Chapter 275 Just praise as soon as you open your mouth!
Plates of food were placed on the table, and Gu Tang was slightly stunned when he saw them.
Stir-fried meat with radish, stir-fried chicken, braised lamb, stir-fried cabbage, pickled vegetables fried with lard, a plate of egg pancakes, and a bowl of rice porridge.
Good job!
Is it some kind of festival today?
She looked up and asked her father, "What day is it today? The breakfast is so sumptuous!"
"It's not a special day." Gu Lianshan moved the dishes that Gu Tang liked to her. "It's just a few more dishes. Eat quickly and eat more."
Gu Tang didn't believe it and raised her chopsticks with a suspicious look on her face, fearing that her father would make some demands.
But until the food entered her mouth, her father didn't say anything. He just sat in his own seat and ate by himself.
Gu Tang breathed a sigh of relief and then focused on eating.
After dinner, she stood up and wanted to help clear the dishes, but her father stopped her with an attentive look on his face and told her not to move but to just sit there and he would clear the dishes for her, not letting Gu Tang do it.
Gu Tang was confused.
When her father took the dishes and chopsticks to the kitchen, she couldn't help but ask the old man: "Grandpa, what's wrong with my father? It makes me panic!"
Third Uncle laughed: "Your father is afraid that he is not good at making incense, so he wants to curry favor with you so that you can be more patient and teach him later."
"So that's what it is." Gu Tang was speechless. "What's the big deal? Just say it directly. This attentive offer is so creepy!"
Just as he finished speaking, Gu Ping'an actually joined in the fun.
"Second sister, I'm afraid I'm also clumsy. Please be more patient and teach me slowly..."
Gu Tang glared at him: "This hasn't even started yet! Everyone says I'm impatient! Are you looking for trouble?!"
Gu Ping'an paused. It was not that they were looking for trouble, but they had already noticed from his second sister's past behavior that she had no patience with people or things. If she got annoyed, she would give up at any time!
"We agreed that you can't just quit when you're angry!"
Gu Tang felt a little guilty, as this was indeed something she often did.
But this time she promised that she would never quit in anger again.
"Just wait and see! I will definitely teach you a lesson!" He said this with great determination.
After saying this, Gu Tang went to his room to get perfume powder.
The bags containing perfume powder were all small bags that were about a foot long, and Gu Tang could carry two bags in one hand.
She picked out all the perfumes she would need today, piled them together one by one, and then called Gu Ping'an to come and move them.
Her father, Gu Lianshan, had already washed the dishes and was about to come out of the kitchen when he heard his daughter calling his son to move things.
Upon hearing this, Gu Lianshan said nothing and shouted to his daughter before Gu Pingan could speak, "Dad, come and move it! The perfume is expensive, and your brother is clumsy. This kind of delicate work is not suitable for him!"
Gu Ping'an, who came out from the main room, heard these words clearly. He looked at his father with a dull face, very dissatisfied!
Gu Lianshan ignored him and raised his hand to push him aside: "Who are you staring at with those big eyes? Get out of my way!"
Gu Ping'an became even angrier!
Gu Lianshan found a backpack and put bags of incense powder into it. When it was full, he carried it to the main room.
After running back and forth several times, he finally carried all the perfume powder that Gu Tang had picked out.
In addition to taking the incense powder, Gu Tang also took out a set of incense-making tools and asked her father to carry them to the main hall.
Gu Lianshan and others had seen incense powder before, but this was the first time they had seen the incense-making tools, and they all looked at them curiously.
Among the many tools, most of them are basically clear at a glance, and most of them can guess their functions. Only the thick bamboo tube has no known purpose.
Gu Tang kept it a secret and said he would tell them later.
I grabbed a few handfuls of glutinous rice from the west wing, put it in a small pot, added water, and put it on the stove to start cooking glutinous rice paste.
"Why are you cooking glutinous rice porridge? Aren't you full?" Gu Lianshan looked puzzled.
"This isn't for eating," Gu Tang explained. "Glutinous rice is sticky. Adding it to the incense powder acts as a binder, allowing the powder to take shape."
Gu Lianshan suddenly realized that glutinous rice porridge could be used in this way.
After a while, the earthenware pot on the stove began to gurgle.
Gu Tang stirred with a spoon until the water in the earthenware jar became a paste. She scooped out a little and blew on it, then reached out and spread a little on it and rubbed it gently between her fingers.
Well, that's okay, it's sticky.
Put the glutinous rice paste aside and then Gu Tang began to prepare the incense powder.
The first thing to prepare is Menglingxiang.
Lavender, agarwood, sandalwood, tuberose, poria...
Mengling incense requires nine kinds of incense powder. After mixing them one by one, nanmu adhesive powder is added to increase the adhesion.
It was obvious at first glance that this step was about matching the fragrance, and no one asked any questions.
Obviously, they all assumed that the formula of the incense belonged to Gu Tang.
Gu Tang was very satisfied with the reactions of her father and others. She could give things, but you can't force them to take them.
"After mixing the incense powder, mix it several times, then add the glutinous rice paste..."
"No need to add water?" Gu Ping'an took a pen in his hand and wrote down the steps.
“You can add it or not, but remember that if you add water, you should add less glutinous rice paste.
If you don't add it, then add more glutinous rice paste and knead it into a paste. It should not be too soft or too dry. "
Gu Tang handed them the fragrant mud ball he had kneaded himself and let them touch it.
"Just like me. Then keep pressing and kneading at the end."
"After kneading, the incense clay can be made into incense cakes, incense balls, incense beads, or incense sticks, etc."
Gu Tang pinched off a small ball from a large ball of fragrant mud and kept rubbing it in the palm of his hand. Soon his hands became hot and his skills were activated.
As the skill is activated, the system panel automatically pops out.
On one side of the system panel, a smaller blue screen suddenly lit up, and rows of options flashed.
Gu Tang silently recited the incense sticks, and various options on the small blue screen began to scroll rapidly, finally stopping at the incense sticks.
She took the thick bamboo tube, pulled out the thinner bamboo tube inside, put the kneaded fragrant mud into the bamboo tube, and finally inserted the thinner bamboo tube back into the bamboo tube and squeezed it tightly.
"See this little hole at the bottom of the bamboo tube? The incense mud will come out from here and become the most common incense sticks."
Gu Tang began to twist the thin bamboo tube clockwise, like he was tightening a screw.
As the thin bamboo tube rotates, the bottom is squeezed downwards. When it is squeezed to a certain extent, a long and thin incense stick begins to emerge from the small hole below.
Gu Tang asked her father to take a basket to catch the incense. After squeezing out the incense mud in the tube, he took the incense drying net, straightened out the soft incense sticks in the basket, and placed them on the incense drying net to dry.
At this time, the incense stick is a whole piece from beginning to end. After placing it on the incense drying net, you can cut it according to your preferred length.
Gu Tang cut it according to the length of normal incense sticks.
After arranging everything, cut off both ends of the incense sticks to ensure they are neat, then you can take them out to dry.
"There's no sun now, so let the incense dry slowly inside the house."
Gu Tang placed the incense drying net on the table so they could examine it more carefully and asked, "How is it? Do you understand? Who wants to try it first?"
"Dad, come first!" This suggestion hit the mark for Gu Lianshan, and he was the first to respond.
After saying that, without waiting for Gu Tang to say whether it was okay or not, he walked forward, grabbed a ball of fragrant mud, and started rolling it in his palm.
Gu Pingan's eyes were filled with jealousy: "Dad, can you let me go first?"
"Go away! Go line up at the back!" Gu Lianshan ignored him and imitated Gu Tang's actions, taking out the thin bamboo tube from the thick bamboo tube while rotating it, and then stuffing a ball of fragrant mud into it.
Wait for the incense mud to fall to the bottom of the bamboo tube, then rotate the thin bamboo tube into it, while staring at the small hole where the incense comes out, for fear of not catching the incense and letting the incense that is about to come out of the oven fall to the ground.
As the thin bamboo tube continued to rotate and squeeze, the incense hole soon began to emit fragrance.
Third uncle held a basket to help him collect incense. After a while, he collected a small basket of soft incense sticks.
So far, everything has been going smoothly, and Gu Lianshan is grinning with joy.
After squeezing out the incense mud in the tube, he couldn't wait to take the basket and wanted to find an incense drying net like Gu Tang and put the incense sticks on it.
Gu Tang helped him set up the incense drying net and reminded him: "Be gentle and use force, otherwise it will break."
"I know, I know..." Gu Lianshan nodded continuously, and found the incense head with his big hand. He thought that he could pick it up with just one pinch like Gu Tang did. However, he didn't dare to use enough strength, and he couldn't pick it up after pinching it twice.
After failing twice in a row, Gu Lianshan became anxious and tried to use more strength, but he realized that he was using too much strength and crushed it into mud...
Gu Tang told him not to rush: "Take your time. Today we will only learn this one. Try it a few times. Practice makes perfect."
After saying this, she sat down on the stool to rest, looking very comfortable and without a trace of impatience.
snort!
Let’s see who dares to say that she has no patience!
Gu Tang relaxed, and Gu Lianshan's tense nerves also relaxed a lot, and he began to continue trying.
After failing five or six times, I finally lifted up the limp incense stick and then tried to put it on the incense drying net.
It was probably because he moved too hard and put the incense on the incense drying net, which caused the incense to break suddenly. In the end, only a finger-length incense stick was left on the incense drying net.
Gu Tang took a glance and immediately said encouragingly: "You've made progress! Don't worry, keep going."
With this encouragement, Gu Lianshan regained his confidence.
So next, he began to perform fancy incense-breaking techniques.
Some broke when they were picked up, some broke when they were about to be put online, and some had already been successfully put online but broke when they were being sorted.
At first, Gu Tang watched with great interest, but then he gradually became bored.
She stretched and stood up to mix the agarwood and calming incense.
Agarwood is made into incense sticks, and calming incense is made into incense cakes and incense pills. They look more beautiful and prestigious when given as gifts than incense sticks.
After preparing the incense powder, she put the agarwood powder into a sachet, and waited for her father to learn how to make incense sticks. She then let her father make the incense, and she would just make the calming incense.
Gu Ping'an glanced at his father, then glanced at Gu Tang, feeling very conflicted, not knowing which way to look.
After hesitating for a while, he decided to go to Gu Tang and temporarily give up his father's side.
His father is still in the process of burning incense, and it is unknown how long it will take for it to be his turn. It would be better for him to go to his second sister and learn other things.
Incense cakes and incense balls are very simple to make, but the time spent pressing the incense mud back and forth becomes longer and a bit tiring.
After the fragrant mud was completed, Gu Tang threw him several wooden molds of different shapes. He put the fragrant mud into the molds, then pressed it tightly. After a while, he knocked it out and it was done.
Gu Tang didn't use any molds. She relied on her skills to make various shapes of fragrant cakes with her bare hands, which made Gu Ping'an's eyes turn red with envy.
"Second sister! Can I be like you in the future and make it with my bare hands without using a mold?"
Gu Tang: ...You can’t!
"Yes, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. If you do it more often, you will be able to make it sooner or later."
This is a bit nonsense, but there is always a chance of something happening.
What if Gu Ping'an really did it?
You have to give people hope, don’t you think?
Gu Ping'an had no idea what was going on in Gu Tang's mind, so he believed what Gu Tang said. He looked very happy and his hands kept moving. Soon he made a lot of fragrant cakes.
After making the fragrant cakes, continue to make the fragrant balls.
Gu Ping'an still used the mold, while Gu Tang still made it with his bare hands.
Not only did she pinch them with her bare hands, she also used a small carving knife to carve each incense ball into various round little flowers.
Each one is exquisitely crafted and stunningly beautiful!
Gu Ping'an now completely forgot about incense sticks and pestered Gu Tang to learn how to carve incense balls.
Gu Tang scratched her head. This was all due to her skills. If she were asked to teach this skill, she would really have to sort it out carefully.
"You suddenly want to learn, and I don't have a plan. I don't know where to start. Wait for me to sort out my thoughts, and then I'll teach you later. For now, you should learn about incense sticks first."
Speaking of incense sticks, Gu Pingan glanced at his father and saw that his father was still arguing with the incense sticks, which immediately made him feel disappointed.
Why is this incense so difficult to learn?
Gu Tang leaned over to take a look, and saw that the incense drying net had yielded something, with several incense sticks of different lengths arranged in a twisted pattern.
To be honest, it's really hard to watch.
But Gu Tang didn't pour cold water on him. Instead, he praised him again: "You've made progress again! I just said it, practice makes perfect! Take your time, don't rush..."
Gu Lianshan took the time to glance at her and began to murmur in his heart.
His daughter said nice things, but I don't know whether they were true or not.
Never mind.
Whether it's true or false, he's going to compete with this incense stick today!
He just couldn't believe it. How could he never learn?!
Gu Lianshan gathered his scattered thoughts and continued working!
Perhaps it was true that "practice makes perfect", Gu Lianshan never stopped from morning to noon.
Finally, my hard work paid off, and the limp incense sticks in my hand finally stopped burning!
He held his breath and placed all the incense sticks on the incense drying net in one breath, and they were barely neat.
Gu Tang took a glance and thought it was okay, just passing.
Gu Lianshan was extremely happy. He had finally mastered the technique through practice.
Gu Tang was very considerate and offered praise: "When I first tried to make incense sticks, I ran out of incense for a whole month. Now you've mastered the technique in just half a day. It's clear that your talent is truly rare!"
Gu Lianshan was very proud. Hearing his daughter praising him, he didn't care whether it was true or not. He was just as happy when he heard it, and his eyes were full of joy.
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