Traveling through ancient times, I led my family to prosperity

After some refusals, Xin happily agreed. Zhang led Xiaoting to cook, and Xin couldn't sit still, so she followed to help. There were two simple dishes in the evening, one was cabbage and tofu stewed meatballs, and the other was steamed egg custard. The staple food was homemade buns.

After dinner, Sheng Yugui and Sheng Jiaxing came to pick up Xin’s mother and daughter. From then on, the relationship between the two families became closer.

During the New Year holidays, Sheng Xuan either went out to attend banquets or stayed at home to learn archery with Xiao Lan. When Sheng Xuan was not at home, Xiao Wen took over and practiced with Xiao Lan. The targets at home were made by Sheng Xuan in his spare time. Seeing Xiao Lan's archery skills hit the target every time, the father and son were extremely envious.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Xiaolan's family had breakfast and went to the tofu workshop behind the house to clean up. They planned to open the tofu workshop on the twelfth day of the first lunar month. The workshop had been cleaned up before the New Year. The mother and her family washed the dust off the grinding disc, iron pot, and molds with clean water. Shengxuan made molds according to Xiaolan's requirements because she wanted to try making other soy products.

Put the beans soaked last night into the grinding disc and grind them into soy milk. Then use linen to filter the dregs. The dregs need to be washed repeatedly until there is no pulp. Put the soy milk into the pot and boil it, then add pulp and wait for the soy milk to become tofu pudding. Xiaolan asked Xiaoting to lay a layer of original linen under the long mold that Shengxuan had just made, then use a ladle to scoop up tofu pudding and pour it on the linen, and then lay another layer of linen. Repeat this operation many times, and it looks like thousands of sheets stacked together. After the entire mold is stacked, cover the mold with a wooden board, and then use a large stone to press on the wooden board to squeeze out the water.

Half an hour later, Xiao Lan saw that all the moisture had been squeezed out, so she asked Zhang to bring a long rolling pin for rolling noodles. Sheng Xuan took the tofu skin out of the mold and moved it to the table. He used the rolling pin to roll up the linen cloth layer by layer and took out the intact tofu skin.

"Girl, what are you doing?" Zhang and Sheng Xuan asked in surprise while taking out tofu skin and linen.

"Mom, this is tofu skin, also called thousand sheets. Let's try it at noon today. If it tastes good, we'll serve it as a new product."

Zhang was delighted and said with a smile, "Okay, my daughter's idea is not bad."

At this time, another pot of soy milk was ground out. Pour boiling water into the soy milk, stir it with a ladle for a few times, skim off the top layer of foam and start filtering the residue. Pour the filtered juice into the pot and boil it. Skim off the foam on the pot. As the water in the soy milk slowly evaporates, a thin layer of skin condenses on the surface of the soy milk. Xiao Lan quickly grabs it with her hands and hangs it on the railing prepared early in the morning. The fire on the stove cannot be burned too quickly, and the soy milk in the pot cannot be allowed to boil. Boiling soy milk will not condense a skin. As the water evaporates, the surface of the soy milk will repeatedly form a skin, and then repeat the previous action. When the surface of the soy milk no longer condenses a skin, turn up the fire until the soy milk is cooked until it becomes viscous, wrap the skin that has just been hung with these mucus, and then dry it in a ventilated place.

"Miss, what are you doing?" Zhang asked.

"Mom, this is called yuba, but it has to be dried before it can be eaten." Xiao Lan said with a smile.

"My daughter, you are so amazing. How come you have so many novel ideas in your head?" Zhang sighed.

After finishing this pot, the mother and her two daughters went back to the front room to cook, while Shengxuan and Xiaowen continued making molds.

At noon, Xiaolan cut the tofu skin and green onions into thin strips and put them on a plate for later use. She boiled water in a pot and added a little salt. After the water boiled, she put the tofu skin in and blanched it, then took it out and put it in cold water to cool it down. She squeezed out the water and put it in a bowl. Then Xiaolan began to prepare the sauce. She smashed the garlic with a knife and cut it into minced garlic, chopped the chili pepper, put it in a bowl, poured hot oil on it to stimulate the aroma, and then added vinegar, salt, and soy sauce to mix well, then poured it into the bowl with tofu skin and green onion strips, and after mixing well, it was ready to eat.

"Xiao Lan, the tofu skin you made is so delicious." Zhang and Xiao Ting watched Xiao Lan making it the whole time. They didn't have to eat it, just looking at it made it look delicious.

"Mom, this tofu skin tastes good when fried with chili peppers. But it needs to be blanched in boiling water before frying to remove the bean smell. But it can't be fried for too long, otherwise the tofu skin will be cooked." Xiao Lan said.

"Okay, then I'll give it a try." Zhang was eager to try.

There were two dishes for lunch, one was cold tofu skin and the other was fried tofu skin with chili peppers, and the staple food was steamed buns.

"Second sister, this tofu skin is so delicious. It tastes completely different from tofu." Xiao Wen said.

"I think the tofu skin is chewy and tastes just as good as tofu. When Tianxianglou opens, I'll get some and ask Manager Xu." Sheng Xuan said.

"Mom, you can make pressed tofu with my elder sister this afternoon. I want to make some dried tofu as well." Xiao Lan said.

"Okay." Seeing how successful the bean curd was, Zhang agreed without hesitation. Zhang felt that the whole family's cleverness was on Xiaolan, and she was now impressed by her.

"Mom, let's make these three new products first and then see what Manager Xu thinks." Xiao Lan continued.

In the afternoon, Zhang and Xiaoting poured the tofu pudding into the mold. This time, Xiaolan squeezed out all the moisture in the tofu, took out the tofu, spread a layer of salt on the surface, and then cut it into cubes with a rolling pin. They first steamed it in a pot, and then put it in a sieve to dry. When the surface turned slightly yellow and oily, the tofu was ready.

After dinner, Xiao Lan discussed with Sheng Xuan and Zhang, "Mom and Dad, please take some time to go to grandpa's house and talk to my uncle about letting him manage our tofu workshop. I want to teach him the recipe for making tofu and let him order soy milk in the future. Do you think it's okay?"

Shengxuan and Zhang both know that the key to making tofu lies in making it well. Xiaolan's family trusts the Zhang family, and they both know that making tofu well is not an easy job for a girl. Now that three new products have been added, the quantity will increase and the work will become more demanding.

Seeing that neither of them spoke, Xiao Lan continued, "Our family can't just do this one business. I want to do other things. Dad and Mom, you have to get rid of the work on hand as soon as possible. We can just manage it. There's no need to do everything ourselves. Besides, our family has bought a lot of land. When the house is built, we should hire farmhands to take care of the business. Xiao Wen will also go to private school in the spring. We only have a few hands in our family. There's really no need to do everything ourselves."

Hearing this, Sheng Xuan and Zhang both nodded. They still had a small peasant mentality and wanted to be content with a small fortune, but they didn't know that their daughter had already made such long-term plans for her family.

After two days of drying, the yuba finally dried. Xiaolan took five yuba and broke them into small pieces, soaking them in cold water. Then she soaked a handful of black fungus. After an hour, the yuba was ready, and it was elastic and not hard. Heat oil in a pan, add chopped green onions and chili peppers, stir-fry until fragrant, then pour in the yuba and black fungus, stir-fry, add soy sauce and salt to taste, turn on high heat, stir-fry for about a cup of tea, and then serve.

While Xiaolan was making the bean curd sheets, Xiaoting made some cold bean curd skin and cut some dried tofu.

After putting the dishes and rice on the table, Xiaolan's door was pushed open before she started eating. It turned out to be the shopkeeper Xu from Tianxianglou, who came with snacks and wine.