Chapter 30 Chapter 30 Making Candles
After being exposed to the sun on the mountain for an hour and a half, Xu Yunfan drank half a bucket of water. He felt better only after finishing it.
Outside the kitchen, he had built a simple stove with stones between the woodshed and the kitchen. "Qin Run, can I use that ceramic in the woodshed?"
Qin Run came out, "Okay, what are you going to do?"
He saw the things in the backpack and asked, "Did you go to the mountains just to find these? We still have a lot of pine needles at home. When the corn stalks dry up, we can use them as kindling."
"I'm not using the pine tar for kindling. I'm using it to make candles. With it, we can stay up late and shell corn together."
"Then you don't have to work in the dark. Corn hoeing is too dangerous. What if you hurt your hand?" Xu Yunfan was busy with the work in his hands, completely unaware of the impact his casual words had on Qin Run.
Qin Run only felt that there was a seed in the fertile soil of his heart that was breaking out with an unstoppable and violent momentum. His love for Xu Yunfan was always so strong that it was unstoppable.
How can Xu Yunfan be so good?
It seemed that everything he did was for himself and for his family. He was much better than other men.
In his opinion, any problem that he could not solve could be easily solved in Xu Yunfan's hands, as Xu Yunfan could always come up with a solution.
Who can refuse such a powerful, smart and reliable man and not be moved by him?
Qin Run sometimes wondered if he was the same as those lepers who wanted to eat swan flesh, enjoying Xu Yunfan's kindness with ulterior motives.
Qin Run suppressed his excitement and asked, "Can you make candles?"
He asked without much certainty, because candles were not a daily necessity that every household could afford in the Dayan Dynasty.
Only on special holidays or weddings will the elders of the newlyweds be willing to buy it.
He heard that the craft of candle making was controlled by the imperial merchants and no one else knew how to make it.
But when Xu Yunfan said he wanted to make candles, how could Qin Run not be shocked.
Qin Run remembered that in his vague memory, the house he used to live in was lit with many candles every night, and he also had two grandfathers.
Both grandfathers loved him very much. They often hugged him and fed him delicious sweets. Their yard was very big, with not only a garden but also a pond.
But later on, he had problems with his brain and could not remember anything before he was ten years old. He only remembered a few vague things, but even he himself did not believe them, let alone others.
I guess they would just treat it as a joke after hearing it.
Seeing Qin Run's shocked expression, Xu Yunfan remained calm on the surface, but in fact he was a little childishly proud in his heart.
He waved his hand and said modestly, "Yes, such a simple thing can't be difficult for me. It's just a candle. I know a lot of things. After a while, you will find out that someone as outstanding as me can do a lot of things. I hope you don't fall in love with me by then."
A twenty-year-old young man always has the confidence that he is the best in the world.
Qin Run saw Xu Yunfan's pride. Although the last sentence made him feel uncomfortable, he did not show it on his face. "You want ceramics just to make candles?"
"Yes." Xu Yunfan pointed at the backpack, "I want to use it to boil pine oil."
Qin Run saw so much pine oil. If he used ceramics to boil it, how many times would he have to boil it?
"Can I cook in a pot?" There was a pot with a broken mouth in the woodshed at home. He took it back because Aunt Qin and her family no longer used it.
The hole in the pot was not at the bottom, but at the side. Because Aunt Qin had a large family, this pot was not enough to cook.
Aunt Qin thought that there were only two stoves at home, and since Qin Run had a small family, one could use it, so she asked Qin Run to take the pot back.
"Yes, using a pot is much more convenient than using ceramics." Xu Yunfan said happily.
In the Dayan Dynasty, iron pots were not cheap. Even if it was a broken pot, Qin Run would put it on the plywood in the woodshed as long as it was still usable. That's why Xu Yunfan didn't find it.
Xu Yunfan couldn't make a fire, so he had to call Qin An.
After hearing this, Qin An took out a few burning firewoods without saying a word, added a few sparks, and when the firewood was smoking, he blew on it a few times with a fire gun, and the fire was lit.
Xu Yunfan: “…”
Such a simple way of making a fire made him look like a fool.
"Brother, the fire is ready." Qin An stood aside holding the fire torch, like a puppy asking for praise.
Xu Yunfan gave a thumbs up, gently stroked Qin An's head with one hand, and praised sincerely: "Brother An is very good."
Qin An smiled shyly after receiving the compliment.
When Xu Yunfan saw this, he couldn't help laughing. This little brat is so damn well behaved.
Good boy, you must have candy.
"Ang'er, go find a wooden basin and soak the wheat I bought. Brother Xu will make you something delicious when the time comes."
"Okay." Qin An didn't ask Xu Yunfan what delicious food he was going to make for him and his elder brother. He only knew that the things this brother-in-law gave him were the most delicious things he had never seen or eaten before.
So when Xu Yunfan asked him to do something, he ran faster than anyone else without asking any questions. He carried out Xu Yunfan's words as if they were an imperial decree, without asking the reason, just doing it.
Qin Run took out the chipped pot and placed it on the makeshift stove Xu Yunfan had built. "Is there anything else we need to do?"
"No need, I'll take care of the rest." Xu Yunfan poured the pine oil from the backpack into the pot. "By the way, where's the wick? Give it to me."
Qin Run went to get the wick again, and Xu Yunfan used a hatchet to make the candle mold, put the wick into the small bamboo tube, and after leaving enough length, he cut off the excess wick.
Seeing that he could not help, Qin An came out again and shouted that the water was about to boil. Qin Run took out the basket to cover the duck, untied the rope tied to the duck's wings, and then hooked the duck's two wings to the left and right. The duck's wings seemed to be knotted and could not be freed.
This makes it easier to catch the duck.
Qin An found a bowl, poured some water into it, and added some salt, so that the duck blood could solidify and become more tender.
Qin Run grabbed the duck's neck, clamped it with his thumb and index finger, straightened it, and then plucked out the hair near the throat of the duck's neck.
Seeing this, Qin An ran out with a bowl in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other.
He put down the bowl of salt water, handed the kitchen knife to Qin Run, and without Qin Run's instructions, he held the duck's feet tightly with both hands.
Qin Run held a kitchen knife in his right hand and grabbed the duck's wings with his left hand, pressing the duck's neck onto the wings and holding it tightly. He then slashed the knife across the plucked duck's neck and easily cut the duck's throat.
Qin An lifted the duck up, Qin Run put down the knife, grabbed the duck's head with his right hand, and placed the bleeding part on the bowl.
The duck struggled violently. Qin An grabbed the duck's feet with all his strength, and his mouth was tightly closed because of the force.
The two brothers worked together perfectly.
Xu Yunfan watched from the side and wanted to go over to help, but then changed his mind and stopped.
I heard that duck feathers are difficult to handle and not as easy to pluck as chicken feathers. He has never done this before and going up would only cause trouble.
Besides, it should be enough for Qin Run and Qin An to take care of one duck, Xu Yunfan thought with peace of mind.
After killing the duck, Qin An took out a wooden basin and poured a few ladles of boiling water into it. Qin Run held the dead duck's head with one hand and used a wooden stick to poke the duck's feathers up and down with the other hand. This was because the feathers on the surface of the duck were smooth and waterproof. If they were not poked, the feathers inside would not be burned and would be difficult to pluck.
The smell of duck is stronger than that of chicken. Because of the hot steam from the boiling water, Xu Yunfan smelled a smell. Disgusted, he turned his head away and took a few steps back.
Qin Run saw it and explained, "Ducks boiled in water all smell like this, but duck meat doesn't smell bad."
Xu Yunfan endured the disgusting smell and nodded, "I know."
To pluck the duck feathers, one must start from the head, then rub from the neck down to the body. While plucking the duck feathers, Qin Run asked, "Do you want to stir-fry or stew the duck meat tonight?"
Speaking of stewing, Xu Yunfan thought of old duck soup, "Do you have pickled radish at home? I want to eat old duck soup."
Xu Yunfan is a man who knows a lot of things. He has eaten a lot of delicious food and read many cookbooks, but he just doesn't have good cooking skills.
He clearly followed the instructions step by step, but the dish he made just didn't taste good, and he didn't know what went wrong.
Qin Run didn't know what old duck soup was, but since Xu Yunfan wanted to eat it, he wanted to make it. "We have pickled radish at home. I soaked some and haven't finished it yet. Is old duck soup made with pickled radish?"
"We can stew the pickled radish with the duck meat. Didn't you say that the duck has been raised for a long time? How about we stir-fry half of it and have the other half for dinner tonight?" Xu Yun said.
Qin Run naturally wouldn't refuse Xu Yunfan's words, "Okay, tell me how to make the old duck soup, and I'll make it for you."
"Just fry the duck meat first, then add boiling water, cut the pickled radish into pieces, and stew them all together." Xu Yunfan gave a brief explanation. There was no extra seasoning in the kitchen, so this was the only way.
The longer the old duck is stewed, the more fragrant it will be, so the pickled radish must not have been added so quickly. The smart Qin Run knew what to do.
After the pine oil was melted, Xu Yunfan took out the bamboo sieve he had woven to remove the debris, poured the pine oil into the bamboo tube mold, and then poured the remaining pine oil into the pot to continue cooking.
With nothing to do, Xu Yunfan went to the backyard and filled half a basket with corn to shell.
He saw Qin An use a corn cob, so Xu Yunfan did the same. He used the corn cob to cut a few rows of corn, and then rubbed the remaining corn with his hands. After a while, Xu Yunfan's entire palm turned red.
While Qin Run was gutting the duck, Qin An ran to see the candles made by Xu Yunfan.
Because the pine oil had not yet solidified, Qin An did not dare to move. "Brother, is this the candle you made?"
Qin An had seen candles before, but the candle in front of him was very different from what he remembered.
Xu Yunfan looked up and said, "Yes, but it hasn't solidified yet. You can light it after it solidifies. Brother Xu will light it for you tonight."
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