Scholar Shang, upon hearing that the production of soy oil was labor-intensive, did not get discouraged. In Great Chu, only the poor households lack manpower, while for the wealthy families, there are plenty of servants; they do not lack manpower.
Though Scholar Shang was a scholar, he was not the kind who indulged solely in academic pursuits. Besides scholarship, he also took interest in various miscellaneous knowledge, and he was very curious about the skills involved in making new things.
But after all, these were the Gu Family’s possessions, and he was embarrassed to ask too many questions. Yet, he could not help the itch in his heart and thus said to Gu Jinli: "My good child, both of these are wonderful things. If you want to make them, Uncle Shang will definitely help you."
Gu Jinli smiled upon hearing this. She indeed had not misjudged him. Although Scholar Shang was very excited about the soy oil and soy sauce, he did not demand that she write down the recipes and hand them over to him or find soone else to make them. Instead, he offered to help her make these two items.
Third Grandpa and Gu Dashan had already beco accustod to Gu Jinli making all sorts of odd and novel things. They did not say much, but seeing how excited Scholar Shang was, they could not help but worry: "These soy oil and soy sauce are so good, won’t they bring trouble upon us?"
After the tofu recipe incident, this was what they were most concerned about.
Compared to making a fortune, they preferred their whole family to live in peace.
Scholar Shang laughed and said, "Third Uncle Gu, Brother Gu, you need not worry about this. My father-in-law has quite a say in Tianfu County."
His father-in-law not only had influence in Tianfu County but also had so connections in the military due to his background as a soldier, so protecting the Gu Family and the soy oil and soy sauce was sothing he could manage to do.
Moreover...
"This product hasn’t been made yet. Let the child make it first, then we can talk."
After hearing this, Third Grandpa and Gu Dashan were relieved. They originally intended to stop Gu Jinli from making these eye-catching products, but now they relented: "Okay, then let the child try making them first. If she succeeds, we shall discuss further; if not, then let it be."
Gu Jinli was glad that Third Grandpa and Gu Dashan agreed for her to make the soy oil and soy sauce. Truth be told, these were more profitable than tofu.
She wanted to grow dicinal herbs, which ant she had to buy land and dicinal herb seeds, and these required large sums of money. Moreover, any valuable dicinal herb would take at least three years to yield a harvest, so earning money from cultivating dicinal herbs is a slow process. She must create other products to make money.
Scholar Shang then asked Gu Jinli so more about the process of making soy oil and soy sauce, and the more he heard, the more interested he beca, wishing he could see the soy oil and soy sauce right away.
Gu Jinli repeated herself several tis to satisfy his curiosity, and it wasn’t until Old Mrs. Yan arrived with Ms. Yan to help with cooking that Scholar Shang finally stopped his inquiries.
Gu Jinli breathed a sigh of relief, having underestimated Scholar Shang’s curiosity about these new products.
Gu Yui sat in the courtyard conversing with Ms. Jiang and her daughter, vaguely hearing sothing about sauces, and beca very curious. It seed that Gu Jinli had co up with so new inventions and was discussing them with Scholar Shang.
She was tempted to go over and listen, but her second aunt had told her she should ingratiate herself with the scholar’s wife so that she could rely on her to find a suitable husband, so she refrained and did not go over to eavesdrop.
Still, she felt sowhat uncomfortable. How did Gu Jinli know how to make so many novel things?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if she also knew how to do that?
Gu Jinli was unaware of Gu Yui’s thoughts, and even if she did know, she wouldn’t care. If Gu Yui dared to try, she was willing to let her face the consequences.
Gu Jinli followed Old Mrs. Yan and her daughter-in-law to her own kitchen to help cook and host Scholar Shang and his family.
Thinking of Shang Yuanyuan’s fondness for sweets, Gu Jinli sliced two pounds of pork and made crystal sweet and sour pork; she also prepared chicken at from a whole chicken to make sweet and sour chicken chunks.
The thods for making these two dishes were simple: the at had to be tenderized to break the tendons, coated with a layer of flour, and then shaped into atballs or chunks before frying in hot oil until crispy. After draining the oil, a sweet and sour sauce was prepared. Once the sauce thickened in the pan, the crispy at was added to it, allowing the atballs or chunks to be coated with the delicious sweet and sour sauce before serving.
Due to several families joining us today, we have many guests for the al, so Gu Jinli prepared a large piece of pork, coated it in flour, and made two big pots of Fried Crispy Pork.
She then mixed two bowls of seasoning spices, one with chili powder added and one without, poured them into the Fried Crispy Pork, and stirred evenly with chopsticks, resulting in two pots of crispy, savory, and spicy Fried Crispy Pork.
Upon seeing the crispy Fried Crispy Pork, Mrs. Chen couldn’t help but salivate and couldn’t resist grabbing a handful to stuff into her mouth, eating and saying: "It’s fragrant and crispy, so delicious."
Third Grandma couldn’t bear to watch and scolded Mrs. Chen, "Are you reincarnated from a starving ghost? Have I been starving you recently? You still behave like you’ve never eaten before!"
This is only because she is a niece-in-law. If she were her daughter-in-law, she would have been driven mad by Mrs. Chen.
Mrs. Chen didn’t reply, just kept eating.
Gu Jinli comnted indifferently, "I purposely made extra Fried Crispy Pork so that after we entertain Uncle Shang’s family, I can share it with the Aunties to take ho."
She looked up at Mrs. Chen with a smile, "Aunt Gui, you’ve finished your family’s share."
"What?" Mrs. Chen almost choked upon hearing this, feeling the loss painfully, and said with a smiling face, "Xiao Yu, your Aunt was just helping taste it, not stealing it. You can’t not give my family so Fried Crispy Pork." The pork was too delicious; she could never have enough and had to take so ho.
Gu Jinli didn’t even give her a glance, turned around to take soaked rice to the Luo Family to grind it into rice slurry, then returned to the kitchen, took out a flat pottery bowl, put the rice slurry into the bowl, and stead it over water. In just two minutes, the rice slurry solidified into rice flour.
This steaming continued for 30 minutes, and they finally stead two plates of rice flour.
She used a kitchen knife that had been boiled in hot water to cut the rice flour into pieces about one finger-width wide, then chopped up so at, added Hai Xian Sauce, and after frying the at, poured it into the two plates of rice flour. She then picked a few stalks of the green onions she grew inside her house, minced them, and sprinkled them on the rice flour to create a soft, chewy southern snack.
Mrs. Chen eyed the translucent rice flour, wanting to try a bite, but Gu Jinli glared back, "Aunt Gui, I guess you don’t want to go sell tofu tomorrow."
Mrs. Chen was stifled, quickly retracting her hand, knowing that she could go without the new food but not without making money.
Gu Jinli, together with Third Grandma and Old Mrs. Yan, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, were busy in the kitchen for two hours until it was exactly noon before they finished preparing the banquet.
anwhile, Gu Jin’an, Gu Dexing, and Gu Dewang also finished transcribing their best handwriting or compositions.
Gu Dewang looked at his own handwriting and almost cried. It was too ugly; most of the characters were split into segnts, indecipherable to anyone but himself.
He wanted to ask Brother Gu Dafu for help, but that Ah Jiu was constantly watching. Each ti he approached Brother Gu Dafu, Ah Jiu would smilingly call out to him with a "Brother Wang."
Feeling as if he was doing sothing wrong, he imdiately retreated and didn’t dare ask Brother Gu Dafu for help again.
After the ink was dry, Ah Jiu collected their writings and announced, "I will deliver these three papers to Old Master; rest assured."
Gu Dexing was sowhat disappointed, as he had expected imdiate scrutiny and acceptance as an apprentice, but since it was his desire to ask for ntorship, he could only accept this thod.
"Ti to eat." Third Grandma called out, carrying steaming hot dishes from the kitchen on wooden trays.
Since the officials were particular about their customs, they separated into male and female dining areas. Due to limited space at ho, the won dined in the main room, while the n had to eat in the courtyard.
Fortunately, it was noon and relatively warm, plus there was a fire burning in the courtyard, so dining there wasn’t too uncomfortable.
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