CHAPTER 254: CHAPTER 249 TOFU PRODUCTS

"What do you think is something that is both cheap and related to people’s livelihood, and can make everyone happy as a New Year’s gift?"

Fu Tinghan: "You want to give gifts for the New Year? Then why not give rice, flour, grain, and oil?"

He said, "These are the things schools give during holidays every year, and it hasn’t diminished in popularity over the years, which shows how well-received it is."

Zhao Hanzhang looked confused, "Really popular?"

Her question made Fu Tinghan unsure, "It should be popular, aren’t you happy when you receive them?"

Maybe it’s because it’s too common; every year during Teacher’s Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival they receive these, so she doesn’t feel much joy when getting such benefits.

However, applying it to the present, everyone should be happy, right?

Zhao Hanzhang touched her chin, "It doesn’t need to be a lot, just some rice, flour, and oil will do."

Zhao Hanzhang remembered something, clapped the table, and said, "Yes, oil, soybean oil! Besides soybean oil, there’s all kinds of bean products!"

This time she argued with someone at the gourmet feast precisely because of bean products, didn’t she?

Zhao Hanzhang hummed, "I’ve decided, this New Year, I will give soybean oil, tofu, bean powder, and I’ll send some to Shangcai as well."

They don’t like bean products, but she insists on sending them.

Since Wei, luxury had begun to rise in the Great Jin, and the people in noble families eat the fine things and don’t eat the coarse stuff.

In such circumstances, noble and powerful families increasingly looked down on coarse foods like beans, evolving into looking down on common people who ate such coarse foods.

This is a distorted chain of disdain. Of course, some people disagree and look down on them in return.

But most people go with the trend, since they don’t like beans either.

However, the land suitable for farming is limited, and the conditions for growing rice and wheat are higher, most importantly, manpower is limited!

The current planting mode is crude enough, and the yield is very low.

Of course, this is partly because of seeds and fertilizers, but crude cultivation is also one of the reasons for the low yield.

And the method of planting beans is much simpler, requiring significantly less manpower per stone than rice and wheat, so people like to plant beans more.

Soybeans, black beans, mung beans, red beans, all kinds of beans, they require less management and can fill one’s belly, though eating them as the main food is really not very tasty.

Zhao Hanzhang knows well that she has limited manpower now, and in her learned history, the weather at this time was quite unpredictable; whether wheat or rice, the planting conditions are higher, comparatively drought-resistant and robust beans are easier to maintain a balanced harvest.

So she hopes that the people can explore the breadth of bean food consumption, so that the people can not only be full but also try to eat a little better.

Initially she wanted to promote from top to bottom, after all, when the higher-ups prefer something, the lower down follow rigorously; many things, especially food and fashion, the common people like to imitate and admire the upper class.

But she has changed her mind now; she wants to take the rural route to surround the cities.

Humph, if they don’t eat, so be it; they are missing out, is it not just a trend?

As the county magistrate, she leads by example, and orchestrating some events, she does not believe that when hungry, the people will not catch on, oh no, rather, they should understand her good intentions.

Once they taste the benefits of bean foods, oil pressing places, tofu stalls, bean powder shops can all be set up quickly, solving the problem of unemployment for many people.

Economy, as long as it circulates, it comes alive.

Fu Tinghan saw her pulling out a piece of paper and starting to write a plan, muttering to herself, evidently still holding a grudge about today’s matter.

He couldn’t help but chuckle.

Zhu Chuan’s gourmet feast was held at the Song family’s courtyard, his purpose was simple, to sell a few pots he had stockpiled to scrape together some travel expenses for the journey home.

Cough, of course, he couldn’t tell anyone that purpose, how degrading it would be.

Besides that, it’s because he is indeed hospitable, and likes lively occasions.

So he prepared earnestly for this feast, inviting many people, gentlemen and scholars from Xiping County, people staying in Xiping County, and even some of the larger merchants were invited.

The Zhu family is quite significant, although they’re in the Shu region, everyone had heard of them, and coupled with his own wit and humor, everyone granted him face and showed they would attend after receiving the invitation.

Even Zhao Cheng gave face and came.

Note that this person is even harder to invite than Zhao Ming.

Even members of the Zhao family have trouble inviting him.

So the gourmet feast was lively.

Zhao Hanzhang dressed early, took Fu Tinghan and Chenzhou to go, and before leaving thought about this time primarily going to eat, so she also called for Zhao Erlang.

Zhao Hanzhang has a good impression of Zhu Chuan; although he is not as naive as Chenzhou, when doing business with him there is genuine negotiation, but once he agrees, he is generous and likes face (otherwise, how did he sell the pans?).

So, to show support for him, Zhao Hanzhang specially borrowed the family cook from Mrs. Wang to send to him, assisting him in successfully organizing this gourmet feast.

Because she infiltrated the insiders, many of the dishes at this gourmet feast had bean products.

Not to mention that every stir-fried dish used soybean oil, tofu, bean sprouts, deep-fried tofu puffs, bean skins, and even noodles, buns, steamed buns made out of bean powder, almost everything Zhao Hanzhang could think of in bean dishes was present.

Oh, and also stir-fried beans, lamb stew with soybeans, stew with red beans and bones...

Although Zhu Chuan had checked the menu, he was stunned to actually see so many bean-related dishes placed in front of him.

The guests didn’t notice at first until dish after dish was placed before them for tasting, and with staff beside explaining the cooking methods, they slowly realized something was off.

Zhao Hanzhang is the county magistrate, regardless of how everyone felt, within Xiping County, she is the boss!

So she sat at the head alongside the host Zhu Chuan, while Fu Tinghan, along with Zhao Erlang, sat below, opposite them were Zhao Ming and Zhao Cheng.

Below were quite a number of people, and there were some in the garden pavilion. Since it was a gourmet feast, it was mainly about tasting dishes, so one dish after another was served, and they tasted each before the next came out.

As they ate, someone eventually raised a question, "Why is there so much bean, even this beef is stir-fried with soybean oil."

Zhu Chuan loved this dish the most and asked, "Does it not taste good? I think this dish is the best, the cook added some ginger slices, which removes the gamey taste and adds a slight spice, it’s chewy."

Seeing Zhao Hanzhang looking at him, he specially explained to everyone, "This beef had a leg injury before; I specially kept it until last night to slaughter it, so the meat is fresh."

"The taste is fine, but why use soybean oil instead of beef or lamb fat?"

Zhu Chuan said, "Beef is red meat, best cooked with plant oil, why use animal fat?"

"But soybean oil is lowly," the other person said, "Mr. Zhu, today your feast has too many bean products."

Zhu Chuan frowned slightly.

Zhao Hanzhang asked, "Is it that this tofu is not tasty, or is the bean skin not tender enough, do they have any flavor discrepancies?"

The person hesitated before saying, "Too coarse."