By the time she got to the last two pieces of moldy tofu, after dipping them in the seasoning, An Jing didn’t put them into the earthenware jar but into a bowl instead.
Then, she picked up a piece of the moldy tofu from the bowl with her chopsticks and cheerfully offered it to Xiao Changyi, "Try this."
Xiao Changyi naturally opened his mouth and ate the moldy tofu from An Jing’s chopsticks.
"How is it?" An Jing asked.
"The taste... is a bit strange," Xiao Changyi said after carefully tasting it. "But, it’s quite delicious and should go well with rice."
"This is supposed to be an appetizer, of course it goes well with rice." An Jing, smiling, picked up another piece of moldy tofu and offered it to Xiao Changyi’s mouth. As she did so, she added, "Dear, let me tell you, this taste is actually quite good. That kind of green bean curd tastes absolutely amazing, it smells particularly awful, but it’s incredibly delicious when you eat it. In my world, many people just call green bean curd ’stinky tofu,’ haha~"
As she spoke, An Jing laughed heartily on her own. She had tried stinky tofu once, and honestly, it was indeed delicious once she got past the unbearable smell before eating it.
But her grandparents actually loved that taste.
When Xiao Changyi heard the word "stinky," he almost imperceptibly furrowed his brows and murmured softly after a while, "Fortunately..." Fortunately, what you made isn’t that kind.
"Hehe..." An Jing laughed even more. She then teased Xiao Changyi on purpose, "Dear, I think, if there’s time later, I should make some of that green bean curd for you to try."
"Haha..." Seeing Xiao Changyi at a loss for how to respond, An Jing couldn’t help but laugh uncontrollably. After a while, she finally stopped and said, "Alright, alright, I won’t tease you anymore. Even if I really made green bean curd, I wouldn’t let you eat it."
Xiao Changyi then let out a small sigh of relief.
An Jing noticed his sigh and laughed again: "Hehe..."
Xiao Changyi let her laugh. As long as she didn’t make him eat any of that green bean curd, it was fine.
Once her laughter had subsided, An Jing finally put the lid on the earthenware jar.
After staring at the jar for a while, she spoke, "Sixty coins for tofu, fifteen for liquor, ten for chili powder, ten for salt; just the cash cost alone is ninety-five coins. Adding our time... Dear, we must sell it for at least eight coins per jin to avoid a loss."
Xiao Changyi said, "Sell it for ten coins."
An Jing hesitated for a moment, then said, "Isn’t ten coins a bit expensive?" Pork was only twelve coins per jin.
To be honest, she felt that even eight coins was expensive, but she wouldn’t do a losing business. She would rather keep it to eat at home than sell it below cost.
She could eat anything, except losses.
"Sell it for ten coins," Xiao Changyi repeated. Pausing, he added, "If we can’t sell it at that price, we’ll just keep it at home to eat."
An Jing, who had originally planned to sell it for eight coins per jin, laughed, "Alright, I’ll listen to you~"
"Hmm," Xiao Changyi responded and then went into the inner room to find a piece of coarse grey cloth which he laid out on the table.
He then took a piece of charcoal from near the stove to use as a pen and wrote the large characters for "fermented bean curd" on the coarse grey cloth.
Xiao Changyi’s calligraphy was powerful and majestic, reminiscent of a dragon in flight. An Jing admired his handwriting and asked with curiosity, "Who taught you to read and write?"
She knew Xiao Changyi could read and write ever since he showed her the household registry certificate stamped with the government’s seal. However, she did not expect Xiao Changyi’s handwriting to be so impressive.
"I once saved an old man on the battlefield, and he taught me," Xiao Changyi said casually.