Reborn in Dunhuang, I am farming and doing business in the desert

Chapter 29 Grinding Soy Milk

"Okay, I'll buy some and roast them when I make a small stove."

Shen Zhao also wanted to taste the sweet potato.

I used to often see pictures of golden roasted sweet potatoes in small bronze mirrors, and I could feel the sweetness and deliciousness from the images.

The reason I didn't buy it was that I felt it was just a snack, slightly inferior to normal meals.

I am not yet at the point where I can spend my money as I please, so many things that look delicious have to be put at the end of my budget.

Zhang Shanyue glared at his son: "So much food can't keep you hungry. What's wrong? Are you still not full?"

Shen Heng had long been immune to his mother's scolding. His mind was filled with excitement and surprise at learning that his sister had a magical ability.

After dinner, Shen Heng took the initiative to take on the task of washing the pots and bowls. While washing the dishes in the yellow basin, he secretly asked his sister: "A Zhao, can you buy a bow and arrow? A spear will also do."

Shen Zhao was scrubbing the pot with a bamboo broom and said slowly, "As long as you have money, you can buy anything."

She also saw a beautiful carriage that did not need to be pulled by oxen or horses, but it was very expensive and she could not afford it with her money.

"Really? How much does it cost?" Shen Heng was very excited, his eyes shining like stars.

Shen Zhao didn't know how much it cost because she hadn't searched it yet: "I'll check it out when I have time and tell you. It probably won't be cheap."

"Okay!" Shen Heng quickly washed the dishes and said impatiently, "Then I will go to the market to sell cotton clothes tomorrow!"

He could earn at least fifty cents for a cotton-padded jacket. As long as he sold all the cotton-padded jackets in his sister's room, he could earn more than a thousand cents.

When the time comes, hehe, he will buy a bow and arrow to hunt rabbits and pheasants...

In the evening, the mother distributed several new quilts to her children: "The weather has cooled down. These are just sitting there for no reason. You can use them to cover your bed first. When your eldest brother comes back, we will make new ones."

Shen Heng happily ran back to his room with the new quilt and placed it on the straw mat. He then spread the old, worn and thin quilt on the couch as a mattress.

Just as he lay down on the couch to enjoy the rare warmth, his mother rushed in and forced him to take a bath.

"Look at all the mud on you. You've stained the new bedding. Your sister has boiled two large pots of hot water and bought a big bathtub. Your father is already taking a bath. When he's done, you can go and soak in the hot water too."

Zhang Shanyue pulled his son to the kitchen, pushed him in, and reminded him: "By the way, rub the mud off your father. If you and your father don't wash it clean today, don't even think about using new bedding!"

Shen Heng stumbled into the kitchen and saw his father squatting in a large bathtub with a look of despair. The curling hot steam misted his long hair and beard.

However, the kitchen is really warm today, and there is a small fire next to the bathtub, so I don’t have to worry about catching a cold and getting sick.

When Shen Ang saw his son coming in, he raised the soap in his hand and said, "Son, use this to wash your hair first. Ah Zhao said it can get rid of lice. When you come back to take a bath later, we can use different bathtubs."

Shen Heng:.
In the side room, Shen Zhao was also remaking the bed.

The beds here are different from those in the bronze mirror world. Although they are called beds, they are actually just a thick wooden board laid on the ground with a straw mat or straw cushion on top of the board.

In winter, people would simply put a layer of grass on the wooden boards, and sleep on these beds with thin blankets.

Those who were more particular would fill a narrow mat with straw, reeds, willow catkins and other materials and lay it under their bodies. Rich families would use animal fur or down mattresses, while the imperial palace would use snow-white silk quilts, which were not much worse than cotton.

The poor people living in the city would also collect large amounts of bird feathers, steam and dry them, and then spread them directly in a cellar made of adobe bricks. The walls and the floor of the cellar were inlaid with wooden boards, and the whole family would sleep in it to keep out the cold winter. This thing was called a chicken feather bed.

There are even people who specialize in making these chicken feather beds and renting them to poor people for the winter, charging one or two cents a night. These are also called chicken feather shops.

The cotton quilt that the Shen family used today was truly the treatment of a royal relative. Shen Zhao spread out the quilt and buried himself in the fluffy and soft quilt, feeling extremely satisfied.

Being able to eat well and dress warmly during the day and sleep in such a warm bed at night, is there any better life in the world than this?
That night, several members of the Shen family took a bath one after another and went to bed feeling refreshed.

Before going to bed, Shen Zhao soaked a pot of soybeans and bought a stone mill, a large vat and tools for making tofu.

She planned to get up tomorrow morning and grind the soy milk, then boil the slurry and make some to see if it would work.

If feasible, we can make some at each market and sell them. If we can’t sell them, we can keep them for eating, which saves us from having to buy vegetables.

As for old cotton-padded clothes, the popularity is only temporary. Once all the clothes that should be bought have been sold, this business will no longer be possible.

When I woke up, it was already bright.

Shen Zhao quickly climbed out of the warm bed, put on a royal blue mid-length cotton coat, put on wooden clogs, and hurried out of the room.

At this time, my parents had already gotten up. They both changed into thick cotton clothes and were busy working around the stone mill in the yard.

"Huh? What is this?" Zhang Shanyue pushed the handle of the millstone in surprise, and touched the groove in the middle of the millstone, feeling a little unbelievable.

Shen Ang was knowledgeable after all. He touched his chin and said, "It should be a stone mill for grinding grain." He seemed to have seen it in some wealthy family's home.

However, the stone mill he saw was not lying flat, but standing upright. There was a stone platform underneath the stone mill with a wooden handle on it, and it required two people to push it.

"Oh! This must have been bought by Ah Zhao again." Zhang Shanyue was delighted but also a little worried: "What if someone sees this?"

Her daughter's magical ability is good, but it is too worrying. Whenever she sees her daughter taking out something strange, her heart starts pounding, for she is afraid that it will be terrible if outsiders find out one day.

Shen Ang waved his hand: "It's okay, just say I asked someone to transport it back." Their neighbors were quite far apart. There was no one else in the six acres of land around their home. Only his brother and sister-in-law's home was not far away, but it was also more than twenty feet away.

Zhang Shanyue sighed: "That's fine. But how do I use this stone mill?"

"Dad! Mom! Today I will teach you how to make tofu." Shen Zhao walked over while combing her long hair.

Zhang Shanyue pulled her daughter over and asked her to squat on the ground. She braided her hair and tied it behind her head: "Tell me, what should we do?"

Shen Zhao went to the kitchen and brought out a basin of soaked soybeans. He scooped up a ladle of water to clean the millstone. Then he scooped the soybeans with a spoon and poured them into the groove in the middle of the millstone, and then pushed the millstone.

The millstone was a bit big, and she had a hard time pushing it at first.

Seeing this, Zhang Shanyue hurriedly pushed with her daughter.

Shen Zhao pushed and scooped soybeans into the trough. After a while, a milky white liquid flowed out from between the two millstones.

Zhang Shanyue quickly ran into the house and brought back a pottery jar, which he placed under the exit of the grinding table.

As more and more soybeans were added, the slurry slowly filled a ceramic jar.

Shen Ang came to help after washing up, and the three of them quickly ground a basin of soaked soybeans.

The next step is filtering.

The three of them were busy hanging bean dregs when they heard a woman crying outside the yard.

Then someone knocked on the wooden door: "Mr. Shen Ting, are you home?"

(End of this chapter)