Since Chen Mo agreed, Jing Zhe didn't delay and acted much faster afterward.
First, they sent people to buy large and small vats, and then they sent people to Chen Mo's house to convert the unused side rooms into ice cellars.
The last task, of course, was to transport saltpeter.
Compared to the previous jobs, transporting saltpeter was the dirtiest and most physically demanding work.
Just then, Zhu Zi, who had been busy all morning, sat down to rest...
"Zhu Zi, what time is it? Still resting?"
Fat Ball walked over, glanced at him, and said with dissatisfaction.
"???"
Zhu Zi was completely confused. "I just sat down, Fatty!"
"Oh dear, everyone's busy, what kind of behavior is it for you to just sit here? Don't sit, come with me, let's go get the cart!"
"Pushing the cart again?"
I pushed the cart all night yesterday, and Zhu Zi was almost sick of it.
"hold head high."
Fatty pointed to the saltpeter in the woodshed and said, "All this quicklime needs to be moved to that house diagonally across the street!"
Then, he put the cart next to him and said, "Alright, let's get started!"
"Just me?"
"Hey, can't you see everyone else is busy with other things? You're the only one doing nothing, aren't you ashamed?"
Fatty Ball looked disgusted.
"Me? Blushing?"
After glancing at Fatty, Pillar really wanted to retort, "Aren't you ashamed? You really aren't ashamed at all!"
Throughout the entire house, from the moment he woke up until now, he's the one who's done the most work, blushing?
Blushing is tiring too!
Then look at Fatty Ball, he's such a freeloader, he's the one who should be blushing!
Seeing that Zhu Zi's eyes were darting around and he wasn't saying anything, Fatty Ball urged, "Alright, stop sitting there, get up quickly and push the cart!"
Zhu Zi glanced at him and asked, "Fatty's free too, why don't you help me push the cart?"
"Me? I can't."
Fatty pointed to his waist, "Have you forgotten? My back hurts!"
"My back hurts too!"
Zhu Zi quickly went to support his back, groaning.
"You're so young, moving around more will help ease your back pain! Stop dawdling, get up and push the cart!"
"..."
Next, Zhu Zi reluctantly pushed his cart forward, carrying the heavy load.
As evening approached, all preparations were complete.
Chen Mo had transformed all four side rooms in his courtyard into ice cellars. Each room contained four large vats. If they were to make ice from all of them, their remaining saltpeter would only last for two days at most.
Jing Zhe thought about it and decided that two days would be enough.
They found Big Face and checked the accounts. Because there were too many users who recharged for AiPi later, and the balances of those who recharged for AiPi before had not been cleared, they calculated that the silver pre-deposited by the AiPi users in their store was as high as three hundred taels!
Jing Zhe thought for a moment. Three hundred taels of silver would be equivalent to three thousand popsicles. Assuming a large vat produces two hundred popsicles a day, three thousand popsicles would require fifteen large vats. Chen Mo's supply alone would be enough.
He instructed everyone that once Hanhan brought back the bamboo tubes, they should add all sixteen large vats from Chen Mo's house into the bamboo tubes and mung bean soup to start making popsicles.
And let Big Face announce that tomorrow all popsicle requests from WeiAiPi users will be fulfilled, but no new customers will be accepted to open a WeiAiPi account or existing WeiAiPi users will be allowed to recharge.
In other words, once all the money in these "love farts" accounts is used up, popsicle production will have to stop.
Busy as we went, the afternoon passed quickly.
In the cool summer backyard, when the limp pillar saw the fat ball leisurely strolling back, he was furious.
Victory is just around the corner, just a little more patience...
He took a breath to calm himself down: "Fatty, can we take a look at the results of the ice-making?"
As soon as the ice is ready, I'll run away!
"It should be ready by now. Let's go check it out!"
Fatty Ball carried the pillar into the ice cellar, reached out and lifted the lid of the small vat, and a blast of cold air rushed out.
Zhu Zi quickly bent down and peered inside.
Wow, it really is ice!
For Zhu Zi, all of this was truly magical. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, who would believe that quicklime and water could make ice?
It seems that although the fat man always orders him around, at least he didn't lie to him about the method of making ice.
So he stood up, cupped his hands in greeting to Fatty, and said with a smile, "Brother Fatty, thank you for your help these past two days! Now that the ice-making method has been verified, can we leave now?"
"Leaving is an option."
Fatty thought for a moment, "But after this trip, I'm afraid I won't be able to stay in Yongzhou anymore and will have to travel far away. So why don't we take this opportunity to go to Chunshui Tower first, and then leave tomorrow?"
Chunshui Tower…
Upon hearing those three words, Zhu Zi was somewhat tempted, but having learned his lesson from last time, he had become much wiser.
He hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Brother Fatty, there are brothels everywhere. There's no rush to go now. Let's take care of business first! I heard that you'll only get the 190 taels after it's done. Aren't you in a hurry?"
Upon hearing about the silver, Fatty reluctantly said, "That's true. With silver, we can go anywhere and have a good time. Let's go tell the shopkeeper before we leave!"
"Do we still need to tell him?"
"Pillar asked, puzzled."
"Of course, if we sneak away without a word, they'll suspect us and start looking for us tonight. But if we tell them, they'll just assume something happened at home. By the time you make the ice to sell, I'll already be out of town, and it'll be too late for them to find out!"
Once Zhu Zi understood this, he stopped talking.
When the big-faced shopkeeper heard they were leaving, he was very puzzled: "Weren't you doing just fine today? Besides, your cousin only arrived today, why are you leaving all of a sudden?"
Fatty pointed at the pillar, his face contorted with grief, and said, "Don't even mention it, my cousin's father is dead!"
"this…"
"Then his mother couldn't take the blow and committed suicide too!"
"..."
"I heard his parents are dead, and his sister—"
"Shopkeeper, please agree!"
Zhu Zi was so excited that he almost cried.
Upon seeing this, the big-faced shopkeeper thought to himself that someone in his family had indeed died; this expression was not something an ordinary person could fake.
"Alright, please accept my condolences. I'll have someone settle your wages later!"
After speaking, Big Face went into the front hall.
Zhu Zi plopped down on the ground, thinking how lucky he was, otherwise who knows how many more people in his family would have died!
"Fatty, how could you curse my family to die?"
"How is this a curse? If I didn't say it like that, would the shopkeeper have agreed so readily? Besides, what's the big deal about just saying it? You can tell me what to say, and I won't say anything!"
Fat Ball complained.
Do you have parents, siblings, or other close relatives?
"No."
Fat Ball shook its head.
"But I have one!"
Zhu Zi clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
————
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