Chapter 21 Making Candles

Since Jiang Yunhua brought back a lot of black fungus and mushrooms, Ye made chicken stewed with mushrooms according to Jiang Zhiluo's suggestion at noon.

Fish soup was made with fish.

After lunch, the family sat together and talked for a while.

In the afternoon, Jiang Zhiluo and Cui Hejin returned home.

However, Jiang Xiangchuan and Ye also brought a lot of things for Jiang Zhiluo.

There were fish caught by his two younger brothers in the river, and a bowl of chicken stewed with mushrooms.

At noon, her mother specially left a large bowl for her to take home for her mother-in-law.

I also brought her some rice cakes, which were made from millet that my mother specially bought.

It is equivalent to rice bread, just like making dumplings, but it is filled with millet and sugar is added in it, so it tastes very sweet and delicious.

Such food is extremely rare in the village.

As they were about to head home, Jiang Zhiluo saw some pine trees on the hillside behind Shanxing Village and said to Cui Hejin, "I want to go over there and see if I can get some grease. Would you like to go home first or come with me?"

Jiang Zhiluo originally wanted to let Cui Hejin go home first.

It's just that he was accompanying her back home. If he went back alone and the people in Donghe Village saw him, they would probably gossip about him, which would not be good for Mrs. Cui and Cui Hejin.

So Jiang Zhiluo asked out loud.

There were only a few candles left at home, and they were very frugal when lighting them every night.

If you buy candles, they are expensive, costing fifty cents each.

Jiang Zhiluo felt that it got dark early at night and she couldn't sleep. If she could light a candle, it would be convenient for her to do other things.

I can’t bear to buy candles, so I might as well make some myself.

She didn't see any pine trees on the hills of Donghe Village.

But there are pine trees on the mountain of Shanxing Village, and Jiang Zhiluo immediately thought of pine resin.

She can make candles with pine resin. Although they are not beautiful, they are useful.

This way there is no need to save on candles.

Although Cui Hejin was confused about what Jiang Zhiluo was going to do, he still said softly, "I'll go with you."

In this way, Cui Hejin accompanied Jiang Zhiluo to the halfway point of the mountain.

Jiang Zhiluo found some pine tree stumps and collected some oil.

Looking at the collected oil, Jiang Zhiluo was very happy. Now she could make a lot of candles.

This way, you don’t have to save on candles at home, and you don’t have to buy candles in the short term.

Cui Hejin looked at the bright smile on Jiang Zhiluo's face with a deep expression, as if thinking about something.

On the way home, Jiang Zhiluo thought Cui Hejin would ask something, but he didn't ask anything.

He was cold and indifferent from beginning to end, as if he was not interested in her affairs and did not want to ask.

The smile on Jiang Zhiluo's face faded. She wanted to explain something, but in the end she said nothing.

After returning home, Mrs. Cui was very happy to see them back.

Especially when I learned that Jiang Zhiluo's parents also brought a lot of rice cakes and a bowl of chicken stewed with mushrooms, I was even more moved.

Her in-laws are really great.

Old Madam Cui was still thinking about making brown sugar. She pulled Jiang Zhiluo aside and asked, "Zhiluo, are we still going to make brown sugar? I've put all the firewood in the stove, so we can light the fire anytime."

Jiang Zhiluo nodded and said, "Mom, I'd like to trouble you to light a fire and cook those beets. We need to boil out the sugar in the beets."

"I thought of boiling this fat to make candles."

When Mrs. Cui heard the word "candle", her expression became excited and she even suspected that she had heard it wrong.

"Wax...candle?"

"Zhiluo, can you make candles?"

Candles are very expensive things. Mrs. Cui would not light candles at night unless absolutely necessary.

I can't bear to use any of it.

Because when a candle is used up, you have to buy a new one, which is so expensive that you can buy a lot of food with it.

So when she suddenly heard Jiang Zhiluo say that she could make candles, she suspected that she had heard it wrong.

When Cui Hejin was fetching water to wash his hands in the yard, he heard Jiang Zhiluo's words and paused.

He glanced sideways at Jiang Zhiluo, a complicated look in his eyes.

It turned out that she got the grease to make candles.

However, the secret recipe of candles is in the hands of a very small number of businessmen. How could ordinary people know the secret recipe?

Then, thinking of what his wife's brothers and sisters had said, Cui Hejin looked at Jiang Zhiluo with a gloomy expression.

Jiang Zhiluo nodded and said, "Mom, this grease can be used to make candles. With candles, we don't have to be so frugal at night. We can light candles whenever we want."

"well."

Mrs. Cui was very excited.

She actually wanted to do some embroidery by candlelight in the evening.

But when Mrs. Cui thought about how expensive candles were, she couldn't bear to light them.

If these things could really be made into candles, she could light the candles and do embroidery at night. If she did more embroidery, she could sell it in the embroidery shop in town, and any profit she could make would be a good one.

Mrs. Cui felt warm and excited.

"Zhiluo, just focus on your own business. I'll light the fire and cook these beets."

The beets are cut into small pieces to make it easier to make syrup.

Jiang Zhiluo built a small pot in the yard, put firewood in it, placed a small basin on top, put oil on it, and started burning it with fire underneath.

After it melted into water, Jiang Zhiluo removed some impurities.

Filtered grease water is easy to use.

Jiang Zhiluo placed several small wooden barrels that she got from her father upright, put a long rope inside, and then poured the grease into them.

Once cooled, you can use it as a candle.

Nine small wooden barrels were poured out in succession.

Jiang Zhiluo carefully fixed them in place, thinking that after they cooled down, she could remove the outer barrel mold and the candle would be ready.

Let the food cool down first, while Jiang Zhiluo helped Mrs. Cui watch the pot and stir it with a spoon.

Time passed little by little, and when the syrup in the pot was cooked, you could smell the sweet fragrance of the syrup.

Jiang Zhiluo fanned herself gently with her hands and a smile appeared on her face.

It’s like seeing pieces of brown sugar.

Mrs. Cui was lighting a fire and said excitedly, "Zhiluo, do you smell the sugar water? It's a very sweet smell, so nice."

Before, Mrs. Cui was still skeptical and half-believing and half-doubting.

But when she smelled it at this moment, she believed that this thing could really make sugar.

Mrs. Cui felt excited and worked harder to light the fire.

Jiang Zhiluo nodded and said, "Yes, mother, it tastes like sugar water, but it still needs to be cooked for a while."

"Okay, we have enough firewood, so we can burn it for as long as we want."

Seeing that it was almost done, Jiang Zhiluo went to prepare a large basin and then got a piece of clean cheesecloth for filtering.

After it was done, Jiang Zhiluo said, "Mom, it's done. You don't need to light the fire yet."

"Okay, is that all right?"

Jiang Zhiluo said, "Scoop it out first, we need to continue to light the fire later."

Jiang Zhiluo used a large mesh spoon to scoop out everything in the pot bit by bit.

The beets were caught in the cotton cloth, and the syrup was filtered into a large basin.

Then pour the sugar water into the pot and continue to keep the fire burning.