She had already selected the peas and soaked them in clean water last night.
Gu Yanxi took out the large basin containing the peas, pinching one to find it could be easily crushed.
Next came grinding them into powder.
There was a stone mill in the backyard that hadn’t been used for a long time, now it would finally serve its purpose.
She washed the stone mill three times with clean water.
Just then, her father and younger brother returned.
“Yanxi, is this enough bamboo? What should we do with it?”Gu Guosheng threw a bundle of bamboo on the ground, just as he saw his daughter coming out from the backyard.”
“It’s enough. Please make these into bamboo strips two fingers wide and three inches long.”
After speaking.
Gu Yanxi saw her mother coming out of her room after her noon rest, and quickly enlisted her help. “Mother, please help me write number tags.”
“You little rascal.”
Seeing her daughter’s playful manner, Zhao Shi affectionately tapped her nose. “How should I write them?”
Just as her father had finished making several bamboo strips, Gu Yanxi picked up two to demonstrate. “Two strips make a pair, write identical numbers on them. We need numbers up to five hundred in total.”
Zhao Shi immediately understood her daughter’s meaning, picked up a brush, and quickly wrote a pair. “Like this?”
“Exactly!”
The task of making bamboo strips was left to her father and mother.
Gu Yanxi then dragged Gu Yu to the backyard.
Gu Yu had wanted to play with making bamboo strips – he had only made one when his sister hauled him away.
“What is it, sis!”
Gu Yu pouted, his face clearly showing his displeasure.
“You push the mill, I’m going to make a dish.”
“Wow! Sis, you’ve come up with another delicious food?”
Since tasting his sister’s Tieban Tudou and Liangmian, he had been completely won over by her culinary skills.
He pestered her every day to make new dishes, but she always put him off.
Now that he finally had the chance, he would definitely perform well so he could eat more later!
Gu Yu pushed the mill while Gu Yanxi added peas to it.
This process was the same as grinding soybean milk – the ratio of peas to water was one to three.
They needed to grind the peas into a paste.
Next came filtering. Gu Yanxi brought out the cheesecloth she had prepared earlier, pouring the ground pea mixture into it to separate the pulp from the liquid.
This process needed to be repeated twice.
Then came waiting for sedimentation, which generally took two to three hours until the starch slurry completely separated from the water.
During the waiting period.
Gu Yanxi came to the front yard to help.
Gu Guosheng worked quickly with excellent craftsmanship – in just two ke (about half an hour), he had already made twenty to thirty pairs of number tags.
She picked up several bamboo strips of identical size and praised, “Father’s craftsmanship is truly skillful.”
“And Mother’s handwriting is so beautiful, not inferior to those official families’ young ladies at all.”
Official families’ young ladies…
Hearing this term, Zhao Shi froze momentarily.
Who was she really? Even she herself didn’t know.
She wasn’t originally from Taohua Village. Twenty years ago, Gu Guosheng had saved her.
She heard she had been found unconscious in the river back then, and many doctors were consulted before she was revived.
When she woke up, she had lost her memory. Besides knowing her surname was Zhao, she knew nothing else.
And this name Qian was one she had given herself.
However, after all these years, she had long put matters of her origins behind her – she was part of the Gu Family now!
“Yanxi, you’ve never seen official young ladies before. How can you say Mother’s handwriting is better than others’?”
Zhao Shi was amused by her daughter’s antics, and the entire courtyard was filled with joy.
But…
Gu Yanxi looked left and right, feeling like something was still missing on the bamboo slips.
It took her a long moment to figure it out.
Gu Yanxi went back into the house, fetched a piece of paper, and took a slender stick from the stove to use as a charcoal pencil. She began sketching on the paper.
Zhao Shi, seeing her daughter absorbed in drawing, assumed she was just doodling for fun.
But when she saw the finished product, she was utterly astonished.
“Yanxi, you can paint?”
“It’s just… I’ve never seen this style of painting before.”
Gu Yanxi smiled mysteriously.
Of course they hadn’t seen it before.
In this era, people only painted with brushes.
She was using a modern cartoon style to draw her own portrait, intending to use it as the shop’s logo.
But to get her mother’s approval, she had to…
“This is a cartoon portrait, taught to me by the Goddess in my dreams. She not only taught me this new painting technique but also many other novel things. You’ll see, Mother.”
The Goddess was truly the perfect excuse.
From now on, any unexplainable matters would be conveniently attributed to the ‘Goddess’!
“Cartoon… portrait?” Zhao Shi was puzzled. “It looks like you, but… isn’t it too small?”
It was probably only the size of a finger segment.
Gu Yanxi didn’t explain further. She simply asked her mother to trace the portrait onto a sturdy piece of wood, which her father would then carve into a mold.
Using the mold, they would engrave the portrait at the bottom of each bamboo slip.
Beneath the portrait, they would carve the name of their stall: Gu Family Stall.
This would serve as their anti-counterfeiting mark!
“Gu Yu, stop daydreaming and come help.”
Gu Guosheng noticed his son standing idly by, lost in thought, and promptly put him to work.
Gu Yu had just spent a long time pushing the millstone and was so exhausted he could barely lift his arms.
Slumped over the stone table, he refused to move. “Father, let me rest a while~ Even oxen need breaks when plowing fields.”
“What’s the point of making so many bamboo slips? We couldn’t possibly use them all even for toilet paper.”
Gu Yanxi gave her younger brother a light flick on the forehead. “You’ll find out tomorrow.”
“Only after we finish all this work will there be anything to eat…”
Before Gu Yanxi could finish her sentence, a gust of wind seemed to sweep past as Gu Yu obediently joined his father in carving the stamps.
Two hours later.
The pea starch had completely settled at the bottom of the basin.
Gu Yanxi carefully drained the clear water from the top and scooped the starch from the bottom onto a wooden board.
They set up a simple stove in the courtyard, lit a fire underneath, and placed the board on top to quickly dry the starch.
From five jin of peas, they obtained one and a half jin of starch.
The starch could be sealed and stored for a long time without spoiling.
Next came making the Pea Jelly.
She poured the pea starch into a basin, added an equal amount of water, and vigorously stirred it into a paste with chopsticks.
In a pot, she poured ten times the amount of water, added a pinch of salt, and poured the paste into the pot while continuously stirring with chopsticks.
Once it turned into a translucent white consistency, the jelly was ready.
She poured the jelly into a container and lowered it into the well water to chill.
After it set, she took the chilled jelly out, cut it into strips, and arranged them on a plate. Then she began preparing the seasoning.
She minced garlic and soaked it in cooled boiled water to extract the flavor, creating a garlic-infused seasoning without the pungent spiciness.
She then added salt, crispy peanuts, and various other seasonings, mixed them well, and poured the mixture over the Pea Jelly.
After adding some shredded cucumber and chopped scallions as garnish, the Pea Jelly was ready.
“Father, Mother, take a break and have something to eat.”
Gu Yanxi brought out two bowls of Pea Jelly.
Zhao Shi, seeing that the Pea Jelly looked, smelled, and tasted perfect—and that she had never seen anything like it before—was somewhat curious. “A-Yan, is this another dish taught by the Goddess from your dreams?”
“Yes,” Gu Yanxi brushed it off. “This is Pea Jelly. Try it quickly.”