North and South groceries

"Let me see, what is written on this page?"

"It's about how to make sauce with chili peppers."

"Making sauce? Looking at this picture, I think it's making wine."

"...You can make wine with chili peppers, thank you."

"It's so strange, Chinese prickly ash can be used in wine, why not chili?"

"..."

People at this time drink Tusu wine and Jiaobai wine with peppercorns, probably for the purpose of dispelling dampness and evil.

So after the woman saw the pattern on a certain page of the "Chili Edible Handbook", she thought that this page was about making wine. After asking her husband, she found out that it was about making sauce.

This "Chili Edible Handbook" is also wonderful. It not only contains texts, but also has pictures. The pictures are also very interesting. With extremely concise lines, the content of the text can be conveyed in all directions .

A few days ago, since this woman's husband-in-law gave her such a booklet, she always took it out and read it over and over again. Except for the sauce maker, she probably understood everything else. up.

The content of this booklet is also very detailed, from cold salad, soup, stir-fry, to drying chili, making chili oil, making sauce, pickling, almost everything can be talked about, but most of them are very simple. It is enough for daily needs. If you want to delve into gourmet food, you need to spend more time thinking about it.

Early the next morning, the men in the family were busy with their own business. The woman went to her mother-in-law to say hello, and then saw her mother-in-law was also holding the booklet in her hand and studying it.

The old man couldn't see near objects clearly, and held the booklet at a distance, stretching his neck and lifting his chin, looking at it seriously.

"Why are you watching this so early in the morning?" the woman laughed.

"Daughter-in-law, have you asked my son what the one was about yesterday?" the old lady asked.

"I asked, that page is about making sauce." The woman replied.

"I said it looked a bit like making sauce." The old lady said: "It's getting cold these days, and I'll let people go out to buy some good meat and grind it into minced meat to make some meat sauce."

"It's not exhaustive," said her daughter-in-law.

"It's really difficult, just follow the practice of previous years, and add a pepper." The old lady is very confident.

They are relatively good at eating. If it is replaced by those who do not know how to make sauce, even if there is such a page in this booklet, they will not be able to make it.

However, in this entire booklet, the sauce-making page is the most difficult, and the others are quite simple. It is probably because of this reason that this booklet sells very well.

"It's a pity that we can't buy fresh peppers this year."

"The chili seedlings planted in the past two days have grown well. After three or two months, there will be fresh chili peppers at home."

"The garlic chili sauce pictured in the brochure, I also want to make it."

"At that time, follow the instructions above and do it one by one."

"Winter is coming soon, I wonder if those peppers will grow well."

"With a warm shed in winter, courgettes and loofahs can grow, and this chili should not be bad."

Not to mention, there are quite a few people who grow chili peppers recently, because with the experience of growing vegetables in winter in the past two years, these Chang'an people are now starting to grow peppers in winter without any ambiguity.

It is estimated that there will be a batch of fresh peppers on the market without waiting until the end of the year, but the peppers in the greenhouse probably will not grow red, and it is unlikely to be able to save seeds.

All of Luo Yong's colleagues in Taixue grow peppers at home, anyway, every household has such a big yard, and the vegetable garden is equipped with basic equipment, so it's hard work.

Chang'an City in September is relatively cool, but there is still a period of time before the arrival of winter. In recent years, Chang'an City generally does not snow until November of the lunar calendar.

In autumn, the weather is dry and cool, and the food is abundant. It is a season that many people like.

Recently, many farmers and peddlers use wooden carts to push persimmons, dates, pears, etc. to the market to sell, and the prices are not expensive. The people in Chang’an will buy some. If they can’t finish eating, they will be dried into dried persimmons and dates. There is no fruit to eat in winter. Sometimes, it is also a good snack.

Compared with persimmons and dates, pears cannot be made into dried fruits, so the price of pears in Chang'an City was not high in the past years, especially those small and sour pears, which could not be sold for much money. It rots on the branches.

Until two years ago, a method of freezing pears came from Lishi. It is strange to say that those thick-skinned and sour pears taste very sweet after being frozen. The price of growing pears has also risen a lot. Originally, a load of pears cost less than two or three Wen, but now it costs more than ten Wen, so it is unaffordable.

The main ones sold on the streets these days are the big pears with thin skin and thick flesh. When the snowfall is approaching, it will be the turn of those small pears to appear. At that time, every family will buy a few loads, put them in pottery urns, and freeze them in the pears. In the yard, take out one or two from time to time in winter to satisfy your gluttony. It is really incomparable to any delicious food.

"Da Liu, when will your family pick pears this year?"

On this day, a farmer from Guiyifang came to sell persimmons with a cart. The persimmons of this man were delicious and affordable, because there were relatives in Guiyifang who came to sell their fruits every year. Many neighbors are familiar.

"It will take about half a month." Liu Dalang stood by his cart, without even a steelyard in his hands.

His persimmons are sold one by one, several for a penny, and the neighbors pick and take them by themselves, and don’t expect to have a plastic bag to put them in. They can either take them back with their hands, or pick up their clothes and pocket them, or shout The baby at home brought a basket and tub or something to fill it.

"After picking the pears, you can come to us to sell them."

"I've heard people say that this year a load of pears can be sold for about fourteen Wen."

"Why do you want to increase the price of your house?"

"I, Aye, said that I buy pears with my family every year, and my family does not raise that much. It is one penny more than last year, and a load of twelve pennies is enough."

"Oh, the price of pears is rising every year..."

"Liu Da, your family is so lucky, guarding that pear grove, you have to earn a lot of money just selling pears all year round, right?"

"In the past two years, I have been able to earn some money. In the past, no one wanted the pears, and the dozens of pear trees were almost cut down by my brothers for firewood."

"Hahahaha!"

"The pear tree in your house is old, right?"

"They are all hundreds of years old."

"How tall is it?"

"It's so high that even a ladder can't reach it. One has to climb a tree to pick it."

"That's dangerous too."

"Since my mother harvested wheat in summer, she has weaved a lot of grass pieces at home. When it was time to harvest pears, she spread those grass pieces under the pear tree, layer by layer, and the pears fell on it. Don’t be afraid of being knocked, if a person falls from it, the fall will be lighter.”

"How many layers do you have to lay?"

"A dozen or so floors."

"Oh, your mother is also careful."

"..."

These people here were talking and picking persimmons, Xing Er also came out of the yard, came over and asked Liu Da: "How many pears can your family pick this year?"

"If you don't say anything, you can pick dozens of loads. What's the matter, do you want to buy it?" Liu asked with a big smile.

"When the pears are harvested, you first send ten loads to that Lishi Luo Sanlang, and then send ten loads to me."

As Xing Er said, he threw a string of copper coins towards him: "I'll give you a hundred coins first, and when the pears arrive, I'll give you the rest."

"Okay!" Then Liu Da took the string of copper coins with his hands, and the smile on his face was even brighter.

After Xing Er finished speaking, he went back to his yard. Looking at his sweaty body, he reckoned that he was playing with those pieces of wood and iron again.

Liu Da smiled and put the bunch of copper coins into his arms without counting them. They can trust Xing Er's character.

"This year is quite generous. He bought [-] dan at one go, but last year he only bought [-] dan." Liu Da laughed with everyone.

"You don't know that recently Xing Er and the others and Na Luo Sanlang are printing brochures, ready-made engraving blocks and paper, you only need to print with ink, and you can earn half a penny for a brochure. You can print better in a day, and you can make more money every day." It’s truckloads of truckloads going to the north-south groceries.”

While carrying persimmons, these neighbors were gossiping with Liu Da about Xing Er and the others.

"I heard that he took in two more children yesterday?"

"A pair of little sisters."

"I'm so young, I'm afraid I can't work yet."

"Hey, it's also a hard life."

"I think there are very few girls here?" Liu Da interrupted.

"If a girl goes to the street, she will be taken away within a few days. Few of them can come to him."

"Tsk."

"If you are lucky, go and be a maidservant, most of them are not..."

"Oh, don't say it, don't say it..."

"Da Liu, I have ten persimmons."

"Three pennies."

"Hey, I can't even afford persimmons."

"Whenever Luo Sanlang's job of printing booklets can be shared with us, it would be great."

It is not impossible for their wish to come true. Luo Yong has recently made a lot of money just relying on this "Chili Edible Handbook".

He also saw those Persian and Dashi merchants buying this booklet box by box in his own shop.

Through this incident, Luo Yong saw the huge market for picture books in this era, and he is currently considering whether to develop the printing industry in Chang'an City.

How to save for the next book, how about "Chang'an Popular New Fashion"?