Chen Kai laughed and said, "Gypsum water can be used to curdle tofu, and this brine can also be used to curdle tofu."
The eldest daughter-in-law of the Chen family said excitedly, "Then I'll try using this brine to make tofu. If it works, then we won't need to buy gypsum anymore, and we can make our own brine."
Chen Kai said with a smile, "Dad, Mom, I'll show you something else that's fun."
Chen Kai said with a smile, "Nephew, go find a big basin. Daya, go bring over a bucket of the juice we squeezed yesterday."
Chen Shi and Daya went to carry out the task after hearing about it. A little while later, Chen Shi came running back happily, rolling a big basin around.
After Chen Shi placed the basin, Chen Kai pointed at it and said, "Fourth Brother, go and fetch a few buckets of water and pour them into this big basin. Just fill it to about half full, no need to fill it completely."
While Chen Laosi went to fetch water, Chen Kai had several children scoop the saltpeter out of the bucket and put it into a bucket on the side.
When Chen Kai saw Da Ya return carrying a bucket of juice, he pointed to the empty space next to the large basin and said, "Da Ya, you can put the bucket here first!"
When Chen Laosi had poured almost all the water into the large basin, Chen Kai asked Daya to put the juice bucket into the basin and let Chen Laosi continue to pour water until the water level was even with the juice in the bucket.
Chen Kai said with a smile, "Next, watch me perform a magic trick for you, so pay close attention!"
Chen Kai asked Daya to pour the saltpeter from the bucket into the large basin. After a while, the water in the basin began to cool down, and then it slowly began to freeze.
Curious, Zhou touched the water in the basin and exclaimed in surprise, "The water is so cold! It's really ice!" Zhou stirred the water in the basin and touched the icy ice.
The children in the family saw the ice and were curious enough to touch it. After touching it, they screamed excitedly, jumping and skipping around. Da Ya and the others even took out a few pieces of ice to play with.
After a while, Chen Kai said, "Da Ya, go to the kitchen and get a few bowls."
Da Ya handed the bowl to Chen Kai. Chen Kai took a bowl, scooped some juice from the juice bucket, took a small sip, and said, "You all should try it. The juice is colder now, and it tastes even better."
Old Man Chen and the others scooped some into bowls and took turns tasting it. They were all surprised that the juice had turned iced. Old Man Chen and the others felt that there weren't enough bowls, so they went to the kitchen and got a few more. They drank from one bowl after another.
Seeing that they had almost finished the juice in the bucket, Chen Kai said with a smile, "Da Ya, why don't you bring another bucket of juice in? If we wait a little longer, the juice in the bucket will freeze, and then we can eat popsicles."
After a long while, once the juice had frozen, Chen Kai said, "Break the frozen juice open so we can drink our cold drinks. I still have a use for the ice in the big bowl, so don't touch it yet."
Daya asked curiously, "Is it okay to eat something this cold?"
Chen Kai laughed and said, "Da Ya, you can't eat it! These ices are still useful. If you want to eat ice, you can put some water in a bucket and freeze it. It will turn into ice water in a while."
After saltpeter dissolves in water, it can be extracted and reused using either cooling crystallization or evaporation crystallization.
Chen Lao Er used a shovel to scoop out a bowl of ice and handed it to Xiao Tian, saying, "Good son, hurry up and eat your iced drink!" Just as Xiao Tian was about to reach out and take it, Zhou Shi snatched it away.
Zhou added some unfrozen fruit juice to the bowl, then scolded Chen Lao Er, "Lao Er, how did you raise the child? Xiao Tian is so young, how could you give him something cold to eat?" Chen Lao Er looked at his mother with a wronged expression. He hadn't thought of that, had he?
Zhou stirred it with a spoon, and Chen Lao Er went to fetch two small stools and a small table.
After Chen Lao Er brought over the table and chairs, Zhou Shi put the bowl on the table and said, "Xiao Tian, sit here and drink your cold drink so your hands don't get cold."
Zhou scooped out some frozen juice, added some uncold juice, and placed it on the table, inviting Chen Kai to sit there and drink a cold beverage.
Xiao Tian and Chen Kai sat there, happily sipping their cold drinks with spoons.
Da Ya and the others had already filled their bowls with iced drinks and were enjoying them to their hearts' content.
Chen Kai sipped his cold drink and said, "Mom, I'll have the children who pick flowers for our family pick fruit instead. One basketful will cost one coin."
Zhou said in surprise, "One copper coin is too much. If they go to town to sell them, they won't even get one copper coin for several bamboo baskets."
Chen Kai propped his head up with his hand and said helplessly, "Mom, we can make ice, so we can sell chilled fruit juice. We'll definitely make a lot of money. We also have jam, which is sweet and sour and goes well with rice. We can sell that too!"
Zhou said, "That's not how you calculate it. Even if it's two coins a day, there will still be people doing it. Paying one coin per bamboo basket is too wasteful."
Chen Kai said, "Those two bamboo baskets cost one copper coin!"
Old Man Chen said, "No way!"
After thinking for a moment, Zhou said, "Five bamboo baskets for one copper coin, no discussion!"
Chen Kai tugged at Zhou Shi's arm and said in a coquettish tone, "Mother, how about we compromise and offer three bamboo baskets for one coin?"
Seeing her son pleading like this, Zhou said helplessly, "Alright then! It's settled, three bamboo baskets for one coin, and that can't be changed."
When Chen Kai saw that Zhou had agreed, he immediately sent Daya to inform the children.
Er Ya asked, "Should we go to town and sell cold drinks? I'm sure a lot of people will buy them."
Chen Kai sighed and said, "We don't have enough ice at home. Let's wait until we have more ice!" Right now, the saltpeter is only enough for their own use. They repeatedly use the saltpeter to make ice to freeze the juice, but the juice melts before they even reach town.
Er Ya said happily, "Then I'll go find Grandpa and Grandma now and dig up more of that kind of soil you mentioned. Once we boil it down to make saltpeter, we can continue making ice."
Chen Kai said with a smile, "Er Ya, you can put some fruit on it to keep it chilled, and we can eat it in a little while." The ice made from saltpeter will take quite a while to melt!
At this moment, Sanya placed some bayberries on the ice and asked, "Uncle, would you like some?"
Chen Kai shook his head. Even iced bayberries are sour, and he didn't want to eat them.
Er Ya said, "I don't want to eat them. Let's go pick some mulberries and chill them when we get back."
Sanya said happily, "Great! There are plenty of mulberries on the mulberry tree next to our vegetable garden."
Then she immediately ran to the kitchen, grabbed a basket, and said, "Sister Er Ya, let's go pick mulberries in the vegetable garden!"
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