Chapter 14 - 14 Chapter 014 Touching on a Sore Spot (1/2)

14 Chapter 014 Touching on a Sore Spot

Translator: 549690339

When the two of them arrived at Mrs. Wen’s house, she had already finished eating and lit the lamp.

“You are so late, I thought you two were unable to make better tofu and had run off,” Mrs. Wen teased with a tug at the corner of her mouth.

“We figured that the beans need to be soaked for a long time, so we have come a bit late,” Zhuang Qingning said with a smile, “Aunt, you should rest early, we will go and get busy. We will try to keep the noise down tonight, so as not to disturb your sleep.”

“You two are not entirely foolish if you realise this much.”

With a light tone, Mrs. Wen continued, “When you get old, every sleep feels light. If you are dropping and banging things in the background, I truly can’t sleep. So, be a bit cautious not to disturb my sleep.”

Having said that, Mrs. Wen returned to her room.

Zhuang Qingning went into the tofu workshop, fetched a strainer, scooped out some beans from the water tank, picked a few randomly, and checked the condition of the soaked beans.

The beans had swollen upon soaking water, they had grown in size, and every bean had entirely lost its hardness inside. This was a symbol of the beans being thoroughly soaked.

She called Zhuang Qingsui to bring the strainer and the basket to scoop up the beans, and Zhuang Qingning started the first step of tofu production, grinding into soy milk.

The beans were added to the stone mill through the holes. Upon turning the stone mill, the thick white soy milk gradually flowed out from the gaps in the stone mill, fell into the stone plate beneath the mill, gathered there, and flowed into a wooden barrel underneath through the holes on the edges.

Making soy milk was the most time-consuming and labor-intensive task. And in the past, when Mrs. Wen’s family still had a tofu workshop, they had a donkey at home that did the laborious task of turning the stone mill.

Now that there were no animals to assist, Zhuang Qingning and Zhuang Qingsui had to grind the soaked beans into milk by themselves.

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At this time, everyone in Zhuang Ruman’s family was having dinner.

Having dinner at this time was considered late. The light of their oil lamp was not only dim but also consumed oil quickly.

This was why most farmers usually have dinner before dark, then they go to bed early. This practice allows them to start their day early the next morning, and it also saves some money that would otherwise be spent on oil or candles.

Mrs. Song originally did not want to consume the oil lamp’s oil, but she had no choice.

There was more than ten acres of farmland in their house that needed tending. But to hoe over it once, took several days. At this time, they also had to spread chicken manure, water the fields, and there was simply too much work to be done.

There were also the vegetable plots. Right now was the time to plant cucumbers, mung beans and other crops. They didn’t even have time to do this. If they delayed it anymore, they would miss the season, and there would be no vegetables to eat in the summer.

In the past, Zhuang Qingning and Zhuang Qingsui were like two old oxen. They worked tirelessly, ate little, and helped Mrs. Song to live a more relaxed life. But now, without these two, even if Zhuang Qinghe and Zhuang Yuanzhong were called upon, they wouldn’t be as efficient nor productive. They could not get much work done.

After finishing the work in the fields, they had to hurry back to cook. In such a rush, they were inevitably a bit late for the meal.

“Be more efficient tomorrow, and don’t have dinner this late. Do not waste the oil lamp.” Zhuang Ruman slurped a mouthful of cornmeal porridge, said, “The lamp oil is not going to last, and the smell is also not pleasant.”

“Yes. I understand.” Mrs. Song nodded repeatedly, then turned towards Zhuang Qinghe, “Qinghe, come back early tomorrow and prepare dinner ahead of time.”