Chapter 305: Long-lasting Tobacco and Alcohol

"Sounds good!"

Secretary Xiao Zhu looked in full agreement.

Processing raw materials further would certainly yield much higher profits than selling them directly.

Besides, once they started selling, relying on family members alone wouldn't cut it. Wouldn't they need to hire a couple more people?

Even if it were only for a short term, it would still be a form of economic circulation!

"It's excellent! But if your family farm wants to sell these things, you'll need to get the business license, food hygiene certificate, and business permit—all three certificates must be handled together."

She thought for a moment, set her teacup aside, and opened the memo app on her phone: "I happen to be going to the administrative hall this afternoon for some business, so I'll ask for you."

Song Tan felt happy at this.

Secretary Xiao Zhu's "I'll ask for you" was practically as good as getting it done, so she nodded: "Should I go with you? Do I need to prepare any materials or proof?"

Zhu Jun smiled: "No need, I'll just find out the time and go directly. It's just—"

She leaned to the side, her voice dropping to a whisper: "Can you spare me a bit more... tobacco shreds? I'll trade you other tobacco and alcohol for them! Do you want some special supply stuff?"

Of course she did, why wouldn't she?

Even if the family didn't smoke or drink, they could always give them away! These things were perfect for her parents and grandparents to save face and show off!

At the moment, the reputation of their farm products hadn't spread locally, so they were still far behind in that regard.

Song Tan looked at her grandfather, who was busy weaving a straw mat nearby, and whispered: "In a while, I'll try to spare you another two jin—there really isn't much of this stuff left!"

Zhu Jun didn't believe her—there were two hundred jin of dried tobacco leaves! She had already found out clearly; how much could one person possibly need in a year? Just in the last few days, she had received over a dozen high-value express packages, and she was being urged by phone every single day; she couldn't handle it!

However, slow and steady wins the race, so she wasn't in a rush.

……

To make green chili beef sauce, what's the first step?

Washing the chilies, cutting the chilies.

Seventh Great-Uncle and Seventh Great-Aunt retreated vigilantly, sitting to the side and fanning themselves with cattail-leaf fans.

Aunt Lianhua, equally cautious, put on thick dishwashing gloves before pouring the chilies into a basin.

Since the sauce had to be made first, they chose to wash the pointed peppers first. This big basin of red and green peppers was actually simpler to wash since they didn't need to remove the stems or seeds.

Qiao Qiao remembered the burning pain from that day and started rummaging through cabinets to find gloves.

But soon, he looked confused: "The gloves are too thick, it's hard to cut."

Indeed, the plastic gloves they had at home were for washing clothes in winter; they had a cotton layer inside, a plastic layer outside, and went all the way up to the arms, so naturally, they were all one large size.

Zhu Jun saw this and quickly offered an idea: "Go to the village clinic and ask if they have those rubber gloves? Bring back two pairs. Those fit tightly and are convenient for cutting."

Song Tan looked at Qiao Qiao and then asked Seventh Great-Uncle: "We really have to buy a blender this time, right?"

Otherwise, with the spiciness of these chilies, the hands might be able to take it, but the eyes and nose wouldn't.

After all, if chili juice splashed into the eyes while cutting, that would be it—they'd be crying for two days straight; it was truly unbearable!

The usually stubborn Seventh Great-Uncle thought about the power of the chilies last time, which even his thick, calloused palms couldn't handle, and finally yielded to high technology: "Buy it!"

"But I'm telling you now, blender-made sauce just doesn't taste as good as hand-cut."

But there was no helping it; it was just too spicy.

After thinking, he added: "Buy a big one, and a small one too."

"Got it." Song Tan decisively went online to look for models.

The big one for commercial use, the small one for home use—convenient.

Zhu Jun looked expectant: "If these chilies are this spicy, I'm not very good with spice..."

Even as she said that, her eyes were full of eagerness to try.

Song Tan: ……

"You'll know once you eat it."

Even Qibao couldn't resist it; mere Secretary Xiao Zhu would definitely not escape the passion of these chilies.

However, no matter how fast the blender arrived, it wouldn't be here immediately. They still had to cut them for lunch today.

Qiao Qiao wasn't afraid of the heat at all; he ran around under the scorching sun, and before the audience in the livestream could even send a barrage of comments to keep him, he had already rushed out like a gust of wind.

Well, the group of people could only watch as a spirited little old man stood by the earthen stove, holding a kitchen knife. It was an unremarkable old knife, yet it had been sharpened to be smooth and razor-sharp, slicing beef as if it were a hot knife through butter. In no time at all, he had turned it into meat cubes the size of fingernails.

【Good heavens, the real masters are among the common folk.】

【That smooth meat-cutting technique, even our restaurant's head chef can't compare.】

【I want to ask, what brand is that knife? Can it smash garlic?】

【Green chili beef sauce, slurp.】

【Taking out my notebook, I'm learning right here for lunch.】

【Don't say, the fried pumpkin flowers I learned last time were pretty good, though I used an air fryer, so it wasn't as fragrant.】

【To the person above, are air fryers any good?】

The host wasn't there, so the topic drifted.

Zhang Yanping and Xin Jun were each guarding the Taotao shop and the livestream, dividing the work clearly with a tacit understanding, so they didn't interfere.

Because Qiao Qiao's style was just like that; if it could become popular just by interfering, what would that say about other hosts who worked so hard on videos but didn't even have a fraction of his followers?

It was all destiny.

Fortunately, Qiao Qiao returned quickly.

By now, Aunt Lianhua had already washed all the pointed peppers and placed them in a basin to the side.

She then began to process the green chilies—pinching the stem and pushing it forcefully inside, then pulling it out, leaving a whole irregular cone shape, covered densely with chili seeds.

And these small pointed peppers didn't need to be so troublesome; just use a kitchen knife to remove the stems.

Qiao Qiao cautiously put on a mask, then picked up the knife and quickly started cutting the chilies.

His knife skills were naturally not as exquisite as Seventh Great-Uncle's, but they could be considered proficient. Besides, chopped chili didn't require much; as long as it was chopped evenly and finely enough, it was fine.

Therefore, he even turned his head and closed his eyes.

This appearance of facing a great enemy made the audience in the livestream look forward to it even more.

After all, although chilies were spicy, they had been lurking in the livestream for so long and had never seen everyone take this attitude, so their curiosity was piqued to the max.

Seventh Great-Uncle watched his progress silently, then started the pot, heated the oil, and added the ingredients—star anise, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, scallions, and cilantro. Since there were no onions at home, he didn't add those.

Only the sound of "chi-la-la" from the hot oil could be heard, and then it was quickly stir-fried until golden brown.

Immediately after, he added the meat cubes and stir-fried them.

When the bright red beef turned slightly pink and was cooked through, he added the chilies.

The green and red pointed peppers, cut into evenly sized chili bits by Qiao Qiao, were placed into the pot in a big basin. That stimulating scent of raw chilies burst forth instantly, forcing even Seventh Great-Uncle to take two steps back and slowly hold his breath.

Fortunately, as the oil and juices slowly submerged the chilies, this scent transformed into an alluring fragrance, accompanied by the addition of salt, ginger, garlic, and bean paste...

"Slurp."

Zhu Jun couldn't help but swallow her saliva. ===== CHAPTER 306 =====