A poor hero

"Chen Chen, can this yellow mud really turn this black cane sugar into white sugar?"

Shen Qian asked curiously while pounding the yellow mud.

She really couldn't imagine that this common yellow mud could have such wonderful effects.

The same goes for Chen Chen.

If he hadn't seen this method in history books, he would never have believed that this yellow mud could turn black cane sugar into white sugar.

The book records that this method was also discovered accidentally.

It is said that this method began in the Yuan Dynasty. According to legend, there was a businessman named Huang who ran a small sugar shop in Nan'an City, Fujian Province.

One day, the wall of his sugar shop was blown down by the wind, and some of the yellow mud in the wall happened to cover the brown sugar he had just made.

While clearing away the yellow mud, he discovered that the brown sugar covered by the yellow mud had turned into white sugar.

So he tested repeatedly and confirmed that covering brown sugar with yellow mud can make brown sugar white. From then on, he used this method to make white sugar and became rich.

Shen Qian listened to Chen Chen's story and asked curiously, "Chen Chen, then this method appeared in the Yuan Dynasty, so why is it now in the Ming Dynasty and no one else knows about it?"

Chen Chen smiled and replied: "Chen Qian, would you tell others such a profitable secret? No! You must be secretly making sugar to make a lot of money."

"Oh, that's the case too." Shen Qian touched her head and pondered for a moment, "Chen Chen, if that's the case, how did you know?"

This method of making white sugar from yellow mud is mainly recorded in the book "Tiangong Kaiwu" written by Song Yingxing in the late Ming Dynasty.

It just so happens that there is an introduction to making white sugar from yellow mud in "Tiangong Kaiwu" in the history books.

Chen Chen has a very good memory, and he still remembers that the method of making white sugar from yellow mud in the book is called the method of pouring sugar with yellow mud and water.

As for whether it was effective, he really didn't know.

But he still remembered the method written in the book.

The specific method is to use a rolling truck to squeeze the sugarcane juice that has matured in the winter, put it into a vat, boil it over fire to make a yellow-black syrup, and pour it into another vat to condense into brown sugar.

Prepare another vat with a tile funnel (tile funnel) placed on it. Use straw to block the leak of the tile funnel. Pour the brown sugar into the tile funnel. Wait for the black sand to solidify. Remove the straw and pour the yellow mud water into the funnel. The brown sugar and black residue flow from the funnel into the tank below, leaving white frost in the funnel. The top layer is about five inches, very white, called Western sugar (Western in the Ming Dynasty is now Nanyang).

At that time, the teacher said that the principle was to use yellow mud to absorb impurities in black sucrose, thereby decolorizing the black sucrose into white sugar.

Chen Chen now uses black cane sugar instead of boiling sugar cane juice to make it.

He thought that it would be the same to boil the sucrose into syrup first.

Chen Chen learned about this method from the book "Tiangong Kaiwu", but he could not tell Shen Qian all this.

So he thought for a while and finally found an excuse.

He smiled and said: "Chen Qian, this is what my parents told me. My parents know a lot."

Shen Qian lowered her head and said softly: "Chen Chen, your parents are really amazing. My parents don't know these things."

Just like that, the two of them sat on the ground and started tinkering with the yellow mud again.

The weather is really dry, and the yellow mud is lumpy and hard, making it very troublesome to work with.

Therefore, the efficiency of the two people is very low.

When Third Aunt and Xiao Niu came over to order dinner, the two of them had just made out a little bit of yellow mud that was not very broken.

"Chen Chen, Shen Qian, what are you two doing with all this mud?"

As soon as the third aunt came in, she saw the yellow mud on the ground and asked curiously.

Shen Qian raised her head and rushed to answer: "Third Aunt, do we want to use this yellow mud to turn black sucrose into white sugar? Chen Chen said that this yellow mud can turn black sucrose into white sugar."

Third Aunt has only seen black cane sugar, not white sugar.

But black cane sugar is also a luxury product for ordinary people.

The third aunt can only live for her eyes and cannot afford it.

Just now, Chen Chen also gave Mavericks some sucrose to take back.

When the third aunt saw that the black cane sugar was so expensive, she scolded Xiao Niu and asked Xiao Niu to take the black cane sugar back to Chen Chen.

When she heard that Chen Chen still had a lot and she and Chen Chen also gave some to Wu Hong, she agreed to stay.

She scratched the black cane sugar with her fingernail and gave it a try.

The sweetness of the sucrose immediately stimulated her taste buds. She had never tasted anything so sweet, and she was completely delighted.

"Chen Qian, you have to take care of Dachen. Don't let him spend all the money. Why does he want to use money to marry you?"

"How expensive is this black cane sugar? It's just mixed with yellow mud. Isn't it a waste of money?"

"How much can you sell for those pheasants and rabbits you catch? All the money must be spent!"

The third aunt was afraid that Chen Chen and Shen Qian would spend too much money, so she started nagging them.

To be honest, Chen Chen didn't have much money at this time.

All the money was almost spent, and there was only a hundred dollars left.

The rabbit breeding cooperative will not produce benefits so quickly. If he wants to marry Shen Qian back to Batai Bridge as soon as possible, Chen Chen has to rely on the sugar business.

So Chen Chen looked serious and said seriously: "Third Aunt, I really didn't spend money randomly. These brown candies were given by others."

"Third Aunt, Chen Chen really didn't spend money recklessly. This candy was given by someone else. It was free of charge. Someone wanted to make white sugar with Chen Chen?"

Shen Qian's eyes were firm and she agreed.

The third aunt thought about it and realized that the things Chen Chen and Shen Qian sold could only be exchanged for a few hundred pennies at most, and they would never be able to afford the black cane sugar, fabrics and other things they brought back.

Only then did she believe Chen Chen.

"Chen Chen and Chen Qian, are you saying that there is really white sugar? Black cane sugar is so expensive. If it is white sugar, doesn't it have to be sold at a sky-high price?"

"Third Aunt, white sugar exists, and you can't buy it even with money. If we can make it, then the market will be ours."

……

The third aunt asked a lot more questions, and finally remembered that she came to see Chen Chen and Shen Qian for dinner.

Like a loving mother, she shouted with concern: "Then you can wait until after dinner! The chicken soup is ready, Shen Qian, I also left your favorite chicken legs."

The pheasant that was left behind had been trapped on the mountain for several days and was so hungry that it lost sight of it.

Chen Chen saw that the pheasant could not be sold for much, and Shen Qian wanted to eat better to replenish her body.

He decided not to take the pheasant out of the county and sell it, but let the calf take it back to make chicken soup for his third aunt.

Shen Qian likes to drink the chicken soup from her third aunt the most. She talked about it for a long time after drinking the chicken soup last time.

Third Aunt and Xiao Niu have already come to invite them, and Chen Chen and Shen Qian no longer delay.

So Chen Chen and Shen Qian had no choice but to put down their work, wash their hands, and follow their third aunt home to drink chicken soup.