Lin Xiaogang wanted to ask who the person was, but Li Yuyan glanced at the woman and said calmly.
"She is my neighbor's sister next door. It's good to have a small relationship. Before we got married, she always liked to follow me and let me protect her."
Seeing a familiar person, a faint smile flashed across Li Yuyan's face.
Only then did Lin Xiao realize that her "little wife" seemed to be born not to laugh.
When Li Xiangmei heard what Li Yuyan said about her, her face was instantly flushed. She shyly hit Li Yuyan's arm with her pink fist and complained:
"It all happened when I was a kid, why are you bringing it up?!"
Li Xiangmei smiled at Lin Xiao, naturally took Li Yuyan's arm, and pulled him into the back room.
"Why do I feel like she smiled at me so perfunctorily?"
Lin Xiao touched her nose and didn't care.
Anyway, she is currently thinking about how to make non-toxic edible salt from rock salt blocks.
Generally speaking, the procedure is not too complicated, that is, grind the rock salt into small pieces, dissolve it in pure water, and heat it with fire until the salt solution boils.
Then continue heating over low heat until a large number of white crystals appear in the container.
Then use a spoon to scrape the salt off the container, dissolve it in purified water, and pour it into the container with activated carbon.
At this time, you have to pay attention. The top and bottom of the activated carbon must be sealed with clean cotton gauze so that it can be used to filter out the salt solution.
Finally, these edible salt solutions are reheated to precipitate the salt.
In fact, the principle is very simple, but it is time-consuming and labor-intensive to make.
Now that we have the rock salt blocks, we just need charcoal.
"You can use wood as fuel in the first step. When you need to use charcoal, the calcination time will be just right!"
Lin Xiao had an idea and took the machete in the yard to go up the mountain to chop some suitable trees. As he was walking out, the door to the back room opened.
Li Xiangmei nodded to Lin Xiao, then handed the basket on her arm to Li Yuyan, and left quickly.
Li Yuyan saw Lin Xiao holding a machete and asked in confusion:
"What are you doing with a machete?"
"Go up the mountain and cut down the trees!"
"The firewood at home is enough."
"Those woods are not dense enough. I have to choose wood with higher density."
Obviously Li Yuyan didn't understand what Lin Xiao meant by "density". He scratched his head in embarrassment:
"Then you have to eat before you go, right?"
After saying that, he opened the cloth on the basket that Li Xiangmei had just given him, took out a package of multigrain cakes and handed it to Lin Xiao.
Seeing the multigrain pancakes, Lin Xiao's stomach growled unsatisfactorily.
She picked up a piece of cake and ate it:
"Well, it tastes good. Thank you, Sister Xiangmei, for me when you have time."
"You...are not angry?"
Li Yuyan knew that scholars were very noble, especially concerned about their appearance, and would rather starve to death than eat the food they brought.
This Lin Xiao is really different from ordinary scholars!
"Your sister Xiangmei is worried that you will suffer with me, so she specially brought some food. I'm grateful that she didn't have time, so why are you angry?"
Lin Xiao continued to laugh while eating: "Besides these cakes, what else is in the basket given by your sister Xiangmei?"
"And some more of this."
Lin Xiao looked at the dark thing in Li Yuyan's hand, and his smile became even brighter.
You really get what you want, charcoal is delivered right to your door!
From Li Yuyan's words, Lin Xiao roughly understood the basic situation of Li Xiangmei's family.
A few years ago, she married to Zhoujia Village, downstream of Linjia Village. Her husband, Zhou Dajun, joined the army a few years ago and broke a leg while trying to save an officer.
Although the legs were later reattached, they have become short and long since then. He cannot do many jobs and can only make a living by chopping firewood and burning charcoal at home.
Charcoal is expensive and not the first choice for many people. Therefore, the couple's life is very tight.
Under such circumstances, Li Xiangmei was able to send a basket of charcoal and grain cakes to Li Yuyan, which shows that the relationship between the two sisters is extraordinary.
The two of them ate some grain cakes. Just as Li Yuyan was about to pick up the machete and walk out, Lin Xiao called out to him.
"Let's go, aren't we going to chop down trees?"
Li Yuyan looked at Lin Xiao in confusion.
Lin Xiao pointed to the charcoal in the basket and said:
"You, Sister Xiangmei, have provided me with timely help, which has just solved my urgent need."
"Then now..."
"Raise the fire, fill the pot with water, I want to refine the salt!"
Li Yuyan looked at Lin Xiao, who was full of confidence, and then at the salt stones piled in the corner of the courtyard. He opened his mouth and swallowed the words alive.
If you forcefully drag a person who doesn't hit the wall and doesn't look back, his life will be shortened!
The Daxia Dynasty used the seawater salt production method, and the core method of salt production was in the hands of the royal family.
Ordinary people want to use salt rocks to extract edible refined salt, but it is difficult to do so!
If you simply boil some water and dissolve the salt stone, you can make edible salt water, and it won't poison so many people who can't afford salt!
Li Yuyan muttered while boiling water, and finally gave Lin Xiao a high look. After all, she was just an ordinary person with whimsical ideas!
Not long after, Lin Xiao came over with a dustpan filled with salt stones she had broken.
When salt rocks are put into high-temperature water, they will quickly dissolve into the water and disappear.
"Yu Yan, continue to simmer and heat, don't stop."
About an hour later, the water in the pot was almost bottoming out, and the iron pot was covered with yellow-white salt particles.
Lin Xiao kept stirring with a spatula by candlelight. Li Yuyan looked at the salt in the pot, his eyes bursting with shock.
"You made the salt?"
"I can only say that it's only half done."
Lin Xiao took out a piece of fabric that the original owner had pressed at the bottom of the box. The original owner planned to use this piece of fabric to make dresses after the death of his daughter.
She cut out a piece, wrapped some of the charcoal that Li Xiangmei brought over, and tied it tightly. This became a simple filter element.
Immediately afterwards, she pried open a small hole at the bottom of the chopstick barrel and stuffed the charcoal packet inside.
"Yu Yan, bring two basins!"
Li Yuyan did not dare to neglect the talented person who could make table salt, so he quickly brought over the only two wooden basins at home.
Lin Xiao shoveled the yellow-white salt grains in the pot into a wooden basin, then added water to boil, and then scooped the salt water into a chopstick tube filled with charcoal to purify the clean salt water.
The iron pot left a lot of impurities in the salt stone.
Half an hour later, Lin Xiao poured the purified salt water into the washed iron pot, and Li Yuyan continued to heat it.
After about half an hour, the flawless white edible salt was ready!
Lin Xiao couldn't wait to take a bite. It was the salt eaten by later generations, and it still had a slight umami taste.
"Yuyan, try it."
While talking, Lin Xiao twisted a little fine salt with his fingers and rubbed it on Li Yuyan's mouth so fast that he didn't even have a chance to refuse.
Li Yuyan hesitated for a moment, then licked it with his tongue with the determination to die, and his eyes instantly lit up:
"This is...salt?!"
Everyone must have stayed in a hotel outside, right?
In fact, there are taboos about staying in hotels!