The Farm Girl and the Executioner (Rebirth) 23p1

Chapter 23: Crispy Pancakes and Pickled Cabbage p1

Lin Shuang was sewing shoes until noon. Just as she was about to make lunch, Jiang Huaizhen returned.

After unloading two hundred bricks from the ox-cart, they were piled up outside the door.

Seeing Lin Shuang come out, she straightened up and asked, “Should we work on the heated kang this afternoon or tomorrow morning?”

“Let’s do it tomorrow morning. Let the adobe bricks dry a little more overnight. Why did you buy so many bricks?” Lin Shuang asked.

“I was worried that we might use the outside stove a lot, so I got extra, in case we run out and have to go back for more.”

The door to the old woman’s room was on the side near the main hall, and the heated kang they had planned was on the side near the west outer wall. The old woman loved cleanliness and absolutely refused to have firewood brought into her room to burn. So, they had made the stove opening on the kitchen side of the wall, and the chimney on the other side of the room, against the wall.

With the firewood opening in the kitchen, they could build another stove and heat water while heating the kang, killing two birds with one stone.

Manual skills were generally transferable. Jiang Huaizhen was skilled in carpentry, and facing this new challenge of building a heated kang, she was already eager to try.

Lin Shuang rarely saw such vitality in her, so she said, “Actually, there’s not much difference between today and tomorrow. Since we have nothing else to do today, why don’t we start in a while?”

But Jiang Huaizhen shook her head. “We’ll build it tomorrow.”

Lin Shuang couldn’t help but feel a little helpless. What could she say about this person’s personality?

Since she didn’t insist, Lin Shuang didn’t try to persuade her anymore and turned to go to the kitchen.

She had promised her last night that she would make large flatbreads.

The flatbreads this time were different from the ones she had made with the almost-moldy coarse flour when she had just arrived. This time, she was going to make fragrant and crispy flatbreads.

If she had some sauce to spread on top, it would be a sauce flatbread. If she wrapped minced meat and scallions as a filling and then fried it, it would be a scallion pancake. She had originally wanted to make fragrant and crispy sauce flatbreads, but since she didn’t have any sauce at home, she would just make simple crispy flatbreads without sauce.

The key to making this flatbread crispy and fragrant was the oil pastry, followed by the dough, then the oil and the pot.

She had sold the yams and bought a few catties of white flour, which came in handy now. After kneading the dough, Lin Shuang then prepared the oil pastry.

Oil pastry in pasta mainly serves to create layers and enhance the aroma. And this oil pastry was something she had accidentally discovered and perfected. This was the reason why her flatbreads were crispier and more fragrant than others.

The method was actually not difficult. You just had to heat the lard, add shredded ginger and scallion whites, and fry them over low heat to extract the aroma. After they were golden brown, you would remove them. Then, you would pour the hot oil into the flour in small batches, stirring evenly until the oil pastry became thick and smooth.

After the oil pastry was ready and the dough had rested, she began to make the flatbreads.

The dough was divided into fist-sized pieces, pressed onto the cutting board, and rolled into round sheets as thick as two copper coins.

She scooped two spoonfuls of oil pastry onto the dough sheet, spread it evenly, then cut the flatbread into six petals, folded them layer by layer, and rolled it flat again.

The firewood crackled in the stove, and the oil in the iron pot sizzled.

With a “sizzle,” the dough sheet slid down the side of the pot, and the oil immediately bloomed into fine golden threads on the surface of the dough.

Jiang Huaizhen, who had been sitting by the door weaving a winnowing basket, twitched her nose at the faint sound of the oil sizzling.

Before long, the flatbread was half-cooked, and the thin dough puffed up with bubbles in the hot oil.

Lin Shuang quickly poked the bubbles with her bamboo chopsticks, letting the oil seep into the folds of the dough.

Then, with a flick of her wrist, she slid the spatula under the flatbread and flipped it.

The flatbread did a perfect somersault, revealing the fine honeycomb pattern on the back.

Soon, the other side of the dough also turned golden brown under the heat of the oil.

Lin Shuang knew at a glance that the flatbread was almost done. She grabbed a handful of chopped scallions, a mix of green and white, and sprinkled them lightly on the surface of the dough.

The scallions hit the hot oil, and the savory aroma mixed with the fresh scent of the herbs was instantly released, sizzling.

Jiang Huaizhen couldn’t help but swallow.

Lin Shuang then removed the direct flame, letting the embers warm the bottom of the pot.

The flatbread slowly turned in the hot oil, the aroma coming in layers.

By the time she took it out of the pot, the flatbread was so crispy it broke with a poke. The outermost layer was a crispy shell like golden armor, the middle honeycomb pattern had absorbed the scallion oil, and the innermost layer was still soft and white. The layers of folds were stacked together, making one’s mouth water.

Lin Shuang turned to look at Jiang Huaizhen and met her pair of dark, glistening eyes. She smiled. “Are you drooling?”

Jiang Huaizhen nodded. “It smells so good.”

Lin Shuang stopped teasing her, placed the large crispy flatbread on the cutting board, and cut it in half with a kitchen knife.

As the steam rose, the crispy skin crackled like fine snow.

It was that crispy!

Just as she turned to call Jiang Huaizhen over to eat, she found that the other had appeared behind her at some point, clearly unable to sit still from the enticing aroma.

She quickly cut a portion, put it in a bowl, and handed it to her.

“See how it tastes.”

Jiang Huaizhen didn’t hold back and took a bite without even waiting for it to cool.

Her teeth first hit the crispy shell, then sank into the thousand-layered, cloud-like soft interior. The salty and savory flavor mixed with the scallion juice exploded on her tongue, so hot that her whole nose felt warm.

“Is it good?” Lin Shuang looked at her with a smiling pair of eyes.

Jiang Huaizhen glanced away, a little uncomfortable. She didn’t know how a girl who was clearly younger than her could look at her like an older sister.

Just then, Old Madam Jiang’s unique, sharp voice came from the room. “What are you frying that’s making my nose explode?”

Lin Shuang picked up the flatbread and said to her, “Take the crispy flatbread and the porridge in together, so the heat doesn’t dissipate.”

There was still a large pot of porridge left from the morning, which just needed to be heated up.

Jiang Huaizhen grunted in agreement and turned to get a bowl to ladle out the porridge.

Lin Shuang also took a bite of the flatbread herself, then turned back to make the second one.

The flatbread was crispy enough, the oil was fragrant enough, and with the scallions as a garnish, the three of them were very satisfied with this meal.

Lin Shuang looked at Jiang Huaizhen, who had single-handedly finished a large flatbread, and said, “I think we should take this flatbread to the city and set up a stall one day.”

Old Madam Jiang was unimpressed. “This white flour is so expensive, and you use so much oil. One bite is half a spoonful of oil. How many do you have to sell to make back the cost?”

Lin Shuang turned to look at Jiang Huaizhen and asked, “How much would you pay for this kind of flatbread?”

Jiang Huaizhen said, “I wouldn’t buy it.”

Her grandmother was still lying in bed, and the medicine cost fifty copper coins a day. She wouldn’t dare to spend a single coin outside. If it weren’t for Lin Shuang, who had bought the white flour, she would never have spent the money herself.

Lin Shuang was at a loss for words and couldn’t help but nudge her with her knee. “I mean, if money allowed, and there were no special expenses at home, how much would you buy it for?”

Jiang Huaizhen glanced at Old Madam Jiang and slowly replied, “Eighty copper coins.”

Hearing this number, before Lin Shuang could speak, Old Madam Jiang jumped up. “You spendthrift! You’d buy this flatbread for eighty copper coins! Even without me, this family would be ruined by you sooner or later—”

Jiang Huaizhen changed her tune. “I would buy it for forty copper coins.”

Old Madam Jiang still thought it was too expensive and grumbled.

Lin Shuang smiled. “This flatbread was about a catty of dough. The dough had water in it, so it was less than a catty of white flour… Let’s just say it was one catty, which is three copper coins. On average, the oil is one coin, the firewood is one coin, and the scallions and eggs are one coin, which adds up to six copper coins. Even if this flatbread only sells for twenty copper coins, there’s still a profit to be made.”

Hearing her calculation, the old woman snorted. “See? Something that costs less than ten copper coins, and you want to sell it for eighty. As expected, all merchants are unscrupulous.”

Jiang Huaizhen replied, “We are the unscrupulous merchants now.”

The old woman opened her mouth and, after a long time, said, “It’s not impossible.”

Lin Shuang said, “We can make a bigger one, with two catties of dough, and sell it for thirty or forty copper coins. If we control the cost of materials to within ten copper coins, we can still make a profit of about twenty coins. If we can sell ten flatbreads a day, that’s over two hundred copper coins, which is more than double what you’d earn carrying sacks at the docks.”

“Are you really thinking of doing it?” the old woman looked at her. “If others see you making money, they’ll go back and make the exact same thing and sell it for cheaper than you. Won’t you cry to death when you can’t sell any?”

But Lin Shuang didn’t agree with her. In her opinion, starting a business did require some skill, but in the long run, as long as you didn’t cut costs and corners for small profits, and didn’t use inferior ingredients, you would be invincible.

Many shops’ food was amazing at first, but then it would suddenly become not so good after a while. This was the reason.

As long as she could ensure that the flatbreads were the same size, that she was willing to use enough oil and ingredients, and that the heat was just right, even if others had the exact same recipe, they might not be able to beat her.

She raised an eyebrow. “Sister Jiang just said that she’s never eaten such a delicious flatbread in her life. If everyone could make it, she wouldn’t have found it so delicious.”

Old Madam Jiang snorted. “She’s like a pig, she’s not picky. What good things has she ever eaten?”

“Didn’t Grandma think it was delicious just now?” Lin Shuang smiled.

“When did I say it was delicious?” the old woman said stubbornly.

“I was originally planning to buy some spices to make a big sauce to spread on the flatbread for flavor, to make it a sauce flatbread. It wouldn’t just be the flavor we had just now,” Lin Shuang said with a smile. “If we could get a round, flat-bottomed pot with a lid, the bottom would be heated evenly, and not only would the center be delicious, but the edges would also be crispy and fragrant.”

Old Madam Jiang asked, “How much would a pot like that cost?”

“A regular large iron pot costs two to three hundred copper coins. A special one might cost a few dozen more,” Jiang Huaizhen replied.

Hearing these numbers, Old Madam Jiang’s enthusiasm was instantly extinguished. “You have to invest so much money before you even start. What if no one buys it? You’ll have made a pot for nothing.”

Lin Shuang blinked. “I was just saying. I didn’t say I was going to do it.”

Jiang Huaizhen lowered her head, picking at the crispy bits of flatbread that had fallen into her bowl and putting them in her mouth, clearly wanting more. She said nothing.