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

The two spies quickly left Meihua Manor and found a town with an inn, a tavern and a gambling house.

They planned to come back tomorrow morning. Princess Jianing couldn't walk and couldn't return to the capital today anyway.

They were not worried that their lazy behavior would be known by others. The weather in the capital was cold, especially at night. Although it was not so cold that water would freeze into ice, it was still freezing cold, and the other companions would not come.

*

Because the two spies were away, Li Yu and Princess Jianing's plan went exceptionally smoothly.

The next day, the three of them got into an ordinary carriage without any obstacles and left under the escort of their subordinates.

Just like last time, there were three people of similar size in the house to confuse the two spies.

Hujiazhuang and Meihuazhuang were not far apart, and the carriage arrived there in an hour.

After the car entered the large house where the master family lived on the north side of the manor, everyone had breakfast first. Then Li Yu went to meet Mr. Xiang who had arrived at the manor yesterday, while Han Xiaomei and Princess Jianing went to select people.

Mr. Xiang has already prepared everything. Twenty pigs, all of which were slaughtered yesterday and have been cut up.

Li Yu nodded when she saw that the pork was cut well, and then asked Mr. Xiang to take her to see the seasoning.

In ancient times, unlike modern times, many seasonings were expensive.

Fortunately, the Crown Princess's family had connections, so the seasonings this time did not cost much money.

The seasonings have been sorted according to Li Yu's requirements. In addition, there is wine, which must be applied to the meat before adding salt.

Li Yu took a rough look at a few things and seeing that there was no problem, he prepared to ask people to start.

First, make the marinated meat. This is relatively simple. After applying white wine to the meat, apply salt evenly on the meat according to a certain ratio. Modern people like to add other seasonings when making marinated meat. Li Yu thinks that just adding salt is also good, so he simply does it this time.

The next thing is the bacon and bacon ribs. Li Yu needs to find the seasonings and salt and stir-fry them together first, which is a bit troublesome, so do this last.

Then it was the sausages. Li Yu picked out some meat and put it in a basin, asking Mr. Xiang to find someone to cut them into small strips later.

*

Mr. Xiang looked at the meat scattered everywhere and said, "Madam Li, it's fortunate that you are the one who made these requests. If it were any of us, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would never agree."

There are so many things, if something is not done well, it would be a waste.

Li Yu smiled and said, "His Royal Highness agreed because I am a cook and he thinks I can do it. If he asked me to do your work, His Royal Highness would definitely be worried about me."

That's the truth.

However, Mr. Xiang felt that if Madam Li really did the same job as him, she would not necessarily do worse than him.

*

The people working this time were all from the farm. Princess Jianing selected a dozen of them to make pickled meat. After Li Yu taught them how to rub wine and salt on the meat, he selected a dozen others with good knife skills and asked them to cut the meat strips for making sausages.

In addition, there were more than 30 people washing pig intestines. All the small intestines of 20 pigs were left behind and needed to be washed and used as sausage casings.

After arranging all these, Li Yu found the scale and called Han Xiaomei to go with her to weigh the seasonings.

Han Xiaomei and she worked together very well. One of them weighed the ingredients while the other mixed the seasonings. In a short time, they had made ten pots.

Thinking that it was enough, Li Yu called people and asked them to move out.

She first demonstrated by frying one portion, and then several women who were good at frying each brought a pot of seasoning to fry.

I didn’t dismantle all the pots and stoves from the last time I taught you how to cook, so some are still left and I just happened to need them now.

However, Li Yu was afraid that the women would overcook the food, so while they were frying the seasonings, he kept walking around and immediately reminded them if he saw anyone doing something wrong.

*

For a whole day, people in the house and some people in the farm were on the move.

The people in the village mainly make pickled meat, while the people in the house are responsible for making sausages and bacon.

By the time it was slightly dark, the bacon and pickled meat had been finished, and only some sausages were left.

Seeing that the workers were tired, Li Yu let them go first, and she and Han Xiaomei cleaned up the rest.

Anyway, there isn't much left, and at the speed they are going, they can finish it in an hour at the latest.

However, when Li Yu took action, Princess Jianing suddenly said that she wanted to try.

Li Yu looked at the pig intestines.

In order to make it taste better, I washed it many times, but it doesn't feel good to the touch.

"Princess, are you sure?" Li Yu asked.

Princess Jianing had her arms tied up: "I'm sure, don't worry, I can eat pig intestines, why would I dislike this?"

Li Yu thought so too, so she stood up and gave her chair to Princess Jianing, and instructed her to do it.

Princess Jianing did not really dislike it. On the contrary, she was very excited and full of energy.

"After I finish making these, I will take them back to the capital and let my father and mother taste them later. After all, I made them myself."

Li Yu smiled and said yes.

*

Since the bacon and pickled meat need to be marinated for several days, and there are other processes to be done, Li Yu and his companions stayed on the farm.

In fact, the time in between is enough for them to return to the capital and wait a few days for the meat to be marinated. But if they want to go back, they have to go back to Meihuazhuang first, and then return to the capital from there. When coming from the capital, they have to go through the previous procedures again. It's really tiring going back and forth.

Moreover, their frequent visits to the manor would inevitably attract the attention of people with ulterior motives, so it would be better for them to finish their work at the manor before leaving.

Since there was someone watching over him at home, Li Yu simply stayed there with peace of mind.

Hujiazhuang mainly grows grain, so there is not much to do.

The only advantage is its safety. The village is surrounded by a wall, so they can leave the mansion and wander around the village without any worries.

*

Time passed quickly, and after a few days, the bacon and pickled meat were all pickled.

Seeing that the weather was good, Li Yu asked everyone to carry out the meat and hang it up to dry.

This time she cooked a lot of meat, and in order to save seasoning, she mixed the ingredients according to the proportions she had learned and tested in modern times. The meat did not need to be washed with hot water, but could be directly air-dried in the sun.

Because part of the bacon needed to be smoked, Li Yu had someone build a rack in advance and also had someone cut some cypress branches.

The meat was then hung on a rack and cypress branches placed underneath and lit.

It was the first time for everyone to see this and they all looked surprised.

Li Yu briefly explained it to Princess Jianing and Mr. Xiang.

The two couldn't imagine the smell of smoke and both showed anticipation.

*

Li Yu didn't plan to make so much smoked bacon, so it took him two days to finish it.

Other bacon, pickled meat and sausages are hung under the eaves.

If the eaves are not enough, hang it on the shelf.

Mr. Xiang had a lot of shelves made in advance, some made of wood and some made of bamboo, which added up to quite a lot. These shelves could be moved outside during the day and moved back to the empty rooms at night. There were many rooms in the house, so it was enough.

When everything was hung, the house was full of meat.

Mr. Xiang swallowed unconsciously and said, "When it's done, I want to try it first no matter what."

Li Yu said: "I will do it for you myself when the time comes."

Mr. Xiang hurriedly thanked him.

*

After all, with so much meat, some people might have inappropriate thoughts. Before leaving, Mr. Xiang asked Princess Jianing for instructions and called everyone on the farm together to beat them.

He also said that he would come over in a few days.

Everyone in Zhuangzi was afraid of him and responded devoutly.

Li Yu and his group left Hujiazhuang in the afternoon and arrived at Meijiazhuang when it got dark.

The two spies in Prince Hui's mansion were still not there, so they entered the house smoothly.

The next day, after breakfast, several people got on the carriage of Prince An's Mansion and returned to Beijing in a grand manner.

At this time, the capital city was already bustling with activity.