Chapter 316: Beggar (Part IV)

After eating a hearty dinner, An Youyou actively went to sleep with infinite expectations for the bluestone brick and tile house.

In Qin Huai's view, An Youyou was the only one in this team who had expectations for the bluestone brick and tile house.

Jiang Weiguo was clearly wealthy before, having lived in a bluestone brick and tile house, so it wasn't that rare. The remaining 12 underlings purely didn't know what a bluestone brick and tile house was. These 12 underlings might not have even lived in a wooden house, only in earthen houses.

For truly poor people, showing off wealth was useless. Talking to these beggars about bluestone brick and tile houses was like telling them how delicious braised shark fin, Arhat prawns, Buddha jumps over the wall, and boiled cabbage were, because it was too far away and they had never seen it at all, already exceeding their cognition.

Talking about roast chicken and meat buns might make them swallow their saliva, but they couldn't even imagine more high-end things.

The beggars had only seen bluestone brick and tile houses but hadn't entered them. In their view, they were all houses that could shelter from the wind and rain, and were warmer in winter. They couldn't imagine anything more.

Early the next morning, An Youyou woke up actively for the first time, not waiting for the underlings to bring all the silt over, and shook Jiang Weiguo awake.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, Thirteen, it's dawn, let's go rent a house quickly!"

Jiang Weiguo was shaken awake, his face full of "do you have something wrong with your brain?" He didn't want to rent a house two days ago, but now he was the most active in renting a house.

But since the boss was awake, the underlings naturally couldn't sleep. Little Nine actively wanted to go dig silt for An Youyou, but was stopped by An Youyou.

Today An Youyou wasn't begging, just renting a house, being generous for once, spending money purely without earning it.

Like yesterday, Jiang Weiguo told An Youyou the general direction of the farmer's house, letting An Youyou lead the way first, and he would lead the way when they were close. Before setting off, An Youyou exhorted the underlings to come back early today, and if it went smoothly, they would move tonight.

Along the way, An Youyou kept muttering, saying that if she rented the house today, she would go to the city to buy 20 buns and eat 10 of them herself, 20 vegetable buns from Fu Ji, the kind she ate last night.

Jiang Weiguo was very speechless hearing this and asked An Youyou why she didn't buy 20 meat buns.

"Meat buns, do you know how expensive 20 meat buns are? One meat bun can buy three vegetable buns, just eat some vegetable buns, what bun isn't a bun, why must I eat meat buns?" An Youyou thought Jiang Weiguo wanted to eat meat buns and was so shocked that she almost jumped up, swearing to defend her savings.

Jiang Weiguo could only explain, "Buy some fat meat, mince it into meat foam, and mix it into the cabbage. That's the filling for the meat buns sold in many bun shops. As for the flour, use sorghum flour mixed with white flour. These ingredients only have fat meat that is slightly more expensive. Now is the season for eating cabbage, just find a farmer and buy cabbage, you can buy a large one for one copper coin."

"That's easy to say, can you make it?"

"I can," Jiang Weiguo nodded. "The vegetable buns last night were made by me."

"I recommended myself to Chef Ding, and Chef Ding wanted to try my skills. He let me stir-fry two vegetable dishes and make a few vegetable buns. Chef Ding sent the vegetable dishes to the proprietor, and he let me secretly keep the vegetable buns and bring them back to eat."

"Chef Ding said if the proprietor likes me, he will let me transfer to a chopping chef next month, but I still have to be a handyman this month, although I can do some chopping work."

"The Zhuang family is cautious, I'm a newcomer, he's not at ease letting me do chopping work as soon as I come up."

An Youyou was stunned, recalled the vegetable buns she ate last night, and swallowed her saliva subconsciously, not expecting the underling she picked up to have such skills.

"Then... then how much money does it cost for the white flour, sorghum flour, and so on that you just mentioned?"

"Not much."

"Can you really make meat buns?" An Youyou looked at Jiang Weiguo suspiciously, wanting to see from his expression whether he was bragging.

Jiang Weiguo didn't speak, just nodded heavily.

Seeing Jiang Weiguo nod, An Youyou felt it was somewhat credible.

The farmer's house was in the suburbs, no need to enter the city. An Youyou and Jiang Weiguo walked very fast and arrived in less than an hour. In fact, there was no need for Jiang Weiguo to lead the way at all; they could tell at a glance which house was the farmer's house when they arrived.

Beautiful bluestone brick and tile house, with a well in the courtyard, and flowers and plants planted. The bricks were high-quality blue bricks. Rather than a farmer's house, it was more like a mansion bought by some big family in the suburbs specifically for flower viewing and spring outings.

Jiang Weiguo knocked on the door, and a strong man opened it. He was very happy to see Jiang Weiguo. He looked at An Youyou behind Jiang Weiguo, and was surprised to see An Youyou dressed as a beggar but with good clothes. There was no disgust on his face, and he welcomed them in enthusiastically.

The house was very big, with two full stories.

The farmer introduced the situation of the house to An Youyou. Under normal circumstances, this house was living on the first floor and residential on the second floor, which was the standard configuration of a big family. But the farmer didn't care about this. In order to rent out the house, he made some renovations to the house, turning all the tea rooms, study rooms, living rooms, and so on on the first floor into rooms.

In short, it was definitely enough to live in.

And it wasn't the kind An Youyou expected, where she had one room, Jiang Weiguo had half a room, and the remaining 12 underlings squeezed into one room. It was a luxury accommodation where she had one room, Jiang Weiguo had one room, and the remaining 12 underlings had one room for every 4 people.

Because the willingness of both sides to trade was very strong, after setting some basic rules, such as sharing the courtyard and kitchen, An Youyou and her group had to keep as clean as possible. Begging was a profession, maintaining personal hygiene was the basic quality of a tenant, and the rent for 6 months had to be paid in full at once. After the farmer urgently needed money to send his eldest son to school, Jiang Weiguo, the only one who could write, drafted the rental contract, and both sides pressed their fingerprints.

After signing the contract, the farmer's wife dared to bring the children out to curiously look at the new tenants in the house.

As soon as the wife poked her head out, Qin Huai was stunned.

He recognized the farmer's wife!

He had seen her in Luo Jun's memory!

This was the farmer who rented her house in Shu to Jiang Weiming to open a private restaurant, and who cleaned the courtyard every day so that Luo Jun could sit in the courtyard and read the newspaper.

Her son was the brat who always slipped into the kitchen from the back door to cheat food and drink, would point at Jiang Weiming and call him Mingming, and was a Shu native but was led astray by Jiang Weiming, with a Beijing accent as soon as he opened his mouth.

Qin Huai subconsciously looked at the farmer's three children, wanting to find out who the big fat boy was.

Couldn't tell.

The farmer had two sons and one daughter. Except for the daughter who was very young, the two sons looked about the same age. Just looking at their faces, Qin Huai couldn't recognize them at all.

Seeing the farmer's wife, An Youyou subconsciously shone with light, wanting to kowtow and beg, but was stopped by Jiang Weiguo with a look.

No way, her professional quality was too strong.

Because she was very satisfied with the house (many rooms and beds), An Youyou paid the rent for 6 months very readily, a full 18 silver dollars, and her small treasury was sharply reduced.

As soon as she left the courtyard, An Youyou rushed to go back to the ruined temple to move.

Although there was no property, there was still a box of matches, two bags of coarse salt, and a few clay pots. An Youyou had already lost 18 silver dollars and couldn't lose these belongings again.

Jiang Weiguo had to rush to the city to go to work and didn't have time to accompany An Youyou back to move. He exhorted An Youyou not to forget to add some things in the city after moving. Cotton quilts and cotton-padded clothes didn't have to be bought first, but straw mats had to be bought, two of them. 4 people sleeping in one room, the bed might not be enough, and someone might have to sleep on the ground.

An Youyou was shocked after hearing this, and felt that renting a house was really not good. Originally, she could just sleep on the ground and cover herself with some straw every day. Now that she slept on the ground, she had to buy straw mats, which was too expensive.

But An Youyou still nodded, and then rushed to move.

When moving, she happened to meet the woman washing clothes in the courtyard. The woman smiled and told An Youyou that there was a lot of firewood in the kitchen. If An Youyou wanted to burn firewood to cook today, she could use the firewood in the kitchen first. The firewood seller came early every morning, 2 copper coins for a bundle of firewood, and she could buy firewood or go to the woods to pick it up herself.

An Youyou noted it down and decided to arrange for underlings to pick up firewood in the woods starting tomorrow. Before, living in the ruined temple was close to the woods, so it was convenient to pick up firewood, but now it wouldn't work, so she had to arrange for someone to do these things.

After moving, An Youyou first appreciated the house she rented with a huge investment of 18 silver dollars, and then went to the city to buy things.

Straw mats, new clothes (bought for herself), new bowls (bought for herself), candied haws (rewarding herself), fat meat, white flour, sorghum flour, millet, white rice, various beans.

An Youyou didn't buy cabbage. She had agreed with the woman in the courtyard that she would arrange for a few underlings to help the woman fetch water in the evening, and the woman would give her a few cabbages.

She bought a lot of things, and An Youyou bought them in several trips. After buying the last batch of things, it only cost a little more than one silver dollar in total.

Thinking about the 18 silver dollars she paid this morning, An Youyou felt heartache and couldn't breathe.

In the evening, An Youyou returned to the ruined temple to wait for the underlings to arrive. She led the underlings to the river to wash everyone, including their clothes, once. Everyone wore wet clothes and roasted them by the fire until the clothes were half-dry before heading to the new home in a mighty manner.

Along the way, An Youyou kept repeating the rules of the new home to the underlings: be clean, pick up firewood, help fetch water, strictly forbid stealing things, and so on, indicating that they were different now, they were no longer ordinary beggars, they were high-end beggars who could afford to live in bluestone brick and tile houses.

High-end beggars had to do some high-end things.

For example, waiting for Jiang Weiguo to come back in the evening to make meat buns for everyone.

Hearing that there were meat buns to eat, several underlings swallowed their saliva all the way to the new home.

Beggars who had never walked into a brick and tile house had never seen such a high-end house. As soon as they entered the courtyard and saw the rooms, they were all stunned, like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden. They didn't dare to touch this or move that, only daring to stare straight with their eyes open. They were afraid that if they looked at it, there would be less, and two seconds later the boss would tell them sorry, they went to the wrong place, and they lived in the earthen house next door.

After An Youyou let the underlings choose and distribute the rooms themselves, the underlings cheered, as happy as if it were the New Year.

Oh no, beggars don't celebrate the New Year, it should be happier than the New Year.

Like yesterday, Jiang Weiguo came back very late.

When Jiang Weiguo came back, the underlings had already distributed the rooms, and everyone loved their rooms. Whether sleeping on the bed or on the ground, they were all particularly happy, because whether it was a straw mat or a bed, they basically hadn't slept on them.

The woman picked 5 fresh large cabbages for An Youyou, which was more than enough for the bun filling.

An Youyou excitedly pulled Jiang Weiguo into the kitchen, wanting to watch Jiang Weiguo make buns.

This was the boss's order, and Jiang Weiguo, as the 13th underling, had to obey. Even though An Youyou was relatively obstructive squatting by the stove, always blocking Jiang Weiguo from burning the fire, Jiang Weiguo could only hold multiple positions, mincing the filling, kneading the dough, wrapping the buns, and burning the fire all by himself.

Let it be said, the efficiency was quite high.

The so-called meat buns made by Jiang Weiguo were actually vegetable buns sold in many breakfast shops. Fresh cabbage is minced and seasoned. In order to make the vegetable buns have some oil and not be too bland, many breakfast shops also mince some fat meat into the filling to increase the fragrance.

Jiang Weiguo's knife skills were very good.

Qin Huai had been practicing knife skills recently, and the first thing he looked at when a chef cooked was knife skills. Jiang Weiguo's speed of cutting vegetables, the way he held the knife, and the angle of the knife were all standard professional training. One look and it was known to be a childhood skill.

Childhood skills in this era, whether it was learning from a master from childhood or family-inherited skills, were enough to show that Jiang Weiguo's family background was indeed quite good before.

Although a chef couldn't be a noble in this era, it was also a good profession.

Compared with the outstanding knife skills, Jiang Weiguo's kneading of dough was much inferior. The sorghum flour mixed with white flour itself was very difficult to knead, not to mention that the quality of the white flour and sorghum flour bought by An Youyou was not good because of the era. White flour, to be precise, was not white flour, it was gray flour, and the color was not white at all.

Looking at Jiang Weiguo's movements when kneading the dough, Qin Huai could at least pick out 2-3 big mistakes and seven or eight small mistakes for him.

But these were not important.

Because Qin Huai could see that Jiang Weiguo was a standard savory chef, and the pastry part was just practiced casually.

For An Youyou, this was also not important.

Because she couldn't see any problems at all, she just felt that Jiang Weiguo was really too amazing, actually knowing how to knead dough.

Jiang Weiguo was the only high-end talent An Youyou knew who knew how to knead dough. Before, An Youyou always felt that buns were very high-end food, because this thing had to be bought with money, and it wasn't cheap, and it was hard to beg for when begging.

An Youyou stared at Jiang Weiguo kneading dough, mincing filling, seasoning filling, wrapping buns, burning fire, and steaming buns with almost glowing eyes.

It was very rare that she didn't speak the whole time, because she didn't have the heart to speak at all, and she put all her heart into the buns in the pot.

Finally, the buns were ready.

Very ugly color.

Also, buns wrapped in sorghum flour, it would be a ghost if the color could be good.

An Youyou couldn't wait anymore.

She scooped a ladle of water from the bucket, washed her hands again, and then couldn't wait to reach out and grab the buns in the pot.

Took a bite.

The ruthless iron mouth was amazing.

"Damn, this is too delicious!" An Youyou screamed. "With this skill, why are you a handyman at Fu Ji? Go sell buns!"

Jiang Weiguo:...

"This money was worth it, renting a house is really good, renting a house means eating buns every day!"

"I have to beg properly tomorrow, remember to come back early, I want to eat buns tomorrow!"

Jiang Weiguo: "Do you really have to beg?"

"Of course, begging is the most promising job in the world, oh, I told you and you don't understand."

"By the way, when I was begging at the door of the teahouse before, I heard the storyteller inside say that moving house requires eating something good... called what... what Qiao..."

"Qiaoqian meal, also called Wen-pot meal, warm-house meal."

"Right, right, right, that's it, I want to eat this bun next time I move!"

"It's really too delicious!"

Qin Huai left the dream.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 317 =====