Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

During lunch that day, Wang Qing'er suggested making sweet potato starch from sweet potatoes and mentioned some ways to eat it.

Everyone in the Mu family nodded in agreement. Zhou Shi and Wang Cuiying had seen the little bit of potato starch that was filtered out when washing the potatoes before. Adding a little bit to the stir-fried pork liver made it tender.

It was raining, so the family couldn't go out to work. They had already peeled the bamboo shoots they had picked and were just getting bored.

So in the afternoon, they started making starch. Wang Qing'er and Mu Qin began washing and peeling the sweet potatoes, while Zhou Shi and Wang Cuiying were responsible for cutting them into small cubes.

Mu Nan and his two sons cleaned the stone mill, which hadn't been used in a long time, and began grinding sweet potatoes into a paste.

The father and his two sons finished grinding over 100 kilograms of sweet potatoes in just half an afternoon; the next step was to wash them to make starch.

Actually, making sweet potato starch is very simple. The three members of the Mu family quickly mastered it, and Wang Qing'er didn't need to do it herself at all.

Fortunately, the Mu family had a tool they used to filter soybean pulp when making tofu, so it was perfect to use it to wash the soybean powder.

Seeing the tools for making tofu made Wang Qing'er felt a craving for tofu again. She had barely mentioned it when Zhou Shi told Mu Nan to bring back some tofu when she went to town the next day.

Seeing that there was nothing for her to do in making sweet potato starch, Wang Qing'er took out a few eggs from the kitchen cabinet, intending to make a small snack for her family to try.

Separate the egg whites and yolks into two large bowls. Add a little salt to the yolks, stir well, and set aside.

Next comes the arduous process of whipping the eggs and cream. There's no whisk here; you have to rely entirely on chopsticks and your hands to keep stirring.

Wang Qing'er's hands started to ache after stirring for a while, so she had to take the bowl and ask Mu Nan for help. Finally, with his constant stirring, the egg whites turned into a snow-white cream.

The Mu family was amazed; they had never imagined that an egg would end up in this state.

If you don't have white sugar, use brown sugar instead; if you don't have milk, use leftover rice water from lunch.

Add a little rice water, brown sugar, flour and whipped egg whites to the egg yolk mixture, and mix well.

Mu Qin started the fire, and Wang Qing'er added soybean oil to the pot. She had seen several round iron ring molds in the storeroom the other day, and they could use them today.

Since it wasn't a frying pan, she could only put a metal ring in the pan, pour the prepared cake batter into the metal ring, and then put a few dried goat milk fruit on the surface.

Once the cake has set, remove the metal ring and carefully flip it over to continue frying. Fortunately, my cast iron pan works well and is completely non-stick.

The aroma of the cake gradually emerged; although there was no milk, the aroma of eggs was still very rich.

Muqin and Muyao were originally sitting in front of the stove, but after smelling the aroma, they both stood up and peered into the pot.

Mu Yao still couldn't reach it, so Wang Qing'er picked her up and let her see it too, so the little girl wouldn't get so anxious that she scratched her ears and cheeks in distress.

After the first mini cake was completely set, Wang Qing'er put the iron ring into the pot and started making the second mini cake.

One by one, the small cakes were shaped, and then the first small cake was successfully taken out of the oven.

Wang Qing'er placed it on a plate, cut it with a knife, and tasted a small piece herself. "Hmm, it tastes good. It would be even better if there was milk." The cake was soft and delicate, with a moderate sweetness, and melted in her mouth.

After eating one piece, she fed herself another, and soon finished the small cake. "Hmm? Oh no, I haven't had sweets in so long, I forgot about the two little girls!"

After Wang Qing'er finished eating, she noticed that the two maids were staring at her with their big eyes, and they kept swallowing their saliva!

"Uh! Sister-in-law, try it first to see if it's cooked. Once the ones in the pot are cooked, you can have a taste too!" Wang Qing'er said somewhat shyly. The two girls were still blinking their big eyes at her, swallowing their saliva incessantly.

"Oh my god! Why is it still like this?" Wang Qing'er flipped the cake in the pot, took out the second piece, cut it into small pieces, and quickly distributed them to the two little girls.

"How is it? Is it delicious?" Wang Qing'er asked the two girls with an expectant look on her face.

"Mmm! So delicious, soft and sweet." After finishing her piece, Mu Qin took another piece and put it in her mouth.

"So...delicious, so sweet!" Mu Yao mumbled, her mouth still full of uneaten cake.

The cakes were gradually taken out of the oven. Wang Qing'er cut them into small pieces, skewered them with bamboo sticks, and took them to the courtyard to distribute to Zhou Shi and the others.

"Qing'er, is this pastry made with eggs?" Zhou asked after finishing a piece of cake.

"Hmm, Grandma, how does it taste?" Wang Qing'er fed Zhou another piece.

"Mmm! It tastes great, even better than the pastries I've had before!" Zhou Shi said, reminiscing about the taste of pastries she had bought in the past while eating.

"Yes, Qing'er, this is even tastier than the ones you buy at the pastry shop," Wang Cuiying nodded in agreement.

"Sister-in-law, you could sell these pastries!" Mu Xiao said after eating several pieces in a row.

“The taste is good, but don’t think about selling everything. I think it’s too much trouble to beat eggs. If it weren’t for your brother’s strength, you wouldn’t be able to beat them properly either,” Old Man Mu said to his youngest son.

"Exactly, beating eggs is too much trouble. Just make them at home occasionally, don't even think about selling them."

The family sat in the pavilion eating cake and chatting idly.

After finishing the cake, they started filtering the sweet potato starch.

After the rain, the variety of mushrooms in the mountains increased, and bamboo shoots sprouted again after being picked. The same was true for mushrooms; there was never enough to pick them all.

It has a tenacious spirit that cannot be extinguished by wildfire and will spring back to life with the spring breeze.

The business of selling braised meat has stabilized, and now they also sell braised pig's head and braised duck.

The daily requirement for pig offal has been increased to six pieces, pig heads to four pieces, and ducks to ten pieces. The restaurant will set up a special stall selling braised dishes at its entrance every day.

So even people who don't eat at restaurants will buy some to try when they pass by. Over time, more and more people come to buy braised meat, and you can often see people queuing up to buy it.

Manager Li wanted to increase the quantity, but Wang Qing'er disagreed and asked Mu Xiao to tell her that she could only provide this much each day.

After much pleading and cajoling from Manager Li, Wang Qing'er added braised pig's trotters to the menu, providing ten trotters daily, which finally calmed Manager Li down.

Pig's head meat sells for 30 coins per catty, duck for 35 coins per catty, and pig's trotters for 35 coins per catty.

In addition, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and green vegetables can also sell for several hundred coins every day.

Based on this calculation, selling braised meat can bring in seven or eight taels of silver every day.