Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Charm
"Chi has always been dull and worried that Miss Lin would be embarrassed by the host family."
"She's a good person."
Chu Xian blurted out, and Chi Zheng's scrutinizing gaze was like a needle, making her feel like a thorn in her back. She subconsciously wanted to clear her name.
But what if she described herself as a living Bodhisattva in front of Chi Zheng?
Once Chi Zheng entered the city, she would be easily known as a villain by asking around.
Chu Xian was unable to refute, after all, her reputation as a villain was created by the original owner.
Over the years, she has only added fuel to the notoriety of being a villain and a fool.
She pretended to be ill for many years. In order to cancel the engagement in a natural way, she fabricated a reputation for herself as an unlearned fool in the streets, and used the fake illness and fortune-telling advice from a foreign monk to trick her father into breaking off the engagement.
However, her father could always easily see through her tricks, and she could no longer find an excuse not to marry the Fourth Prince.
"Why does Miss Lin seem to have some complaints about the master's daughter? And how do you explain the corpses of the slaves in the courtyard?"
Yinzhen stared at Lin Shu without blinking, he still had concerns about Lin Shu's true identity.
Chu Xian smiled awkwardly, "High-ranking families have many secret affairs. What family in the capital doesn't have a few servants who bully their masters?"
"The young lady from the master's family treated those servants harshly. She must have her own difficulties."
"If Master Chi feels that our young lady is not a good husband, I will not force her. Once you recover from your injuries, you can leave on your own."
After Chu Xian finished speaking, she placed the lunch on the small square table.
"I don't know if you are used to eating such simple food, so just make do with it."
A faint fragrance of mulberry leaves spread out.
Yinzhen took the chopsticks handed to him by Lin Shu and took a sip of the light green and crystal clear mulberry leaf tofu.
It is tender and smooth when you put it in your mouth, with a hint of light sweet honey and the fragrance of mulberry leaves lingering between your lips and teeth.
The crispy river fish tasted average because it was made with the astringent and inferior salt that ordinary people eat. Its taste was not as good as the Zigong well salt and the Lutai Yusha tribute salt from the Changlu Salt Field.
He ate the whole plate of crispy fish without changing his expression, and subconsciously raised his hand to take the teacup handed to him by the servant.
After raising his hand for a moment, he came back to his senses in shock and reached out to pick up the bamboo tube cup in front of him. A few white chrysanthemums were blooming in the cup, with an elegant fragrance, clear soup and sweet taste.
At the same time, Chu Xian spat out the fried river fish that she had just put in her mouth to her feet, and the beagle Baifu took the fish away with his tail wagging.
"Is this salt bad?"
"Lin Shu, just make do with what you have. The official price of salt is at least eleven coins per pound, which is enough to buy two meat buns. A frugal person like Bao Sanchun would certainly not buy refined salt."
"Bring all the salt from the farm to the kitchen later."
Chu Xian picked up the mulberry leaf tofu pudding and ate a few mouthfuls, then went to the damp and stuffy kitchen to boil refined salt.
"If Master Chi has had a good lunch, please help him to the ventilated area under the corridor to cool down."
"Xianrong, fetch a few buckets of well water, then go to the back mountain to get some spring water to wet the roof. Suiqing, go to the warehouse and find a few ceramic jars of varying sizes."
When Yinzhen was helped out of the west room by two maids, he saw Lin Shu sitting by the well, filtering the inferior salt that had been boiled and cooled through a fine sieve, and then filtering the grayish-white salt through fine gauze.
At this moment, he was amused by his own foolish idea of suspecting Lin Shu was a fool Nara.
Nara's stupid brain definitely doesn't have such a smart brain that she even knows how to refine refined salt.
Xianrong and Suiqing left, leaving only him and Lin Shu in the courtyard.
Yinzhen was quite puzzled when he saw Lin Shu dissolving the fine salt with clean water again and inexplicably sprinkling the dark wood ash into the clear salt water.
"Miss Lin, why do you add muddy wood ash to the refined salt?"
Chu Xian pondered in silence, thinking carefully about how to use words that ancient people could understand.
How to explain that wood ash contains potassium carbonate, which can react chemically with calcium and magnesium ions to produce precipitates such as calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide, and then filter twice after standing to obtain salt crystals of higher purity.
"Master Chi, adding wood ash and boiling it twice to remove impurities from the salt will make the salt taste better."
"Using this method, the loss of coarse salt is minimal. One jin of coarse salt can be refined into eight liang... No, no, it can be refined into twelve liang of fine salt, which means a loss of 20% of the coarse salt."
Chu Xian was very upset. In ancient times, one catty was equal to sixteen taels, and she could never remember.
"I've filtered it twice already. I'll just need to wait for the third time to settle and dry."
Chu Xian extended her fingertips, dipped them into the clear salt water, and tasted it. She nodded with satisfaction, "It's done. We'll have refined salt tomorrow morning."
This method was unheard of, and Yinzhen was skeptical, so he dipped it in salt water and tasted it.
His eyes lit up with admiration.
The refined salt refined by Lin Shu was even purer than the tribute salt from the Imperial Palace, and the taste of the brine that had not yet settled and dried was already so mellow.
At this time, Lin Shu was seen cleaning a round bamboo tube made of fresh old bamboo, stuffing coarse salt into the tube, and sealing it with fine porcelain clay. He must have been making bamboo salt for rinsing the mouth and cleaning teeth.
"Miss Lin, let me help you."
"Thank you, Master Chi. I will place these sealed bamboo tubes in the kiln and slowly bake them with pine wood. Please help me keep an eye on the heat. We need to use a gentle fire throughout the baking process."
"After eight hours, take out the bamboo tube that has turned to ashes, remove the bamboo tube, leaving only the salt block. Grind the salt block and put it back into the bamboo tube. Repeat this eight times until it is completely integrated with the bamboo."
"When it comes to the ninth baking, the process will be different. Then you can ask me to do it myself. Remember."
"Chi had no idea that cleaning teeth with bamboo salt was so time-consuming and laborious."
Yinzhen was certain that Lin Shu was not making bamboo salt for cleaning teeth. Bamboo salt for cleaning teeth only needed to be calcined twice and did not require repeated tempering at all.
"Life in the mountains is boring and dull. I have nothing to do anyway, so I make some amethyst bamboo salt as a pastime."
Chu Xian picked up the bamboo basket full of bamboo tubes and stacked them neatly in the earthen kiln.
"Amethyst Bamboo Salt?"
Yinzhen was confused. Although he was well-read, he had never heard of amethyst bamboo salt.
"Well, this salt is fine and pure, amethyst-colored, with a bamboo-wood aroma. It can clean your teeth and rinse your mouth, leaving a lingering fragrance on your lips and teeth. Eating it can strengthen your body."
The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month was her father’s 59th birthday.
She wanted to make some birthday gifts for her father personally at the farm. This would be the last time she would celebrate her father's birthday before she got married.
When she becomes the Fourth Lady, if the Fourth Prince does not agree to her returning to her parents' home to visit her relatives, she will never be able to fulfill her filial duties to her father in this life.
Chu Xian couldn't help feeling sad. Given how much the Fourth Prince disliked her, she would never have the chance to return to her parents' home after getting married.
"I guess the purple crystal bamboo salt is a secret recipe passed down from generation to generation. I'll step aside for now."
Yinzhen had never heard that salt had health-enhancing effects, so he guessed that amethyst bamboo salt must be a secret recipe passed down from Lin Shu's family.
Since it is a secret recipe, I don't want others to know it.
"Don't be shy about it. It's not some secret recipe passed down from my ancestors. I just happened to learn it from some random book."
"What kind of book is this? It's so interesting." Yinzhen was curious. He would never miss such an interesting book.
"I don't remember. Master Chi, please keep an eye on the fire."
After Chu Xian finished speaking, she took a wooden bucket and went to the Chantian Creek in front of the door to fetch river sand.
After Lin Shu left, Xianrong suddenly popped her head out from the roof and called out, "Master Chi, are you feeling cooler?"
Yinzhen looked up and saw water cascading down from the eaves, the water splashing like a waterfall, slowly falling like rain. Unconsciously, a cool breeze blew, and it felt as cold as autumn in the middle of summer.
Yinzhen only heard the sound of gurgling water coming from the eaves, but he didn't know where the water came from.
This is... Ziyu Pavilion!
"Miss Xianrong is truly a woman of refined character and heart."
Yinzhen was filled with emotion. Although Nara was not presentable, the servants around her were all smart and intelligent.
A stupid person cannot tolerate someone smarter than her.
I wonder what kind of servants are left to serve Nara, as they are as stupid as pigs.
"It was Lin Shu's idea. A waterwheel brings mountain spring water to the roof to cool off the summer heat. It's called a rain pavilion. It's an ancient method from the Tang Dynasty."
Xianrong scratched her head, unable to remember what name the girl had just mentioned.
It was Lin Shu again. She could always come up with some new and surprising ideas.
If he had such smart servants serving him, he would surely be very happy.
Yinzhen made up his mind that if he had to marry Nara next year, he would bring Lin Shu from this shabby farm to serve him.
Lin Shu was originally prepared as his concubine, so what if he wanted to serve her?
In order to win Nara's heart, Fei Yanggu, the old fox, silently catered to his interests and deliberately cultivated Lin Shu, hoping to use Lin Shu to seduce him and make him lose his mind.
Fei Yanggu actually knew his preferences very well, and he must have planted spies around him.
Yinzhen was secretly shocked.
Who on earth would reveal his preferences to others so easily?
He pursed his lips to suppress his disdainful sneer and sneered at Fei Yanggu's clumsy tricks. Fei Yanggu was despicable. Did he really think that a mediocre woman like Lin Shu could deceive him?
She was just a crude servant with a clever mind. He would never give her any chance to climb into his bed and gain his favor.
"Mr. Chi, can you weave bamboo ladies?" Xianrong came to the earthen kiln carrying a few green bamboo branches.
The saying goes, "Hold the Bamboo Lady in summer and the Hot Water Bottle in winter." The Bamboo Lady is a folk bamboo sleeping device that can be used to hold a person while sleeping, with the arms resting on the knees, to help cool down during the summer.
Mrs. Bamboo's clothes felt a bit rough to the touch, and a royal family member would not use such crude things to cool down. In the summer, he would use the cool and refreshing ivory mat and ice basin to cool down.
Not to mention the Bamboo Lady, he had never even seen the Bamboo Lady in person.
"I don't know how." Yinzhen answered truthfully.
"Ah? How do you survive the scorching summer?"
Xianrong was dumbfounded. She didn't expect that this poor scholar couldn't even weave a bamboo lady. He was truly a useless scholar.
"I have a bamboo lady at home. This thing is durable and can be passed down for generations." Realizing that his answer was inappropriate, Yinzhen began to explain.
If it were Lin Shu at this moment, he would definitely be confused and ask questions.
"That's true." Xianrong nodded in agreement. The bamboo lady she had been using in the mansion had been using it for seven or eight years, and it had become increasingly shiny and lustrous.
"I'll weave four bamboo ladies, one for each of us. Use some grass to smooth the barbs on the edges of the bamboo strips."
Xianrong roasted the raw bamboo and then used a hatchet to split it into thin strips.
"Is there a general association for polishing bamboo strips?"
"Yes." Yinzhen lowered his eyes, not wanting to look at the disgust in Xianrong's eyes.
He sat in front of the earthen kiln, paying attention to the temperature while using grass to smooth the barbs of the bamboo strips.
Xianrong finished splitting the bamboo strips and suddenly came up to the scholar with a serious look.
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[Shy] I applied for the recommendation position this Thursday.
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