Chapter 498: Charades
"Uh, Fourth Prince, that's not what I meant!" Su Ying was confused.
In comparison, Li Tai was more domineering. You couldn't go against his wishes or refuse him.
"Master Xiao Su, just accept it! These are what you deserve. Otherwise, everyone will ask you to teach for free, will you teach or not?" Li Chengqian stopped there.
Su Ying understood instantly and did not refuse any more. She bowed and said, "In that case, thank you very much, Your Highnesses!"
"Let's go and see what to do now!" Li Tai saw that it was still early.
"Please!" Su Ying led everyone to the kitchen.
The kitchen was occupied, so everyone in the Su family could only go to the Su Lao San's house in the back to eat.
Su Ying took out twenty or thirty kilograms of brown sugar and asked someone to crush it with a stone mortar.
Add water to the large iron pot on the stove, pour in the crushed brown sugar, and stir constantly with a spatula.
"I'll do it!" Li Tai tied on an apron, rolled up his sleeves, and started learning seriously.
"What should I do?" Li Chengqian had been wanting to take action for a long time.
"You light the fire! The most important thing in making sugar is the heat! The fire can't be too big, otherwise the pot will burn and the sugar will have a burnt taste!" Su Ying said seriously.
"Okay!" Li Chengqian drove away Ahua who was making the fire. Ahua stood by and instructed the prince how to make the fire.
"What about me!" "What about me!" The other princes were no longer reserved and wanted to join in.
"Uh, mix the yellow mud with water, stir well and set aside!"
"Put the barrel on the shelf and the basin underneath!"
"Put the activated carbon in a gauze bag and wash it with clean water!" Su Ying was not polite and directed the princes to work.
"Turn down the fire!" Su Ying shouted at Li Chengqian who was lighting the fire.
Li Chengqian was flustered and didn't know how to calm down.
Ah Hua quickly took the tongs and took out some charcoal and put it into the charcoal brazier.
Seeing that the syrup was becoming thicker, Su Ying ordered the yellow mud water to be poured into the pot.
"Ah? Pour yellow mud water into the pot?" Li Ke was confused, thinking he had heard it wrong.
"Yes! Hurry!" Su Ying said and started to work immediately, using a ladle to scoop the yellow mud water into the pot.
The princes were stunned, "Master Xiao Su!"
"Don't stop, stir it, be careful not to burn the pot!" Su Ying shouted at Li Tai.
"Oh!" The chubby little Li Tai wiped the sweat from his forehead and carefully turned it over with a spatula.
"Hey, why has it changed?" Li Ke watched the layers in the pot gradually separate, the surface becoming lighter in color while the reddish-brown color concentrated at the bottom.
"The yellow mud carries with it impurities from the syrup," Su Ying explained. "During heavy rains, the water becomes turbid, so this method can be used to clarify drinking water."
"Wow, yellow mud has such a wonderful use!" Li Chengqian was stunned. Who was this person who came up with such a method!
When the syrup becomes a little viscous again, Su Ying asks to turn off the heat.
Order Li Tai to scoop out the syrup on the noodles and put it into a basin, and then add the washed activated carbon.
"Wow!" The princes were stunned again and again. This operation was beyond their expectations again.
Su Ying asked them to spread wet gauze in the leaky bucket and cover it with the remaining activated carbon.
Pour the syrup mixed with activated carbon and left to stand for a while into the leaky bucket.
After a while, transparent sugar juice dripped out from the bottom of the leaky bucket.
This really shocked the princes. Why did the syrup become transparent when it was obviously mixed with pitch-black activated carbon?
Li Chengqian and Li Tai heard Su Ying talk about activated carbon yesterday and knew the principle.
But when I see the activated carbon that looks like dust, I really can’t imagine how this powder can have texture channels that absorb impurities?
Seeing the results now, I was amazed at Su Ying's intelligence.
I received two basins of syrup in total.
"Okay?" Several heads gathered around two basins of syrup and asked Su Ying.
"There is still the most crucial step!" Su Ying poked thin twine into the syrup.
"What is this for?" Li Tai was puzzled.
“Rock sugar needs something to attach to in order to crystallize, and these fine twine strings help the rock sugar crystallize quickly.
If you find it troublesome, you can use chopsticks or thin bamboo sticks, but the effect won't be as good as this!" Su Ying explained.
He added, "Don't shake it while it's crystallizing. Leave it here for now. After a few days, when it's crystallized, Your Highness can take it away!"
There was a large amount of sugar liquid remaining in the yellow mud in the pot. Su Ying added water and stirred it to dilute the sugar liquid in the yellow mud.
Scoop out the sugar water, filter it with a colander, and pour it back into the pot to boil.
"Xiaotao, Atang, is Mint ready?" Su Ying asked.
"Okay, sister!" The two little guys at the door ran in happily.
"Crush the mint into juice and filter it with gauze!" Su Ying ordered.
Li Tai and Li Ke rushed to make it, and soon a bowl of dark green mint juice was served.
The mint juice was poured, and the transparent liquid in the pot turned green.
"Is this mint candy?" Li Tai said happily.
"Hmm!" Su Ying tried the syrup, which was sticky and sandy.
Remove from heat, scoop out and pour into the mold on the chopping board and spread it flat.
"Let me do it!" Li Tai watched for a while, then followed suit and made mint candy with the remaining syrup.
Take the three versions of mint candy outside to cool.
"So this is how rock sugar is made!" The princes felt quite accomplished.
"Master Xiao Su, where is the sugar?" Li Tai asked.
"The large crystals on the twine are rock sugar. There will be a thin layer of crystals on the inside of the basin. If you break them into fine particles, they will become white sugar." Su Ying replied.
"Oh! So that's it!" Li Tai understood.
"In that case, making rock sugar isn't that difficult!" Li You said, "Master Xiao Su, aren't you afraid that we can go back and make our own sugar?"
Su Ying smiled, and the princes Li Chengqian, Li Tai and others looked at him as if he were mentally retarded.
Do you have any shame? It's fine if you steal it, but you have the nerve to use it to make money. Don't you care about the royal family's reputation?
Why did Qingque ask Shuxiu to learn this specifically? Why did His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also come to learn it? Why didn't Master Xiao Su take precautions?
"If Your Highness the Fifth Prince can make it, it wouldn't be a problem to make some money. Just remember to pay taxes to the court!" Su Ying said with a smile.
"Pay taxes? What taxes should I pay?" Li You was puzzled.
Princes, dukes, and nobles did not have to pay taxes to the court. On the contrary, princes had fiefs, and at least half of the taxes from the fiefs went to them.
Su Ying smiled and said nothing more.
I wonder what kind of tax policy His Majesty will introduce for sugar, tea, salt and iron?
"What is this new technology you're talking about?" Li Tai was particularly happy today because he could make sugar by himself.
As long as we develop a new sugar-making process ourselves, we will be the ancestor of sugar-making.
"The whole process starts with cleaning and juicing the sugarcane. The stone mill has low juicing efficiency, and a lot of juice remains in the sugarcane.
"You should start by improving it here, using large rollers to roll the sugarcane in towards each other. The sugarcane goes in at one end and comes out at the other end as slag," Su Ying said.
"Why?" Li Tai was puzzled.
Su Ying didn't say anything, but made a gesture, putting her two fists together and rolling them towards each other.
Li Tai was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up, "Oh!"
When Li Ke saw Su Ying's actions, he understood. He smiled without saying a word, his eyes full of admiration and appreciation.
Although Li Chengqian didn't quite understand, he knew that the secret lay in the two wheels rolling towards each other.
Prince Lu Li Yuanchang was not stupid either and understood it quickly.
Only the fifth prince Li You and Du He were watching everyone playing guessing games.
"What do you mean? Can't Lord Su just say it clearly?" Li You said impatiently.
"That's right! Lord Xiao Su, you are talking nonsense, just speak frankly!" Du Heyi said.
Li Chengqian frowned slightly, and suddenly felt that Du He seemed a little stupid.
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