The waiter was shocked to hear this, wondering why this woman, who didn't look like a Taoist nun, needed so much saltpeter.
The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment, then held up five fingers: "We do have saltpeter, but it's a bit expensive, fifty coins a pound."
Fifty coins a catty, ten catties would be five hundred coins, half a tael of silver, which is indeed not cheap.
However, considering that her plan to get rich was inseparable from saltpeter, and that saltpeter could be reused, meaning that even if she suffered a major hemorrhage, it would only happen once.
Without hesitation, Gan Li took out half a tael of silver from her money bag and handed it to the shop assistant, urging him, "I'll take it all, hurry up and pack it up for me."
The shop assistant was finally relieved after receiving the silver, and said with a smile, "Please wait a moment, I'll go to the back and get it for you right away."
This saltpeter is here to be sold. As long as you can come up with the money, it doesn't matter who you sell it to!
A short while later, Gan Li came out carrying the ten catties of saltpeter. Gan Qishan saw that she was struggling to carry it, so he quickly went up and took it from her. He was also surprised by the weight in his hands: "What did you buy that's so heavy!"
Gan Tian quickly made room for her and helped her into the car.
After sitting down, Ganli took a deep breath before replying, "Saltpeter!"
"Saltpeter? You bought so much?" Gan Qishan was even more surprised and asked subconsciously.
Gan Li simply said it was useful and then said no more. Seeing that she didn't want to say more, Gan Qishan realized that he had been too talkative, so he quickly shut his mouth and focused on driving.
This time, Gan Li had everything she needed, and Gan Qishan drove the cart back home.
When they returned to Yuxi Village, it was already afternoon. Gan Qishan saw them to the door, but instead of leaving immediately, he borrowed a ladder from a neighbor, took the materials he had bought in town, and repaired the roof of Gan Li's thatched house before taking his leave.
Gan Li was grateful and took a bag of one jin of white sugar from the side and stuffed it into Gan Qishan's hand: "Brother Qishan, you have helped me so much, I have nothing to thank you for... Take this bag of white sugar back and make sugar water for Xiaoshu'er."
Xiaoshu is Gan Qishan's youngest son, and he is only five years old this year.
This white sugar is a good thing, costing fifty coins a pound. Gan Qishan was unwilling to accept it. He hesitated and said, "My father's decision on establishing a female household is not final..."
However, Ganli insisted that he take it back, saying, "It has nothing to do with me establishing a female household. We'll be living here in the future, and we might need your help with something."
Gan Qishan understood that Gan Li wanted to build a good relationship with him, or rather, his father. If he refused, it would seem as if he didn't want to associate with Gan Li. So he simply accepted the bag of sugar and said to Gan Li, "Then I won't be polite. If you need a car in the future, just let me know."
Gan Qishan drove off, and Gan Li returned to the courtyard, closed the fence gate, and squatted down in front of the sacks of saltpeter, pondering them.
Seeing this, Gan Tian became very curious and asked, "Mother, what are you going to do with all this saltpeter?"
"Want to know?" Ganli asked.
Seeing her mother's mysterious expression, Gan Tian felt a little nervous and nodded like a chick pecking at rice: "Mmm!"
Ganli chuckled: "If you want to know, go and wash those two wooden basins I just bought."
Gan Tian agreed and left. Gan Li didn't stay idle either. First, she moved the saltpeter to the main room, then she went to the well in the courtyard and drew a bucket of water.
After she finished doing all that, Gan Tian also washed the wooden basin and brought it in.
Ganli first filled the large wooden basin halfway with water, then opened the large burlap sack and poured all the saltpeter inside into it!
She picked up a wooden stick and stirred it until the saltpeter melted, then she filled the small wooden basin with water and put it in.
Gan Tian watched intently from the side, but couldn't understand what she was doing. She couldn't help but ask, but Gan Li kept her in suspense.
You'll find out tonight.
So Gan Tian kept thinking about the two wooden basins until she went to bed at night, when Gan Li finally revealed the answer.
When Gan Tian saw that the water in the small wooden basin seemed to have frozen, she was a little taken aback. It wasn't until Gan Li grabbed her hand and let her touch the contents, feeling the cool, refreshing texture, that Gan Tian exclaimed in surprise, "This is... ice?!"
"Bingo! Congratulations on getting it right!" Ganli was also very happy, her eyes filled with joy as she looked at the ice cubes in front of her.
In the history she was familiar with, ice was extremely expensive in ancient times, and only nobles could afford it.
However, later, a craftsman accidentally discovered that ice could be made from saltpeter. From then on, the price of ice gradually became cheaper, until even ordinary people could afford it. People also created various iced drinks to cool off in the summer.
The dynasty she was currently in was called Da Jing, a dynasty she had never seen in history books, so she couldn't tell whether the people here knew how to make ice with saltpeter and could only guess.
Today at the pier, she overheard two tourists saying that ice was more expensive than gold, and she suddenly realized that the people here might not know about this method!
Throughout history, we can see that the demand for ice has always been high, but because it was too expensive, only nobles could afford it, while ordinary people could not afford it and had to find other ways to cool off.
But if the price of ice could be lowered to a level that everyone could afford, wouldn't people be happy to spend a few coins to cool off in this hot weather?
Although Gan Tian was small, she was quick-witted. After the initial surprise, she immediately realized something and asked, "Mother, do you want to use this ice to make money?"
Gan Li nodded, beaming as she praised her, "As expected of my daughter, you're just as smart as me!"
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