Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 178 The Return of the Buds

At first, she only said that she was missing the food for the 200 students in Class D, but as time went by, she managed to get all the food for the three classes of Class D. Oh my God, from what Lu Dianzhuan said, she is now in contact with the three Dianzhuans in charge of the canteens, A, B, and C.

Does she want to take over the Imperial College in one fell swoop, taking in everyone, big or small?

This girl, this skill of hitting the snake with a stick is really perfect. It's exactly the same as when she won the orders from various private schools. Gui Jijiu signed his name in a depressed mood. Alas, he wanted to show off his paper mill's revenue in front of Hua Yatou in the future, but it seems that there is no chance.

This naughty girl was bragging in front of me about how well her paper mill was doing and how good her business was. She was totally fooling me. Compared with this little girl in business, I, the chief priest, could only sigh that I was inferior to her.

No matter what Gui Jijiu was mumbling, Hua Lei knew nothing about it. She was now in the big kitchen at Yuanying Manor, discussing the making of preserved meat with Tian Xiaozhen and his wife.

Some time ago, Xiaoyuan received a pony from Marquis Pei. Xiaoyuan was very happy, but it was only natural for him to give her a grandson, and giving Xiaoyuan a gift was a favor, so she had to repay him in some way. She decided to make a batch of cured meat and send it to Marquis Pei in Mobei.

At the end of the month, he asked a retired soldier to bring a letter to Mrs. Pei, saying that he would probably not be back for the New Year this year. The war was intermittent and he did not dare to leave.

I have heard from Old Madam Pei that there are not many kinds of meat products for consumption in the north, and there are even fewer chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, etc. Especially in the military camp of Old Marquis Pei, there is even less food.

So she decided to make a batch of preserved goods. Although fresh chickens and ducks could also be brought over, it would be very troublesome. If the weather got cold on the road, they would freeze to death. It would be a shame to send a group of dead chickens and ducks.

Chicken, duck and goose can be made into preserved food with a longer shelf life. Even if they are delayed on the road for half a month, they will not go bad at all. When the time comes, we can ask the merchant caravan of the Marquis' Mansion to take them over. They often send wine to Mobei during this period.

When Zhao, the daughter-in-law of Tianxiao Town, heard that Hualei wanted to make preserved food, she said, "No problem, she can do it. Her father from Dade Town is a chef, and she also likes to study food, so she can make preserved food." Hualei went to the farm and picked out 200 fat chickens, ducks and geese, and spent more than half a month making preserved food.

Twenty more fat pigs were slaughtered, and thinking that eating preserved meat all the time might make people sick, they were made into braised meat and salted meat. When Hua Lei took the preserved meat of chicken, duck and goose and the braised meat and salted meat made of pork to the winery to be taken by the caravan, Mrs. Pei knew about it.

He felt relieved but also sighed. This little girl was always like this. She would rather suffer a loss herself than owe a favor to the Marquis' Mansion.

But this little pony earned 600 chickens, ducks, geese and 20 pigs. Isn't that too much profit? It's not a golden horse, so he insisted on giving Hualei money, but she still refused.

In this way, six hundred cured chickens, ducks, geese and twenty pigs were carried to Mobei by the caravan delivering wine and delivered to the military camp of Lord Pei.

Lord Pei, who had been unable to purchase meat because of the approaching New Year, was overjoyed to receive the cured meat and bacon. According to the menu that Hua Lei brought with him, he stewed dozens of pots of cured chicken stewed with potatoes, steamed cured goose with chopped pepper sauce, and several pots of cured meat and cabbage stewed with vermicelli in the military camp.

The soldiers in the barracks praised the food highly. They had not eaten pork and chicken so happily for a long time. The taste was so special and delicious, especially fragrant and chewy.

When Lord Pei returned to his residence in Mobei Town, he asked the kitchen to prepare a table of dishes with the preserved meats and salted meats, and took his two sons to drink the Marquis's rice wine happily. While drinking, he was still impressed by Hua Yatou's thoughtfulness.

At this time, Hualei, who was being talked about by the old Marquis Pei, was sitting in the study room of Yuanying Manor, looking at the income and expenditure during this period. In fact, the chickens, ducks, geese and pigs sent to Mobei were all raised by themselves, so there was nothing special about it. It was just that the salt for pickling preserved food and salted pork was very expensive.

In today's society, salt is still in short supply. Although I live in Shangjing City, the most prosperous city in the Great Sheng Dynasty, this ordinary edible salt costs 80 coins per catty. Compared with chickens that cost 20 coins per catty, a whole chicken costs only about 100 coins. This salt is quite expensive. I still have to find a way to buy more salt. There will be many places in my farm that need salt in the future.

The next afternoon, Hua Lei took Uncle Fu to the Salt Warehouse Inspection and Approval Office, a branch of the Ministry of Revenue. This was responsible for the sale of official salt in the capital. Nowadays, the sale of salt was still very strict. No matter whether it was a high-ranking official or a commoner, they could not buy a large amount of salt casually, even if they had money.

However, because the fishing industry was very developed in the Great Sheng Dynasty, many fishermen would pickle the fish they caught because they could not eat them all at once, which required a lot of salt. Farmers also needed salt to pickle pickles for the winter, but ordinary edible salt was too expensive for people to afford.

In order to ensure the stable development of fishery and agriculture, the government introduced low-priced fisherman's salt and sold it to fishermen and farmers who needed to pickle salted fish and pickled vegetables. The price was only 18 cents per catty. However, in order to distinguish it from the expensive official salt, the government dyed the lower-purity salt red with olive oil and then dried it to make fisherman's salt for pickling pickles.

Fishermen who need to pickle salted goods can report and apply to the inspection office truthfully based on the number of fish they have caught and the amount of salt they need. The inspection office will send people to inspect on-site and issue certificates after confirming the facts. The fishermen can then purchase the fish salt based on the certificates.

Today, Hualei went to the salt inspection office to apply for a certificate for purchasing fish salt. But she didn't know if she could get it. The mule cart drove for more than half an hour and stopped at the gate of the salt warehouse inspection office.

Hualei got out of the car, straightened her dress, and walked in with Uncle Fu. They probably came a little early, and the officials of the Salt Warehouse Inspection Office may have just woken up from their lunch break and had not yet started to work. In addition, the weather outside was a little cold today, so the officials of the Inspection Office were probably not in a very good mood.

The tall and thin man with triangular eyes sat in front of the desk with a sidelong glance. He flipped through the information handed over by Hua Lei with a bit of impatience, and without saying yes or no, he threw the information on the table and turned around to make himself a tea.

Hua Lei smiled helplessly and stood patiently in front of the desk waiting. It took her fifteen minutes to make and drink the tea.