An Dashan returned home and said to Gao and An Ning: "The village chief just calculated the date, and the construction will start in three days."

Gao nodded and said, "Times are a bit tight these days, and we haven't bought the materials yet."

An Dashan said, "Master Mo is calculating how much materials are needed. I will go to town tomorrow and buy everything."

Gao was relieved and said, "Then you should take a shower and have a rest. We still have work to do tomorrow."

An Dashan nodded, got up and went to wash his feet.

The next morning, after breakfast, An Dashan drove the mule cart to the town. Gao looked at An Ning, who rarely went with him, and asked in confusion, "Daya, why didn't you go to the town with your father today?"

An Ning had a mysterious expression on her face and said, "I don't know much about this, so let my dad go by himself. I have something important to do today."

Gao looked at An Ning who was fiddling with the broken stones and said, "Could it be that the big thing you mentioned is fiddling with those stones?"

An Ning said helplessly: "Mom, you don't understand. When I figure it out, it will definitely surprise you."

Gao smiled, did not disturb An Ning, and turned to do other things.

An Ning continued to tinker with the stones. She first put the broken stones that she had smashed with a hammer yesterday into the millstone to grind them. She didn't know what kind of stone this millstone was made of, but it was very hard. After a short while, the broken stones were ground into powder.

An Ning collected the powder, put it in a large bowl, added hot water, and stirred it with a wooden stick. After stirring it completely, she found that there was nothing to filter. This did not bother An Ning. An Ning went to Gao's house and found that Gao was not at home, so she took out a piece of rag from the cabinet and planned to use it as a filtering device. An Ning took the rag to the kitchen and found a wooden stick, fixed the four corners of the rag, and then placed a large bowl under the rag.

After doing all this, An Ning poured the salt water solution into the cloth, filtering out the impurities. An Ning took out the small red clay stove at home, put charcoal in it, lit it, put the casserole on it, poured the salt water solution into the casserole, and kept stirring. When the water in it was about to evaporate, he took the casserole off and used the residual heat of the casserole to dry the salt.

After drying, An Ning carefully scraped the salt from the casserole with a small spoon and put it into a clean bowl. An Ning pinched a little bit with her fingers and put it into her mouth to taste it. She found that it did not have the sour taste of coarse salt. This should be considered a success. An Ning repeated this several times before finally getting half a bowl of refined salt.

After frying the sugar color, put the blanched meat pieces into the pot and stir-fry. After the fat is fried out, pour out the excess oil, then add hot water, onion, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves and peppercorns, bring to a boil over high heat and then simmer over low heat.

After stewing for about half an hour, pick out the spices such as star anise and cinnamon, throw them into the space, and then add salt for seasoning.

Just after finishing all this, An Dashan and Gao came in one after another. An Dashan smelled the fragrance and said, "Daya, what are you cooking? It smells so good that the little grandson of Uncle Liu next door is crying because of it and is asking his mother to make some for him too."

After hearing this, An Ning quickly served a bowl of braised pork to An Dashan and said, "Dad, go and send a bowl to the neighbors. They always trouble Grandpa Liu's family."

An Dashan took the bowl and said with a smile: "Our Daya is really thoughtful." Then he turned and went to the next door. It can be said that Uncle Liu's family is really kind to the An family. During the years when An Dashan went to the war, he helped the An family a lot. And last time An Ning fell from the mountain, it was Aunt Liu who saved him. An Ning is not a person who does not repay kindness, so when An Ning has the ability, he will help the next door within his ability.

An Dashan carried the braised pork to the next room and saw Uncle Liu scolding his grandson. Liu Dashan quickly said, "Uncle Liu, stop scolding. The child is still young and doesn't understand these things. Bring the meat in quickly and let him taste Daya's cooking skills."

Uncle Liu said, "Dashan, look at you. Why did you carry so much meat? Don't do this again in the future. Children are ignorant and embarrassed."

An Dashan said quickly: "Uncle Liu, stop talking like that. During those two years when I was away from home, didn't you bring some good food to Dayong and Daya?"

An Dashan didn't stay any longer. He couldn't control his appetite after smelling the delicious food. He said something to Uncle Liu and went home to eat. An Dashan had never eaten such delicious pork before. He couldn't stop eating it. He ate two large bowls of white rice with the braised pork.

An Ning hadn't eaten such delicious braised pork for a long time. She ate until she couldn't eat any more and then put down her chopsticks. Even Gao ate a lot of meat.

After dinner, An Ning called An Dashan and Gao to the main hall, took out the refined salt extracted this afternoon, and asked mysteriously, "Dad, Mom, guess what this is?"

An Dashan and Gao Shi smelled it and didn't have any smell. An Dashan asked, "Daya, what is this? It looks delicious." Gao Shi also looked at An Ning with a puzzled look.

An Ning said, "Why don't you try it and know?"

When An Dashan heard that it was something edible, he pinched a little bit with his hands and put it into his mouth. He immediately widened his eyes and asked in disbelief: "Daya, is this salt? Why is it so fine and white?"

An Ning nodded and said, "I extracted this from the poisonous stone. It tastes much better than coarse salt."

Gao said with some fear: "Then this salt won't be poisonous, right?"

An Ning shook his head and said, "This method was taught to me by an old immortal. It is definitely not poisonous, and this salt is better than coarse salt."

An Dashan did not question whether the salt was poisonous or not. He was only concerned about the fact that An Ning had refined the salt herself. Refining salt privately was a capital crime punishable by expropriation of the family and extermination of the family. He quickly said, "Daya, don't tell anyone else about this except me and your mother. Do you hear me?"

Gao was frightened by An Dashan's anxious look and said, "Daddy, what's wrong? Don't scare Daya."

After hearing what his wife said, An Dashan softened his tone and said, "Salt is controlled by the imperial court. If the government finds out that someone is privately refining salt, their family will be confiscated and their entire clan will be exterminated."

An Ning knew that salt was controlled by the imperial court, but she didn't expect it to be so strict, so she nodded and said, "I understand, Dad. From now on, I will only secretly refine some for our own consumption and never let anyone find out."

An Dashan originally wanted An Ning to stop making salt, but he also felt that no one would find out if he kept the salt at home. Besides, it was no big deal if he didn't sell the salt outside, so he nodded and acquiesced.