Zhao Dong and Sun Mei worked together to pour the soy milk onto the filter cloth.
With a whooshing sound, the milky white soy milk filtered through the cloth into the large basin below.
Zhao Dong suddenly thought of something and said, "Wife, I just thought about it. Making three to four hundred pounds of tofu a day is indeed tiring. It's okay for one or two days, but over time, no one can bear it. So, it's time for us to hire some help."
Sun Mei: "Hire help?"
Zhao Dong nodded and analyzed, "Yes, I just calculated. With the increase in the quantity we're selling in the afternoon, we can earn one or two taels of silver in a day. Hiring help won't cost much and can reduce our workload. It's quite cost-effective."
Hearing this, Sun Mei approvingly nodded: "It's indeed good, but if we hire help, our tofu-making method might get out, and it won't be easy to make big money."
Zhao Dong pondered for a while and said, "True, I was also worried about that before. So, to avoid this, the help we hire should best be one of our own, someone reliable."
"One of our own?"
Sun Mei also started to think.
Her in-laws' family and her stepmother's family were definitely out of the question; it would be good enough if they didn't try to steal the tofu recipe.
As for Mrs. Wang's youngest son, Zhao Qiu, although he had always had a good relationship with both the big family and their second family, if he came to help, Mrs. Wang would surely force him to hand over the recipe. He was also not an option.
As for her sister-in-law Ms. Zhu, never mind, never mind, she couldn't be considered at all.
Therefore, after much consideration, the only option for "one of our own" was her own family.
Sun Mei looked at Zhao Dong: "You wouldn't want to call my family, would you..."
"Haha, that's right, wife, you really are in sync with me."
Zhao Dong chuckled and said to his wife, "Look, your brothers-in-law at your father's house are good-natured people, and there's no worry about them leaking the recipe. Plus, we can't just focus on making money for ourselves; we should bring your family along to earn too. I even thought about giving them thirty percent of the shares. What do you think?"
"That sounds good."
Sun Mei was tempted, and her family was in the Sun Family Village, not far from Zhaozhai Village, just a village away, taking less than fifteen minutes on foot for a round trip.
Then Zhao Dong continued, "The day after tomorrow, I have to go to the market, and we need to pick some lotus leaves. Coincidentally, there's a lotus pond in Sun Family Village. We can take some tofu to your family and discuss this matter."
Sun Mei thought it was feasible, nodded in agreement, then suddenly asked curiously, "Why do you want to pick lotus leaves?"
Zhao Dong was startled for a moment, then laughed smugly: "Wife, see, you see, you say you read a lot of novels. When I go to the market the day after tomorrow, what should I use to wrap the tofu for the guests? Wouldn't it be lotus leaves?"
In ancient times, dry food was packaged using oiled paper and lotus leaves. Oiled paper was expensive and not cost-effective, while lotus leaves were cheaper; one penny could buy three or four leaves, and one leaf could wrap two pieces of tofu.
Sun Mei suddenly understood, patted her forehead, and laughed, "Ah, I forgot. Right, you don't even read novels, so how did you know?"
"Hahaha, actually, I don't know. It was Butcher Zhao who told me, he often goes to the market to sell meat..."
...
In the kitchen, the two of them chatted away while they worked, and didn't feel tired at all.
——
The next morning, after the villagers took the tofu to sell, Zhao Dong and the other two wrapped a large piece of tofu with steaming cloth, filled a few bowls of tofu pudding in bamboo tubes, and got ready to head to Sun Family Village.
Sun Mei strapped on the bamboo basket. Seeing that Zhao Zhitong hadn't come out of the room yet, she stood in the courtyard and shouted, "Tongtong, let's go, what are you dawdling inside for?"
"Coming~"
Zhao Zhitong shouted back, then came running out of the house with a small bamboo basket.
This bamboo basket had been woven by Zhao Dong for her. It was very small, about the size of a head, just enough for the little girl to carry.
After coming back from school yesterday afternoon and hearing Zhao Dong say they were going to her grandparents' house today, she ran to the roadside to pick some wildflowers to decorate her little basket.
However, this morning when she woke up, the flowers were all wilted, which made her feel sad for a while.
Sun Mei locked the main house door and stepped forward to take Zhao Zhitong's hand: "What were you doing inside?"
Zhao Zhitong was overjoyed: "I was preparing gifts for my cousins."
By this time, Zhao Dong had already pushed the cart out and was urging the mother and daughter in the courtyard from the doorway.
"Hey, are you two ready yet? Let's go, let's go, we also need to pick lotus leaves."
"Coming, coming, it's all because your darling daughter was dawdling."
Sun Mei said, then picked up Zhao Zhitong onto the cart, turned around, locked the door, and the three of them set off, heading toward Sun Family Village.
...
Zhao Zhitong sat on the cart, looking around excitedly all the way.
As soon as they reached the village head of Sun Family Village, Zhao Zhitong couldn't sit still anymore and started clamoring to get down: "Daddy, let me down, I can walk by myself now."
With no choice, Zhao Dong stopped the cart. Sun Mei took Zhao Zhitong down from the cart, repeatedly telling her to be careful and not to fall.
"I'm already in kindergarten, I won't fall," Zhao Zhitong shouted in her childish voice, puffing along as she rushed ahead.
Sun Mei sighed helplessly: "You run so fast, do you know which house your grandparents live in?"
Zhao Zhitong shouted loudly: "I know, I know, I have a good memory."
Sun Mei's family's home was on this street, so both of them were at ease, letting her run on her own.
Zhao Zhitong ran along, looked around, and when she saw a big stone in front of a house, she charged straight over. As soon as she reached the door, she clung to it and shouted inside.
"Grandpa, Grandma, Tongtong has come to see you~"
...
Meanwhile, at her grandparents' house, a familiar scene almost played out every week.
At that time, in the courtyard, Sun Kang's beard quivered as he angrily pointed at his sons in the yard and yelled, "One by one, how can you be so useless, huh! Is the Sun family's craft going to be lost in my hands? How did I raise such a bunch of unfilial sons!"
The Sun family's three sons stood shamefully in the courtyard, listening to their father's scoldings. Once their dad was finished, they'd immediately turn around and scold their own sons playing nearby: "Useless, why can't you study medicine properly with your grandpa, each one of you is useless."
Sun Kang snorted coldly: "Don't blame your sons. It's your own lack of ability; none of them are fit to study medicine. Either you give me a child with talent quickly, or you force it out of yourselves and follow me to learn. It's up to you."
Eldest son Sun Youwei looked up at the sky, pretending not to hear: "..."
Second son Sun Youli replied honestly, "…Dad, I'm trying."
Youngest son Sun Youcai, wryly laughed and looked around indifferently: "…Hey, Dad, the weather is really nice today, isn't it, Second Brother."
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