At this time, the soybean processing skills were not advanced, eating them could be prickly to the throat and were very hard to eat. Therefore, unless there was a famine, or if the family was too poor to afford wheat, only then would they eat soybeans.
That's why Liang would speak like this.
Zhao Leiguang shook his head and went to tidy up the millstone. Since Zhao Dong was grinding wet soybeans, he had to clean the millstone.
Liang pursed her lips and spoke again: "I heard from the neighbors that the Zhao Dong family can't live the proper way now. Life is so difficult, yet he's still buying candy for his daughter. Do you think he might be selling flour to buy candy for her?"
Zhao Leiguang kept his head down, busy without responding to her, so Liang continued talking to herself.
"I say, father shouldn't have lent them the flour. Who knows if they'll repay it or not; what do we do if they end up clinging to us in the future? We should become closer to Mrs. Wang's family. Her son is the most accomplished in the village, and if her grandson becomes an official, it'd be beneficial to our family. Don't you agree?"
After speaking for a long time, she found her husband was not paying any attention, so Liang angrily went over and tapped Zhao Leiguang: "Hey, I'm talking to you, did you hear me?"
"Aren't I listening?" Zhao Leiguang said somewhat unhappily, "I tell you, in the future, say less of these things you just mentioned. If father hears it, he's sure to be angry."
"And, father has his reasons, I think father is not wrong. Mr. Dong is good, valuing emotion and loyalty. Now that he's in trouble, our family, being the village head, should lend a hand, so you should speak less recklessly outside."
Scolded by her husband, Liang felt embarrassed, huffed and stayed silent.
This conversation was out of earshot of Zhao Dong, who had already left. Even if he heard it, he probably wouldn't take it too seriously.
When he got home, Sun Mei was already up, washing up in the yard.
Seeing Zhao Dong parking, she quickly moved over to help carry the soy milk to the kitchen, then shut the door properly and took Zhao Dong, mysteriously towards the vegetable plot: "Hubby, look at these vegetables, aren't they much bigger than last night?"
Zhao Dong looked and was stunned.
The vegetables in the garden, although most couldn't be eaten yet, had obviously grown a lot bigger than last night.
In one night, they could grow this much?
Zhao Dong exclaimed in surprise: "What's going on here?"
Sun Mei was quite a bookworm, instantly opening her mind and whispering: "Do you remember our daughter watering the veggies last night?"
Zhao Dong was puzzled: "I remember, what about it?"
Sun Mei rolled her eyes at him: "You were saying I shouldn't indulge in reading novels. In situations like this, surely it's our daughter's golden finger - novels are written like this, probably some wish-fulfilling lucky charm or something."
Seeing Zhao Dong's face full of disbelief, Sun Mei shrugged: "You don't believe me? Then explain how the veggies grew overnight."
Zhao Dong quickly smiled apologetically: "I wouldn't dare not believe you, my dear."
Saying this, his face turned a bit more serious: "However, whether it's a golden finger or a silver finger, this must remain secret, and no fourth person can know."
"Exactly, exactly." Sun Mei nodded repeatedly: "I'll remind Tongtong later too, so she doesn't go out spreading this."
Zhao Dong nodded: "This can't be taken lightly. Later, I'll go up the mountain to chop some bamboo and fence the vegetable garden, so it won't be open to view when the gate is opened."
So, Zhao Dong, who had just finished grinding tofu, didn't rest but promptly went to chop bamboo to make fences.
…
Today is probably the busiest day since crossing over.
After breakfast, Sun Mei and Zhao Dong began cutting bamboo and lashing fences in the yard, busy until almost noon. Sun Mei had to go to the school to cook, and Zhao Dong went to Wang the carpenter's house at the village head to order tofu molds.
Since there was no such thing here, Zhao Dong worried he wouldn't know how to make them, so he even made a drawing and explained carefully until Wang the carpenter produced the first one successfully before Zhao Dong felt at ease to leave.
In total, he ordered twenty sets of molds, fearing they couldn't be finished in a day and estimated it could be picked up tomorrow.
However, Zhao Dong took one back for use.
Leaving Wang the carpenter's house, Zhao Dong didn't go straight home but diverted to Blacksmith Zhao's in the village, to order a large iron pot.
And Sun Mei, after returning from cooking at the school, also didn't rest, instead began making tofu.
The steps to make tofu are actually simple, first filter the ground soy milk, and the filtered soy pulp, Sun Mei didn't discard, but fried with green onions and rolled in pancakes to eat. Very aromatic.
The filtered liquid is soy milk, and the next step is to cook the soy milk. Cooking soy milk is also a technique, not too long, otherwise, it affects the quality of soy milk.
Once cooked, comes the most crucial step, using the boiled gypsum to curd the tofu, the technique of using gypsum is comprehensible but not expressible, whether old or tender, depends on practice and exploration.
This Sun Mei had explored in her past life and could manage well.
She made two kinds in total, a block of tofu and a basin of tofu flower.
When Zhao Dong rushed back, it was just in time for the tofu to be set. The tofu mold he brought back was immediately useful.
Zhao Dong had the carpenter carve a pattern on the bottom of the tofu mold, small square boxes in four rows and five columns, so once the tofu sets, there are lines on the surface, convenient for cutting later.
Half an hour later, the tofu sets.
Removing the press board and opening the steaming cloth, the smooth white tofu was done!
Sun Mei also made a secret sauce to accompany the tofu flower. Actually, she thought to make some sweet ones, it'd be easy, just sprinkle some white sugar, but sugar is exorbitantly priced here.
As Zhao Dong mentioned, at the market, it costs twenty-six copper coins per pound; although there was some in space, Sun Mei wanted to keep it for family use.
Making it savory was fitting too, as most in northern regions preferred savory tofu flower.
Before Sun Mei cut it, Zhao Dong calculated the weight. One pound of beans yielded about three pounds of tofu, for tofu flower, one pound of beans could yield twelve and a half pounds of tofu flower, enough for eighteen bowls.
According to the pricing they previously agreed upon, one pound of tofu sells for three copper coins, one bowl of tofu flower for one copper coin.
Currently, the cost price for beans is just one copper coin per pound, so calculating this, there's still a good profit margin.
Thinking about this, Sun Mei suddenly felt a bit excited.
Zhao Dong: "Let's keep one block for ourselves to eat tonight, we'll divide the rest and send it to the village head and Shitou's place."
"Alright."
Last night, Zhao Dong had already decided whom to send it to.
The village head's house surely needed sending, as since the separation, the village head has cared for their family a lot, and the village head's house has high prestige, being trustworthy.
As for Butcher Zhao's house, Zhao Dong intended to send some too.
Although there hadn't been much interaction before, last time at the market, he met Butcher Zhao selling meat. Although seemingly rough and large, the person was quite good and attentive.
Knowing his business intentions, he enthusiastically shared various business cautions, so Zhao Dong felt he could help look things over a bit.
——
After cutting, Sun Mei carried a bowl of tofu and a bowl of accompanied tofu flower and first went to the village head's house.
The village head's eldest daughter-in-law, Tian, was at the door grabbing her son's arm and scolding him. Seeing Sun Mei come over, she let go, and that child, as if rescued, scurried back inside.