Traveling through ancient times, I led my family to prosperity

Before Xiaolan's family could say anything, they heard Chunhua snort coldly. She probably held a grudge against their family because of the incident at the tofu shop.

"No, our house has its own door and yard, so we'd better live alone." Zhang insisted.

Grandpa Sheng also knew that if the third son's family came to celebrate the New Year, the family would probably have objections. Besides, their family had already separated and forced to stay together would only deepen the conflict. When the New Year came, they would make a scene and be laughed at by the neighbors. Grandpa Sheng sighed and stopped forcing them.

Before leaving, Sheng Xuan expressed his concerns about the outbreak of an epidemic next year. It is not known whether the Sheng family took it seriously, but they did give him a reminder anyway.

After returning home, Sheng Xuan and Zhang loaded things onto the ox cart. Sheng Xuan had to go to Xishan Village later. In addition to sending some festival gifts, he also had to talk to Zhang Shanfeng about the plague.

Zhang Shanfeng and his family came to the tofu shop to help a lot, and they didn't ask for any money. Although they brought them a lot of things when they left, they were all produced by their family, and they didn't prepare any wine or meat. This time, Sheng Xuan cut off a large piece of meat, took two jars of white wine, and ten kilograms of rice.

In the afternoon, Zhang's mother and her two children cleaned the house. They were too busy during the Little New Year. Xiaolan's family was busy with their tofu business and didn't pay attention to it. Now that the family was free, it was the end of the New Year. In the afternoon, they cleaned every corner inside and outside the house and took down the clothes and bedding of the family. This time, they did a big cleaning. They took down the quilt and the cover of the quilt, leaving only the cotton cover. Zhang and Xiaoting sat on the stool and beat the clothes with a mallet.

Xiaolan and Xiaowen were in the main room, boiling water so that Zhang and Xiaoting wouldn't get their hands cold when they washed clothes. In the afternoon, their yard was full of clothes.

Due to the cold weather, the clothes and quilt covers were frozen after being hung up for a while. There were frozen water droplets hanging from the hard edges that were about to fall to the ground, and a puddle of water on the ground also turned into ice.

"Mom, when our family makes money next year, we should buy a new batch of bedding. I think the cotton in the quilt is old." Xiao Lan said.

"Okay, we'll make new quilts next year." Zhang said with a smile. "We'll wring out the quilt cover to make it dryer. It's a thin layer of cloth, and it will probably be dry by tomorrow afternoon. We have to put on new quilts before the New Year."

When Sheng Xuan returned home, the four mothers were almost done. Xiao Lan heard the sound of a bullock cart outside and said with a smile, "Mom, my dad is back."

Several children hurried to open the door. Sheng Xuan parked the ox cart in the yard. The mother and the others saw a lot of things pulled behind the cart.

"How come you brought back so many things?" Zhang muttered softly.

"I said no, but the child's grandparents held me back and wouldn't let me go, and my eldest and second uncles forced us into the car," Sheng Xuan said helplessly.

Xiao Lan and others started unloading the truck, including a basket of frozen pears, a basket of frozen persimmons, a basket of salted duck eggs, a bag of mushrooms, a basket of eggs and two big roosters.

"Have you told them about the epidemic?" Zhang was most concerned about this matter.

"I told you, the child's grandfather is very concerned about it. He will ask the eldest son to go to the town to buy it tomorrow. Don't worry." Sheng Xuan said.

Zhang felt relieved when she heard this.

In the evening, Zhang asked Sheng Xuan to remove the skin of half a pig and soak it in water. She planned to make pig skin jelly the next day.

Xiao Lan and the others were extremely happy when they heard the conversation between Zhang and Sheng Xuan.

In this era, pork jelly is a delicacy that is only cooked during the Chinese New Year. Sheng Xuan and Zhang got up early and got busy. Sheng Xuan first lit the fire in the stove, dried the bottom of the pot, fried the surface of the pork skin, removed the pig hair, washed the pig skin, and handed it to Zhang for processing.

Put the pork skin in cold water and fry it. When the pork skin is translucent, you can take it out. When the pork skin is cool enough to not be hot, Zhang uses a knife to slice off the fat on the surface. This step is crucial if you want the pork skin jelly to be clear and not greasy. Zhang will not waste the fat. He can boil it into lard and cook it.

Cut the removed fat skin into thin strips, about the same thickness as chopsticks. Put it in a large basin and wash it several times with clean water. When there are no more oil spots in the clean water, it means the pig skin has been cleaned.

Add half a pot of cold water, put the pork skin, ginger, star anise and scallion segments in and cook them together. After about an hour, you can add salt and soy sauce. After boiling again, scoop out the seasonings, put them in a basin and set them aside outside. Zhang made two basins of pork jelly. By tomorrow morning, the jelly will be solidified and can be eaten.

Xiao Lan watched Zhang's skillful movements and came up with an idea to make money. Before, she only thought that lard tasted good, and she actually forgot that lard could be used to make soap.

Yesterday, Xiaolan watched Zhang and Xiaoting wash clothes and repeatedly beat them with a mallet to remove stains. At that time, she was thinking about how to make soap, but she couldn't remember how to make it after thinking for a long time. Today, when Zhang was making the jelly, she suddenly had an idea.

In the afternoon, the sheets and quilts that were dried yesterday were all dry, so Zhang and Xiaoting got busy, one sewing the quilt and the other sewing the mattress. The quilt and mattress were both quite thick, and both of them brought finger-buckle thimbles to use. Xiaolan was not good at sewing, so she couldn't help, so she could only watch her mother and her elder sister sew and learn from them.

Seeing that Xiaolan was learning very seriously, Zhang couldn't bear to discourage her enthusiasm, so she let her thread the needle and sew with them.

Zhang and Xiaoting both sewed very fast. Xiaolan, however, was much slower. Fortunately, she could do this job slowly. When she felt the needle was too hot, she rubbed it on her hair like Zhang did, and then it went smoothly when she sewed again.

In the evening, her family's quilt and mattress were finally sewn. Xiaolan was busy showing off her achievements to her mother. Although the formation was a little crooked, it was still very impressive if you didn't look closely. Zhang nodded with satisfaction and encouraged her.

After dinner, Xiaolan and her family sat on the kang and chatted. "Dad, Mom, our life is getting better and better, and we will make more and more money in the future. I think that our family has worked hard for this tofu workshop. Although we are family members, we still have to pay our wages."

When Shengxuan and Zhang heard Xiaolan say this, they both said no.