novelraw Chapter 748 - 743: The Life of a Foodie
Chapter 748 - 743: The Life of a Foodie
Lin Wanwan not only sold low-priced grain within her clan but did not turn away those who came from Lu Family Manor and Dafeng Village.
Compared to Lin Family Manor, which received various subsidies from Lin Wanwan, the winter storage situation in Dafeng Village and Lu Family Manor, within the same area, was much more dire.
Now with Lin Wanwan’s low-priced grain, everyone was excited while tacitly maintaining silence, making sure the news didn’t leak outside.
Even those who usually loved gossip kept quiet when faced with the "smuggled in from the Southern" low-priced grain, choosing to quietly make their fortune.
Of course, Lin Wanwan’s assistance to them wasn’t only because of goodwill but also to win hearts.
She wanted to fortify her territory, starting by strategizing against the families around the Lin Mansion.
Lu Family Manor and Dafeng Village, right next to Lin Family Manor, could act as her shield.
Such actions by Lin Wanwan would be dangerous if done in Chang’an.
Under the emperor’s watch, why would you try to win people over?
But in the remote seaside villages, she could do whatever she wanted, as Xiao Chong, tall enough, could hold up the sky if it fell.
This endeavor was done together by the two, with Lin Wanwan boldly playing the smuggler, and the loopholes were patched by Xiao Chong. It was too comfortable, with a sense of freedom and doing as one pleases.
Knowing how cooperative Xiao Chong was after learning the secret of the Space-Time Gate, she should have told him earlier.
Apart from dealing with grain, another fresh development occurred in Mao County’s market recently—corn liquor.
The county government sent people to teach the method of brewing using corn cobs, and some successfully experimented, beginning to sell it at the market.
This limited self-brewed liquor wasn’t considered commercial business but part of agricultural by-products.
Because of insufficient grain for consumption, distilleries were strictly limited, but corn cob liquor wasn’t restricted.
Corn currently existed in only two places: one was Chang’an, the other Yuezhou.
Lin Wanwan had no spare time to learn these things in Chang’an, and naturally didn’t teach them. But bringing and planting corn seeds in Chang’an was already a significant contribution, given the high yield of corn!
With Great Tang’s slow tempo and circulation speed, the high-yield crops Lin Wanwan developed in Mao County, only potatoes were seen in Chang’an City, while others hadn’t been transmitted at all.
Lin Wanwan’s trip to Chang’an speeded up this process.
Speaking of corn, after getting the books from Lin Wanwan, Xiao Chong immediately picked out the content most likely to enhance the people’s living conditions, then activated those idly maintained "bureaucratic employees" in the county government, issuing a secret paper to each for them to self-learn and go to the countryside to teach the common folk.
Since there was a previous experience teaching about manure, this time everyone wasn’t flustered.
However, explaining knowledge to illiterate people wasn’t easy and couldn’t be achieved overnight.
Xiao Chong broke it into three steps, first mentioning it during the potato detox publicity, then personally leading the "promoters" through a practical session of corn cob liquor brewing.
Once ensuring these "promoters" comprehended, they were sent to rural areas again. The task this time was to ensure at least one person in each village with corn cobs learned this liquor brewing method.
The more people learn, the better—it was essentially Xiao Chong’s KPI assessment for the promoters.
According to the books, corn cob brewing began with fragmenting the raw materials, drying the corn cobs using mild fire or sunlight, and grinding them into fine powder, the finer, the better.
Then, sieve out the residues, spread the corn cob fine powder on a mat, add warm water for mixing, knead by hand until non-clumpy.
Next, put the mixed corn cob fine powder raw materials into a steamer to cook for about two hours.
After steaming, cool down, and when the temperature is approximately body temperature, add koji; bran yeast can be used, mix and put into a box for saccharification and fermentation.
Fermentation takes a total of seven days. For better fermentation, after saccharification, some distiller grains and yeast can be added before fermentation.
The completion of fermentation is distillation—bringing it to a successful conclusion.
Though the procedure seemed simple, even clever Xiao Chong didn’t succeed initially; he made seventeen or eighteen batches, but only one-third were very successful, another one-third barely edible, and the rest he considered failures.
When people in Lin Family Manor learned together, they couldn’t and came to ask Lin Wanwan, thinking she was omnipotent.
But Lin Wanwan didn’t understand; her plans to send "top-grade spirits" to Chang’an each month were all bought in modern times!
Jian Nan Chun, Maotai, Wuliangye—she could choose whatever she wanted, as long as she could move them; why bother learning? She didn’t have so much time for so many things.
So for clan members seeking help, Lin Wanwan uniformly declined, stating she was too busy.
She quite admired Xiao Chong, who promptly picked out such a technique from two brick-like books, turning waste into treasure and promoting it in Mao County, instantly supplementing the poor locals’ household greatly.
Firewood could be collected in the mountains; good fields were few in Mao County, mountains were everywhere, but corn cobs that could be brewed into liquor shouldn’t be wasted as firewood.
The other day, Lin Mengbo’s wife, Mrs. Qin, finally brewed corn liquor successfully and eagerly brought a bowl to Lin Wanwan for a taste.
Along with her came some people Xiao Chong had dispatched.
Mrs. Qin brought corn liquor to Lin Wanwan, and Xiao Chong sent spring rolls and twisted pastries!
This foodie, upon getting the books, seemed to study the food-related contents first.
From corn liquor to the current spring rolls and twisted pastries—it was indeed down-to-earth.
For modern people, the challenge in spring rolls and twisted pastries was the recipe; for Great Tang’s Xiao Chong, it started with fermentation powder and oil, making it considerably high-tech food.
Mrs. Qin happened to be present, so Lin Wanwan divided some spring rolls and twisted pastries as a return gift for the corn liquor for Mrs. Qin to take back.
Little Qingyu ran over, immediately drawn to the visually appealing twisted pastry, known as oil赞子 among Yongcheng people.
"Crack," she took a bite, exclaiming it was tasty.
Lin Wanwan took one and found it resembled the taste of that store on Yongcheng’s old street, which people queued for daily.
Foodies might have discerning tastes but not necessarily master making it. Xiao Chong could indeed do it; clever ones seem to learn everything simpler, quicker, and better.
After eating two, Lin Wanwan suddenly smiled. Little Qingyu tilted her head and asked, "Mother, why are you smiling?"
Lin Wanwan smiled back and replied, "Nothing, mother smiles because you eat happily. Is the oil赞子 delicious?"
"Is it called oil赞子? Delicious!" Little Qingyu replied crisply.
Lin Wanwan smiled not solely for the reason she told Little Qingyu but understood the unsaid words from Xiao Chong.
He was asking whether she minded if he made public the fermentation powder secret recipe.
After all, Lin Family Manor once earned quite a bit extra from selling flatcakes.