Flowers in full bloom

Hua Lei asked Xiao Xiao to find Luo Xile and ask him to drive the mule cart on the farm back. He said that he didn't need to follow Uncle Fu tomorrow. After finishing the morning market at the bookstore and the bun shop, he should go to the pottery shop in Beiliu Eighth Lane in Beicheng District to buy three more pottery pots. By the way, he should ask if a batch of the pre-ordered jars could be delivered first. Twenty or thirty would be fine.

When the jars are delivered, they will need to be processed first. When the jars are usable, they can be made into candied peaches according to the ripeness of the peaches. Luo Xile agreed and he and Uncle Fu drove their mule carts back to the city.

The next morning, after Hua Lei finished breakfast, she started to experiment in the kitchen with Aunt Zhao and others. They started with peach jam. With yesterday's experience, everyone was much more skillful today. They first weighed five pounds of peaches with a small scale, washed them, peeled them and removed the cores. Yesterday they cut them into small pieces, but today they cut them directly into small dices.

Then put it in a clay pot, add an appropriate amount of sugar, stir evenly, and then put in water that just covers the peach pulp, boil it over high heat, then turn to low heat, and use a spatula to stir and squeeze it constantly to prevent the pot from getting stuck. After the water boils, people cannot leave the stove and must stir constantly. Aunt Zheng, who was standing by, felt a little distressed when she saw Hua Lei waving her thin arms with a spatula, and stepped forward and said, "Boss, let me do it, you just watch from the side."

"Okay, thank you Aunt Zheng, I'm really a little weak." Hualei handed the shovel to Aunt Zheng, shook her sore arms, and stood aside. After half an hour, the water in the pottery pot was almost gone, the peach pulp was squeezed into a puree, and the whole jam looked a bit thick.

Hualei took a clean spoon, scooped a small spoonful directly from the pot, picked up a little on the spoon with chopsticks, put it in her mouth, tasted it carefully, and felt it was not sweet enough. Hualei took a small scale, weighed some yellow and white sugar, and slowly sprinkled the sugar evenly with Aunt Zheng's shovel. After a cup of tea, Hualei took a clean spoon again, scooped a small spoonful from the pot, picked up a little with chopsticks, and put it in her mouth.

The jam slowly melted in the mouth, sweet with a slight sourness, dense, fragrant and soft, with the fragrance of the fruit filling the whole mouth. Hualei smiled with satisfaction, holding up the spoon for Aunt Zhao and the others to taste. While asking Kong Niuniu, who was burning the fire, to stop the fire, Aunt Zheng stirred it for a while, and when the fire was completely extinguished, she spread the jam on the bottom of the pot and put down the spatula.

Taking the spoon from Hualei, she took a bite and narrowed her eyes. "It's delicious. This will definitely sell well. I've never tasted such delicious sauce before." Niuniu also raised her chopsticks and nodded happily. Aunt Zhao asked, "Boss, do you need to boil water to make this?"

"Well, you can drink it with boiling water, or spread it on steamed buns or eat it as a snack." "It's delicious, so good. The peaches on the farm can be sold for money," said Mrs. Fu, Zhao's wife, who had been helping out on the side, happily, and everyone laughed.

Hualei also completed the jam recipe in Xiaoxiao's record and put it in her sleeve. The success of canned peaches and peach jam boosted everyone's confidence, and they all said they wanted to continue making peach preserves.

She took the peaches again, washed them, peeled them, and pitted them, then cut them into long strips as thick as an adult's thumb, sprinkled them with appropriate amounts of yellow and white sugar, and marinated them for an hour. While they were marinating, Hualei asked Aunt Zhao and the others to prepare lunch. The sun was already overhead, and it should be almost noon. Everyone was so immersed in making peach jam that they had forgotten the time.

It was not until Hua Lei saw people who had just returned from outside looking into the kitchen from time to time that she realized it was almost noon and her stomach was growling. Aunt Zhao also laughed and immediately started washing rice and cooking. Others also helped by washing, picking and cooking vegetables, working like an assembly line. By the time the rice was cooked, seven or eight dishes had already been served on the table.

Everyone had a simple lunch. Aunt Zhao couldn't wait to look at the pickled peach pulp. She saw that there was already a layer of water filtered out from the pickling at the bottom of the basin. Aunt Zhao turned the pulp over again and stirred it to ensure that the pulp on top was also pickled thoroughly.

After waiting for another half an hour, pour the pulp and the pickled syrup into the ceramic pot, add appropriate amount of water, bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer for a cup of tea. Stir evenly with a spatula. After cooling, pour into a deep small ceramic jar, pour the remaining syrup in the pot into the jar, seal it with clean gauze, cover it with a wooden lid, and put it in a cool place to soak for five or six hours. See you tomorrow.

By the time everything was cleaned up, Hua Lei was so tired that she couldn't even straighten her back. She had been in the kitchen all day and didn't take a break at noon. Although it was Aunt Zhao and Aunt Zheng who did the work, Hua Lei still felt exhausted. Her body was still small and couldn't stand the fatigue.

She slowly returned to her room, rested on the couch by the window for a while, got up and went to the desk, took out her little notebook, and began to carefully organize the specific production methods of peach syrup and jam, the ratio of syrup, and all the matters that needed attention. Although the preserved fruit was not successful yet, she also recorded the previous steps in detail to avoid forgetting them tomorrow. When she was almost done, Xiaoxiao came in and called Hualei for dinner.

After the meal, Hua Lei gave some instructions to the people on the farm, especially those in the kitchen today, telling them not to talk about things on the farm with outsiders easily, and not to mention the methods of cooking these fruits. Although these methods are actually very simple, as long as others see them, eat them, and study them, they will definitely imitate them almost exactly. But Hua Lei still gave some instructions, at least so that this batch of goods can be sold at a good price with a time difference.

Naturally, everyone promised that if this batch of goods could be sold, it would not only be good for the farm, but also for them. The boss was kind, peaceful and tolerant. If they worked hard, they would not suffer any loss. If the goods could not be sold, the boss would not make any money. If they had to sell the farm again, they would not know what kind of person the new boss would be. Although they were all people who worked for a living, it was the same no matter which company they worked for, but a kind and tolerant boss was always better than a mean and harsh boss. Everyone knew this clearly, needless to say.

Hua Lei looked at Brother Xiao Kong again and said carefully, "Brother Xiao Kong, I want to discuss something with you. Is that okay?" Brother Xiao Kong hurriedly said respectfully, "Master, don't be so polite. Please tell me what you want to say."

"I... I want you to spend an hour every day teaching the people in the village to read. You don't need to teach them anything too complicated or profound. You just need to teach them to recognize their own names and count some simple numbers. It would be even better if they can read contracts or something in the future. If one hour a day is difficult, half an hour will do. What do you think? Of course, I will give you an extra ounce of monthly silver on top of the original amount... Is this feasible?"

Hua Lei paused, and then said, "Although one or two taels is a little less, but I am not well off now, so I dare not promise you too much. When I am well off in the future, we can still discuss it." "This..." Brother Kong stared at Hua Lei in a daze, unable to speak. Everyone was also shocked.