Xiao Yunying wrote her name carefully, stroke by stroke, with a look of deep resentment. She was so pitiful; all three characters were in traditional Chinese characters.
Chen Yuancheng hesitated for a moment before saying, "Your handwriting..."
"What's wrong?"
"The brushstrokes are still there, but it doesn't seem very skillful."
He noticed this when he looked at the recipes she had written before. Although her handwriting was good, there were many misspelled words with short horizontal strokes and missing vertical strokes.
He could guess most of the misspellings, and since they didn't affect the fluency of the sentence, he didn't ask.
"I'm not very familiar with it, so I need to write slowly."
Chen Yuancheng instructed, "Don't write it wrong, this is to be sent to the government office for stamping and record-keeping."
"The characters here are too complicated, but don't worry, I won't make any mistakes. It's just a little slow. Don't talk to me yet, okay? I can't be distracted when I'm writing."
Since she forgot how to write the traditional Chinese character for "Yang" and had the silver lock for Luo Yang engraved in simplified Chinese, she specially asked Luo Yang for a copy of the Thousand Character Classic for children's enlightenment.
When she had nothing to do, she would practice traditional Chinese characters in her room, starting with her own name, which she was confident she wouldn't misspell.
What's going on here?
Chen Yuancheng pondered. This wasn't the first time he'd heard this word. The way she spoke made it seem like she wasn't from here.
Yuan Yao assumed that it was because no one had taught her that her handwriting was full of mistakes, so she was too embarrassed to say it out loud.
Looking back now, maybe those were the words she was used to using.
After signing the three contracts, Xiao Yunying breathed a sigh of relief: "Take a look and see if I wrote them correctly."
Chen Yuancheng snapped out of his thoughts and carefully examined the signature: "It's correct."
He signed his name, blew the ink dry, opened the inkpad, and the two of them pressed their fingerprints together.
Xiao Yunying asked, "Is this considered finished?"
Chen Yuancheng handed her a contract: "It's done. The contract is effective today. I will send the third copy to the government office tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?"
"I'm too lazy to go, it'll be a hassle. You go by yourself, I trust you."
Once the ink and inkpad from Xiao Yunying and others had completely dried, she folded them neatly and put them in her bosom.
Hehehe, she's a person with assets now.
Ling Qi returned quickly and placed a jar of burn ointment on the table.
"This is the best burn ointment in the clinic."
Actually, her pharmacy had burn ointment. Xiao Yunying didn't want to refuse Chen Yuancheng's kindness, so she carefully applied the translucent, milky-yellow ointment in front of him.
I don't know what kind of medicinal herbs it's made of. The texture is a bit like rendered fat that has cooled and solidified, and it has a slight herbal smell.
"Take the rest back with you, just in case."
"Okay, hey? Where's my basket?"
Chen Yuancheng reminded him, "It's still in the small kitchen."
"Yes, I forgot."
Chen Yuancheng smiled helplessly. He really couldn't understand why she, who was clearly exceptionally intelligent in important matters, always made a fuss over trivial ones.
Xiao Yunying stood up, picked up the ointment, and said, "I'll go get it. I'll also teach the pastry chef how to make the cake."
"I'll be with you."
Xiao Yunying pressed his shoulder to stop him from getting up: "Hey, wait a minute, I just remembered something."
She sat down again and asked cautiously, "I'd like to ask, have you ever heard of white sugar?"
Chen Yuancheng comes from the capital and is very knowledgeable. He may have seen things that ordinary people have never seen, so she asked him in advance.
"White sugar?"
"It's not maltose or brown sugar; it might be as white as snow, similar to salt powder, or it might be a bit like ice, somewhat transparent."
"Never heard of it."
Xiao Yunying stood up again: "Come with me to the small kitchen, I need to show you something."
The three of them went to the small kitchen, which had already been cleaned up. Her basket was placed in the corner, and the unused white sugar that had been on the table was wrapped up and put back in its original place.
Xiao Yunying opened the oil paper package and presented it to Chen Yuancheng like a treasure: "Take a look at this."
"This is the white sugar you were talking about?"
"This is called white sugar. If you make it, it might not be in this uniform granular form like sand, but the taste should be similar."
"May I try it?"
"Can."
Chen Yuancheng pinched a little and put it in his mouth: "It's sweet, and the taste is different from maltose and brown sugar."
Xiao Yunying explained in detail: "Actually, white sugar is just purified from brown sugar. There is no difference in essence. They are both made from sugarcane juice and can be collectively called cane sugar. It's just that brown sugar has more impurities than white sugar, so the taste is slightly rougher."
Brown sugar has the effect of replenishing blood, while white sugar is suitable for making various snacks.
Further refining of white sugar can produce rock sugar, which is similar to ice cubes and has a similar sweetness to white sugar. However, due to the multiple dissolutions and crystallizations, its composition undergoes some inexplicable changes, resulting in a taste that is superior to white sugar.
Rock sugar is pure and has a sweet taste, making it more suitable for cooking than white sugar. Dishes like rock sugar bird's nest and rock sugar braised pork knuckle are truly excellent.
Xiao Yunying silently thanked the great and amazing food blogger, who had taught her a lot of useful and useless knowledge.
I was just watching for fun at first, but I never expected to use it now.
Ling Qi looked at him incredulously: "Brown sugar can turn into white sugar? Is that even possible?"
"Maybe, otherwise what am I holding in my hand? You can't make a steamed cake with brown sugar or maltose, and even if you could, the taste would be completely different."
In her past life, out of curiosity, she bought sugarcane and boiled it into brown sugar, then purified the brown sugar into white sugar.
She wasn't sure about rock sugar, but she was confident that white sugar would work.
"Miss Xiao, is this a method you came up with yourself?"
"Well..."
The method for purifying brown sugar was too professional for an ordinary farm girl like her to come up with, and she dared not say that she had figured it out herself.
Purifying brown sugar requires first boiling it in water, then adding charcoal to absorb impurities, and then slowly boiling it until the water evaporates completely, allowing the sugar to crystallize. It's not something that can be purified in a short time.
The purification process for rock sugar is more complex.
Who would put charcoal in brown sugar water for no reason, and then have the patience to boil the water dry?
If charcoal were accidentally dropped into the brown sugar water while it was being boiled, wouldn't that be even less likely?
The last time she bought charcoal, Chen Yuancheng took her there, so it's obvious she had never bought any before.
Xiao Yunying didn't want to make up excuses anymore; she was exhausted. "Would you believe me if I said I dreamt of an old man who taught me this?"
"I believe you." Ling Qi nodded and said seriously, "Such a miraculous method must have been taught to Miss Xiao by a deity in a dream."
Um?
Now it was Xiao Yunying's turn to be confused.
Is the child genuinely believing her or just teasing her? Judging from his serious expression, he doesn't seem to be joking.
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