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

After noon, it started to drizzle again. Li Yu simply stopped going out and made a detailed plan to make money at home.

Before Butler Zhao came, she was hesitant about whether to rent a shop. After Butler Zhao came, she was sure to rent a shop.

After all, the profit from a small stall is limited, so we still have to expand the business.

Only by developing new product categories based on selling braised meat and attracting more customers can you make more money.

Li Yu wrote down the food that could be sold one by one, and decided to start buying the corresponding ingredients and try making them.

After being so busy until the end of the afternoon, Li Yu put down his pen and started making snails.

*

There are many ways to cook snails. Li Yu likes to eat spicy fried snails, but snails are full of parasites, so to be on the safe side, she decided to combine stir-frying and boiling.

First blanch the snails in water with scallions, ginger and rice wine, then remove and wash.

Next, pour oil into a clean, water-free pot, and add onion, ginger, garlic, dried chili peppers, dried Sichuan peppercorns, soybean paste and other seasonings in turn and stir-fry until fragrant. Then add the snails and stir-fry for a while. Finally, pour in a small amount of rice wine, add water, bring to a boil, cover the pot and simmer for 25 minutes.

The kitchen was filled with fragrance, and Han Xiaomei's attention was completely attracted to it.

Seeing this, Li Yu thought of another delicacy - snail noodles.

Like stinky tofu, people who love it love it, but people who don’t love it simply cannot accept it.

She is the type who likes to eat.

When bamboo shoots are available in a while, she will make some pickled bamboo shoots and eat them with snail noodles.

*

When the snails were ready, Han Zheng also arrived home.

Li Yu asked him to clean up by himself, and she took a big bowl of snails and walked towards Aunt Wu's house at the foot of the mountain.

Aunt Wu was tending to the vegetable garden. When she saw Li Yu, she quickly came over and asked, "Aren't you busy today?"

"I'm not busy." Li Yu handed the snails over. "Aunt Wu, how about you try some?"

Yeah! She really gave it to me.

Aunt Wu smiled like a flower and called Li Yu to go into the house with her to talk.

Uncle Wu was also at home. When he saw Li Yu, he took the initiative to talk to him.

Li Yu replied with two sentences, then changed the subject and said, "Uncle Wu, I made some snails, you can try them too."

Uncle Wu and Aunt Wu looked at each other and decided that even if the food tasted bad, they would say it was delicious and they must not embarrass Li Yu.

Li Yu simply told the two which parts they should eat, and then waited by the side.

The shell of the cooked snails becomes lighter in color, and is coated with red peppers and sauce, with a unique spicy smell.

Aunt Wu took a breath, picked up a wooden skewer, and stabbed the meat. She kept the bottom part and ate the rest.

There is very little edible snail meat, but even this little bit made Aunt Wu taste a new flavor.

The soup is spicy and fragrant. The snail meat, which is completely soaked in the soup, is spicy and chewy, without any earthy smell of the snail itself.

Aunt Wu then ate three more snails before putting down the bamboo skewer.

"Li Yu, I'm afraid no one in this area can cook snails better than you."

Uncle Wu usually doesn’t talk much, but now he couldn’t help but praise it, “It’s really delicious.” It should be a good side dish for drinking.

Li Yu was very satisfied with the answer he heard, and then he went on to talk about his plans.

"I want to start a fried snail business while there are still snails, but I'm usually busy and don't have time to try it. I wonder if Aunt Wu is willing to help me get some. I will pay you the snail fee and labor according to the market price."

Aunt Wu didn't have much to do at home on weekdays, so when she heard that she could make money, she quickly agreed, "It's not difficult to catch snails. I can catch as many as you want. But I don't want any wages. You send us braised meat every now and then, which is already a big expense."

Li Yu shook his head, "You still have to pay me, otherwise I'd be embarrassed to ask for it."

"You are so polite." Aunt Wu smiled happily. She really didn't make a mistake. Li Yu was a thoughtful person. But...

Aunt Wu said, "In a few days, my family will be harvesting late rice, so I may not be able to help you then."

The late rice harvest in Qingshui Village is in October of the lunar calendar every year, which is only a few days away. Li Yu knew about this and said, "It's okay, just take as much as you can."

"Okay, it's up to you."

The three of them were so busy talking that they didn't notice there was a person standing at the gate of the courtyard. When they finished talking, the person left in a hurry.

*

Qian ran home happily.

Wu Dagou, the head of her family, was sitting in the yard drinking. Seeing her flustered, he said unhappily, "What were you doing so late at night? Are you deliberately being lazy because I'm not at home?"

Qian walked over to pour wine for Wu Dagou in a flattering manner, "Boss, I'm not lazy. I'm telling you, I just found out a way to make money."

Wu Dagou glanced at her and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? If you have time to think about those messy things, you might as well sharpen the sickle so that you can harvest the rice in a few days."

Qian said, "We only have five mu of paddy fields. How much money can we earn from harvesting rice? Boss, don't disbelieve me, I know a way to make a lot of money." She lowered her voice, "I just passed by the foot of the mountain and happened to hear Li talking. Guess what business she wants to start."

Hearing Li Yu's name, Wu Dagou finally took it seriously and said, "Hurry up and tell me. Don't keep me in suspense."

Qian said, "Selling fried snails."

Wu Dagou's face darkened. "No one eats those snails. You must have heard wrongly."

"It's absolutely true." Qian said, "I never heard wrong, Boss. Why don't we catch more snails and sell them after cooking them?"

She wants to catch all the snails in the river and take over the Li family's business. Then her family will make a lot of money and make those people in the village who speak the Li language regret it!

Qian fantasized about the future, but Wu Dagou was worried, "Can you make the snails delicious?"

"Even if it doesn't taste good, there will definitely be people who buy it." Qian said, "Li Yu comes from a poor family, what good recipe can she have? If you ask me, her braised meat sells well, but it's just because the people in the town take pity on her and take care of her. Can her cooking skills be as good as mine?"

When Wu Dagou heard this, he thought it made sense and said, "Then let's go catch snails tomorrow." There was a new kind of osmanthus wine available in the town recently. A jar cost one or two taels of silver. When his family made money, he would buy ten or eight jars.

*

Because they caught so many snails, the family didn't finish them in the evening and there were still three or four pounds left. The next day, Li Yu put them in a bowl, put them on a cart, and took them to the town to sell them, just to see the market reaction in advance.

After a night, the road was still not dry and it was difficult to walk on. Han Zheng and Han Xiaomei pushed the cart with great effort from behind and the family finally reached the town safely.

Li Yu looked at the two men's red faces from exhaustion and thought that it was inconvenient in ancient times. It was a pity that she was a liberal arts student in modern times and was not very proficient in chemistry, otherwise she would have found a way to make cement no matter what.

The man selling sesame cakes still helped Li Yu save a seat. Li Yu greeted him and put all the meat out to sell.

After a while, the first customer came to the stall and exclaimed in surprise when he saw the snails.