Pei Yao explained earnestly, "Let's see if we can find some seaweed to eat tonight. I picked some yesterday and it tasted pretty good."
When Niu Qingshan heard that they were picking seaweed, he enthusiastically told the siblings where the seaweed was plentiful and tender.
He then asked them if they wanted him to go with them, since he felt it wasn't safe for two young children to go to the beach.
"No need, Brother Qingshan, I'm fourteen years old and can take care of myself," Pei Yao quickly refused.
Seeing that the other party had refused, Niu Qingshan didn't say anything more.
Think about it, they were only a few years old when they often played at the beach.
He told the two of them to be careful not to go too far in, and then the three of them parted ways.
After parting ways with Niu Qingshan, Pei Yichen couldn't help but ask, "Cousin, are we really going to pick seaweed?"
Pei Yao looked up at the vast sea in front of her: "Of course not, I'm lying to him."
Pei Yichen: "......."
Pei Yichen didn't understand what his cousin was trying to do; why would she lie to people out of the blue?
However, even after he asked several times, his cousin remained mysterious and refused to tell him directly.
"Let's go, let's find a place where the sun won't shine on us." Pei Yao carried the wooden basin and walked towards the shady rocks.
As Pei Yao walked, she picked up some dry branches that had floated up from the sea. These branches had been washed onto the beach by the sea and dried out by the sun.
They also collected a lot of seashells and oyster shells.
Although Pei Yichen didn't know what she was going to do, he watched as she picked them up along with him, and soon she had collected a large pile.
The place Pei Yao found was somewhat like a cave. After entering, you had to walk a short distance further into the rocks, making it very secluded.
She discovered this great spot while collecting sea urchins on the rocks that morning.
Huge rocks overhead blocked out the sun, creating a large, shady area around us, where the sea breeze was very refreshing.
Moreover, this place not only completely blocks out the sun, but also completely blocks out people; unless you deliberately come to the vicinity to look for them, you won't be able to see them at all.
Pei Yao couldn't help but admire herself for her good taste in choosing places.
She took out the contents of her basket one by one: two earthenware jars, a piece of gauze, an earthenware bowl, two flints, some dry grass for starting a fire, and a wooden basin.
She asked Pei Yichen to fetch a basin of seawater for her, and then asked him to stretch a piece of gauze over the earthenware jar. He then used an earthenware bowl to scoop the seawater onto the gauze and filter it into the jar, until the jar was full of seawater.
She found a spot between two large rocks and placed the earthenware jar filled with seawater on top of it.
They lit a fire in the pit between the rocks with dry grass to start it, and then threw the seashells and oyster shells they had collected into the fire to burn together.
Pei Yichen was extremely curious: "Sis, what are you doing?"
Pei Yao added the last piece of wood to the pit before dusting her hands off: "Let's make salt!"
Yes, she's going to make salt, which is why she didn't tell Niu Qingshan when he asked her what she was doing.
Pei Yichen: "..."
He looked at his cousin with a horrified expression.
Does she know what she's saying?
Salt production!
Regardless of why she knew how to make salt, the imperial court had explicitly forbidden ordinary people from making and selling salt privately. Being caught was a capital offense, and several heads wouldn't be enough to pay off.
Even a ten-year-old like him knows that, my cousin is so confused!
How foolish!
"Cousin, do you know that the current government has explicitly prohibited ordinary people from privately producing salt?"
Pei Yichen calmed himself down and asked Pei Yao in a relatively peaceful manner.
Pei Yao nodded calmly.
Does she know that? Does she look like she's ignorant of the law?
"Knowing that you still made it!" Pei Yichen's voice rose several octaves.
"Nobody saw it. It's just you and me here. Would you report me to the authorities?" Pei Yao asked him calmly.
Pei Yichen shook his head; of course he wouldn't.
"That's it. You only saw it, and you won't report me, so what's there to be afraid of? Besides, I'm not selling it. It's just for our own cooking. Every year, so many fishermen secretly make salt for their own consumption. If the government were to arrest them all, they wouldn't be able to catch them all. As long as I don't sell it, it'll be fine."
Pei Yao smiled, revealing two cute little tiger teeth.
Now it was Pei Yichen's turn to be stunned. Right, if he didn't say anything and his cousin didn't say anything, then no one would know, right?
However, Pei Yichen then thought that if someone passed by and discovered them, they would be doomed.
That's what he thought, and that's what he said.
"With the sun so strong outside, the villagers won't come to the beach. Even if they do, our place is very secluded and they won't be easily discovered."
Pei Yao was aware of his concerns; there was a risk of being discovered while making salt outside.
After all, if no one sees this kind of thing, you can do whatever you want, but if someone sees it, it won't be good.
The imperial court explicitly prohibited private salt production, which led to exorbitantly high salt prices outside the region. Fishermen along the coast certainly wouldn't buy salt to eat; they all secretly produced their own at home.
Making salt at home, locking the door, no one will know what you're doing.
As long as you don't sell it, the government won't bother you.
However, Pei Yao couldn't make it at home. The beach was quite a distance from their home, and they didn't have a wooden bucket, only a small wooden basin. Carrying water back and forth like that would be too tiring.
Their family consists mostly of women and children; they'd probably be exhausted after making just a few buckets.
Making salt directly at the seaside is currently the best method.
She had also considered the risk of being discovered, so she chose to come out at noon when the sun was at its strongest, and found such a secluded cave that it would be difficult to spot if she hadn't come out with them.
Seeing Pei Yao say that, Pei Yichen didn't continue, and silently helped to fetch seawater back in a wooden basin.
Soon the seawater in the earthenware jar was dried up, leaving behind a small pile of coarse salt.
However, this coarse salt cannot be eaten directly because it contains a large amount of magnesium chloride and other inorganic salts.
These are all substances harmful to the human body, and they need to be filtered out and processed into fine salt later.
However, this processing requires fresh water, which is unavailable by the sea, so this step has to be done back home.
The process of processing it into fine salt is quite troublesome, so doing it at home is more discreet and safer.
Pei Yao had two earthenware jars, so she lit two fires. She and Pei Yichen each watched one, and soon they had a small basket of coarse salt.
But that wasn't enough, so Pei Yao gathered some more firewood and continued burning.
While waiting for the seawater to dry up, Pei Yao didn't rest. She took out all the burnt seashells, found a concave stone, and then took a club-shaped stone to smash the seashells into powder. She then wrapped them in banana leaves.
After the seashells are dried and ground, the resulting powder is the edible quicklime powder we use today.
Pei Yao learned this method online specifically when she was making a short video about traditional soap-making.
Don't let her status as a food blogger fool you; she occasionally jumps on trends and makes short videos of traditional crafts made from raw materials to gain followers.
After all, people nowadays work like beasts of burden in big cities, and they are very interested in these kinds of handmade short videos and yearn for rural life.
The data traffic for shooting this kind of video is also relatively good.
That's a tangent, let's get back to the main topic.
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