Song Sanniang's Journey to Wealth

Song Lao Er went to the grain shop first. The weather was good, so the price of grain had not risen. Brown rice was three cents a pound.

But sugar is still very expensive. White sugar is more expensive than meat, at 25 wen per pound. Brown sugar is cheaper, at 15 wen per pound. Glutinous rice flour is at 6 wen per pound.

Song Laoer bought two kilograms of brown sugar and white sugar, and five kilograms of glutinous rice flour, spending one hundred and ten cents.

It was almost afternoon at this time, and Song Laoer carried the things he had bought and started to rush home.

Song Ersao was still harvesting cassava. The couple's movements in the past few days had attracted the attention of the villagers. When people who knew them saw them, they couldn't help but come to persuade her.

Just after dealing with Mrs. Wang who used to live next door, Song Dazhuang's wife, who lived in a room next to his house, came over.

"I say, my second son's wife, although you didn't get much food when you divided the family property, you can borrow some from us and return it to us when you find a job and earn money. Why do you have to collect cassava? It's deadly if you eat it."

Mrs. Song knew that everyone had good intentions, and that they saw each other and got along well with each other.

She couldn't help but sigh that her mother-in-law drove her family out without thinking about their life or death, and others were just neighbors who were willing to lend them food.

Song Dazhuang's wife is a few years older than him and she married from Hejia Village in the neighboring village.

"Sister Cuihua, we have enough food at home. I appreciate your kindness, but this cassava is really edible and its poison can be removed. If you want to learn, I will teach you.

I also want everyone to be happy. Our family has eaten all the food, so it’s okay. If you want to plant more, come and ask me for it. Otherwise, it will be gone by the time we finish planting.”

Mrs. Song also wanted to help He Cuihua. Her family was not easy either.

Only the couple can work. My mother-in-law is sick and has to stay in bed. She also has four children, but we still want to borrow food from her family.

He Cuihua was skeptical, "My mother's family still has a large area of ​​cassava growing wild in the wasteland, but no one eats it. If it were edible, everyone would eat it."

Mrs. Song also knew that the belief that cassava was poisonous was deeply rooted, so she did not continue to persuade him. She could only send He Cuihua away and continue to do her own things.

The cassava field will probably be ready in half a day, and then we can harvest all the taro, and the farm work will be almost done.

Sanniang was still processing cassava at home. Song Laoer had been smiling all the way back. Before he even entered the door, he shouted, "Sanniang, do you know how much your one-legged gold sold for?"

"How much?" Sanniang hurried out of the kitchen.

Song Lao Er took out the purse from his pocket and put it in Sanniang's hand, but Sanniang didn't open it. "Dad, don't keep me in suspense. Tell me now."

"Haha, it sold for one tael and thirty-five cents! It's more valuable than the best white rice!" Song Laoer didn't keep the secret any longer.

He turned around, put down the backpack, and put the things inside into the kitchen, saying, "These sugar and flour cost 110 coins. If we buy rice with this, it will be enough for us to eat for half a year.

This sugar is really expensive. Brown rice is only three cents a pound, and one pound of white sugar can buy eight pounds of brown rice. I don’t know if we can sell this sugar water.”

"Then let's try to sell them first. If they don't sell well, we won't sell them. There are still a lot of Striga on the mountain. Let's dry another batch while the weather is good."

Sanniang was very optimistic. After all, the money to buy materials was earned from selling agave, and cassava was free. If she could make money, that would be great. If not, she would find another way out.

Song Lao Er thought about it and said, "Okay, wait until your mother and I finish the work in the fields, and then we'll start."

The busy time passed in a flash, and soon the cassava and taro were harvested and the fields were planted.

But the couple both looked darker and thinner. Sanniang looked much darker even after wearing a straw hat. Siniang and Wuniang didn't even wear hats and looked even darker than Sanniang.

Song Lao Er greeted Niu San and came to get a basin of milk every day. He gave him ten cents for each basin of milk, but Niu Lao San refused to take any money.

Finally, the two men agreed to pay him monthly, with Song Laoer giving him two hundred coins every month, and it was up to Song Laoer to take more or less.

After deciding on the milk, we need to consider the tools. We need bowls to hold the sugar water, but buying a batch of bowls is too expensive.

This is easy to do. There is plenty of bamboo. Song Erlang spent some time sawing a batch of bamboo and made bamboo bowls of uniform size. He also made a batch of bamboo spoons.

Song Sanniang and her daughter were also busy processing cassava and grinding cassava flour.

After all the preparations were done, Sanniang suddenly thought of a big problem.

That is, if ginger milk is made in a bamboo bowl, it may not be formed after being bumpy all the way to the town.

The only option is to change to double skin milk, but to make double skin milk, you need eggs. There are no eggs at home. But how can I tell my parents that ginger milk cannot be sold in town?

Sanniang soon thought of a solution. She said that in order to sell the sweet soup without mistakes when the time comes, she should practice first and give some to Uncle Niu to try.

When she sent it to Niu Laosan, you won’t know how much his family liked the sweet soup after tasting it.

When Sanniang came back, she frowned and said, "Mom and Dad, the ginger milk I sent to Uncle San's house was not formed. I think we have to change it. Is there any way to prevent the milk from becoming too thin?"

Song Laoer and his wife were also confused. The best sweet soup they had ever tasted was made by Sanniang. It would be useless to ask them for advice.

"I got it. Won't eggs become custard when steamed? I'll try using eggs. But we don't have eggs at home," Sanniang felt that her acting skills were constantly improving in order to achieve her goal.

"I'll go buy some from your Aunt Cuihua. You wait." Mrs. Song immediately went into the house, took the money and went out.

Soon, Song Ersao came in with a basket of eggs. Sanniang sent Song Ersao away and started making double skin milk.

In fact, the authentic double skin milk is made by steaming the milk to create a layer of milk skin, then pouring the milk with egg white into a bowl and cooking it.

But Sanniang had to use a bamboo bowl, which was not as convenient as a porcelain bowl and the milk skin would easily break, so she had to be lazy and just add egg white and sugar, stir evenly and then add milk, then filter it and pour it into the bamboo bowl to steam.

I was worried that it would have a bamboo smell, but it was surprisingly delicious. The egg white did not have the same fishy smell as lemon, but it neutralized the fragrance of bamboo, and it actually had a light bamboo fragrance.

Mr. and Mrs. Song Erlang liked the double skin milk better and thought it tasted better than ginger milk, so they decided what to sell.

Everything went according to plan except that the taro paste looked a bit bland because it lacked purple sweet potato for coloring.