Traveling to an ancient peasant family: I got rich by doing business

The old lady of the He family’s birthday banquet will be on September 8th, and there are still five days to prepare.

Because Han Xiuwen's death anniversary was approaching, Li Yu was not in a hurry to find He Mengyan to order the menu for the banquet. Early in the morning on the third day of the New Year, after selling the braised meat and dishes to several businessmen in the town, she took Han Xiaomei to the town to retrieve the paper items she had made for Han Xiuwen, including paper houses, paper horses, paper cows, and a lot of paper money.

Before she traveled through time, Li Yu didn't believe in these things, she thought they were useless. After traveling through time, she felt that maybe there really were gods and ghosts in the world, otherwise she wouldn't have traveled through time.

The two men returned the donkey cart back home and carried wine, meat, incense and paper objects to Han Xiuwen's tomb to pay their respects.

They thought they had arrived early, but when they got there they found that someone had arrived earlier than them. There were traces of burning paper money in front of Han Xiuwen's tomb.

"Maybe it's him." Han Xiaomei drooped her eyelids and sniffed. The third brother was far away in Nanzhou Prefecture. Who else could pay tribute to the second brother at this time except Han Xiuwu?

Seeing that she was sad, Li Yu said nothing. He put down the wine and meat, lit the incense sticks and inserted them into the pile of earth in front of the tomb. Then he put down the iron basin and threw paper money, paper horses, paper cows, and paper houses into the basin and set them on fire.

"Don't worry, I will take good care of Xiaomei and Han Zheng." She looked at the flying paper ashes and said silently in her heart.

*

Han Xiaomei was depressed for a day, but felt better the next day.

After all, Han Xiuwen has been dead for a year. Those of us who are still alive cannot always be immersed in grief, but must look forward.

Seeing that she understood the situation, Li Yu decided on the menu for the birthday banquet with He Mengyan with peace of mind.

Now the He family has confirmed that the number of guests invited is eighty-three, plus the dozen or so members of the He family, which is almost a hundred people, and there will be ten tables in total.

She planned to put four cold dishes, eight hot dishes, four dim sum dishes, and two soups on each table, a total of eighteen dishes.

She had already decided on the dishes. The cold dishes were cold-mixed pig ears, cold-mixed pig hearts, honey-glazed osmanthus lotus root slices, and cold-mixed lamb. The eight hot dishes were braised pork, fish with basil, duck skewers with lotus leaves, nine-turn large intestine, pot-wrapped pork, stir-fried cauliflower, braised three shredded vegetables, and blanched emerald shrimp. As for the snacks, they were rice cakes, jelly, glutinous rice and date cakes, and chrysanthemum cakes. The last soup was rice wine dumplings and longevity soup.

Li Yu showed He Mengyan the menu he had prepared.

As the eldest daughter of the He family, He Mengyan had not had a good life in recent years, but she had enjoyed all the things she should have enjoyed in the previous years. When she saw Li Yu's menu, she immediately realized that she had found the right person.

She had never eaten many of the dishes here, and if she served them at the birthday party, they would surely give the guests a refreshing experience.

"Boss Li, let's do as you say." He Mengyan took out some silver and pushed it to Li Yu's hand. "These are thirty taels. Take your wages and use the rest to buy things."

After not seeing her for a day, she seemed to have changed a little and didn't look as haggard anymore.

Li Yu pondered for a moment and took out fifteen taels of silver first.

"I'll use this much to buy vegetables and meat. You don't have to worry about paying me for now. It won't be too late to pay me after I finish the work."

He Mengyan saw that she didn't seem to be joking, so she took back the remaining fifteen taels. She had a lot of money to spend recently, and the servants in the mansion were greedy for money and would not do anything without money. In order to make them cooperate, she had to pay money again and again.

*

It was already noon after talking with He Mengyan. Li Yu and Han Xiaomei were too lazy to go home to cook, so they called Han Xiaocao and the three of them had noodles together in the town.

After dinner, Li Yu returned home and started making chrysanthemum cakes.

This was a new snack she planned to teach Aunt Wu and the others.

At first, she wanted to make wife cakes, but when she passed by a shop a few days ago, she accidentally discovered dried edible chrysanthemums, so she changed her mind.

Making chrysanthemum cakes at this time is not only delicious, but also perfect for this season.

Li Yu found nuts, chrysanthemums, fried peanuts, sesame seeds, and walnut kernels and put them on the chopping board and started working.

First scoop out half a bowl of flour, add eggs and oil, knead into a smooth dough, put it in a bowl, cover it with a cloth to let it rise.

Then chop the nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds and walnut kernels together and press them into powder. Then add sugar water, honey water and chrysanthemum shreds and knead them into small balls.

After the dough has risen, pull it into small doughs, press it into sheets, wrap it with small fillings, shape it, and bake it in a pan.

*

Li Yu was always quick at making snacks. In just half an hour, she had made more than thirty chrysanthemum cakes. She kept a few and gave the rest to Aunt Wu and the others, asking them to taste them first. She would teach them after the He family's birthday banquet was over.

Aunt Wu and the others finally got the new dim sum. They were so excited that they started to figure out how to make it without waiting for Li Yu to teach them.

"We can't just rely on Xiu Wen's wife, we have to find a way to make new snacks." The village chief's wife said, "Since chrysanthemums can be used to make cakes, other flowers may also be able to do so. Let's think about it and try more."

Several people agreed, so when Li Yu finished the banquet, he came back and found that they had actually made other snacks based on the chrysanthemum cakes.

Of course, this is a later story, so let’s not talk about it for now. Let’s get back to the birthday party.

*

Jiangyang County, He family.

On the afternoon of September 7th, Li Yu followed He Mengyan to see the preparations in the He family's kitchen.

He Yuanwai's mansion is located in the north of Jiangyang County, covering more than ten acres of land, but just as He Mengyan said, such a large yard has no place for her to stay. On the surface, she is the eldest daughter of the He family, but she is not even as good as the maid in the family.

She was clearly asked to prepare the birthday banquet, but she was not allowed to enter and exit through the main gate of the He family. She wanted to take Li Yu to the kitchen, but she could only go through the side door used by servants. However, Ning's personal maids could go in and out through the main gate.

"I'm used to it." He Mengyan had an embarrassed smile on her face, "I'm just sorry, Boss Li, for asking you to go through the side door."

"It's okay, I don't mind." Li Yu didn't want her to feel guilty about this, and said, "Besides, your kitchen is far from the main door, and I don't want to walk that far!"

He Mengyan understood that she was giving her a way out, so she grabbed her clothes and was very grateful.

*

The He family has a total of three kitchens, just like the Qin family's in the town, with all the necessary items.

Li Yu looked through it and pointed out the pots and pans that would be used tomorrow, and asked He Mengyan to wash them first so that they could be used directly tomorrow.

"By the way, do we want to transport all the vegetables and meat here today?" He Mengyan asked.

The birthday party will be held at noon tomorrow, which means that all the ingredients must be prepared today and start cooking early tomorrow morning.

Li Yu glanced at the maid who was eavesdropping at the door and said, "No need. I will go buy fresh vegetables tomorrow morning. Don't worry, I won't waste your time."

He Mengyan: "Okay, I'll listen to you."

The two stayed in the He family's kitchen for about a quarter of an hour. After they left, Li Yu said, "You can clean those pots and pans tomorrow morning. Don't worry about them today."

He Mengyan: "Didn't you say you'd be ready today..."

Li Yu interrupted her: "I'm afraid someone will do something bad tonight, so you should clean it tomorrow. Otherwise, if you do it today, you will have to do it again tomorrow."