Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 265 Qu Jiang Engagement
The vermicelli that has leaked out should be cooled with cold water until they are no longer sticky to each other, then fished out and hung on a rack outside to dry.

It was cold, and the vermicelli became hard after being hung out to dry for a short while.

Don't rush to take it down at this time, just freeze it outside for a few more days.

Wait until the moisture inside has sublimated and the vermicelli is half dry, then take it out and cut it into pieces.

Then tie them up with fine linen ropes and keep them in a cold, dry, ventilated warehouse. When someone comes to buy them, they can be sold.

The newly made vermicelli, which the locals call frozen vermicelli, has a high water content and cannot withstand heat. It will easily clump together if it is cooked a little too much.

Most people like to buy dry powder, one reason being that it does not contain that much water and does not weigh down the weight.

Another thing is that dried vermicelli is more resistant to cooking and has more meatiness when stewed.

Of course, if there is an emergency at home, who cares about frozen powder or dry powder, just buy it and eat it.

There was no noodle shop in Maoershan before, and everyone bought vermicelli from the grocery store.

Now that the Qu family has opened a noodle shop, everyone finds it interesting. As soon as the noodles are produced, some people ask when the noodles will be available for sale.

The owner of the noodle shop had long been instructed by Qu Shaoyang that the shop only did large-scale wholesale and not retail.

It would be very disrespectful to let the grocery store business be affected just because they opened a flour mill.

So, when faced with people who came to inquire, the shopkeeper simply said that they would deliver the vermicelli to the grocery store in a few days.

If you want to eat, just go to the grocery store and buy it.

The temperature is low in winter, so vermicelli is not easy to go bad. Moreover, when it snows outside, there is not much dust, so the vermicelli is clean and easy to store.

So from this time on, the noodle mill has to drain and dry the noodles every day, and turn all the raw materials stored in the fall into vermicelli before the weather warms up.

In this case, the workload can be said to be quite heavy.

So Chen Xiuyun ordered the kitchen to ensure the food was good enough.

There was plenty of steamed buns made of two liang of flour, rhubarb rice, and white sorghum rice. Every meal had four dishes and a soup, and there must be two meat dishes, so there was meat at every meal.

The boss pays high wages and the food is decent, so wouldn't the guys work their asses off?

The flour mill was busy as always, and the winery was also busy.

The guys at both ends were competing with each other in working, and no one wanted to be left behind.

The flour mill and the winery were running well, so Chen Xiuyun didn't have to worry too much about them, so she was busy with Qu Jiang's engagement.

The engagement date is October 18th, which is a bit tight.

Although the Yang family said very nice things, they didn't want a dowry or anything like that.

But Qu Jiang is Qu Shaoyang's brother, no matter what, it can't be too simple.

Especially since Qu Shaoyang is not at home, Chen Xiuyun must do her best to take care of things so as not to give others a chance to talk about her.

So after the marriage was settled, Chen Xiuyun led the maids and wives in the family to prepare the engagement gift in a hurry.

At the very least, I have to make four sets of clothes for Qionghua, two single and two cotton, and also prepare a few gold and silver jewelry, and some other miscellaneous small items.

There are plenty of good materials at home, just find them and use them.

Taohua, Yue'e and other young wives all had good skills, so they worked in the west room of the main house, cutting and sewing the clothes, laughing and making them.

October 18th was the day when Qu Jiang and Yang Qionghua got engaged.

Qu Jiang's parents were not around, so in order to make the ceremony appear grand, Doctor Chen and his wife, and Liu Dongshan and his wife, all came out.

The servants in the house drove two sleds, carrying the two couples, Qujiang, Chen, and Liu, as well as the engagement gifts, and headed straight for Hulutao.

At the Yang family's side, the whole family started busying themselves early in the morning.

Yang Qionghua's eldest brother was originally cutting wood in the mountains, but because of his sister's engagement, he asked for leave from the second cabinet and came back.

The eldest brother led his two younger brothers to clear all the snow in the yard and swept the ground clean.

Although the house was shabby, it was tidy everywhere. No matter what, it was comfortable to look at. Yang and Old Zhou, along with their brothers Zhou Chuanren and Zhou Chuanyong, also came to Yang's house early.

I helped to check every detail and made sure there was nothing missing before I felt relieved.

At the end of the Chen hour, Qu Jiang and his party arrived at the Yang family in Hulutao.

Before they even reached the door, Qionghua's younger brother and sister immediately ran into the house to report the news.

Then, the whole family came out of the house and greeted them at the door.

"Li Fu, sister-in-law, these two are Inspector Qu's father-in-law and mother-in-law. They are the real elders, so just treat them as Qu Jiang's parents."

When the two sides met, Lao Zhou quickly introduced them to his brother-in-law and his wife.

"Oh, I've heard of Doctor Chen and his wife's reputation for a long time. You have superb medical skills and a kind heart. Everyone praises you.

Come on, please come in." Qionghua's father greeted Doctor Chen and his wife with a smile on his face, and welcomed everyone into the house.

The Yang family has many children and three rooms. There is a wooden table on the south kang in the east room.

Qionghua's parents invited the guests into the house and then asked them to sit on the kang.

Liu Dongshan and his wife, and Chen Langzhong and his wife sat at the head of the kang.

Qionghua's parents and Old Zhou and his wife sat at the edge of the kang, with the two families facing each other across the table.

Zhou Chuanren and his brothers, as well as several young people from the Yang family, all sat on the edge of the north kang.

Qu Jiang and his servant placed the engagement gifts they brought on the table.

A piece of pork belly with four ribs, a pair of geese, four boxes of tea, and four jars of wine.

In addition, there were four sets of clothes for Qionghua in winter and summer, one zhang of each of four colors of cloth: cotton, linen, silk, and satin, some gold and silver jewelry, and twenty taels of silver.

Qu Jiang has been here for more than half a year. He is in charge of the warehouse. His salary is not low, and he also has the eighty taels of silver he earned from herding the mountains.

Moreover, he was eating and lodging at the Qu family, so he didn't have to pay for anything out of his own pocket. Apart from the small gifts he had bought for Qionghua, he saved the rest of the money.

Getting engaged and getting married is a major event in a lifetime. Qu Jiang is not a fool, so of course he knows to put powder on his face if he has it.

Even if he doesn't care, he still has to support his wife who has not yet married him.

So this time, except for the clothes and fabrics prepared by Chen Xiuyun, Qu Jiang bought the rest with his own money, just to make both parties look good when they got engaged.

When Yang Life and his wife saw these things, they were dumbfounded.

"Hey, hey, didn't we agree at the beginning that we can just get engaged simply?

We don’t want so much betrothal gift, as long as we treat Qionghua well.”

Yang Life was in a dilemma. The Qu family gave such a large betrothal gift, which seemed decent, but their family could not afford the corresponding dowry.

Although their family was poor, they had never counted on making money from their daughter's betrothal gift, and they would not accept the betrothal gift and not provide a dowry.

"Uncle, these are my thoughts to you two elders.

You have raised Qionghua to this age, and she will be my wife in the future, so I should be filial to you two."

Qu Jiang scratched his head and finally said out loud what he had thought about countless times.

“People say a son-in-law is half a son, so from now on the old folks will treat me as their own son.

No matter what work or things need to be done at home, just tell me and I will do my best to help you."

Yang Life and his wife looked at the honest face of their future son-in-law and knew that what Qu Jiang said just now was not false at all.

The couple felt so happy that they didn't know what to say.

"Hey, hey, good boy, good boy, our Qionghua is so lucky to have found a good man."

(End of this chapter)