Chapter 53 Classifying Charcoal Quality into Three Levels
Before they knew it, they arrived at the foot of the mountain, and the people who were waiting there immediately came to greet them.
Li said with concern: "Put it down, I will take it home later."
Tu Subo squatted down, untied the rope around his shoulders, and handed the carbon canister to Gu Yuexuan, who had been waiting for him. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and reminded her with concern, "Today's bundles of firewood are heavier than yesterday's. Second and Third Aunts, you should carry them several times. If you can't finish carrying them, I will come back to help you later."
Li's face was filled with smiles as she gently agreed. Her eyes fell on the pottery jar tightly held in Gu Yuexuan's arms. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Why do you carry such a jar so deep into the forest? Don't we have enough water at home?"
After safely descending the mountain with a bountiful harvest, Gu Yuexuan was overjoyed, her face beaming with joy. She happily explained, "What's in this jar is something special; it's not just water."
"Second Aunt, didn't you say yesterday that the water made with osmanthus flowers lacked sweetness? I'll prepare some sweet drinks for you to try later."
Yu was bending over and sorting the bundled firewood on the ground. She looked up in surprise when she heard this.
"Xuanxuan, please don't tease me. Can we still taste sweet things in our family now?"
Gu Yuexuan raised the pottery jar in her hand and smiled brightly: "How can this be a joke?"
"This is a jar full of sweet things."
Her words made the man, who was so tired that he could not straighten his back, smile instantly, but at the moment, everyone thought she was joking.
If they could just go into the mountains and get a jar of sugar, why would they bother chopping wood so hard?
After returning home, Gu Yuexuan poured the contents of the clay pot into the pot. Smoke rose and the flames on the stove burned fiercely. Xi Lanfang smelled the increasingly strong sweet scent in the air and walked over with her eyes wide open.
She couldn't help but step forward and ask, "Xuanxuan, what's cooking in the pot?"
The broth was neither like water nor like soup. It had a burnt-yellow color and smelled very similar to sugar, making it mouth-watering.
Gu Yuexuan carefully lowered the stove flame to a low simmer and gently stirred the pot with the iron spoon in her hand. As the syrup gradually thickened, she said with a hint of pride, "This is the sugar maple syrup that Tu Subo and I found deep in the jungle. After boiling it, it will become a syrup as sweet as honey."
When Xi Lanfang first heard that tree sap could be refined into sugar, she couldn't help but ask curiously, "Is this syrup?"
"It's sugar, no doubt about it."
The only tools needed to make the syrup were a large iron pot and an iron spoon. Although it was not as exquisite as the sweets she had tasted in the past, the overflowing sweet taste was bound to be intoxicating.
As she spoke, she scooped out the syrup that had been boiled to perfection, put it back into a ceramic jar and sealed it. She then poured the remaining syrup at the bottom of the pot into a small bowl, and then turned her eyes to the dusty stone mill in the yard.
Tu Subo completed his last mission of transporting firewood. Covered in mud and dead leaves, he walked into the house tiredly. The scene before him was a picture of children busy around a millstone.
The cleaned stone mill seemed too large for them and extremely difficult to operate.
Gu Yuexuan stood in front, leading the children with an encouraging tone, while Tu Su Minyang followed closely, pushing the millstone in circles, gritting his teeth, looking extremely hardworking.
Tu Su Yanting held a large bowl in her left hand and a slender bamboo brush in her right hand. Whenever a little rice flour spilled from the stone mill, she would quickly sweep it into the bowl.
Tu Su Minxu and Tu Su Yunxi were also eager to join the busy procession, but the two little guys were not even as tall as the pole of the millstone. The only thing they could do was to cheer at the top of their lungs.
As the old grandfather stepped over the threshold, he brushed the dirt off his clothes and watched with interest the group of children playing in circles like turning a millstone. His gray eyebrows trembled slightly with smile, and the old lady also rarely smiled warmly.
"These little guys are not just mischievous."
This long-lost atmosphere of joy infected everyone present, adding a bit of happiness and comfort to their faces.
Tu Su Minfei finished the chores in the backyard and hurried out.
"Sister-in-law, how about..."
"Xuanxuan, let me do it."
Tu Subo stepped forward and wanted to take over the task, but was glanced at by Gu Yuexuan with contempt.
"Go wash your hands first."
Muddy hands are not suitable for cooking.
Tu Subo responded calmly: "It's okay, I'll take care of it later."
Gu Yuexuan didn't want to insist, so she nodded readily: "Okay, then let me go prepare the other ingredients first."
Although Tu Su Minfei felt a little disappointed, he quickly adjusted his mood and turned to report to his grandfather: "Grandfather, the temperature was controlled just right today, and the amount cooked was a little larger than usual. I will be waiting in the backyard tonight, and it is expected that all the finishing work will be completed by tomorrow noon."
The old grandfather replied calmly, "It's not too late to collect it tomorrow. When everything is ready, we can weigh it again to see the results of our hard work."
At the mention of this, Yu's eyes lit up, and her spirits perked up. "Before putting the wood into the charcoal pit, the firewood was weighed and measured. We burned a total of 500 kilograms of firewood today. When the charcoal blocks are reweighed, we can roughly estimate the output."
By roughly calculating the conversion rate of firewood to charcoal blocks and estimating the market selling price, the daily income can be calculated.
Yu couldn't contain her excitement as she thought about the black charcoal blocks being transformed into shining silver. She said, "I carefully observed the charcoal blocks refined yesterday. Although they were refined in the same pit, the quality of the charcoal blocks actually varies due to the different types of firewood."
She enthusiastically suggested, "Grandfather, I don't think we should mix all the charcoal into one bag and sell it. We can select the best quality charcoal and sort it into three grades: top quality, medium quality, and low quality. Although this will make sorting more complicated, the final selling price will also be different based on quality. This will not only increase profits but also show our responsibility to our customers."
As soon as she finished speaking, Gu Yue couldn't help but cast a surprised look at her, and the old grandfather also showed a thoughtful expression.
Coming from a merchant family, the Li family was able to have a keen eye and stay at the forefront of the times even when running a small business.
The old grandfather pondered for a moment and then spoke slowly, "Your idea is indeed unique, but this will require us to spend time and effort to identify the quality of the charcoal blocks."
Yu responded enthusiastically: "What's the difficulty? Since we've already invested so much labor, why not spend a little more energy? We can..."
"Haven't you said enough?"
The originally peaceful and friendly discussion atmosphere was suddenly broken by a harsh rebuke. Yu was instantly panicked and was greeted by Tu Suye's cold face.
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