Those in the tooth shop are either young and waiting to be bought back and trained, or they are too old and can't do much.
Qiao Lan always believed that adding people to the family was an important matter, which would greatly affect the harmony of the family. She did not want strong mountain villagers, and was afraid that those with strong abilities would be too ambitious.
Qiao Lan also feels that she is too picky!
In the capital, Qiao Lan's difficulties would not be a problem. Lantian County is located in a remote area and is not a place with outstanding people, and there are even fewer capable people.
"Let Qing'er go to Tongzhou to look around and see if you can find some instructors who know how to box and kick. It's not a problem if the money is more expensive. Let that instructor teach the children at home, and they can also look after the yard." Qiao Lan said slowly.
Mrs. Wang naturally nodded and said, "When the third master comes back in the evening, I will go and talk to him."
Qiao Lan: "If there is a female coach, find one and teach Tong'er and the others."
Only teaching the grandson but not the granddaughter, isn’t it a bit unfair to favor one over the other? Only then did Qiao Lan think of this and added something.
Wang was surprised when she heard this: "Girls also have to learn boxing and kicking kung fu?"
The Wang family and the Duan family are traditional civil servant families. They both made their fortunes by relying on their sons to study in the imperial examinations. Their requirements for women are to be quiet, virtuous, and able to take charge of internal affairs as written in the books.
Women who learn boxing and kicking kung fu, except for some female guards who are specially trained for wealthy families, are the children of military commanders' families. There are few civil servants who ask for advice from their own girls.
After all, Wang was brought up in a scholarly family and asked to be a good wife, and her thinking could not keep up with Qiao Lan's.
Qiao Lan smiled and looked at her eldest daughter-in-law, who looked horrified, "It's always good for girls to learn more skills. Having more skills doesn't overwhelm the body. I heard people say that people who learn boxing and kicking kung fu have strong bodies. You can do the same."
Follow along and learn.”
Mrs. Wang was deeply moved by her mother-in-law's concern, and her worries dissipated a bit. She sat at the table and started chatting with Qiao Lan, "Tong'er is not young anymore, and she will get married in a few years."
I'm afraid someone will spread gossip. I heard people say that the sooner you learn martial arts, the better. I'm old and can't learn well."
Qiao Lan patted her thigh and said seriously, "Tong'er is still young, and it's early to get married! Besides, even if it's time to talk about marriage, if the future in-laws worry about such a trivial matter and come over to ask questions, I don't think we need to get married.
.”
Qiao Lan then comforted Wang and said, "Scholars all say that you will learn until you are old. As long as you are still alive, it is never too late to do something. You are young, relax, don't always feel that you are old. Just follow the move.
It's good to move and stretch your muscles and bones, but I don't expect you to learn how to take the top prize in martial arts."
These words made Mrs. Wang laugh so hard that she burst into tears. She turned away and called mother while wiping her tears.
My mother-in-law said everything to this extent, how could she refuse so easily.
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After dinner in the evening, Qiao Lan gathered her family together for a small meeting. The first thing she talked about was that she planned to hire a trainer for her family to teach her grandson martial arts.
The Duan family now earns a few taels of silver every month by selling eggs. Apart from food and drink, it is not too difficult to hire a tutor.
Duan Mingqing nodded in agreement and said he would look for him in a few days.
The second thing is about the Duan family's tofu.
There is tofu in Beijing. It is said that a Taoist priest who made alchemy in the previous dynasty accidentally made it and it was later widely spread among the people.
It is said to be widely circulated, but in fact it is not very widespread. As far as Qiao Lan knows, there is only one tofu shop in the county, and the people in the village have no idea how tofu is made, let alone dried tofu.
Qiao Lan thought for a while, maybe she suffered the disadvantage of being uneducated. In this era, there was no Internet communication, and most of the craftsmanship was cherished. It was common for ordinary people not to know about it.
I don’t know how tofu is made, and I have never seen dried tofu.
Just because there is no dried tofu in Beijing does not mean that Qiao Lan wants to make dried tofu and sell it for money.
In Qiao Lan's view, dried tofu is not a particularly technical thing. If people study it carefully, they can understand it. But the tofu is pressed longer and firmer.
If you sell it as an agricultural and sideline food, a lot of people may come to buy it, and the Duan family will make some money.
It’s just that Qiao Lan doesn’t think it’s necessary!
There are many ways to make money. Instead of making tofu all day long to earn hard-earned money, it is better to pass this recipe directly to people around you and let them make tofu and press dried tofu themselves.
"I plan to give this recipe to the folks tomorrow. It's not a new thing. It's a good addition to the recipe for folks in the village." Qiao Lan said with emotion.
Farmers in this era were really poor. They couldn't even put salt in their daily meals, let alone eat vegetables. Some families could only have a full meal during the Chinese New Year.
Occasionally eating a bowl of dried beans can also be considered as a protein supplement.
"In the future, when our family makes braised dried beans, if we make too much, we will share some with the villagers. It is better to exchange for firewood or grain. After all, the villagers help us farm the land." Qiao Lan said.
Most of the Duan family members had no objections, but Duan Mingqing had something to say.
Duan Mingqing: "Mom, if you give the recipe to other people for free, they may not cherish it. It's better to collect some things. It doesn't have to be money, grain, firewood, and let them work in the fields in exchange for their work.
Money will do."
"It's too conspicuous to give away the prescription for nothing!"
Duan Mingqing knew from the old lady's performance in farming and running the house in recent days that she knew that the old lady had a lot of money hidden in her belly.
Tofu is indeed not a new recipe. He has read the story of making tofu with brine in a book, but dried tofu is indeed a new product. He guessed that the old lady should have figured it out, and Duan Mingqing did not know how it came from.
I didn’t go into details, but the process is the same as making tofu.
Even if it is not very valuable to their family, giving it directly to the villagers will inevitably make them think that their family is a fat sheep.
There are also people from neighboring villages who will also be thinking about it to some extent.
Qiao Lan thought that everyone was having a hard time, so she didn't plan to accept the money, but the method Duan Mingqing said was feasible.
Qiao Lan: "Okay, I'll do as you say."
The Duan family released the news about using work as a substitute for labor. After hearing the news, the people in Duanjia Village immediately came over one by one.
"Mr. Duan, is this true?" the villagers gathered around and asked.
Duan Mingjing had just returned from the chicken coop. When he saw so many people, he immediately nodded and said, "Of course it's true! But there are still rules!"
"What rules?"
"Only teach women crafts."
"Ah? Only women are taught?"
Everyone was surprised, why only women are taught?
Duan Mingjing quickly introduced this matter to them, saying that this work is meticulous and it is easy for women to do it carefully. Secondly, only the wives of the Duan family can do this craft. It is not suitable to let the foreign men come to learn it.
convenient.
Seeing that the Duan family has talked about it for this reason, what else does everyone have to worry about?
They teach crafts for free and don’t charge any fees!
Many families spend money to send their children to county towns to be apprentices, but they may not be able to learn real craftsmanship. This is a straightforward craft!