C14

Qiao Ke had invited her uncle to do the cooking. If this recipe were to go to someone else's hands, she wouldn't be at ease. Her uncle and her father had come from the same sect, and their cooking skills were similar.

This uncle of hers was called Qiao Dali. After she had graduated, she had specially walked between the villages to prepare red and white wedding banquets for others. She had been given a spoon of the nickname Qiao and watched people cook. Now that he was old and tired from walking all over the street, he had come to see Qiao Ke a few days ago and tasted a pot of meat. He slapped his thigh. How could a chef not like to eat it? This was the only taste he had and he even really liked eating pork. Unfortunately, the taste of the pork was not good and it was always difficult to make delicious dishes.

From that day on, for the sake of these two bites, he sold himself to his niece to make pottery.

When Qiao Ke saw Jiaoniang, she hurried over to welcome her. "Sister, if you don't want to come out, I will send someone to the village to find you!" There's more people here, let's go to the backyard to talk! "

Pulling Jiaoniang to the backyard, Qiao Ke quickly told her how much she had sold for in the past few days. "We have sold a total of 15 taels of silver these days!" Many farmers' pork in the vicinity has already been emptied by me, and after a few days, it won't be enough. I've seen it for a while, and there will be more people raising pigs in the vicinity.

"Sister, don't worry, I think some people have already figured out what's going on with the pork. Although the price of the pork will increase, it's impossible for us to find another way out like we did in the past few days. What do you think I brought with me?" Jiaoniang stopped her and, with a mysterious smile, lifted the cloth off the bamboo basket.

"This is?" When the white and tender tofu entered her eyes, Qiao Ke took a sip and put it into her mouth. It was tender, smooth, fragrant, and also had the taste of soybeans. "Made of soybeans?"

"Smart, as expected of someone from an aristocratic family." Jiaoniang laughed.

Qiao Ke, however, could not contain her joy. She grabbed her basket and rushed into the kitchen. "Uncle, quickly come and try this!"

Qiao Qing tasted it with a spoonful. He cooked for a much longer time than Qiao Ke, and instantly, many new dishes appeared in his mind. He was extremely excited. "What is this?"

"This thing is called tofu. It can be used for cooking, as well as making soup. It is tasty and nutritious."

"Then this price …" Joe looked at Jiaoniang hesitantly.

"It's cheaper than meat."

The Qiao siblings looked at each other, breathing heavily. Others might not know the value of tofu, but if they cooked dishes for generations, they would understand it better. If they were to preempt others from developing more dishes, would their Qiao Family Restaurant be able to revitalize it?

Qiao Ke was once again convinced that Jiaoniang would absolutely lead their Qiao Family Restaurant towards a revival!

Jiaoniang didn't plan to tell them what to do with the tofu this time. In the end, there was no bottom line to doing business. If she didn't have any chips in her hand, she would be eaten alive.

In addition, she also had another idea. Although it was far away, she still had the method to make tofu. Step by step, there would be a day when she would be able to do it.

Taking ten silvers from the Qiao Family, Jiaoniang had made an agreement with them that they were not to sell tofu at other restaurants for half a year. In addition, Jiaoniang was to give them five more dishes and two other dishes, the price of tofu they bought from Jiaoniang was one percent lower than the price the villagers bought from Jiaoniang.

It was Qiao Ke who had given her a chance to develop. As long as Qiao Ke didn't cross her bottom line, she would be willing to do business with her even if it meant losing money.

With ten taels of Snowflake Silver in her hands, Jiaoniang instantly felt emboldened. She planned to set up a mill outside the small yard with these ten taels of silver, then make the ground in the yard into slabs of limestone and build a pond. When the time came, it would be very convenient to wash and brush the house, but as for the house, ten taels of silver would probably not be enough.

Jiaoniang only knew about these things and told Madam Lin about it after they got home. Madam Lin thought for a while, "I don't know about the matter of digging the well, but if you want to make a millstone, why didn't you find Ye Xuan? When his father was alive, the craftsmanship of making millstones was extremely great. That millstone in the village was made by his grandfather, and it has been used for decades, but it's still fine. "

"Ye Xuan?" Jiaoniang was surprised. Her grandfather could do it, as well as her father, but she had never seen Ye Xuan do it for anyone else!

"Don't look at how that kid is silent. He's an honest man, but his life is a bit tough. His dad also inherited the crafting skills of a millstone. Why don't you ask him? If he doesn't want to do it, I'll go to another village and ask you about it."

"Then I'll ask Ye Xuan first."

Ever since Ye Xuan fled from the mill that day, she rarely saw any trace of him. She didn't know when he came home or when he left.

After returning home to feed the chickens, Jiaoniang looked around from time to time. Ye Xuan's family didn't raise any living things, nor did they grow any vegetables. There was only one Gardenia tree, which was very lush, with some branches even reaching into Jiaoniang's house.

Jiaoniang's family also planted two peach trees, but this spring, too much rain, flowers have been washed away, did not leave any fruit.

Jiaoniang saw that two chickens had grown a few strands of hair these days, it seemed that she would soon be able to eat eggs raised at home.

Jiaoniang wandered around the yard for a while, but did not see Ye Xuan. In the afternoon, the Madam Lin brought the construction team to the house and after choosing their location, they started digging the well.

To dig a well in ancient times was not as sound as it was in modern times, it was extremely difficult to dig a well. For example, to choose a location, one had to choose a well without any obstacles underneath it, which was relatively hard to collapse, and then to use a roller to support the well. When a well was dug to a certain depth, one had to use wood to reinforce it, and the soil that was dug out also needed manpower to be transported here.

In ancient times, digging deeper than ten meters wouldn't have been enough. People digging deeper would have been life-threatening, so when choosing a location, they would dig a meter or so deeper to check the moisture in the soil.

When Jiaoniang first arrived in this world, she had been shocked by the forest cover of this era. When she raised her head, she saw endless green, and when she walked out, the road was filled with ancient trees, the sky was the purest blue, and the temperature was just right.

In the modern world, none of these could even be considered a dream.

After digging the well for a day and a half and spending two or three dollars, the foreman in charge of the well told Jiaoniang that his sister's house was at the foot of the mountain and had a lot of stones. If Jiaoniang was willing to give him the job, he would give Jiaoniang a discount.

Knowing that craftsmen relied on their credibility, Jiaoniang was satisfied with his well work and left the matter to him.

On the second day after the well was built, Jiaoniang finally caught Ye Xuan, who hadn't been home for a long time.