Chapter 21

When he was almost home, Yu Sui realized that these refined salts were clearly gifts for Qi's family, so how could he have brought them back by himself?

Sometimes I really laugh at my own stupidity. Yu Sui turned around and tried to stuff the bamboo tube into Qi's arms.

"It was agreed to be a surprise for you, so Brother Qi, you should take it back. I was distracted when Aunt Lu gave it to me just now and didn't react." He said embarrassedly.

Qi took it, but didn't plan to take it home. "Let's go back first."

Without refined salt, there is no need to send him, Yu Sui thought.

Today, Yu Sui was busy making pottery clay and was busy until late. Most of the snow wolves in the tribe had already eaten, but he and Xiaochu were still hungry.

Qi, who insisted on sending him home, was kept so that he could taste the glutinous rice wine he made.

Yu Sui brought out a bowl of glutinous rice wine for Qisheng, and poured glutinous rice flour into a stone basin.

Boil some water in a small iron pot and add sugar to dissolve. Pour the boiling sugar water into the glutinous rice flour and knead it vigorously. After kneading it into a dough, roll it into thin long strips. Then cut it into small pieces, sprinkle some dry powder on it and roll it into balls.

Put the fermented glutinous rice wine into the iron pot, add water and some sugar and bring to a boil, then pour the glutinous rice balls in one by one.

A hot pot of fermented glutinous rice dumplings is ready. If there are osmanthus flowers here, sprinkle some osmanthus honey on them to make them sweeter.

Yu Sui served a bowl to Qi and Xiaochu respectively, and put some honey jam on them.

The rice wine dumplings are richer and sweeter than the glutinous rice wine we just drank. After drinking a bowl of them, you will feel warm all over.

Qi chewed the springy glutinous rice balls. It was the first time he had eaten food with such a rich taste. Even the glutinous rice wine he had just drunk was much better than the wine he had exchanged with humans before. There was no trace of foreign taste, neither sour nor bitter, only the aroma of wine and sweetness.

When Yu Sui first drank this glutinous rice wine, he just treated it as a drink. But after getting drunk with Xiao Chu once, he realized that the strong aftereffect of this wine was not just a rumor.

He cautiously avoided drinking with Xiaochu and only gave Qi a few more bowls. But he hadn't expected that fermented rice dumplings made with fermented glutinous rice would actually be intoxicating. Did he put too much fermented glutinous rice in? Yu Sui wondered dazedly.

Xiaochu was knocked down by his brother again.

Yu Sui looked at the two images of Qi in front of him and began to talk drunkenly: "In view of the fact that I make delicious food for you every day, can you exile me closer in the future? Woo woo woo, I can't even beat a pig..."

Qi Men laughed out loud. His eyes softened, and he gently carried Yu Sui to the straw mat and placed Xiao Chu next to him.

After covering the two drunkards with animal skin, he saw tears welling up in Yu Sui's eyes.

"I won't kick you out, don't be afraid." He gently comforted Yu Sui in her ear, wiped away her tears gently, and pinched her soft cheeks.

He left quietly only after Yu Sui gradually fell asleep.

When he reached a corner, his good night vision allowed him to immediately see Xu, Notting and Ashan acting suspiciously.

"What are you doing here?" Qi asked in a deep voice.

Xu Gan laughed a few times and said, "Let's just take a walk. The weather is so nice tonight."

Actually, Ashan smelled the fragrance coming from Yu Sui's house and wanted to go over to eat and drink. When they met, they followed him. But when they saw only Qi and Yu Sui were at the door, he and Notting held down Ashan, who was drooling with greed, and hid here to watch the show.

Of course, she couldn't tell Qi about this. After she finished telling him the story, she was afraid that he wouldn't believe it, so she took the two of them and ran away like the wind.

Everyone seems to be acting weird lately, Qi frowned.

With everyone's concerted efforts, the brick kiln was finally built.

Yu Sui told the formula of cement to Chief Bombur, but he only knew that the components of cement were limestone clay and iron ore. He couldn't remember the specific proportions. However, the dwarves were professionals, and they would find the perfect ratio after trying a few times.

Cement is made by placing the raw materials in a smelting furnace, firing them at high temperatures, and then grinding them into a fine powder. Cement, when mixed with sand, gravel, and water, becomes concrete for building houses, which becomes even stronger when combined with bricks.

After hearing his formula, Chief Bombur couldn't wait to have his people start the experiment. Several tons of limestone were delivered before the outbreak, which was more than enough for them. As for the clay, they could dig it on the spot, and the dwarves had plenty of iron ore.

The land where the Black Rock Tribe lives does not have any steep slopes, so even if the dwarves build new houses, they cannot make them half-cave like before.

However, they built it that way to prevent humans from being discovered from a distance. Now that they are building houses next to the Black Rock Tribe, humans would not dare to come and catch them even if they have ten times the courage.

Yu Sui thought of the Hobbit houses in the movies he had seen before, which were dreamy and cute. Maybe the dwarves could also build houses in a fairy-tale style.

He saw that while the dwarves were waiting for materials to build their houses, many of them had already begun digging basements. It was said that the dwarves' underground spaces could be three or four stories high, and they could still prevent the ground from collapsing—truly an amazing skill.

Unfortunately, the last time he went to the Tu tribe, he didn’t go down to take a look and only went down to the first floor.

Yu Sui looked at the dwarves' posture and felt that they didn't seem to be living there temporarily, but rather moving permanently. All their belongings had been moved in, and the house had to be rebuilt carefully. The basement was almost finished.

Uncle Black Rock was still worried that taking in the dwarf tribe would cause dissatisfaction from the elves and the Golden Kingdom, but the dwarves seemed to have made up their minds to live here.

Yu Sui was very happy to see the success. The dwarves had such great craftsmen that other countries couldn't even snatch them away. It had only been a short time since they arrived, and the brick kilns had already been built. How far would it take for the snow werewolves to build big houses in the future?

He only had a general understanding of the principles of many things he had seen in modern times. With the dwarfs around, they could realize it after a few thoughts. Otherwise, it would take an eternity to just build a house.

When thinking about building a house, he suddenly remembered the impurities in the glass of the dwarves, so he ran to find Chief Bombur again.

"Uncle Patriarch, is the glass you make made of sand or quartz sand?"

Bombur was shocked. He looked Yu Sui up and down. "Sometimes I doubt you're the dwarf. How do you know the raw materials for our glass? The human kingdom has wanted our formula for a long time."

Rob is no longer surprised by the magical properties of the stone. "The quartz sand we use is more transparent than sand."

Clapping his hands, Yu Sui said happily, "Using quartz sand to make glass and adding some pure alkali will make the glass more transparent!"

Bombur and Rob immediately grasped his hands, their eyes full of longing. "What is pure alkali? Please tell us!"

"Pure alkali can be made from wood ash. Add water to the wood ash and let it settle for a while. Put the water on top into a pot and boil it. In the end, you will get pure alkali." Yu Sui replied.

In fact, there is another way, which is to mix refined salt and limestone powder together. After air-drying for a period of time, white crystals will appear, which is pure alkali. However, the cost of refined salt here is relatively high. Although refined salt has been available for years, it cannot be used now.

The craftsmanship spirit of the dwarves is engraved in their bones. They can go without food, water or rest in order to research new results. This spirit alone is unmatched by many people.

So when the dwarves heard Yu Sui's words, in addition to burning cement, they had another job: making glass from pure alkali.

If Yu Sui had heard that the workload would increase in his original world, everyone would have complained, but in the dwarf tribe, everyone was even scrambling to do it, and they almost started fighting when they heard that it could increase the purity of the glass.

This work enthusiasm is really beyond the reach of other workers.

However, he can also secretly make some pure alkali at home using refined salt and limestone powder. The pure alkali made in this way is edible. In the future, when he uses old dough to proof the dough, he no longer has to worry about over-fermentation. Adding some pure alkali can neutralize the sour taste very well.

While waiting for the bricks to dry in the shade, the dwarves first experimented with cement, and then refined pure alkali according to Yu Sui's method. When firing glass, they put pure alkali and quartz sand together and fired them at high temperature.

They were pleasantly surprised to find that not only did the transparency of the refined glass increase a lot, the impurities were reduced, but the time required for high-temperature firing was also shortened!

Yu Sui only remembered what kind of chemical reaction would occur between pure alkali and quartz sand during the high-temperature refining process. He had already told his chemistry teacher the specific reaction.

Fortunately, the result was very satisfactory. The dwarves now looked at Yu Sui with more enthusiasm than they looked at the ore.

"Dad said you must be a messenger sent by the God of Craftsmen to help us." Hank looked at Yu Sui with admiration.

Yu Sui, who was currently fussing over the clay, twitched his lips. "Have you ever seen a divine messenger in a mud pile every day? Stop being so superstitious! We Snow Wolves don't do that. Bring me some freshly ground clay when you have time."

Hank hung his head and went to get him some mud.

The first batch of pottery blanks were almost dried in the shade. Yu Sui wanted to learn how to make pottery tripods from a blogger he had seen before, but everything he did was a failure.

In the end, he changed to making simple pottery jars, bowls, plates and other tableware. He decided not to bother with things that tested his manual skills as he didn't have the talent for it.

The first batch of bricks were put into the brick kiln for baking, and Yu Sui put his own bricks in as well.

Before putting it into the brick kiln, Yu Sui added water to the wood ash, stirred it evenly, and let it settle for a while. He poured out the liquid on top, leaving the sediment below, and then mixed it into the mud. He put the dried pottery into the mixed mud and rolled it around before putting it into the brick kiln and starting to bake it together with the bricks.

This was the simplest glazing method he knew. Wood ash was a really good thing, especially in places with such primitive lifestyles.

The dwarves sealed the hole for placing bricks with yellow mud, and put a lot of coal into another cave used for firing to make a fire.

Two dwarves were left to watch the fire, and the rest went about their own business.

Yu Sui borrowed a few dwarves from Chief Bangber to help him dig a basement.

He had long wanted to dig a large basement to store food, whether it was grain or fruits and vegetables. Putting them in the cellar would prevent them from freezing in the winter and spoiling in the summer. In the past, when there were no refrigerators in rural areas, it was a must-have for every household.

He had even gone down to the cellar to get something for his grandfather, so he remembered it vividly. Most of the Snow Wolf Tribe's belongings were stored by the tribe leader in a large cave far away, and the entrance was usually sealed with stones.

The Snow Wolf people piled up the food they couldn't finish or wanted to save for later use outside their houses or tents. If they were afraid of rain, they would set up a hide tent.

It’s okay at other times, but in winter, all food except dried meat will basically be frozen, which is really inconvenient.

He didn't dig under the house he lived in now, but where he had decided to build his new house. He had already found this spot, on the edge of the tribe, not far from the dwarves.

He couldn't bear to tear down the mud house built by the original owner's parents, and the new house couldn't be built for a while, so he and Xiaochu were still living there. Although the new house was not in the center of the tribe, even at the edge no monsters would dare to come here.

Yu Sui also thought about it. Even though he was in a marginal area now, once his new house was built, the Snow Wolves would definitely be envious. If everyone built new houses, wouldn't they surround him again?

What a great plan! Yu Sui gave himself a thumbs up in his heart.

The dwarves were really good at digging holes. Although Yu Sui was stronger than their adult male counterparts, he just couldn't dig as fast as them.

Because they had a great liking for Sui, the dwarves decided to dig a four-story underground space for him.

While digging with them, Yu Sui finally couldn't help but ask, "If we dig like this, there will be more cellars. Will it really not collapse?"

The dwarves patted their chests and assured him, "It's absolutely fine. When we were in the human world, we lived underground and dug even bigger caves than this. They were almost as big as the cities above them, and they didn't collapse!"

The underground city is so cool, but it's a bit sad that you can't live above ground. But Yu Sui finally put his mind at ease.

When Qi and his soldiers passed by, they would come over with Xu and Notting Ashan to help after they finished their work. With their participation, the speed was greatly accelerated.

After the cellar was completed, Notting looked at the wild fruits that Yu Sui had moved in and couldn't help but laugh, "This little bit isn't even enough for me to eat in one meal, and you even dug such a big cellar to store them. Hahaha..."

Yu Sui rolled his eyes at him. "What do you know? I've been saving up enough food so we can eat it in the winter. This cellar won't spoil easily, and it won't freeze in the winter."

"Really? That's a great place to store things, but it's a bit far from your house. Why don't you just dig it underground?" Notting asked curiously.

Yu Sui was about to answer when Qi said beside him, "He wants to build a new house here."

Xu, Notting and Ashan stared at the two of them with wide eyes, extremely shocked.

Is that really the case? Yu Sui was startled by their sudden surprise.

"I'm just building a new house, why are you reacting so strongly?" Yu Sui felt very puzzled.

Xu took a breath and said, "It's a bit early to build a new house now..."

Yu Sui was even more baffled. "Is it too early to build now? It won't be possible to build in winter. It's already autumn."

Seeing that they still had shocked expressions on their faces, Yu Sui simply ignored them and went to see the first batch of bricks fired by the dwarves.

After he left, Xu nudged Qi with his elbow.

"Do we really have to build a house so early? He's still just a cub!"

Qigong gave him the same look as Yu Sui just now, and walked away.

"Qi really is..." Ah Shan scratched his head in frustration, "Too impatient."

Xu and Notting nodded in agreement.