Yi Yu spent the first summer after coming to Tang without air conditioning and no shower, in fact, the temperature at this time was much cooler than the summer more than a thousand years later, and she only sweated a little at noon wearing a layer of single clothes, according to her estimates, the hottest time was only 35 degrees. There is no well in the village, and the villagers all go to a small river in the back mountain to fetch water and come back to wash, and the usual laundry is also carried downstream by the Lu family.

Lu Zhi and Lu Jun like to go to the river to bathe when they are hot, and the half-grown boys in the countryside don't pay attention to any etiquette. However, the Lu family boiled the water in the stove room before using it for himself and the relic, and it was strictly forbidden for the relict jade to play by the river, on the one hand, for fear of danger, and on the other hand, on the grounds that his daughter's family was not easy to contact too much cold water.

In the stove room at home, a straw mat is tied to the beam, separated enough for two people to stand on the place to put it for showering, after all, Yu Yu has some habits of modern people in his bones, and in the summer, he can't sleep without taking a bath, but he takes the trouble of carrying water and boiling water and waste firewood, at first she only washes it once a few days, and then Lu Zhi found that she is very easy to sweat and is really afraid of heat, so Lu Jun will pick up enough to fill a tank of water every day, Lu Shi will boil water as long as she finds that she sweats a lot, and then carefully cleans her. Just from this little thing, you can see how pampered the Lu family is to her, but this is not like a countryman raising a daughter.

Yi Yu is not an easily moved person, but after coming to the Lu family for half a year, not only did she come close to her for food and clothing, but her two brothers always coaxed her to be happy, and her mother Lu was even more reluctant to accept her at all. Therefore, she gradually really let go of the past, and became a carefree and well-behaved little girl, learning calligraphy and embroidery every day, and from time to time using some childish words to coax the family to be happy.

In the autumn, the farming began to be busy, and the Lu family took care of people to plough the land and sow seeds, but Yu Yu began to plan a thing to make money, and the origin of this idea is also due to her second brother Lu Jun - when he carried Lu to the forest behind the village to play a while ago, he found something very similar to a modern plant, which made her suddenly have the idea of making money.

Rock sugar gourd, a typical Chinese folk snack, the method is simple and the material is cheap, it is said that it appeared after the Song Dynasty, and no one has made it in this era. When Yiyu was in her third year of college, she and another girl in the same dormitory rented a small store at the school gate to sell dim sum, and the main thing she sold was all kinds of rock sugar gourds, so it was definitely handy for her to make this snack.

And in the bushes in the small forest in the back mountain, what she found was the first main ingredient for making rock sugar gourds - hawthorn, the branches and leaves derived everywhere were covered with thin thorns, and the small red fruits hidden in them were as big as longan copper coins but they were all glowing with bright light. At first, she was a little hesitant, but after picking and tasting it carefully, she finally confirmed that this thing was hawthorn, and almost at the same time as confirming the identity of this red fruit, Yu Yu thought of the sweet and sour appetizing rock sugar gourd.

Inspiration always comes out of nowhere, and after thinking about how to make money for half a year, Yu Yu finally found a commodity that is more suitable for the current social situation. With an idea, she took Lu Jun to the small forest every three or five days, and waited for more than half a month before a large area of hawthorn matured.

On the same day, she pestered Lu Jun to pick dozens of relatively large hawthorns and went back, and when she got home, she saw that Lu Shi was originally only two brothers and sisters greedy and looking for wild fruits to eat.

Yi Yu used the words he had already thought of to say to the Lu family: "Mother, this fruit is delicious, but it is too sour." ”

Only then did Lu Shi carefully look at the "wild fruits" they had brought back with a coat of clothes, and then frowned and said, "What should I be, where did you pick the red claws?" ”

Yi Yu was surprised when she heard this, and sighed that her mother still recognized the hawthorn, and after being stunned for a while, she only pretended not to understand and asked, "Does this wild fruit girl recognize?" ”

"Naturally, I recognize it, when I was a child, your grandmother always used it for me to appetize. This red claw has to be boiled before it can be eaten, and eating too much will cause stomach acid, so don't be greedy and spoil your stomach. After that, he glared at Lu Jun with his eyes and said, "Are you taking Yu'er to the back mountain, and I'm not afraid that the wolf will drive you away!" ”

Lu Jun took a step back, scratched his head and smirked: "What's the matter, I often run back to the mountain and haven't seen half a wolf, but there are a lot of hares, when I finish practicing my bow skills and catch rabbits for Xiaoyu to come back, we will eat meat." ”

Lu Shi stretched out his hand and poked Lu Jun's head with his index finger, and said, "I'm afraid that the rabbit won't catch it, so let the wolf take you back to eat!" ”

Seeing that the two of them went back and forth and ran off topic, Yi Yu hurriedly interjected on the side and said: "Mother, Xiaoyu ate two, it's a little sour, mother get me some sugar water to dip in!" ”

Lu Shi naturally agreed, so he picked a dozen hawthorns they brought back and boiled them slightly, put them in a bowl and mixed them with some sugar water and served them to the three of them.

At this time, the edible sugar is made into a viscous maltose after fermentation of the grain, and then cooled to form an amber sugar cube. The price is not cheap, a small can costs fifty yuan. Usually, the caramel cubes that Lu bought for Yiyu are made by processing maltose, but a small jar of maltose is enough for a family to eat for several months, and it is mostly used to drink some sugar water.

Lu Zhi tasted one and said to Lu Shi: "A few days ago, I heard the second brother say how sour this fruit is, but my little sister likes to eat it, and this is the first time I have eaten it, it must be mixed with sugar, but the taste is also sweet and sour." ”

Yi Yu also pinched one and put it in her mouth, and the boiled hawthorn syrup had a little more sweetness, but she always felt that the taste of rock sugar gourd was nondescript, and she felt that it was still necessary to dip the raw hawthorn in the boiled syrup to be considered a proper taste. What she is more curious about now is how the Lu family recognized such a thing as hawthorn, it doesn't sound like there is already a snack like a sugar gourd, but she doesn't know if this thing has become popular.

Therefore, in the next two or three days, she took some words from the Lu family in a roundabout way, and then she was relieved. It turns out that hawthorn is not common at this time, only people in other places use it for children's appetizers, all as a home remedy, and there is no such thing as a commodity on the market, even in pharmacies do not sell it.

A few days later, Yiyu began to think of a way to knock down the Lu family to remediate the hawthorns for her, but she couldn't tell her how to make rock sugar gourds, so it wasn't until half a month later that Lu made the first string of sugar gourds in name according to her bizarre request.

Yi Yu took this string of sugar gourds and looked at them carefully, the hawthorn is wild, although it is too sour, but fortunately, it is big, and it is strung six with a spoon for eating. The sugar crust is made by boiling the sugar cubes at home with water to make a sticky paste, then pouring them on hawthorn skewers, and putting them on a washed wooden board to cool and harden.

She couldn't wait to bite into it, only to feel that the sugar skin was shattered between her teeth, and the sour taste mixed with hawthorn gradually melted in her mouth, although it tasted a little different from the real sugar gourd, but it was also delicious.

"How does it taste?" Lu Shi looked at his daughter's squinting eyes and asked with a smile.

"Well, it's delicious, mother." Yi Yu suppressed his excitement and raised the rock sugar gourd in his hand and handed it to Lu Shi.

Lu Shi opened his mouth and bit down on one, and after chewing a few bites, he looked at Yi Yu in surprise and said: "It's really delicious, sweet and sour, it's not in vain that Niang delayed so much effort, but it's to your liking?" ”

Yi Yu nodded his little head twice, and then went to find the two brothers to offer treasures.

Lu Zhi was full of praise after tasting it, and the remaining few went into Lu Jun's stomach with the consent of Yi Yu.

Yi Yu was very satisfied with the two of them, and felt that this rock sugar gourd was still very in line with the public's taste, so he put his mind at ease and began to think about how to remind his mother to do this rock sugar gourd business.

Before she could figure out how to motivate the Lu family, Lu Zhi brought up the matter first at dinner.

"Mother, the snacks you made for Xiaoyu today, I think it's a rare thing."

"Hehe, your little sister is very tricky, and it took her a few days to make the look she wanted."

"Mother, I haven't bought this in the market, I asked the second brother if there is still a lot of mountain behind the red claws, and I don't think it's troublesome for my mother to make this skewer, these days the family is free, why don't you make some and sell it outside?"

After listening to Lu Zhi's words, Lu Shi lowered his head and fell into deep thought, while Yi Yu secretly sighed on the side that his eldest brother's head was too good, and he took the initiative to come faster than knocking on the side of himself. At this time, the cottage industry dominated the extra income of the small people's economy, most of the small peasant families relied on farming and weaving to make a living, and there were also some women like the Lu family who made extra money by doing handicrafts such as female celebrities, and the others were some small merchants and hawkers in the market, most of whom mastered a craft, such as the one she saw selling homemade caramel and pastries the last time she visited the market, selling children's gadgets, and selling homemade hair ropes and wooden hairpins.

Therefore, it is not difficult to associate it with the sale of new things, but Lu Zhi's mind is indeed turning relatively fast, and he can immediately associate business opportunities from fresh accessories such as sugar gourds.

After a long time, Lu Shi raised his head and said to Lu Zhi: "What you said is right, although the family is still rich this year, it is inevitable that they will be poor in the future." Tomorrow I will go to the back mountain with your second brother to have a look, and if this is possible, we will make preparations in advance. ”

Lu Jun was so ignorant that he had to pretend to be confused, but he was already greatly relieved in his heart.

Early the next morning, the mother and son went to the back mountain to investigate, and when they came back, the Lu family finally made a decision to prepare to do this business of boiling sugar red claws. She discussed the specific matters with Lu Zhi again, and after instructing the two brothers about some things, several people went their separate ways, and even Yu Yu also won a job of picking hawthorns, and now half of the idlers in the family are gone.