Chapter 427: Utterly Confused

Chapter 427: Chapter 427: Utterly Confused

"I won’t be coming to the shop tomorrow. Can you and Zhou handle things?"

The delivery day for the dehydrated vegetables had arrived. There would be counting and final payments to handle—it was going to be busy, and Ji Huan had to be there.

"No problem. I’ll have my mother come help for the day, and Ping’an will come over too if he’s free."

After the initial three-day rush, the customer traffic for the braised foods was no longer so crazy and had mostly stabilized. Three or four people could handle it just fine.

"Good. I’ll prepare the braised foods for the day after tomorrow at home tomorrow afternoon and bring them over the morning after."

Just before getting on the horse-drawn carriage, Ji Huan remembered something else and pulled Xu Laifu aside.

"I know the winter temperatures aren’t ideal for brewing sauce and vinegar, but our stock is dwindling by the day. If we wait to brew until spring, I’m afraid we’ll run out before the new batch is ready."

"You want me to start now?"

"Is it feasible? From what I know, the hardest part in winter is the fermentation. Take soy sauce, for example. After the soybeans are steamed and cooled, you have to spread them on mats and let them mold indoors, right? If the room temperature isn’t high enough, the fermentation will be uneven..."

Normally, the temperature needs to be above thirty-seven degrees Celsius for the fermented soybeans to develop the yellow-green aspergillus and yeast on their surface.

Xu Laifu thought for a moment and said, "That’s not too difficult. If the room isn’t warm enough, we can use the heated brick bed."

Ji Huan had thought of that too. A heated brick bed could indeed raise the temperature and promote fermentation, but its heat was difficult to control. If it got too hot...

"I tried it last winter. As long as someone keeps a constant eye on it and controls the heat, it’ll be fine... At worst, we can use a charcoal stove. As long as the soybeans ferment properly, it’s not a big problem. After they’re mixed well, packed into jars, and sealed, they won’t need to be sun-dried until three or four months later. By then, it will be spring, and the flowers will be blooming."

"Alright then, I’ll leave it to you. As for the location, a lot of eyes are on Ji’s Flavor Industry lately, so the backyard isn’t suitable. Just do it at your house for now. We can move it once the Sauce and Vinegar Workshop is built next year. You still need to come to the shop on weekdays, so your mother will definitely have to put in a lot of work. I’ll pay her a salary for it—that’s my decision, no refusing. All expenses for purchasing raw materials and so on can be withdrawn from the accounts. Also..."

Ji Huan took a piece of paper from her small bag and handed it to him.

"I have a method here that might shorten the sun-drying time. It used to take several months of sun-drying, but with this method, it might only take about twenty days... I can’t guarantee it’ll work, so when you do it, you can set aside a small jar to test it out first."

’If they could really cut the sun-drying time by more than half, how much more soy sauce could they produce in a year?’

Xu Laifu did a rough calculation, and his face immediately lit up with joy.

"Don’t worry, Boss, leave it to me!"

Just like the past few days, by the time she returned to Dafeng Village, the sky was already completely dark.

Ji Huan went to the Hu Family’s home first.

The lamps in the Hu Family’s courtyard were still lit, and she could faintly hear the chaotic sounds of people talking.

When the door opened, she saw that Ji Xuelan, Aunt Gao, Sixth Sister-in-law Feng, and the others were all there.

The delivery was tomorrow, and everyone was too nervous to sleep. Even though they had already packed everything into baskets and counted it no less than four or five times, they were still afraid they had missed something.

When they saw Ji Huan return, it was as if they had found their backbone. They all started talking at once, each giving her a report on the situation.

Ji Huan got a good grasp of the situation and then asked Ji Liansong and Shi Yong, who were also present, "Have you found the carts?"

They say it’s easy to get things done when you have connections in the imperial court; the same goes for having connections in the army.

Now that Zhen Jili had gone to the Capital City, they couldn’t just wait for them to make a special trip to pick up the goods like last year... They could forget about that.

Although it added a lot of trouble, this was the normal way of doing business.

’It’s just a home delivery. What’s the big deal?’

"Your Uncle Shi Yong and I went to every family in the village with a flatbed cart. Almost all of them are willing to help. We’ll just have to treat everyone to a meal afterward."

"It’s a long way. We still have to pay them for their hard work."

After discussing a few more details, everyone returned to their own homes.

The next day after breakfast, Ji Huan left Guan Shan and Dabao at home and went out alone.

She went to West River Gully first. Just as she was loading the carts with everyone, Hu Ximei came running over, panting.

"Stop loading, Sister Wan! People from the military garrison are here!"

Ji Huan was taken aback.

’We don’t know anyone there anymore, but we’re still getting special treatment?’

’Not bad, not bad at all. My impression of this old General Han Wenguang is getting better and better.’

Not only had people come from the garrison, but quite a few of them had come.

Under the direction of Village Chief Meng and Ji Huan, the men split into four groups. Two groups went to Aunt Gao’s and Sixth Sister-in-law Feng’s houses, one group stayed at the Hu Family’s home, and one group went to West River Gully.

The villagers didn’t dare to get close. They stood far away, watching, not even daring to speak loudly, their faces filled with awe and envy.

The hired workers were different; every one of them was beaming with excitement.

It was the first time in their lives they had been so close to these Lords from the army, even working alongside them, weighing and loading the carts. They started to feel that these men weren’t so intimidating after all.

The thought of getting paid soon filled them with even more energy.

While things were bustling with activity over here, no one noticed a figure quietly slipping away from the group and heading northeast along West River Gully.

The figure only stopped when a spacious mansion came into view.

Behind the house, in the stables.

Guan Shan was standing in front of a stall feeding Jifeng when his right ear suddenly twitched.

He lowered his eyelashes and didn’t turn around immediately, but his shoulders and back tensed almost imperceptibly.

A moment later, footsteps sounded behind him.

Although the newcomer was slightly stooped, his steps were steady and powerful. A single glance revealed he was from the military, yet different from an ordinary soldier.

The first thing he saw was Guan Shan in front of the stall.

Just the sight of his back was enough to make him stop in his tracks.

"Bo Zhao."

They say many hands make light work, but the soldiers who came this year were clearly not as efficient as last year’s. They were slow and often clumsy, frequently knocking things over.

Whenever this happened, the man in charge would explain with an embarrassed look, "New recruits, new recruits."

What could Ji Huan say? It was generous enough that they had come to pick up the goods in person. She couldn’t be ungrateful.

And so, with the "help" of these new recruits, it took more than a full hour to finish loading the carts at West River Gully.

The situation was more or less the same at the other three locations.

Ji Huan took out her ledger to go over the accounts with them.

The finished product had more than doubled compared to last year. And since it had been a peaceful year without any wars, Ji Huan showed her true colors as a merchant and added a small markup on some of the more difficult-to-process vegetables.

The final total came out to one hundred and eighty taels. They had already paid a sixty-tael deposit, so they only needed to pay another one hundred and twenty taels.

The leader had no objections at all. Without even asking to double-check, he readily paid the money.

After giving him the change, Ji Huan saw them out of the village.

Seeing the leading soldier frequently looking back, she thought he might have dropped something and offered to help him look for it.

He coughed and waved his hands, repeatedly saying it wasn’t necessary and that he was just counting his men.

So Ji Huan didn’t press the matter.

After seeing the men from the garrison off, it was nearly noon, almost time for lunch.

Ji Huan arranged to meet the hired workers at West River Gully in the afternoon, then headed home.

As she neared her gate, she saw a man walking toward her on a side path, dressed in the same short clothes as the ordinary soldiers.

’But isn’t this soldier a bit old? His hair and beard are already half-white.’

Recalling his words about counting his men, she realized they really had left one behind.

Ji Huan quickly waved him over. "Hurry up, old sir! Your..."

’I was about to say "brothers," but looking at his age, "grandsons" would have been more accurate.’

"Your men just left the village. If you hurry, you might be able to catch up."

The old soldier walked up to her, not looking the least bit anxious, and even started making small talk.

"Little girl, is this your home?" he asked, pointing to the mansion behind him.

Ji Huan had a vague feeling that something was off and asked in return, "Why are you here?"

The old soldier pointed toward the back mountain. "Getting old. Had to find a place to relieve myself and accidentally got lost."

For a moment, Ji Huan didn’t know how to comfort him.

’How can someone with no sense of direction fight in a war?’

"Can you find your way back to the garrison by yourself, then...?"

The old soldier didn’t answer her. He just stared at her, sizing her up, and nodded.

"Good, good, good."

After saying "good" three times, he clasped his hands behind his back and walked away, his steps looking quite nimble.

Leaving Ji Huan completely bewildered.