A tragic journey through ancient times, trying to make money

"Grandpa, I did some calculations. The most expensive ingredients are the mung bean jelly, chili oil, and peanuts. A pot of mung bean jelly produces about fifteen or sixteen bowls. Let's calculate it based on one pot and fifteen bowls. In town, one bowl sells for eight cents."

"But all the seasonings are prepared. When the time comes, except for the chili oil and peanuts, the rest will be onions, cilantro, cucumbers, ginger and garlic water. You can prepare them yourself."

"So I'll charge you 6 wen for a bowl, and 90 wen for a pot. When you go to Xinghua Town and Sifang Town to sell, the price is still 8 wen a bowl. You can make 2 wen for a bowl and 30 wen for a pot. You can make more as long as you sell more every day."

"Okay, let's do as Yueyue said. After all, most of the things are provided by you, and we don't have much to prepare ourselves."

"Grandpa, Second Grandpa, and Cousin Zhong should have said that you'd better prepare more bamboo bowls so that customers can take them home."

"I've said it before. They're making bamboo bowls and weaving bamboo baskets at home right now. When your second grandfather and I are at home, we'll prepare more if we have nothing to do. We'll prepare everything we need in the next two days."

"That's good."

"Yueyue, your second grandfather, your cousin and I are here not only to talk about mung bean jelly, but also to learn how to make folding tables and stools in your house. Once we learn, we can go back and make them quickly."

"Okay, Grandpa, you guys take a seat first. I'll go get a folding table so you can take a look. It's actually very simple. You can make it as long as you understand the principle."

Zhang Yunyue went to the utility room and took out a folding table and a stool and showed them to his great grandfather and second grandfather.

The four of them took the table and stools, looked left and right, then unfolded and folded them several times.

Uncle Agui returned the folding table and stool to Zhang Yunyue:

"Yueyue, it's OK. We roughly know how to do it. Who can figure it out when we don't know? Once we understand it, we will find it is much simpler."

Great grandfather: "Yueyue's brain is so quick that she can come up with something like a folding table. She is so smart!"

Uncle Gui: "Yueyue, Uncle Gui is jealous of your brain. Not only can you come up with food like mung bean jelly, but you can also think of how to make a folding table. You are really amazing."

Zhang Yunyue thought to herself: “This is something that can be borrowed from others, but it is not my idea, and I dare not take the credit for it.”

"Grandpa, uncle, please stop praising me. I only heard about the folding table from others when I went to town before. I don't dare to take credit for it."

Second Grandpa: "Our Yueyue is shy, but Second Grandpa still thinks our Yueyue is amazing."

Grandpa Zhang waved his hands and said, "Big brother, second brother, please stop praising this girl. She is still young and should not be praised."

"Third brother, now that we have finished talking, we will leave first and go back early to start preparing."

"Okay, big brother, second brother, I won't keep you here. After all, we don't have much time and we have a lot to prepare."

As soon as his great grandfather, second grandfather and cousin left, Zhang Yunyue remembered the pork belly he bought today, which was still hanging in the well.

It's time to make dinner now, and Zhang Yunyue decided to make pork belly and potatoes today.

Take the pork belly out of the well, and don’t stew the bones today. Leave them in the well. You will still have time to cook them tomorrow.

Zhang's mother and Zhu have already started preparing the steamed buns.

"Mother, Second Aunt, what are you going to cook today?"

"What else can we do? We can only eat the cucumbers, cabbages, and potatoes in the yard."

"Mother, I bought some pork belly in town today. Let me cook the dishes now. I want to make braised pork and potatoes, and stir-fry some pork and green peppers."

"Okay, it's a good opportunity to try the braised pork with potatoes and stir-fried pork with green peppers that you made. Your second aunt and I will prepare some other dishes."

Zhang Yunyue first took out three-quarters of the meat, cut it into small pieces and marinated it with onion, ginger and wine. She cut the remaining one-third into shredded meat, cut the potatoes into dice, cut the green pepper into shreds, and prepared some slices of ginger and garlic for later use.

After marinating for a quarter of an hour and the steamed buns on the stove were ready, Zhang Yunyue decided to make braised pork and stewed potatoes first.

Zhang Yunyue pours vegetable oil into the pot, waits for the oil to heat up, pours in the pork belly, and stir-fryes over low heat until the surface turns slightly yellow. Then, add onion, ginger, bay leaves, cinnamon, star anise, dried chilies, etc., then pours in soy sauce and adds salt to taste.

After stir-frying for a few times, add hot water to cover the pork belly and simmer over low heat for half an hour.

Add potato cubes and cook for another quarter of an hour, then simmer over high heat until the sauce thickens. The braised pork and potatoes are ready. The color is dark red and the potatoes have absorbed the sauce, which makes you hungry just by looking at it.

After taking the braised pork and potatoes out of the pot, wash the pot. Zhang Yunyue continues to pour vegetable oil into the pot and heat it up. First, pour the shredded pork into the pot and stir-fry over high heat until cooked. Then take it out.

Then pour the ginger and garlic into the pot, followed by the chopped green pepper, stir-fry, add salt to taste, when the green pepper is almost stir-fried, add the fried shredded pork, continue to stir-fry, and finally pour in a little soy sauce to adjust the color, and then stir-fry and you can remove from the pot.

Zhang Yunyue cooked two dishes and placed them on the table beside her. Then she returned the stove to Zhang's mother and Zhu and asked them to prepare other dishes.

After a while, Zhang's mother and Zhu prepared the rest of the dishes.

Zhang Yunyue: "Grandpa, grandma, it's time to eat!"

Everyone sitting in the yard stood up and moved the table and stools. Seeing that the table was already set, Zhang Yunyue brought out the food from the kitchen.

When all the food was served on the table, everyone saw the braised pork and potatoes placed in the center. The color was bright red, and there was a fragrance wafting from the pot other than the meat.

Zhang Yunyue: "Everyone, come and try this braised pork and potatoes that I made. This is my first time making it, so I don't know how it tastes. Grandpa and grandma, the meat is cooked until it's tender and you can chew it."

After listening to her granddaughter's words, Grandma Zhang took the lead and picked up a piece of braised pork:

"Yueyue said so, so let grandma try it first. Mm, the meat breaks into pieces when you chew it gently. And the meat smells so good after being stewed with the herbs you bought."

Grandma Zhang picked up another potato and said, "The potato is delicious, too. It's round and has absorbed a lot of soup. It's rich in flavor and very delicious."

Seeing that grandma was eating so happily, Zhang Yunxue and Zhang Xingfeng each picked up a piece of meat and started eating.

"Wow, grandma, this meat is so delicious!"

"Wow, this braised pork tastes better than the meat we eat during Chinese New Year. Sister, can you also make this braised pork and potatoes during Chinese New Year?"

"Ha ha ha ha......"

Seeing this, everyone picked up their chopsticks. Zhang Yunyue saw that the braised pork was eaten quickly, so she added a lot of potatoes before cooking it because she was afraid that there would not be enough meat. Unexpectedly, even the potatoes were favored by everyone.

Zhang Yunxue saw a large plate of stir-fried pork with green peppers next to her and took a bite:

"Sister, this stir-fried pork with green pepper smells so good. I like it too. Can you make it again next time?"