Xiao Yu returned ho and imdiately shared the news with her grandparents. She went down to the cellar to pull out a basket of potatoes left over from the last season. After peeling them, she cut them into chunks and carefully saved the wash water, not willing to waste it since the sedint was the nascent form of potato starch.
Then she took out the rapeseed oil she had bought from the Space Supermarket, pretending it was purchased from the local market.
After draining the potatoes, she began to fry them until they were golden brown, then transferred them to a plate. On one plate, she sprinkled a mixture of cumin powder, chili powder, and salt, while on another, she sprinkled the sweet and spicy sauce they liked to eat, and on the last plate, she put the sweet and sour tomato sauce.
Then she let the grandparents taste it.
After tasting, they instantly fell in love with the flavors; no matter which one they tried, it seed incredibly satisfying and delicious.
"Sister, is this the snack you were talking about?"
"Yes, one reason is because the costs are low— you can grow potatoes yourself. It’s also simple to prepare, just fry them and sprinkle on the seasonings. The key is the oil and the seasonings. Do we have a place around here that presses rapeseed oil?"
Rapeseed oil?
The grandparents looked utterly confused.
Seeing their expressions, Xiao Yu sighed, "If you don’t have it, then you’ll need to grow it. But all our land is planted with wheat. Is it possible to rent more land in the village? If you can, you’ll likely need not only to plant rapeseed but also to grow tomatoes to make tomato sauce—as for this sweet and sour red sauce. I can help you out the first year, but after that, you’ll have to rely on yourselves because next sumr I’ll have to leave for Shangjing City to find my brother."
If they could grow rapeseed, sesa, tomatoes, and chili themselves, that would be best. If not, she could leave them more supplies before she left, but in the long run, they would still need to grow their own.
As for cumin, they’d have to try and see if it could be grown locally. But right now, it was just the two of them. How to manage both the fields and the business was a huge challenge.
After all, the elderly grandmother was already over fifty—a considerable age in ancient tis—and the child was only ten. Xiao Yu imdiately started to worry.
"It’s probably impossible to rent land. The land in our village is already in high demand. It was not easy for our family to buy two acres. Everybody wants to grow more, and the wild lands on the mountain are full of rocks and impossible to cultivate."
Since they couldn’t do it, this opportunity would be left to Zhang Quan. At least he was a wealthy man of the town, and he must have quite a bit of land at his disposal, right?
She couldn’t wait for an answer, so the very next day she went to town to list out for Zhang Quan all the various seasonings he would need for the future.
"First, there’s the oil—you could plant peanuts, soybeans, rapeseed, all of which can be pressed for oil. Pig lard and fish oil are too costly and not sustainable for long-term developnt. Also tomatoes, black pepper, Sichuan peppercorns, chili, sesa, more tomatoes—if we can grow these ourselves, it would save a lot of costs."
Zhang Quan had ten acres of land, but he had planted all of it with grain. The girl was asking him to change his crops, and he was sowhat reluctant to do so.
"Can’t you just supply with the products?"
Xiao Yu found it sowhat amusing and frustrating, "Uncle, you say you need seeds—I can get those for you. But if you ask to supply you with products long-term, that might not be feasible. I also encountered a rchant during my travels. That’s how I could get the seeds for you. But our place is remote, not ideal for shipping goods. Besides, the demand isn’t that great. It wouldn’t even cover the cost of shipping for them. So what’s the point, right?"
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