Chapter 413 - 403: Persimmon Jam (Part 2)
It was a good thing that after Yun Jiao secured the island, no one would know as long as she kept quiet about it.
That way, no one would know she’d spent a hundred million on a fifty-year lease for an island.
However, after buying the island, Yun Jiao was going to be broke for a while.
But first, she had to sell off those artifacts.
She still had a few months, though.
During this period, Yun Jiao diligently attended school.
She visited Grandma Shen’s house, where the persimmons had all been harvested. Some of the ripe ones were given to the villagers, while the rest were sent to be sold.
At Yun Xiaoqi’s encouragement, the Shen family went ahead and secured a storefront in the county.
Storefronts weren’t that expensive back then, so the Shen family could afford it, though they had to grit their teeth to do so.
Now that they had a shop, they couldn’t just sell persimmons. So, they started sourcing eggs from the family that raised chickens, as well as various vegetables from around the village.
The father-son duo, Shen Nian and Shen Kuan, were in charge of collecting vegetables in the village each day and delivering them to the shop on the Yun family’s tricycle.
Aunt Shen was in charge of running the shop and selling their goods.
In Shen Family Village, ever since word got out that Grandma Shen’s family had contracted the persimmon grove and then bought a shop, the whole village had been talking about it.
And even after nearly a month, the buzz hadn’t died down.
When Yun Jiao went to Grandma Shen’s house on her Saturday off, she could still hear people discussing it while she was out for a walk.
"That Shen Daniu’s family really has some good in-laws. Lending them so much money just like that, without worrying about it all going down the drain."
"I never would’ve thought Shen Daniu’s family had that kind of nerve. What do you suppose they’ll do if they can’t sell everything?"
"I, for one, hope they can sell it all. They hired us villagers to pick the persimmons, and they paid five yuan a basket."
"Just from picking persimmons, our family made over a hundred yuan this month."
Yun Jiao, who was walking her dogs, wandered over and was stopped by one of the women.
"Jiaojiao, when are your older brothers coming back?"
Everyone else immediately knew what this woman was getting at.
The Yun family was so generous. If they were their in-laws, they’d be laughing in their sleep.
They couldn’t possibly hope for someone from Yun Linhai’s generation, but there was still Yun Chendong and Yun Chenxi, wasn’t there?
And they’d heard those two had even joined the military.
Goodness, both brothers joined the military. They must be so outstanding.
Plus, the Yun family was so wealthy. In their eyes, Yun Chendong and Yun Chenxi were the perfect rich catch.
Yun Jiao was speechless.
"I don’t know."
’Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell them. My brothers’ love lives are their own business!’
But the women were too enthusiastic. Even though she said she didn’t know, they kept her there, asking all sorts of questions.
Yun Jiao finally managed to escape their encirclement.
With her two dogs in tow, she hurried back home.
The village gossip was now almost exclusively about her grandmother’s family and her own. It was never-ending.
’Getting caught up in gossip about your own family was a bit much.’
When she got back to her grandmother’s house, everyone saw the panicked look on her face and asked what had happened.
When she explained how she’d been cornered and grilled about her brothers, everyone couldn’t help but laugh.
"It seems being too popular isn’t always a good thing."
Yun Linhai nodded in agreement. "Isn’t that the truth? Plenty of people in our own village have been asking, too."
Shen Yunlian said, "Don’t you get any funny ideas. The boys’ affairs are for them to decide."
"I know, I know," he replied. "How could I possibly agree to anything on their behalf?"
"The firm persimmons are almost all picked. Now we’re just waiting for the dried persimmons to be ready."
"But the county market alone can’t handle all the ripe ones."
To be fair, their little shop in the county selling persimmons and vegetables was actually quite profitable, and they sold a good number of persimmons.
However, the county was still too small to absorb that many persimmons.
"Then let’s go check out the city. We can take the persimmons there by motorcycle."
Otherwise, it would be a huge waste for the uneaten persimmons to rot.
"What if I try making it into persimmon jam?" Grandma Shen suggested.
Grandma Shen was a great cook and had a knack for making preserves.
She’d made persimmon jam before, feeling it was a shame to just watch the overripe fruit fall to the ground and go to waste.
"Let’s give it a try!"
The persimmon grove belonged to them now, anyway. It would be a pity for them to rot, so they should try every method they could think of.
The persimmon jam she’d made before had been lacking because she didn’t have enough sugar.
But now, they had plenty of white sugar at home.
Yun Jiao and her family brought gifts every time they visited, and white sugar was a frequent one. They still had several bags left.
It was the perfect opportunity to try making persimmon jam.
No sooner said than done. Everyone pitched in, and before long, Grandma Shen had a batch of persimmon jam ready.
Grandma Shen, ever the experimenter, made several different batches using various ingredient ratios.
Finally, five bowls of persimmon jam were set out before them.
"Come on, everyone try them and see which one tastes best."
They each tasted them in turn.
Shen Nian said, "Ma, I can’t really tell the difference. They all taste about the same to me."
Grandma Shen shot him a look that said, ’What good are you, then?’
Then, she turned her expectant gaze to the others.
Yun Jiao pointed to the third bowl.
"Grandma, I think this one is the best. The first two weren’t quite sweet enough, and the ones after are too sweet."
Shen Xiuyuan said, "I actually prefer this sweeter one."
In the end, they took a vote, and the recipe for the fourth bowl won.
Yun Jiao’s palate was a bit more subdued compared to the tastes of this era, but everyone else preferred things a little sweeter.
The fifth one was too sweet. The first few bites were fine, but it quickly became cloying.
"Grandma, you added honey to this one, didn’t you? It’s delicious."
Grandma Shen nodded, then sighed. "But honey is hard to come by."
You could buy honey these days, but it was too expensive.
Using honey would drive up the production cost of the jam.
Grandma Shen said, "I’ll have to think of something else to use instead of honey."
That was something Grandma Shen would have to figure out on her own.
After the jam was made, they all sat down again to discuss how to grow the shop’s business.
It would be best if they could find other fruits to sell; otherwise, offering only persimmons would be too one-dimensional.
Yun Jiao and her family headed home in the afternoon, leaving with several jars of persimmon jam that Grandma Shen had enthusiastically pressed upon them.