Chapter 35

"Master Li, Master Li!"

"Brother Li, are you okay?"

Uncle and nephew Wu Furong saw Li Qi sitting on the stool like a wooden chicken, drenched in sweat, with a very surprised expression.

Wait—wait a moment, why should I be afraid? It's just a piece of paper. I should find out what it is before being scared.

Li Qi suddenly took a deep breath, stood up from the stool in a flash, grabbed Wu Furong's sleeve, and asked, "Uncle Wu, where did this—this paper come from?"

Wu Furong was slightly taken aback and then replied, "This was written by me."

"You wrote it?"

Li Qi looked more closely and saw that it was indeed Wu Furong's handwriting. He was very puzzled and asked again, "What do you mean by writing this?"

"Ah!"

Wu Furong sighed and said, "Master Li, this is what I wanted to tell you earlier."

Li Qi was confused and asked, "Tell me what?"

"After you left this morning, the mansions of those high-ranking officials sent people to buy stinky tofu from us," Wu Furong sighed.

"Buy stinky tofu?"

Li Qi blinked his eyes and asked incredulously, "You mean they all came to buy stinky tofu?"

Wu Furong nodded and said, "Of course, what else would they be here for?"

Damn! You scared me to death!

Li Qi let out a long breath. He had been terrified. In his experience, whenever these corrupt officials came calling, it was never a good thing. Usually, it meant certain death or at the very least, exile to the frontier.

But he never expected that these big shots were here to buy stinky tofu.

"Uncle Wu, you should have just sold it to them. Why did you scare me with this? You know I have a small heart and my legs turn to jelly at the sight of a constable." Li Qi shook the white paper in his hand and then asked, "By the way, did you make them queue up?"

Li Qi has a small heart? Wu Furong didn't know about this. He twitched his mouth a few times and said, "I don't have the courage for that. But—!"

"But what?" Li Qi was startled again.

"But—but we don't have any stinky tofu to sell them," Wu Furong said.

That's the key issue!

Li Qi frowned and asked, "When did they come?"

Wu Furong said, "Some came at noon, some in the afternoon. You don't know, these high officials all want a lot. Yesterday, Uncle Zhang only delivered less than two hundred portions. Even if I wanted to sell to them, we had no stinky tofu to sell."

That's true!

Li Qi nodded and asked, "What did you tell them?"

Wu Furong said honestly, "Their masters are all high-ranking officials. We can't afford to offend any of them, so I didn't dare refuse them. I just told them that I would have someone deliver it to their mansions tomorrow."

Li Qi frowned and asked, "Tomorrow? What time—hour?"

"Youshi! Master Li, you're not here, so I had to delay as much as possible," Wu Furong replied.

Youshi is between 5 PM and 7 PM.

Li Qi asked again, "Uncle Wu, have you calculated how many portions of stinky tofu they need?"

Wu Furong said, "About four hundred portions."

"Four hundred portions?"

Li Qi frowned again. There were only about twenty households on this paper, yet they needed so many portions of stinky tofu. Damn, these officials really don't care about the burden they place on others.

This is the capital, where officials are as numerous as cattle. And these officials certainly wouldn't follow the rule of one portion per person.

"Brother Li, what should we do?"

Wu Xiaoliu saw Li Qi's worried face and was even more anxious.

"What should we do?" Li Qi huffed, "We can only deliver the exact amount they need."

In Li Qi's era, where everyone was free and equal, these officials were already so arrogant. How much more so in this feudal and slave society? If we don't agree, we'll definitely be in trouble.

"But how can we produce so many portions of stinky tofu all at once?" Wu Furong worried.

"Right, has Uncle Zhang arrived yet?" Li Qi suddenly asked.

"Not yet," Wu Furong shook his head.

Li Qi took a deep breath, calculated in his mind, and said, "Uncle Zhang will deliver nearly 300 portions of stinky tofu soon. I'll ask him to deliver another 300 portions tonight. Then we can take out 400 portions, and the rest can be sold tomorrow."

"If that's the case, we won't be able to sell much tomorrow. Master Li, you don't know, those who didn't get stinky tofu today are already very upset," Wu Furong worried.

"I have no choice. It's better to offend the common people than those high officials."

Li Qi sighed and explained, "Uncle Wu, you don't know, making stinky tofu takes a lot of time. First, you need to grind high-quality soybeans into tofu, then let it dry for several days until it becomes tofu skin, and then put it in the jar.

I always ask Uncle Zhang to prepare the tofu in advance, let it dry, and then send it to me when it becomes tofu skin.

Even though I ask in advance, it's not much different from making and selling it immediately. Asking him to deliver a thousand more portions in advance is a big risk. The texture of the fried tofu will definitely be worse."

This is not an exaggeration!

Li Qi remembered that after he made the contract with Lady Qin, he wasted a few days at home before starting to sell stinky tofu.

He didn't do this on purpose; he had no choice. Even if time was tight, he had to wait for the tofu to dry. He had already calculated the time, otherwise, he wouldn't have said it would take only fifteen days. This time was carefully considered to satisfy Lady Qin and give Uncle Zhang time to dry the tofu.

Unfortunately, Li Qi had miscalculated and overlooked these wolf-like corrupt officials.

To keep costs to a minimum, Li Qi had already discussed with Uncle Zhang how much tofu to make, how much to make each day, and for how many days. When he started selling, Uncle Zhang only needed to deliver the tofu made on the first day, and so on.

He did this to ensure the best texture of the stinky tofu in the shortest time. Time control is always the most critical factor in cooking, and it's the most challenging skill. This 'time' is not just the time on the stove.

Wu Furong was stunned for a while and then sighed, "It seems we have no choice!"