They've all separated, so what does it matter to me if they get poorer and poorer?

Chapter 13 must be kept secret.
Xu Zhichun said to the two of them, "As the saying goes, husband and wife are one, husband and wife are one. In principle, we shouldn't hide our way of making money from our husbands. But if he finds out, what will happen when his parents, brothers, relatives and so on ask? Should we tell him or not? If we tell him, everyone will know, and our business will be difficult. If we don't tell him, people will complain. Why don't we start by not telling him? If others ask, we can just say that the three of us women are just making a little extra money to keep ourselves warm. It's just a small business, and no one will feel comfortable coveting it, right?"

"Besides, this is also a great opportunity for us to stand tall. If we can earn money ourselves, will the men in our families dare to look down on us? Having a way to make money in our own hands is our confidence. We have nothing to fear anywhere. We can buy whatever we want, as long as we like it. We don't have to think twice and ask our men every time we want to buy something. Isn't that better than anything else?"

Zeng Xiaoyan and Aunt Zhu'er suddenly realized.

"Sister-in-law Zhichun is right. You have confidence when you earn your own money, so you don't need others to interfere in this matter."

Aunt Zhu nodded in agreement: "That makes sense. I understood as soon as Zhichun mentioned it. Xiaoyan probably doesn't know how much money she has. Take myself for example, my husband treats me very well, but even if I want to have a new dress made or a nice pair of shoes made, I have to think it over and over before I dare to ask him, for fear that he won't agree. If I could earn my own money, I wouldn't need to ask him for anything I want to buy. I could buy it myself!"

Zeng Xiaoyan laughed, "Actually, I'm the same. My husband doesn't have money, but when I was living with my parents, if I wanted to buy something, I had to rack my brains to please my father and make him happy before I dared to mention it. And I didn't dare to buy anything too nice, because if I did, my stepmother would be unhappy, and in the end, the thing wouldn't end up in my hands. If I could earn money myself—"

Zeng Xiaoyan's eyes lit up, she straightened her back and raised her voice by three octaves: "I don't care what they do!"

Feeling a sense of shared misfortune, the three sighed and comforted each other, which strengthened their bond.

Xu Zhichun breathed a sigh of relief. The profit-sharing model and confidentiality clauses were finalized, and the rest were minor issues. After some discussion, everything was settled.

Xu Zhichun smiled and said, "When my little prodigy comes back, I'll have him write down the contract, including all the terms we've agreed on. The three of us will put our fingerprints on it, and we'll follow this contract from now on. Anyone who doesn't follow the rules will have to compensate the other two and leave the company. As the saying goes, 'Without rules, there can be no order,' and even close brothers need to keep clear accounts. We're doing this not for any other reason than to show that the three of us are open and honest, so we can all have peace of mind. This is the way to make things last."

Zeng Xiaoyan readily agreed, "Sister-in-law Zhichun is right. My family has been in business since I was a child, and I've seen too many families and friends turn against each other over money. Many times it's because of unclear accounts. Over time, small conflicts turn into big problems, and they'll eventually explode. It's so much better for us to be clear about things and follow the rules!"

Aunt Zhu smiled good-naturedly: "I don't understand these things, but if you say it's good, then it must be good."

Xu Zhichun clapped his hands and laughed, "Then it's settled. After the contract is written, we'll ask the village head to take a look at it privately. If there are no problems, we'll sign it and ask the village head to keep it a secret."

They got right to work and started making konjac tofu that afternoon.

Xu Zhichun said that he would make several square wooden basins for shaping, so that the konjac tofu would look better after it was shaped.

For items intended for sale, good appearance is also important.

Aunt Zhu'er immediately took her home and let her choose planks and strips of wood in the side room.

Her husband is a carpenter, and they have a lot of these things in their house.

Xu Zhichun was overjoyed. There were ready-made templates available. After selecting some, he put together three templates, nailed them together with bamboo nails, and they were ready to use.

The konjac weighs about 31 or 32 pounds. Peeling, dicing, grinding, adding alkaline water and stirring, shaping, and finally boiling and rinsing are the two steps that Xu Zhichun can handle by himself in the evening.

Fortunately, there were three people, and they finished in about an hour. If it had been just Xu Zhichun alone, who knows how long it would have taken.

Besides, she was a young widow not even twenty years old. Who knew what trouble or problems she might get into if she went to the city alone to sell things? She couldn't afford to take that risk.

When cutting konjac, Xu Zhichun specially reserved five or six catties of snow-white konjac heart to grind separately. She boiled water in a pot, used an awl to drill a series of small holes in the bottom of a water ladle, scooped up a ladle of snow-white konjac heart paste, and let it drip evenly into the boiling water like rain through the small holes of the ladle. Aunt Zhu'er stirred it slowly with chopsticks as she was told, and you could see thin, round, snow-white konjac strands, like rice noodles, rolling in the boiling water.

Zeng Xiaoyan and Aunt Zhu'er were once again surprised.

"Wow! What is this? It's so white and beautiful!" "It looks delicious! It's amazing! Sister Zhichun, the people in your hometown are so skillful."

Xu Zhichun smiled and said, "This is called konjac noodles. It tastes different when stewed in soup or served cold, and it's even crisper. We sell these too."

Konjac noodles are the perfect accompaniment to oden and mala tang.

It can also be made into a spicy snack.

This is a very popular food even in modern times, so it's impossible that it didn't have a market in ancient times.

After rinsing the konjac noodles in water to cool them, drain them, and then tie them into knots. Only knotted konjac noodles have the soul of the dish.

The three of them worked together and quickly completed the task.

Konjac noodles taste best when they are spicy. If you have soy sauce at home, you can make a simple chili sauce by chopping red chilies and putting them in oil, and then dip the konjac noodles in it. Unfortunately, I don't have any.

Then I could only heat up the chicken soup and cook some konjac noodles to taste the chicken soup flavor.

It was indeed crisp and refreshing, making it addictive.

Zeng Xiaoyan and Aunt Zhu'er both praised it highly.

"Oh dear, I should go back now!"

Zeng Xiaoyan suddenly slapped her forehead.

I was planning to bring half a bowl of chicken and chicken soup home after lunch, but it's almost dinnertime now.

Aunt Zhu'er also hurriedly said with a smile, "I should go too. I need to feed the chickens and pigs at home, cook dinner, and water the vegetable garden!"

The three of them made a new appointment to go out the next day, and happily went about their own business.

As soon as they left, Xu Zhichun quickly prepared a large feast for the chickens and the two pigs.

Seeing that the two pigs had obviously gained weight and looked much better, and that their originally rough, hairy hair, which looked like weed roots, had become much smoother and shinier, I felt very satisfied.

After finishing those, she took out half a wild rooster from her spatial storage, cut it into pieces, added water to a clay pot, washed the chicken pieces, and put them in to simmer. This was the dinner for her and her brother-in-law that evening.

Zeng Xiaoyan carried a basket with a bowl of stewed chicken soup and a bowl of konjac tofu back home. Although the half chicken pieces weren't much, they weren't few either; enough for the whole family to have a sip of soup and a piece of meat.

As soon as she finished speaking, her second sister-in-law, Zhao, exploded.

(End of this chapter)