious as those made by Qianhuan's family. The chestnuts fried by Qianhuan's family are sweet and soft, and ours don't seem sweet enough." Wen Yong carefully recalled the taste of the sugar-roasted chestnuts he had eaten before and commented seriously.
"Wen Yong is right. It's indeed not sweet enough, and there are one or two that are not cooked through." Old Man Liang also commented after tasting several.
“It’s not sweet enough because I put too little syrup in it. It’s not cooked because I took it out of the pan too early. This is my first time frying, so mistakes are inevitable. When we go out to set up the stall, I’ll put more syrup in and control the heat just right.” Zhu couldn’t wait to go out and set up the stall to make money.
"Mom, we have no chestnuts left at home. Should we also learn from our second uncle... Oh no, should we learn from Liang Laoer's family and buy chestnuts at the price of one penny per pound in the village?" Wen Yong asked.
"Liang Laoer is willing to pay one cent per catty. That's because they are stupid. We can't be so stupid. The price is obviously too high. We can't let the villagers get away with it. In previous years, vendors bought the goods at one cent per two catties. We just need to buy them according to the price given by the vendors." Zhu was not so kind. She would never be happy to buy at half the price.
"Wenyong, your mother is right. Our family can't be so stupid. You and your father should go to the village to collect chestnuts now. After we collect the chestnuts, we can set up a stall in the county town tomorrow."
Old Mrs. Liang also agreed very much with what Zhu said. She was usually a stingy person. Except for Wen Zhi and Old Man Liang, it was difficult for others to get a few copper coins from her. This was the case for her family members, let alone outsiders taking advantage of them.
So Liang Lao Da and Wen Yong started to buy chestnuts in the village, but they were only willing to pay one penny for two kilograms. No one in the village paid any attention to them, and no one was willing to sell chestnuts to them. Originally, Qianhua had already taken away most of the chestnuts in the village, and there were not many chestnuts left in the villagers' homes. The price was low, so they would rather keep them for themselves.
The father and son shouted in the village for the whole afternoon, their throats were sore, but in the end they didn't collect a single chestnut.
"Mom, what should we do? The villagers think the price we offer is too low and are unwilling to sell the chestnuts to our family. They said that they will sell it to us if we increase the price, otherwise they would rather keep it for themselves." Wen Yong said anxiously.
"Hmph! If they don't want to sell, then don't sell. Who wants their chestnuts? You want us to raise the price? Bah! No way! Aren't there chestnut trees in the next village? We can just go there and buy them." Zhu suggested.
"Yes, there are many chestnut trees in the next village. Boss, tomorrow you and Wen Yong will push a cart to the next village to buy chestnuts. Just give us one penny for two kilograms. This way we can save half the cost."
Old Mrs. Liang took out one or two taels of silver and gave them to Boss Liang, asking him to take Wen Yong to the next village to buy 2000 kilograms of chestnuts tomorrow.
Early the next morning, after finishing their breakfast, Liang Lao Da and Wen Yong pushed their carts and started to buy chestnuts in the next village, shouting loudly.