Pei Yao and Pei Yichen worked for almost two hours to fill the basket with coarse salt, finishing around 3 PM.
They covered the basket with banana leaves and went home.
When I got back, I saw Yunniang and Chen Fang drying oysters and chili peppers in the yard.
The two men picked all the ripe chilies from the north slope and brought them back. Now the yard is covered in them, a bright red mess.
Not long ago, when Aunt Li and her daughter Li Juhua, former villagers, passed by, they curiously glanced into the yard a few times.
I really don't understand why this family would dry chili peppers when there are so many wild vegetables on the mountain.
That stuff is really heaty. My family ate it once before, and it was so spicy and burning, it was awful.
The mother and daughter were still talking about this matter even when they reached their doorstep.
"Yao'er, Chen'er is back. Why are you carrying so much stuff?" Yunniang quickly stepped forward to help Pei Yichen unload the things from his back.
Pei Yichen: "Second Aunt, I want to carry it directly to the kitchen."
Except for Xiao Xuan, who was playing at Liu's house, the whole family went to the kitchen.
These two siblings are acting so mysteriously, even covering their baskets with banana leaves.
Pei Yao smiled after entering the kitchen, and then took the quicklime she had just made from seashells and added water.
Heating it will turn it into quicklime, which we will use to make fine salt later.
Yunniang and Chen Fang surrounded Pei Yichen's basket.
It wasn't until he lifted the banana leaves on his back that everyone could see what was inside.
Yunniang and Chen Fang were both stunned.
"Coarse salt..."
Chen Fang was the first to react, and was just about to run out to close the courtyard gate when she said, "I'll go close the courtyard gate."
Pei Yao brought over the lime water, somewhat amused and exasperated: "Auntie, you don't need to go, I've already closed it."
Chen Fang frowned, turned around and slapped Pei Yichen on the head: "You brat, where did you get so much coarse salt? Did you steal it from someone's salt field...?"
After all, ordinary families don't have this much salt, and this basket looks to weigh at least several dozen kilograms.
This dynasty strictly controlled salt. The daily purchase of salt by ordinary people was regulated. There was no limit to the number of times a person could buy salt per month, but the amount could not exceed a certain number of 10 catties per month.
Moreover, salt was very expensive. Coarse salt cost 100 wen per jin, while refined salt cost 500 wen per jin, which was unaffordable for most families.
Many people cannot afford salt and can only buy something called a salt brick. Although it is called a salt brick, it is actually a mineral that precipitates out during the salt boiling process and is harmful to the human body.
However, for ordinary people who couldn't afford coarse or fine salt, this was a makeshift solution.
Chen Fang's family had relatives who managed a salt mine in Kyoto, so she had heard some of their stories when she occasionally heard them boasting about it.
Pei Yichen innocently touched his head where he had been patted, looking at his mother with a slightly aggrieved expression: "Mother... I didn't..."
Chen Fang didn't believe it. She felt like the sky had fallen. If they really stole so much salt, they were really doomed. She was afraid that the government officials would come to arrest them soon. "No, Chen'er, you should hide first."
Yunniang was also a little flustered and helped Chen Fang find the place where the people were hiding.
After all, they stole so much coarse salt.
Pei Yao was amused by the two of them and laughed: "Hahaha...Mom, Aunt, this salt wasn't stolen by my cousin, so there's no need to hide it."
Upon hearing Pei Yao's words, Yunniang felt as if the sky had collapsed again: "If it wasn't Chen'er who stole it, could it be you? No, then you have to hide too."
Let's save the child first; we can't let the child go to jail.
"The government will surely discover this the moment they start stealing so much salt."
As Yunniang spoke, she tried to pull Pei Yao away to hide, causing chaos to erupt in the house.
Pei Yao felt that if she didn't explain, both mothers would be completely confused.
"Mother, Aunt, please don't panic, let us explain." Pei Yao quickly pulled the two people who were pacing around in fright.
"We didn't steal this salt; it was made by boiling seawater."
Both of them were taken aback when they heard this.
Qi Qi cast a questioning look at Pei Yao.
Made from seawater?
Can seawater be boiled to make salt?
Seeing that the two had finally calmed down, Pei Yao quickly told them in detail about how she and Pei Yichen made salt from seawater.
These processes in salt production are all kept secret.
Even if Chen Fang's boastful relative always brags, he would never reveal any part of the salt-making process.
Chen Fang looked at Pei Yao, her eyes showing a hint of inquiry for the first time: "Yao girl, how do you know about the salt-making process? This isn't something an ordinary person could know."
Let alone Pei Yao, a girl who got lost and grew up in the countryside, even officials in the court, unless they were involved in the salt industry, would not know how to make salt.
But even a maid like her knew how to make coarse salt.
Hearing Chen Fang's words, Yunniang also felt strange and looked at her daughter: "That's right, Yao'er, how do you know how to make salt from seawater?"
Pei Yao: "......."
Oh no, we've gone a bit too far, we're about to get caught.
Her mind raced: "I heard it from the villagers when I went to borrow scissors from Brother Qingshan this morning."
The seawater contains a high concentration of salt, and that's how they boil it down. As long as they boil it secretly and don't sell it, it's fine for their own consumption.
Pei Yao spoke these words without blushing or skipping a beat, her expression remaining calm.
If you look closely, you can see that her thumb is pinching her palm at this moment.
There's no such thing as a peaceful and tranquil life; it's all just a facade...
"Oh, I was so scared!" Yunniang believed Pei Yao's words after hearing this and patted her chest in lingering fear.
Pei Yichen was still defending himself, feeling wronged: "Mother, I told you, I didn't steal this salt, did I?"
Chen Fang rolled her eyes at her son and said, "You brat, you scared your mother to death."
Then he looked at Pei Yao and said, "But Yao, we must not tell anyone about this. After all, we are outsiders, and I'm afraid it will cause unnecessary trouble."
Pei Yao: "Mm."
The whole family agreed with this, because if this matter wasn't discovered, nothing would happen, but if it was discovered, they would be finished.
With this misunderstanding resolved, Pei Yao continued refining the fine salt.
Dilute the coarse salt with fresh water, then add freshly boiled lime water and stir to break down the magnesium and calcium ions, which are impurities. Then filter it clean with gauze.
Finally, heat it in an earthenware pot until it boils dry to make fine salt.
This fine salt was comparable to the fine salt we eat today, and it was very different from the fine salt of the Joseon Dynasty.
Because the salt-making technology of the Joseon Dynasty was not yet advanced, the salt workers of that time could only boil salt in a simple way. The final salt still contained some other substances that could not be filtered out, resulting in a bitter taste.
Chen Fang had never seen such fine salt before. She dipped a little on her finger and put it in her mouth to try it.
Surprisingly, it had no bitterness at all, and tasted much better than the salt sold in the salt shops outside.
Yunniang was also surprised, never expecting that her daughter not only brewed fine salt, but also brewed it so well.
Pei Yao pouted smugly: "Luckily, my sister is good at chemistry, otherwise we'd only be eating bitter coarse salt."
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