A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 23 The Head of the House of Commons Licking the Plate

The sun sets over the western mountains,

Wisps of green smoke rose from the west wing of the Wang family compound, and Li Yi was cooking in the kitchen.

The forged iron pot, which cost half an ox to order from Fengjiabao, was rhythmically shaken in his hands. The pale golden dried bean curd sheets, dark brown wood ear mushrooms, and green scallions in the pot danced up and down. The rich bean fragrance of the dried bean curd sheets mixed with the fragrance of emerald green reed oil.
Very fragrant.

Stir-frying and stir-frying, Li Yi's wok over high heat creates amazing aromas from these ingredients.

A group of people crowded into the Wang family's kitchen.

There were the fat cook of the Wang family, the thin fire-making girl, the grooms and the coachmen, and even several concubines of the headman Wang were attracted by the fragrance.

Everyone looked at Li Yi cooking in surprise.
The unique little pot, the golden bamboo shoot-like ingredients, and especially his special cooking method, which was not boiling or stewing, but dancing the pot.

The rich aroma made everyone's throat slide and their saliva kept flowing out.

Li Yi is a good cook and he likes to cook his own food. This fried black fungus and bean curd sheet is a very simple home-cooked dish.

Cut the soaked bean curd sheets diagonally, put them into the pot together with the soaked black fungus, blanch them in water, then pour the reed oil directly into the hot pot, add the scallion and ginger and stir-fry until fragrant, then put the blanched bean curd sheets and fungus into the pot, stir-fry over high heat, and add the sauce he prepared in advance, which contains light soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt, sugar, starch, MSG, and a little water.

Cook over high heat until the sauce thickens and the dish is ready.

Remove from heat and serve.

Looking at this shiny and fragrant dish, everyone in the Wang family was drooling.

Li Yize washed the pot and continued.

Next, let's make a three-flavor bean curd stew. Heat the pan and fry the old tofu first until the surface is golden brown and a layer of shell is formed. Then sauté the ginger and garlic until fragrant. Stir-fry the bean curd and edamame that have been blanched. Add water and the fried tofu. Then add the soaked tofu. When the water boils, add his secret seasonings: MSG, pepper, salt, sugar, sprinkle with scallions, and transfer to a casserole.
The three-fresh bean curd pot is ready, the soup is white and rich in flavor.

Two dishes were also made with fried tofu puffs. One was a simple fried tofu soup. Add water and seasonings and cook until the puffs fully absorb the soup. Finally, sprinkle some chopped green onions and cooked sesame seeds and it's done.

Another dish is stir-fried bean sprouts with tofu puffs. Just cut the tofu puffs into pieces and stir-fry them with the bean sprouts.

Today's guest was Monk Hui Liao, so his creativity was limited. Otherwise, stir-frying pork belly with bean curd sheets, or braising pork with bean curd sheets, would have been even better. Fried tofu can also be made into tofu stuffed with meat, both being perfect combinations.

Three dishes and one soup.

Under the shade of the big elm tree in Wang's family,
The food was placed on the stone table.
Huile was a little bit unconcerned about her image when she ate it for the first time. The yellow millet porridge was nothing special, but these dishes were so delicious.

Full color and flavor.

The bean curd sheets are shaped like bamboo branches, yellow and white in color, shiny and transparent. When you take a bite, it is fragrant, tender and smooth, with an excellent taste.

endless aftertaste,

Full of sweetness.

Simply can not stop.

Hui Le didn't dare to eat too much, so as not to affect his image as the head of the lower temple of Ma Ti Temple.

Wang Li was the host, so he didn't have so many concerns. He ate voraciously, one bite after another, and even took time out of his busy schedule to say that the food was delicious.

"Hurry up and grab some food, no need to be polite."

"Wuyi, is this what you called bean curd sheets and fried tofu puffs? They are indeed delicious. I can't believe they are made from beans. These vegetarian dishes are even better than meat and fish."

Three dishes and one soup,
The portion is not large, which Li Yi did on purpose. If the portion is large, or even too large, it will be enjoyable while eating, but after being too full, one will feel a little uncomfortable.

That will reduce your impression of the food.

The best thing is to be exquisite and concise, leaving people wanting more.

It’s okay to eat until you are 50% to 60% full.

The portions are smaller and the presentation is more attractive.

Three dishes and one soup were not enough for three grown men to fill up, and they finished it all very quickly.

Li Yi also saw Wang Lizheng licking the plate.

Hui Le also poured all the soup in the clay pot into the bowl and ate it cleanly with millet porridge.

“Every meal should be appreciated as it is not easy to come by.”

Hui La put down the bowl she had licked clean and quickly explained.

"The master is right. Who knows that every grain of rice on the plate is the product of hard work?"

Hui Liao looked at him and asked, "Whose poem is this? I've never heard it before."

"I just heard it by accident before, but I forgot who wrote it." Li Yi said casually.

Wang Lizheng put down the plate he had licked clean, leaving not even a speck of greasy liquid behind, and said contentedly, "I never thought this would be so delicious. Master, my nephew's bean curd sheets and tofu puffs are truly remarkable, and his cooking skills are even more remarkable. To be honest, I've had many vegetarian meals at Mati Temple, and the vegetarian chicken at your temple is far inferior to this."

Hui Le also agrees.

Li Yi also took advantage of the situation at this time, "Master, the Horseshoe Temple has many donors and believers, and the temple always prepares temple meals. These bean curd sheets and tofu puffs are quite good. Why not order some? We deliver to your door every day and guarantee they are fresh and clean."

Wang Lizheng turned to Li Yi and said, "The Horseshoe Temple was built by imperial decree and holds a high status. If you provide food to the temple, you must ensure the best, and the price must be reasonable."

"Please rest assured, Uncle. You just tasted the dried bean curd sheets and fried tofu. They are rare delicacies. However, they are extremely difficult to make. For example, the fried tofu, for example, requires five or six ounces of oil to fry one pound of dry tofu. And although the dried bean curd sheets don't require oil, they do need to be baked and air-dried..."

After a lot of preparation,
Hui Liao understood his point and knew it wouldn't be cheap, but for Ma Ti Temple, price wasn't a big consideration when buying food. Especially since dried tofu skin and tofu puffs were so scarce, they were just the right amount to use for entertaining the temple's most important donors. Hui Liao was concerned about how much they could supply and whether it could be sustained over time.

"Can the supply of ten kilograms of bean curd sheets and ten kilograms of soaked tofu be guaranteed every day?" Hui Liao asked.

Li Yi was surprised at the quantity he ordered. One pound of bean curd sheets could be stir-fried into five or six dishes after being soaked.

Ten kilograms a day, fifty or sixty plates?

"There are over a hundred monks in the Horse-Tied Temple. In addition, there are many mills, pawnshops and other industries in the temple. The temple is very popular," Wang Li was reminding him that ten kilograms of each item a day was not a lot.

"Master, ten kilograms of dried bean curd sheets and soaked soybeans every day, no problem at all." Li Yi was also pleasantly surprised. This first order was a big one.

Hui Le immediately decided to place an order, but he didn't care too much about the price.

Li Yi estimated the cost. The soybean cost of one jin of bean curd skin was 52 coins, and the oil and beans cost of fried tofu were 67 coins per jin.

"If it's a long-term supply, bean curd sheets and fried tofu will only cost 150 yuan per pound." This is the price of pork quoted by Li Yi.

Hui Liao shook his head.

"Dried bean curd sheets and bean curd are rare and valuable. I'll give you one dou of millet for one jin. That's the price for both dried bean curd sheets and bean curd."

Hui Liao proposed to trade the millet in the temple, exchanging one dou of millet for one catty, and then bargained in reverse, raising the price to two hundred and sixteen coins per catty.

This was more expensive than the mutton which cost two hundred coins per pound, but he knew something was wrong. "Master, do you have any other instructions?"

Hui Liao first extended three fingers towards him, and then retracted one finger.

Li Yi actually understood it.

One day, they supplied 10 jin of dried bean curd sheets and 10 jin of fermented soybeans at a price of one dou of millet per jin. On that day, the temple gave him two dan of millet. The monk wanted a one-third commission.

A big appetite,

There are 216 coins per catty, and he wants to take 72 coins, which actually leaves Li Yi with 144 coins per catty, which is actually 6 coins less than the 150 that Li Yi proposed.

This was a bit too much, Li Yi smiled and shook his head.

Hui Liao pondered for a moment and said, "Then I will exchange one dou of rice for one jin of dried bean curd sheets or bean curd."

A dou of rice cost 360 coins, while a dou of millet cost 216 coins. The difference was enormous. The fat monk took 120 coins per jin, while Li Yi took 240 coins.

The fat monk got 48 more coins per pound than before, and Li Yi got 96 more coins per pound.

Hui Le could take 2,400 coins in kickbacks a day, leaving 4,800 coins for Li Yi.

It was a win-win cooperation, no one suffered any loss, only Ma Ti Temple had to pay more.

Li Yi had no reason to refuse such a good thing. If he didn't let Hui Le take it, Hui Le would never let his goods enter Ma Ti Temple.

The main material cost of twenty kilograms of bean curd sheets and fermented soybeans was less than 1,200 coins. Li Yi took 4,800 coins, and the gross profit was 3,600 coins, which could even be said to be a huge profit.

It was agreed that starting from tomorrow, Li Yi would supply goods to Mati Temple, and when he arrived at the temple, he could just go directly to Hui.

After seeing Hui off, Li Yi expressed his gratitude to Wang Lizheng and said that he would send him a few more pounds of bean curd sheets and fermented soybeans tomorrow.

"Why are you being so polite?" Li Zheng Wang patted Li Yi's shoulder and said, "Tomorrow, after you deliver the dried bean curd sheets to the temple, it would be best if you could donate a little to the temple's endless treasury.

The Mati Temple is a Three-Level Sect. Their Endless Treasury encourages people to give alms. Ordinary alms are divided into three levels: the first level is to give one cent or one he of millet every day, which is no more than thirty-six cents or three dou of millet per year. The second level is to give sixteen cents a day, and the third level is to give thirty-ten cents a day.

The fourth day of the first lunar month every year is the anniversary of the death of Xinxing, the founder of the Sanjie Sect. On this day, there will be a more grand charity activity.

As the most active sect in the Guanzhong area at that time, the Sanjie Sect was also quite influential and could be called the richest sect.

In addition to donations from believers, their endless treasury actually comes from their secular business operations. They lend money, buy and sell land, and run businesses, which have long deviated from the original purpose of Xinxing when he founded the Three Stages Religion.

In the past, Xinxing was an ascetic monk who required third-level monks to only eat one meal a day, and that meal had to be begged for alms. It was a shame to eat in the temple.

But now the Three Stages Sect is the richest sect in Guanzhong, and Hui Liao is even more greedy.

"Thank you, Uncle Wang, for reminding me. I will donate three dou of millet tomorrow."

"The Third Order Sect has hundreds of Buddhist temples in Guanzhong. There are also many non-Third Order temples, some of which have Third Order Halls. If he can establish a good relationship with the Third Order Sect, then you won't be able to supply only the Third Order Sect temples with bean curd sheets and tofu."

Li Yi felt that this third-level sect was a bit too powerful. If this continued, not only would other sects find it difficult to tolerate them, but even the imperial court would not be able to tolerate them either.

You have to be careful when interacting with them.

Business is business, don’t get involved with other things, just donate three dou of millet as a token of your appreciation.

Li Yi said goodbye and went home.
He packed up the wok he brought with him and took it away. After seeing the magic of his wok, Wang Jiapang, the kitchen chef, was quite envious and asked where he bought the small pot.

"It was custom-made by Feng Liulang's blacksmith shop in Fengjiabao. It's made of four and a half pieces of silk. It's called a wok, suitable for cooking."

Hearing the price, the fat cook shook her head. A small pot actually cost half a cow.

When Wang Lizheng heard this, he laughed and said, "I'll send someone to Feng Liulang's shop to order two tomorrow. This stir-fry is so delicious, it's worth half a cow."

The headman's family has many servants and a large pen of cattle and sheep, so this is not a big deal.

(End of this chapter)