Aunt Lian thought for a moment and said, "We are all children, why not prepare some snacks? Small cakes and cookies will be fine."
Yang Haiyan nodded: "Snacks are indeed suitable, but I'm afraid they are tired of eating small cakes and cookies. I plan to make some new foods."
When Aunt Lian heard this, she was very curious: "What new things does Madam have?"
Yang Haiyan said, "It's just an idea. I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know if it tastes good or not. Go ask Aunt Fan to prepare the sweet potatoes and potatoes and cut them into pieces."
Aunt Lian: "I will go right away."
An hour later, Yang Haiyan's sweet potato fries and potato strips came out. Sweet potato fries are sweet, and the sweet potatoes are cut into strips and coated with flour. Potato strips are salty, just like the French fries in modern times. In fact, Yang Haiyan has also eaten sweet potato fries in a chain store called Hamburger Boy in modern times.
I have to say, making sweet potato fries and potato chips is much easier than making small cakes and cookies. The only thing that wastes time is oil.
Yang Haiyan said to Aunt Lian and Aunt Fan, "Try it."
The two old servants did not hesitate to try it.
Yang Haiyan asked: "How does it taste?"
Aunt Lian said, "This dessert is good. Although not as fragrant as other desserts, it tastes special and novel." There was nothing that could be done about it; the milky flavor was unmatched by any other flavor.
Aunt Fan asked, "Do you want to sell this in the shop?"
Yang Haiyan said: "No, anyone can figure out how to make this thing after just looking at it and eating a few bites, but it can't be sold for money."
This is true. Even though they have never seen how it is done, Aunt Fan and Aunt Lian can figure out how to do it.
In a blink of an eye, it was the day when Qin Shoucheng and his classmate met. After breakfast, he said to Yang Haiyan, "Sister-in-law, I won't be back for lunch after school. I'll go to Wei Yanglin's house to eat. After lunch, I might play at his house for a while. I'm afraid I'll have to postpone my martial arts class in the afternoon."
Yang Haiyan said: "It's okay, I'll give you half a day off in the afternoon."
Qin Shoucheng: "Thank you, sister-in-law."
At noon, Qin Shoucheng and his classmates left school together.
Kun Daying: "Brother Cheng, is the birthday gift I prepared really okay?" He and Qin Shoucheng had discussed it, and one prepared a pen and the other prepared ink. The prices were not expensive and were moderate. They were also a token of their thoughtfulness. They bought them with their pocket money.
Qin Shoucheng received a monthly allowance of fifty wen, and Kun Daying also received a monthly allowance of fifty wen. Giving the children a monthly allowance of fifty wen was a bit of financial relief for the Kun family, so as long as conditions permitted, the parents did not want their children to embarrass themselves in front of their classmates.
Qin Shoucheng said: "It's okay. You should give gifts according to your ability. If it's beyond our means, we can use our parents' money to buy good gifts. We will have face, but this is the money our parents worked hard to earn. If one day we are able to earn money, then it doesn't matter if we use our own money to buy good gifts."
Kun Daying: “Yeah.”
Wei Yanglin: "Cheng Ge'er, Ying Ge'er, hurry up."
Qin Shoucheng: "Here I come."
When Qin Shoucheng walked out of the private school, he saw Aunt Fan, who was waiting at the door with a basket. At the same time, Aunt Fan also saw him: "Brother Cheng."
Qin Shoucheng: "Aunt Fan, why are you here?"
Aunt Fan said, "Madam asked the old servant to bring some snacks over. These are for your classmates. Madam said, I wish you a happy day today, and I also wish your classmates a happy birthday."
Qin Shoucheng didn't expect that his sister-in-law had prepared this. He took the basket and said, "Aunt Fan, please thank my sister-in-law for me."
Aunt Fan completed her task and went back.
Qin Shoucheng carried a basket and went to Wei Yanglin's house with Kun Daying and Wei Yanglin.
The Wei family's yard in the town was large and beautiful. Old Mrs. Wei knew that her grandson would bring his classmates back to celebrate the birthday, so she started working with her daughter-in-law and servants early in the morning. At noon, Old Mrs. Wei was already waiting at the door. When she saw her grandson and his classmates coming back, she said happily, "My dear grandson, you are finally back. The food is ready. Please invite your classmates to eat."
Wei Yanglin said, "Grandma, you don't have to wait for us." He then said to Qin Shoucheng and others, "Cheng'er, this is my grandma."
Qin Shoucheng and the others greeted Old Lady Wei, and Qin Shoucheng handed the basket in his hand to Old Lady Wei: "Hello, Grandma Wei, these are the snacks prepared by my family. Let's share them together."
Old Mrs. Wei took it and said, "Thank you so much, little brother. Where is your family?"
Wei Yanglin said: "Cheng'er's family lives in the family housing, his eldest brother is a thousand-man official, and the small cake shop in our town belongs to them."
Old Mrs. Wei said, "I see. Go and entertain your classmates. I'll pack the snacks and bring them up for you later."
Wei Yanglin: "Thank you, grandma."
Old Lady Wei went to the kitchen, and Mother Wei followed: "I didn't expect that Master Qianfu's brother would become Yang Lin's classmate."
Old Mrs. Wei said, "That's right. Don't be nosy. Let the children maintain their friendship themselves. Just give them some pointers occasionally."
Mother Wei said, "Yes."
Qin Family
In the afternoon, Qin Shoucheng came back and went to the main courtyard first. Yang Haiyan and Qin Siya were embroidering something. Seeing him coming, Yang Haiyan said, "You came back early. Is your classmate's party over?"
Qin Shoucheng bowed and said, "It's over. The Wei family has prepared snacks for all of you. They are said to be bought from the county town. I'll have one too, for my eldest sister-in-law and fourth sister to try." As he spoke, he took out the oil paper, which contained six pieces of snacks.
Yang Haiyan did not reject Qin Shoucheng's kindness, but said: "What a coincidence, I have never eaten the snacks in the county town. Today I am grateful to you." She picked up a piece and took a bite.
Qin Siya said, "I haven't eaten the snacks in the county either. Are they delicious?" he asked as he took them.
Qin Shoucheng said: "It's not as good as the snacks made by my sister-in-law."
The snacks in the county town are famous. The reason why the Wei family did not prepare snacks from Yang Haiyan’s shop is because the children in the town have basically eaten small cakes and biscuits, so buying snacks from the county town is just to make things look good.
Yang Haiyan said: "But Shoucheng saved some snacks for his sister-in-law, and she was very touched. Thank you, Shoucheng, you are such a good boy."
Qin Shoucheng blushed when he was praised: "Then I will go to review my lessons."
Yang Haiyan smiled and shook her head.
By the end of June, the manor's half-acre of potatoes was ready for harvest. If it were modern times, carefully managed potatoes could yield about 3,000 kilograms from half an acre, but the yield of ancient crops was not as high as it is today, and was even only half of that of modern times. After the harvest, the half-acre of potatoes only yielded 1,500 kilograms.
The 1500 kilograms were placed directly in the manor, because the pigs, chickens and ducks could not just eat grass, and occasionally added some rice bran, potatoes and sweet potatoes. Even if they were mixed like this, about ten kilograms of potatoes (sweet potatoes) were prepared every day, and the 1500 kilograms were only enough for half a year.
If potatoes are sold directly, they cost one cent for two kilograms. Yang Haiyan calculated that if half an acre of land is used to grow potatoes, it would be better to buy potatoes directly as feed. If half an acre of land is used for other purposes, it is also more cost-effective than growing potatoes.
After the potato harvest, Niu Da prepared the land, and a few days later, he transplanted some fruit tree seedlings there.
By the time the fruit tree seedlings on half an acre of land were transplanted, it was mid-July.
On this day, Yang Haiyan was calculating the dim sum shop's gross profit for June. It had to be said that since the contract with Shopkeeper Heping was signed, the dim sum shop's gross profit had been twenty taels every month. Yang Haiyan felt that she was almost tired of collecting money.
"Madam..." Kun Zhang came from the snack shop. "Mrs. Niu came to the shop with a basket of eggs. The chickens in our farm have laid eggs. She also brought back a basket of vegetables. It's the broccoli you mentioned. It looks like a green flower to me, so it's appropriate to call it green cauliflower."
Yang Haiyan put down the account book and said, "Let's go and take a look." However, it is indeed more appropriate to call broccoli green cauliflower.
Mrs. Niu came carrying two baskets. One basket contained about fifty eggs, and the other contained several broccoli heads. Not to mention, the green broccoli heads looked very pretty.
When Yang Haiyan arrived, she saw Mrs. Niu sitting and drinking tea. When she saw Yang Haiyan coming, Mrs. Niu hurriedly stood up and said, "Hello, Madam. The eggs are delivered. My husband said that the broccoli looks like it will have a good harvest, so I picked two for you. Take a look."
A total of about 1,300 broccoli plants were planted in half an acre of land, but only about 800 survived. However, one broccoli plant can produce two or three bulbs, which is still a lot.
Yang Haiyan said, "Let me take a look." The broccoli was green and growing well. "Are there many bulbs this big?"
Niu Da's wife said, "Most of them have grown this big, but the remaining half are not this big."
When Yang Haiyan heard this, she said, "Bring up a hundred of them tomorrow."
Niu Da’s wife: “Yes.”
Yang Haiyan said to Kun Zhang: "Captain Kun's family, go cut some pork, and then take the meat and broccoli to Qianfu's house, and tell Aunt Fan to slice the meat and stir-fry it with the broccoli... After it's done, bring it to the door of the shop and give it to passers-by, and then tell them that the new vegetables we have grown here are ripe."
Regular customers of the dim sum shop all know that the tables and chairs have been removed and are to be used to sell fruits and vegetables, so there is no need to do much promotion.
Kun Zhang: "Yes."
Yang Haiyan thought for a moment and said, "Also, take the fried pork slices and broccoli to the county town and see if the restaurant in the county town wants this dish. Take a horse carriage and take one of these broccoli to the restaurant to see. If you don't dare to go to the restaurant, go find Manager Ping."
Kun Zhang: "Yes."
Half an hour later, Aunt Fan came with two plates of fried broccoli and pork slices, while Kun Zhang took a carriage to the county town.
Aunt Fan placed the stir-fried broccoli and pork slices at the door of the shop and began to shout: "The delicious snack shop has a good harvest of fresh vegetables. Everyone who passes by can come and have a taste..."