It was the third watch of the Yin hour, and the sun had set in the west.
Cheng Luanluan and her family were busy working.
Zhao Sidan's task was very simple: go up the mountain to gather wild vegetables, then chop them finely for the chickens to eat.
Zhao Sanniu and Zhao Ergou were responsible for tilling the soil and watering the barren vegetable patches in front of and behind the house. After tilling them again, they would be ready for sowing seeds tomorrow.
Zhao Dashan, meanwhile, was making ice jelly according to Cheng Luanluan's instructions.
Half a bowl of jelly flower seeds were put into a bag and placed in a basin of water. He rubbed them vigorously, continuing to rub, then used a pestle to grind them, cleaning off the outer layer of the seeds until the water gradually became viscous.
Half a catty of jelly flower seeds turned into a large basin of viscous paste, not yet solidified into ice jelly.
The mountain spring water was cold enough, so the unsolidified ice jelly was placed in the spring water to chill and wait for it to set.
While waiting, Cheng Luanluan told her sons to go up the mountain to find hawthorn fruits. This season was when hawthorns were just ripe. Cutting the hawthorn pulp into the ice jelly, the sweet and sour taste would make people want to eat more after just one bite.
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Cheng Luanluan and Wu Huiniang boiled sugar water in a pot.
This was red sugar bought from the market. This era also had red sugar, but it was raw sugar, and the taste wasn't very good.
She planned to make two flavors first: hawthorn ice jelly and sweet ice jelly with added sugar. She wondered which flavor would be more popular.
Wu Huiniang felt a pang of heartache when she saw her mother-in-law put a large box of sugar into the pot. In this era, meat was expensive, and sugar was even more so. So much sugar would cost at least fifty or sixty copper coins. Could they really earn this money back from the lantern grass on the mountain?
Wu Huiniang didn't believe that lantern grass could make anything delicious, but she had one advantage: she didn't doubt her mother-in-law. Whatever her mother-in-law said, she would do.
When the sugar water was poured out, Zhao Sidan rushed into the room, clutching a handful of hawthorn fruits.
"Sidan is so capable!" Cheng Luanluan praised him generously, "When the ice jelly is ready, the first bowl will be a reward for our Sidan."
Zhao Sidan licked his lips, his eyes fixed on the ice jelly chilling in the spring water, unable to look away.
Cheng Luanluan washed and dried her hands, then picked up a pair of chopsticks and went to the basin of water. She poked it with the chopsticks; the ice jelly still hadn't set.
It had been almost an hour. Logically, it should have started to set by now. Had she forgotten a step?
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She sat by the basin, deep in thought, recalling every detail of the time she had personally made ice jelly in Xinyang... She remembered now, she had indeed forgotten a step. When she had rubbed the jelly flower seeds clean, she didn't know what kind of powder the staff had added to the bowl. This powder must have been the key to solidification.
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Zhao Sidan squatted beside the basin, blinking his big eyes. "Mother, is it ready to eat?"
Zhao Ergou secretly licked his fingertip a little, his eyes lighting up. "It's cool, it's cold, it tastes really good."
"Really?" Zhao Sidan couldn't resist. He quickly scooped a spoonful into his mouth. He curled his tongue, his eyes sparkling. "Mother, what is this called? It's so refreshing to eat when it's hot. I really like it. It can definitely be sold for money."
Cheng Luanluan looked at the basin of failed product and said somewhat helplessly, "This can be eaten, but it can't be sold. We have to make it again."
Wu Huiniang said worriedly, "Mother, did I not do it well?"
From beginning to end, her mother-in-law had told her what to do, and she had personally done each step. She was afraid that she had made a mistake somewhere and ruined her mother-in-law's business.
Cheng Luanluan shook her head. "It has nothing to do with you. I just forgot what ingredients to add while making it. Each of you eat a bowl first, then prepare dinner. I need to think quietly for a bit."
She walked to the back of the house, let out a sigh, and once again focused on recalling the details.
However, in her previous life, she had only been traveling and hadn't paid attention to what kind of powder it was. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember.