In front of the stove, Ji Wei was busy heating the pot, he stuffed a piece of ginger into the belly of the fish and put the rest in the pot with the oil. After the flavor of the ginger started to flow out, he threw the fish into the pot. He fries them until they turn slightly yellow, adds three bowls of water, and boils them to a milky white color over high heat.
Next, he put the soft tofu in and cook it for a quarter of an hour. When the soup is thickened, he added salt and wine. There was no monosodium glutamate in this era, so he added a very small amount of sugar to enhance the freshness. Lastly, after he put out the fire, he spread some spring onion on the soup.
The soup is thick and has a unique milky white color. The green onions were smoked by the heat, like a sprout born from broken snow, and the green color make the soup look beautiful.
When the crucian carp tofu soup was served, the puppy in Zhao Lame’s arms couldn’t hold back anymore. Its two paws pulled the edge of the table, wagging its tail and barking, its black eyes staring straight at the soup.
“Is it a cat or a dog?” Ji Wei looked at the puppy with a funny look.
“This is a greedy dog.” Zhao Lame slapped it on the forehead, but the puppy wouldn’t give up, it uses Zhao Lame’s knee as a springboard and jumped up a step at a time.
Zhao lame was afraid that it would jump into the bowl, so he caught it and put the puppy on the ground. But that still couldn’t stop it, it holds the legs of the table and stared at the table.
“It should be called greedy cat.” Ji Wei smiled and cut off a small piece of boneless soft meat from the abdomen of the crucian carp, bent down and squatted beside the puppy, holding the small piece of fish meat to temp it.
Unexpectedly, Dudou was attracted, its eyes kept staring at the fish, and his tail was shaking faster and faster. When Ji Wei didn’t pay attention, it stretched its head over, took the fish away from his hand, turned around, and show its butt to Ji Wei. It then hid under the table and chewed at the fish.
“It’s true that a dog is like its master.” When Ji Wei came to the table, seeing Zhao Lame staring at him, Liu Yimian covered his mouth and didn’t dare to laugh out loud, he had to turn his face away and smirked, his shoulders twitching.
The Crucian carp tofu soup was delicious, its fish meat was fresh and tender, and the bowl of thick soup could make one swallow one’s tongue.
Zhao lame is dull by nature and does not like to take advantage of others. After drinking the fish soup, he only ate the rice with his head down. If it wasn’t for Ji Wei putting fish and meat for him, I’m afraid he wouldn’t look up from the bowl of rice.
After dinner, Zhao lame didn’t stay, he picked up his puppy and was about to leave.
Ji Wei knew his temperament, so he didn’t ask him to stay. He made an appointment for a time and place and walk him to the alley.
…
The next day on all four streets.
“Do not miss it!”
“The work is simple, no brains needed, just do it!”
“Ten pennies an hour, the wages will be settled immediately! We only need strong men!”
“Do more and earn more! As long as you are willing to work, you will make money!”
“First come, first served! It’s better to take action now!”
The shouting resounded through the four streets, everyone stopped to take a look and ask questions when they passed by.
The answer was unbelievable, the Ji family is the one actually recruiting people.
“What does he want us for?”
“That’s right, isn’t that kid from Ji’s family selling pancakes?”
“I think he is injured and can’t sell pancakes anymore.”
“Ten pennies an hour? How can there be such a good thing? Is it true or false? Hope this is not a scam.”
“My husband is at home with no work, I shall go home and ask him if he is willing to do it.”
“It doesn’t matter if is it real or not, there is nothing to lose for asking!”
These four strong men were paid twenty pennies. After an hour of shouting on the street, they called it a day and left. When there are more people on the street, the words were spread throughout the morning on all four streets.
Ji family.
Ji Wei took a bench and sat under the eaves.
In the early morning, he not only found the four strong men but also invited several young men around him, including Zhao Hu, to go with him to Zhao Lame’s house to move goat milk.
A few days ago, his neighbor had already asked him to change the goat milk, and they probably won’t come again in the next few days. As soon as the young people came by, they brought back all the thirty jars of goat milk that he had squeezed in the past few days in two trips and piled them up under the shady eaves of Ji’s house. It was so full that it almost fully blocked the main door. At first glance, it looked spectacular.
Ji Wei and a few young people who had just returned from work, some sat on the stool, some simply sat on the ground, drinking the boiled mung bean soup made by Liu Yimian in the morning.
The mung bean soup has been cooled by the well water, and sugar was added. It tastes cold and sweet. It helps clear the heat and cools them down, and especially quenches thirst.
They didn’t have to wait long, around 10-11 am, men started to come through the door of Ji’s house and walked in one after another.
They were still a little timid when they arrived. When they saw Ji Wei, they didn’t dare to look at him, and their eyes fluttered around the yard. When they saw the bizarre bakery by the well, most of them looked at it a few more times, then took their eyes back and placed them next to the row of neatly stacked jars.
“Ten pennies an hour, what do we need to do?” Li Si, the fourth son of the Li family asked, and beside him were three men with similar looks, all of whom were the brothers of the old Li family.
Early in the morning, his mother-in-law went to the street to buy food and heard about the deal. She rushed home and told them about it. Li Si didn’t believe it at first but at the same time didn’t want to miss such good things. So he called all his brothers and came together.
If all four were to go together, no one can take advantage of them.
With this thought in mind, the four brothers came together.
Although they were muttering and complaining along the way, they felt a lot more at ease when they saw that a few young people were sitting in the yard, plus the rows of jars.
As long as there is real work.
“You are here pretty fast.” Zhao Hu finished drinking the mung bean soup and wiped his mouth with his bare arms.
“Come here.” Ji Wei waved at the four brothers of the Li family. Li Si, who was bolder and more active, took a few steps forward and stood about ten feet in front of Ji Wei.
“Are you afraid that I will eat you?” Ji Wei scolded with a smile, pointed to a row of jars beside him, and said to them, “I asked you to come here for these. A total of ten strong men are needed.”
“What is this?” Li Si was a little curious.
“Goat’s milk.”
“What do you want to do with so much goat milk?” Li Si was taken aback, goat milk is not cheap, each jar would cost ten to twenty cents. That’s a lot of money here.
“Don’t worry about that, not everyone has arrived yet, so sit down for a while. Are you thirsty? Mianmian, come here with a few bowls of mung bean soup!” Ji Wei shouted loudly, and a response came from the kitchen.
Not long after, Liu Yimian came out with a few bowls and divided them one by one.
The four brothers of the Li family were flattered and took it, and couldn’t help thanking Liu Yimian. It made the scene very embarrassing, Liu Yimian ran back to the kitchen embarrassed.
Finally, after another half an hour, there are ten men in the yard.
Ji Wei counted the men, shouted, and told the last one to close the door so as not no let anyone else in.
“It’s first come, first served. We needed thirteen people in total. But there are fourteen here. It doesn’t matter if there is one extra.” Ji Wei waved his hand and let all the people scattered in the yard stand up and come to him.
“Is it really ten pennies an hour?”
“I’m here for the high wages, or else—”
“Yes!”
Several men shouted loudly as if they were afraid that Ji Wei would cheat and not give money.
“If you are willing to believe me, then stay. If you don’t believe me, the door is over there. You are welcome to leave.” Ji Wei made a gesture towards the door with a serious look.
“Since no one wants to leave, then I’m going to start.” Ji Wei nodded to Liu Yimian who was beside him, he went back to the house and took out a smaller earthen jar, and handed it to Ji Wei.
Ji Wei opened the jar of goat milk.
This jar is much bigger than his previous crock pot, about the size of a human head. If you weights it casually, it feels to be several kilograms heavy. If you hold it in your hand and shake it, I am afraid that till your hand is broken, you will not be able to separate the layer.
He had specially prepared some small crock pots, but not many. He went around all the grocery stores and only managed to buy eleven.
“Come over, I’ll demonstrate to you once.” A dozen men hula-la surrounded Ji Wei.
Ji Wei poured a portion of the goat’s milk from the jar into the crock pot, then sealed it with the lid, pressed the lid with one hand and held it under the jar with the other, and shook it vigorously.
“My God! What are you doing?”
“It’s a waste of good stuff!”
“I can’t waste the milk…”
A lot of people were chatting beside him, but Ji Wei didn’t care about them. After shaking for about a quarter of an hour, he lifted the lid and looked at the light to make sure that there was delamination. Then he pours the goat milk in the crock into a large bowl with a wide mouth.
“Can you see it? The goat milk is layered.” Ji Wei pointed out the cream on it to these men, “That’s what I want. It takes a quarter of an hour to shake as I did until something like this appears. Layering is done.”
This oil and water separation is very time-consuming.
Otherwise, Ji Wei would not pay ten cents an hour for such a simple job.
If you want to earn ten coins, you have to sell five pancakes to earn it.
“Bloody hell, this money is not easy to earn.” Li Si suddenly said, and everyone nodded.
Ji Wei laughed, “If it’s so easy to earn? Why do I still need you guys?”
After listening to Ji Wei’s words, some people who were hoping to take advantage were suddenly embarrassed and stopped talking.
“Tentatively, you guys will be considered employed. Let’s try it for an hour first. Whoever fails to pass the shake, I will pay you and you can leave, and you don’t need to come tomorrow.” Ji Wei said with a stern face and a serious tone.
He was already very stern-looking, everyone didn’t dare to make a sound, staring at him nervously.
“Take these small jars, each of you. When you think it’s fully shaken, pour it into the bowl.” Ji Wei had selected Zhao Hu, who works steadily, to sieve the goat milk that had been delaminated.
“I’ll check it when it’s done.”
Ji Wei looked at the fourteen people present, and picked out three thinner ones, “You three, follow me to Zhao Lamei’s house to milk the goat.”
The three people who were singled out became anxious when they heard it.
“Then the money?”
“Don’t worry, it’s also ten minutes an hour.” The three were relieved when they heard Ji Wei’s words.
“But Zhao lame will be staring at you, so don’t try to be lazy.” Ji Wei saw their thoughts clearly, “You all know who is Zhao lame?”
The three nodded in succession.
Zhao Lame’s reputation was not very good, although he was not like the original owner, he has done a lot of **** things. But they also heard that once when someone came to him to buy mutton, hearing his stammer, he accidentally laughed. It offended him and he kicked the person out of the door with a broom.
If he is the supervisor, no one would dare to be lazy.
Ji Wei divides everyone and asks Liu Yimian to keep an eye on them. If you are thirsty and hungry, you can ask Liu Yimian for mung bean soup to relieve the heat.
After that, he led the three people and headed for Zhao Lame’s house.