Traveling through ancient times, I led my family to prosperity

"Mom, I plan to make a seasoning with sea cucumber." Xiao Lan took a bite of sea cucumber and her eyes were filled with happiness.

"Seasoning?" Zhang Shanfeng asked.

"Yes, I plan to continue making soap for a while, and open a food store after I make money. This seasoning is the secret weapon. It is the key to distinguish our food store from other food stores."

The family is no longer surprised by Xiaolan's wild ideas.

"Now we have to look for a suitable location to open a shop." Xiao Lan said.

"Aren't we going back to Shengjia Village? After all, that's where our roots are." Sheng Xuan said hesitantly.

Zhang Qingfeng and Fu were also looking at Xiaolan. They were thinking about going back to make tofu.

"Dad, let's go back. The government office hasn't posted any notice yet, and we don't know what the situation is over there. We'll go back after the notice is posted." Xiao Lan said.

"Is the food shop in the city still open? Before we returned to Shengjia Village, our family had enough manpower. But when we returned to our hometown, there were not so many people in the shop." Zhang said.

"Mom, don't worry about this. We can hire a manager, an accountant and some clerks, and we just need to check the account books once a month." Xiao Lan said.

Zhang Shanfeng nodded with satisfaction. His granddaughter was a smart person and judging by the current momentum, the business would only grow bigger in the future.

After lunch, the mothers and the others continued to process the sea cucumbers, then rinsed them with water and put them into the pot in batches to dry.

Sheng Xuan and Zhang Qingfeng were arranged by Xiao Lan to buy grinding wheels for grinding spices.

The millstones were bought, and the men ground the flour while the women dried the sea cucumbers. The sea cucumber powder was collected and placed in a jar, which became Xiaolan's seasoning.

The method of making sea rice noodle is simple, but others just can’t think of it. This information gap is the secret of Xiaolan’s business. In fact, many things in the world seem simple when you watch others do them, but you just can’t think of it.

In the evening, Xiaolan's family had finished making the sea intestine rice noodle. Shengxuan weighed it on a scale and it weighed more than 20 kilograms. Now their family blindly supported Xiaolan's decision. And they all thought that since sea intestines were so delicious when fried, then grinding them into powder should also be great to enhance the flavor.

In this era, there was no MSG, chicken powder or other seasonings. Their family was not a wealthy family, they had maids and servants to serve them, and they could make soup every day. This sea rice noodle soup would be their secret recipe for opening a shop.

Two portions of food were prepared for the evening, one with sea rice noodle rolls and one without, and then everyone started to taste them. This was a big deal for Xiaolan's food store, so everyone was very serious, and in the end everyone agreed that the vegetables with sea rice noodle rolls were more delicious.

If the food produced by a food shop is delicious, it will attract many returning customers and the income will be considerable.

The whole family was very excited.

Xiao Lan gave everyone a heads-up in advance, "This is our family secret, and no one can tell it."

The Zhang family was also very touched. They knew Xiaolan's family's past tofu and soap recipes, as well as the current sea sausage rice noodle recipe. Xiaolan did not avoid them and truly treated them as family.

"Shouldn't such a good thing have a name?" Xin said.

"Of course, how about just calling it MSG?" Xiao Lan said.

"It's a good name. It's hard to tell what it was extracted from. Not bad." Zhang Shanfeng said with a smile. The old man turned to the Zhang family and said, "You are not stupid. You all know the importance of the secret recipe. You all keep your mouths shut. If I find out that the secret recipe of your family has been spread out, don't blame me for being rude."

Everyone knew the importance of the secret recipe, and Xiaolan's family trusted them. They also knew the secret recipes of tofu and soap, but they didn't spread it out. Xiaolan still trusted them.

The city is close to the sea. After the family knew that Xiaolan was going to make soap, Zhang Qingfeng and Zhang Qingnian took some dry food, drove two horse-drawn carriages, and took Fu, Liu, and Xiaoyan to the beach to pick up shells.

Sheng Xuan took Zhang and Xiao Lan to the market to buy pig fat and a large earthenware jar, while Zhang Shanfeng and Xin stayed at home to look after the house. Xiao Wen, Xiao Hu, Xiao Cheng and Xiao Qiang continued to study with Mr. Huang.

At noon, Xiao Lan came back with Sheng Xuan and Zhang. This time they bought five sets of lard.

The weather is hot now, and the lard cannot be kept, so it needs to be boiled out as soon as possible. After a simple lunch, Zhang and Xin began to clean the lard. Xiaolan and Xiaoting cut the lard into pieces of moderate size and put the lard into the iron pot. This time, they bought a lot of lard and boiled several pots.

Zhang Shanfeng and Sheng Xuan were in charge of lighting the fire, while Xiao Lan and Xiao Ting were in charge of boiling the oil.

After Zhang and Xin finished cleaning the lard, they began to clean the two large tile pots that Sheng Xuan bought.

The weather is hot now, and even if the lard is cooled, it will not solidify into a white solid. Wagang bought a large one, and after five sets of lard were refined, a full tank and a half of oil was produced.

A large pot of oil-sucking soup was also cooked.

"Let's make dumplings tonight. We haven't had dumplings for a long time." Xiao Lan said.

"What kind of filling do you want?" Zhang asked with a smile.

"Mom, let's make leek oil shuttle stuffing. It's a good opportunity to try out our MSG. Let's make two kinds this time, one with MSG and one without."

"Row."

Xin picked up a kitchen knife and went to the backyard to cut leeks, while Zhang kneaded the dough. Xiaoting was in charge of chopping the oil spindles into small pieces, and mixing the rest with salt to save for later.

There were no refrigerators in ancient times. When the weather was hot, people would usually pickle the oil with salt. Besides, the oil sticks are dry, so they can be stored for a longer time.

At this time, there are almost no dead or rotten leaves on the leeks, so they only need to be cleaned up a little. When Xin cut the leeks into thin stubble, Xiaoting also cut the oil shuttle.

This time, we used wheat flour and bean flour to make dumplings. This was the first time our family had dumplings in nearly half a year, so we made a lot.

Zhang Shanfeng and Sheng Xuan were in charge of rolling the dough, while Xin, Zhang, Xiaoting and Xiaolan were in charge of wrapping it. When Xiaowen and the others got out of school in the evening, they went to the stove to light the fire.

"When the situation stabilizes, we will return to Shengjia Village and I will raise pigs. From now on, we can use the lard from our own pigs and won't have to spend extra money." Zhang was making dumplings while chatting about family matters.

"Wait for me to raise them with you. Our house is big, so raising a dozen or twenty heads won't be a problem." Xin said with a smile.

"Yes, there is a lot of land over there, and we can raise chickens and ducks. In the future, we can be self-sufficient in chicken and duck eggs." Zhang said.

The family hasn't eaten eggs much in the past six months. The last time they ate eggs, they were the ones Zhao Dongjia brought over last time.