Making Money in Full Swing
“Dear villagers, this morning I will teach you how to make cured pork and sausages. I’ve prepared a small portion in advance, which is already steamed. You can taste it first. Come on, everyone, give it a try, let’s make sure everyone gets a taste.” Yu Qingze brought out two large bowls of steamed and sliced cured pork and sausages, with small bamboo sticks inserted for easy consumption.
Yu Qingze carried the plates into the crowd, extending his hand for the villagers on both sides to take their share.
The villagers saw the brightly colored and shiny meat, took a sniff, and a tempting aroma filled the air—a combination of the savory smell of roasted pork and a hint of smokiness. It made their mouths water.
“I’ll have a piece!”
“I want to taste it too!”
“Mmm, it’s salty but delicious!”
“This sausage, is it called a ‘làcháng’? It’s tasty, slightly sweet, and filled with meat!”
“The flavor is excellent. How did you make it? Did you roast it?”
…
After everyone had finished tasting, Yu Qingze returned to the front and asked the people in the front row to crouch down. He then continued, “What you just had was cured pork and sausages. These food items are made during winter and can be stored for a long time. After marinating them with spices for a few days, they are smoked for about ten days and are ready to be eaten. They can be enjoyed until March or April. If properly preserved and continuously smoked until fully dried, they can last even longer. Moreover, as you have just tasted, this meat is savory and delicious, making it a perfect addition to meals when fresh vegetables are scarce in March or April.”
Everyone listened intently and savored the taste they had just experienced, without doubting the authenticity of Yu Qingze’s words. Suddenly, they all became excited.
“Aze, how do we do it?” an impatient villager asked.
“Yeah, especially that sausage. Is it stuffed with meat inside the casing? How do we stuff it in?”
The villagers were all thinking about the sausage they had just seen and the question raised by another villager.
Yu Qingze smiled and said, “Uncle, don’t worry. I will teach everyone how to make it right now.”
Saying that, Yu Qingze went into the kitchen and brought out the spices, ingredients, and strips of pork, placing them on the table together with Grandpa Chang.
“Let’s start with the cured meat, which is relatively simple. When buying meat, you should choose cuts that are moderately fatty and lean, such as pork belly, pork shoulder, or hind leg meat. These are all good choices for making cured meat. It can have bones or not, and the bones in cured meat are also delicious…”
Yu Qingze began explaining step by step, starting from how to choose the meat, while demonstrating the process.
“Sprinkle the spices on the meat like this, then rub it vigorously to let the spices penetrate and marinate the meat. Rubbing it for about fifteen minutes should be enough, then put it in a bowl for curing. I have already prepared these spices in advance, and there are three different flavors. When you make it, you can come to me to buy them and add them according to the proportions I will tell you.”
One villager whispered to the person beside them, “Having the spices prepared is great. It ensures the taste.”
“Yes, if we had to prepare them ourselves, the taste might be different.”
“That’s right.”
“…”
Yu Qingze overheard and said, “Yes, I’m afraid the taste would be different if everyone prepared the spices on their own. That’s why I’ve already prepared them.” In reality, that was just one aspect of the reason. The other reason was that by not teaching the villagers the ingredients, if they were to leave him, they wouldn’t be able to reproduce the taste, effectively safeguarding the most important secret recipe.
Yu Qingze continued, “After curing for two to three days, take it out and wash off the outer layer, then let it air dry. After that, you can take it for smoking. When smoking, you can designate an area in the kitchen and use sawdust, tea leaves, peanut shells, or something similar to produce smoke. Be careful not to ignite a fire; you want to maintain a smoky atmosphere. Remember to check the fire periodically; otherwise, if it catches fire after a few days of smoking, it will burn all the cured meat…”
Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.
After finishing the cured meat, Yu Qingze proceeded step by step to teach them how to make sausages, fillings, and stuffed meat. He even taught them how to cure chicken, duck, and fish. Once Yu Qingze finished teaching everything, he had two or three people come forward to try it out and answer their questions before concluding.
By this time, it was already past lunchtime.
Before ending, he reminded the villagers, saying, “I want to remind everyone that if you all go to the city to buy meat, buying too much at once may cause the price to increase in the next couple of days. See if anyone knows pig farmers. You can pool your resources and buy together, with each pair of households sharing one pig. Alternatively, if you have pigs suitable for butchering at home, you can slaughter them.”
“Ah, that’s a good idea. Yu San, doesn’t your husband’s family have a lot of pig farmers?” a villager asked.
“Yes, many people raise pigs for sale. If you’re interested, we can go together tomorrow to take a look. They have connections with some butchers, so they can have them slaughtered in the city. The remaining pig head meat and offal are also specially brought in to be sold,” another villager replied.
“Well, that’s great. Let’s gather money today and tomorrow go to Yu San’s husband’s place. We’ll meet at their doorstep,” one villager immediately organized.
Suddenly, everyone started discussing whether they should buy meat from the market or raise pigs.
“Oh, fellow villagers, come back the day after tomorrow, and I’ll teach you how to make sweet potato noodles!” Yu Qingze called out from behind.
“Okay, we’ll remember!”
“We got it!”
After the crowd dispersed, Yu Qingze and Grandpa Chang casually had lunch. Then they finished making the remaining cured meat and sausages, with the cured meat being placed in a fermentation jar to cure and the sausages hung up to dry.
In the afternoon, the village chief brought his sons and brought a bunk bed over. The village chief also took the profits from selling baby strollers and wheelbarrows and gave them to Yu Qingze.
Yu Qingze brought them into the house to install the bed, accepted the profits, and briefly checked the amount, estimating it to be more than ten taels.
“Village chief, are you also going to make cured meat, sausages, and sweet potato noodles?” Yu Qingze asked while observing their installation.
The village chief shook his head and replied, “We’ll make some cured meat and sausages, as they don’t take much time. But we won’t make sweet potato noodles. It seemed quite troublesome when we saw you making them before, and we still have woodworking tasks to do.”
Yu Qingze nodded and said, “That’s what I mean too. The profit from sweet potato noodles is not as high as woodworking. You should focus on that. Making cured meat and sausages is indeed not much trouble, so it’s okay to do them. However, I suggest that you still have Uncle Mo (village chief’s wife) come and see how to make sweet potato noodles. Even if you don’t make them, it’s good to have an idea. It’s always beneficial to have more knowledge.”
The village chief nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll have him come the day after tomorrow. By the way, when will the other bed be brought to the city?”
“Are you going to buy meat tomorrow? Or pigs? Do you have time?”
“It’s fine. Let Dayong go and buy. Dajian and I can go and install the beds.”
“Then who will sell the baby strollers?”
“Weren’t they all sold before? The ones we’re making now are all pre-ordered with a deposit. We’ll bring them all over the day after tomorrow, and the customers will come to pick them up.”
“Okay, then tomorrow it is. Brother Chang and his mother have been squeezing on one bed for a while. It’s uncomfortable for them. Tomorrow afternoon, please help me bring back our belongings as well. It might take some time to pack.”
“Sure.”
In the evening, after Chang Hao returned from school and entered the house, he suddenly noticed a brand-new wooden bed against the wall!
Just like what Big Brother Yu said, it had two levels!
And there was even a ladder!
“Wow! A new bed! A bunk bed!” He excitedly threw his school bag onto the bottom bunk, took off his shoes, and used both hands and feet to climb the ladder.
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Thank you for the chapter!
I’m top! Jiabao said~