"One tael of silver for one tael of sugar?!" Zhao Hao was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped to the ground.

"Of course!" The shop owner and the clerks in the store looked at Zhao Hao as if he were an idiot. Obviously, this was common sense.

Zhao Hao was stunned. Thinking back to when little Zhao Hao drank sugar water and ate sugar buns all day long, he immediately had a deeper understanding of his previous wealthy life.

"I wish it was me..." Zhao Hao rubbed his chest distressedly, and then asked in a lost voice: "Why is it so expensive?"

At this time, a middle-aged fat man wearing a navy blue silk gown and a black silk hat, with a friendly smile, came out from the inner room, parted the curtain, and said to Zhao Hao with a smile:

"Sir, Nanjing is the capital of the country, the richest city in the world, but only one or two hundred kilograms of sugar enters the market every year. Do you think it's expensive?"

"It would only cost two or three thousand taels of silver to buy all of it. There are so many rich people in Nanjing City, how could they not be able to afford it?" Zhao Hao still couldn't understand.

"It's not that I can't afford it, it's that I can't buy it even if I have money." The fat man should be the owner of this store. He handed the teapot to the waiter and took the wooden box. He opened it again and showed it to Zhao Hao: "Look carefully. What does this frosting look like?"

"Frosting, frosting, of course it looks like frosting." Zhao Hao was powerless to comment on this idiotic question.

"Yes. This is the thin layer of frost that forms on the surface of brown sugar after it is boiled and cooled. Then use special bamboo strips to gently scrape it off. Only one or two ounces of brown sugar can be produced from one thousand kilograms of brown sugar." The fat boss said with a smile: "In the entire Ming Dynasty, less than 500 kilograms of brown sugar can be produced each year, and 100 kilograms must be tributed to the palace. So even if you have money, you can't buy it..."

The fat boss was chattering on and on, but Zhao Hao couldn't help but tremble slightly.

This time it was not fear, but great excitement!

Looking at the icing sugar held in his hands with great care, and then at the brown sugar piled casually at the door of the store, Zhao Hao screamed in his heart:

'That's it!'

.

Zhao Hao finally thought of a way to make money quickly and easily!

He thought that people of this era had already mastered this simple method. After all, it was clearly recorded in the great scientific book published seventy years later. But through the conversation in the southern goods store, he was surprised to find that at least no one knew it at the moment!

"Then I'll just consider it a gift from God!"

Zhao Hao excitedly thanked the other party for the explanation, resisted the urge to buy brown sugar on the spot, and stumbled out of the southern food store.

The fat boss handed the candy box to the waiter and looked at Zhao Hao's back in surprise, muttering softly, "Why is this kid so excited?"

Zhao Hao walked a few miles to a sugar shop on Baotai Street, took out two taels of silver, which he valued as his lifeblood, and bought five kilograms of brown sugar. He then went to the grocery store next door and talked the shopkeeper into buying a large wooden funnel for brewing wine with the remaining copper coins he had, and then hurried home excitedly.

When he returned home, it was already dark and he could hear the sound of tinkling noises in the yard.

When Zhao Hao entered the room, he saw Gao Wu, with the cooperation of Zhao Shouzheng, replacing the fallen door back to the door frame.

Seeing his son coming in, Zhao Shouzheng smiled and said, "Good neighbors are of high moral character. Mr. Gao came to help repair the doors, windows, tables and chairs after noon, and also helped to fix the broken bed in the east room."

"Brother Gao, thank you so much." Zhao Hao almost burst into tears when he heard that. Now he finally didn't have to squeeze in the same bed with Zhao Shouzheng and listen to his snoring.

Gao Wu hammered the last few nails into the door frame. Then he said slowly, "You can't use up all your strength. It doesn't matter."

"It's getting dark and we can't see clearly. Let's come back to repair the roof tomorrow." Gao Wu packed up his stuff and was about to go home.

Zhao Hao wanted to keep the meal for them, but the father and son didn't know how to cook, so they had nothing to offer. So they took out two large pieces of brown sugar from a paper bag and forced them into Gao Wu's hands.

"It's not a valuable thing. Just mix it with water for your father to drink. It can also help to replenish his body."

Gao Wu refused, but Zhao Hao chased him to the door and he reluctantly accepted it.

After Zhao Hao sent Gao Wu away and turned back to the house, he saw that Zhao Shouzheng had already made two bowls of brown sugar water...

"Alas, it's a bit astringent and not very pure." Zhao Shouzheng tasted it, shook his head critically, and then gulped down the whole bowl with his head tilted back.

"If it tastes good, you would have eaten up the bowl." Zhao Hao looked at him helplessly and held the remaining brown sugar tightly in his arms.

Zhao Shouzheng finished his bowl, looked at Zhao Hao strangely and said, "Why are you pouting so high? Drink some brown sugar water to calm your internal heat."

"This isn't for drinking..." Zhao Hao rolled his eyes and said, "This is for making money!"

"Son, I'm not trying to hit you." Zhao Shouzheng asked in confusion, "This broken thing, we didn't even eat it before, how can we use it to make money?"

Zhao Hao thought that he would have to do more amazing things in the future, so he had to have an excuse to fool his father. He coughed and said, "I've been dreaming a lot recently. It seems like someone is talking to me in my dreams, telling me all kinds of things, including how to get rich with brown sugar."

Zhao Shouzheng immediately became nervous and reached out to touch Zhao Hao's forehead. "Son, are you suffering from hysteria? You need to see a doctor right away!"

Zhao Hao slapped Zhao Shouzheng's hand away, walked straight to the kitchen and said, "Hurry up and do it. We'll know whether it's hysteria or not later!"

.

Zhao Shouzheng also followed him into the kitchen. Although he had no idea what Zhao Hao was going to do, he always obeyed his son and naturally did whatever he was told to do.

In the kitchen, the stove was burning brightly. Gao Wu had helped to light it before he left, and he had also taught Zhao Shouzheng how to light a fire.

This solved a big problem for Zhao Hao. What he had to do tonight couldn't be done without the stove!

The responsibility of taking care of the stove fell on Zhao Shouzheng. While he was adding firewood to the stove, he looked at Zhao Hao curiously and poured all the brown sugar into the pot.

"Son, I understand. You want to make glutinous rice noodles and sell them for money?"

"Hmm..." Zhao Hao responded casually, all his attention was on this pot of sugar. If it got burnt, he wouldn't have the money to buy another one and redo it.

"The wind and rain at dawn bring spring chill, let's try to eat glutinous rice with apricot curd." Zhao Shouzheng recited this line and was intoxicated by the beautiful artistic conception of the poem. "Son, when you have made the glutinous rice, I will go to the stall with you."

"Watch your fire!" Zhao Hao almost fell into the pot.

Seeing Zhao Hao showing such a rare serious expression, Zhao Shouzheng was extremely relieved. He immediately shut up and concentrated on taking care of the stove.

After a while, the brown sugar in the pot turned into a paste under Zhao Hao's constant stirring. Without waiting for it to continue to melt, he hurriedly used a wooden ladle and a spatula to scoop all the sugar paste in the pot into the funnel.

He had already stuffed the funnel tightly with straw and placed it above the bucket.

Zhao Hao told Zhao Shouzheng to take good care of the remaining three pounds of sugar paste in the funnel and not let it be ruined by cats, dogs or anyone else.

"If my son is afraid that I will eat secretly, just tell him directly. Why be so tactful?" Zhao Shouzheng muttered, then squatted beside the bucket, staring at the funnel without blinking.

Zhao Hao was out for a long time and then came back carrying a wooden basin.

He placed the wooden basin on the stove, walked to Zhao Shouzheng, and observed the solidification of the sugar paste in the funnel.

Zhao Shouzheng then realized that his son's hands and clothes were all covered with yellow mud spots, and couldn't help asking, "Did you go play in the mud?"

"Not bad." Zhao Hao squatted beside the bucket and reached into the funnel.

"Don't..." Zhao Shouzheng couldn't help but shout when he saw his son using his mud-covered hands to touch the almost solidified sugar paste.

Zhao Hao ignored him and pressed the sugar paste, and his fingers sank into it.

"It seems to be a little short of the right temperature..." Zhao Hao muttered quietly, but he himself didn't know how hard it was. As he said that, he tried to pull out the grass blocking the funnel, but no sugar paste came out. "It should be ready, right?"

"It's better for me to eat it than to waste it." Zhao Shouzheng sighed helplessly. His eyes glanced at the wooden basin on the stove and his eyes almost popped out.

"You really went to play in the mud?!"

The wooden basin was actually filled with yellow mud and water!

"Forget it, never mind." Zhao Hao had already entered a state of oblivion, muttering to himself, "It's fine as long as it's roughly the same, it shouldn't be that particular!"

After saying that, he picked up the basin of yellow mud water and was about to pour it on the funnel.

"Wait!" Zhao Shouzheng suddenly shouted to stop.

Zhao Hao looked at him in confusion, only to see Zhao Shouzheng stretching out his finger and digging out a piece from the funnel.

Zhao Shouzheng sucked the candy paste and signaled his son to continue.

Zhao Hao rolled his eyes helplessly. The sacred feeling that had just surged in his heart was now completely gone.

He tilted his hands and slowly poured the yellow mud water in the basin onto the sugar paste.

ps. Thanks to the third leader 'A Sailor' for his strong support, and also thanks to Guan Guan, Shuke, Chang Tian, ​​How Hard is It to Change a Name and other old friends for their enthusiastic support. Here is the fourth chapter written with a waist belt, please vote for recommendation and comment~~~~