Zhu Hongsan walked around outside, and it was almost dark when he returned home. When I arrived at the door of the house, I saw that the door was hidden, and probably the old lady had returned. Gently open the door and close it again. When I entered the courtyard, I saw that there was someone in the kitchen, and the old lady was cooking.

"I can't run anyway." Zhu Hongsan gritted his teeth and shouted, "Mother, I'm back." ”

The old lady replied, "I'm back, I'll eat in a while." ”

The old lady didn't even jump as much as she imagined. Zhu Hongsan sat in the yard and thought about his thoughts while teasing the puppy. After a while, I heard the old lady shouting in the kitchen: "Bao'er, come here, it's time to eat." ”

Zhu Hongsan entered the kitchen and saw that the food was already on the table. It smells so fragrant when you lift your nose, there are fried bacon with bamboo shoots, braised carp, and a pot of chicken soup, all of which are delicious. Zhu Hongsan asked: "Mother, what kind of festival is it, making so many delicious foods." ”

The old lady loaded a bowl of rice for Zhu Hongsan, sat down on the edge of the table, and said, "It's all made for you, don't I like to eat carp the most." My mother made it for me today. ”

Zhu Hongsan knew what the old lady meant, bowed his head and said, "Mother, I'm sorry for making you angry." ”

"Silly boy, how can I be angry if my son has a chance?"

"Mother, you're really not angry?" Zhu Hongsan looked up at the old lady.

"Really, I always thought that my son was the best, son, you were born in this family and couldn't study. If you are born in an ordinary family, you will definitely be able to enter the jinshi, which is much stronger than the little prodigy of the Ma family. "It seems that in the eyes of parents, their children are the best and the smartest. This truth is common throughout the ages.

Hearing his mother say this, Zhu Hongsan lowered his head, he thought of his father and mother in his previous life, remembering that when he was a child, he also caused trouble at every turn, and when he was in high school, he even got a female classmate pregnant, so his parents never beat and scolded him. On the contrary, he taught himself the truth of being a man.

When I grew up, I knew that my father went to apologize to the other party and let the other party's father slap him twice, thinking of this, Zhu Hongsan really felt a little ashamed of his parents.

Mother Zhao Chunhua said: "Bao'er, did you really learn to read and write by yourself? ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded: "Yes, I go to the school to find a fat man to play when I have nothing to do, sometimes he doesn't dare to come out, I just listen to what Mr. says, and when I'm fine, I take the branch and paint it according to what Mr. taught." ”

When my mother heard me say this, tears fell: "Child, your life is so bad, if you want to stand up to an ordinary family, you will definitely be able to get ahead." ”

Seeing his mother crying, Zhu Hongsan was also a little at a loss, and quickly stood up and said: "Mother, I am very happy, I am really happy to have you love me and love me." ”

Mother couldn't stop her tears when she saw Zhu Hongsan being so sensible.

Zhu Hongsan hurriedly diverted the topic and said, "Mother, tell me about my father, why did you marry my father." ”

The mother who was diverted from the topic stopped her tears and said, "Your father's dead ghost can't do anything else, so he will be oily and slippery." Didn't your aunt never have children, that year I went to the temple outside the city with your aunt to offer incense, and your father took a fancy to me. Go home and tell your grandfather that your grandfather was still an auxiliary general at that time, and found my father, who was your grandfather, to propose marriage. At that time, your father's family was poor and couldn't open the pot, and your grandfather was also the master of the county government at that time, how could your grandfather agree, and rejected your grandfather at that time. ”

Zhu Hongsan pulled rice into his mouth while watching his mother recall the legendary life of him and his father.

Mother then said, "Your grandfather let your father die of this heart, and your father did not agree. A few days later, I crawled into the yard of your grandfather's house in the middle of the night, found me, and talked to me for half a month. was discovered by your uncle and beat him so hard that he didn't get up for more than ten days. Later, I discussed with your father that it would be impossible to be together without using some means, and the two of us cooked raw rice and cooked rice, so we had you. Your grandfather saw that it was really no good, so he agreed to marry me to your father. ”

Zhu Hongsan's face was full of black lines, and he thought, "Who are these people?" ”

Mother then recalled: "Your grandfather is the master of the household, in charge of the family's money and food, after I married your father, your family slowly got better, but unfortunately your grandfather died a few years ago, and your two uncles were not very capable and failed to take over your grandfather's position." Our family's life is getting more and more tense, and your father gave up his life in order to let our mother and mother eat something good. ”

When Zhu Hongsan heard his mother say this, he realized that his dead ghost father was not so useless. Seeing that his mother was about to shed tears again, Zhu Hongsan hurriedly said: "Mother, doesn't our family have a thousand taels of silver, a lot of money, why is it better." ”

The mother replied when she heard her son say this: "At that time, one thousand taels took out one hundred taels for your father's funeral affairs and put down our small shop, and in the future, without your father, our mother and mother can't cut off the income, and the remaining nine hundred taels plus the one hundred and fifty taels given by the horseman are buried in the ground, ready for you to marry your daughter-in-law in the future." ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "That's a lot of money." ”

"Why can't you use it, a big courtyard in the county town costs nearly two hundred taels, buy another hundred and ten acres of land in the countryside, hire a few maids, this money may not be enough."

I didn't expect the old lady to have such a long-term vision, it seems that it is impossible for her to take out the money and prepare to run away.

Zhu Hongsan smiled and said: "Mother, don't worry, I will definitely have a chance in the future, earn a lot of silver, and find a hundred maids to serve you." ”

"The little bastard urine jar with gold rim is a good mouth, just like your dead ghost father, let's eat quickly, the chicken soup will be cold in a while."

"Okay, mother, you can eat too."

After eating, it was already dark, and my mother cleaned up and went back to bed. In this era, the sun rises and the sun sets, and there is basically no nightlife except for the dignitaries. I watched as the lights went out in my mother's house.

Zhu Hongsan lay on his bed and thought: "Actually, this cheap old lady is not bad, at least she is really good to me." "I fell asleep when I thought about it. In a dream, I found that my mother in my previous life and my mother in this life slowly became a person, and they can no longer be separated.

When I woke up the next morning, my mother went out early as usual. Zhu Hongsan finished breakfast by himself, nibbled on the chicken legs left over from last night, and sat in the courtyard waiting for the delivery to the door.

The delivery didn't come, Zhao Tiedan, they arrived. However, Zhu Hongsan was not in the mood to play with them today, so let them play by themselves. He said that he was going to see the house today, and sent them away. Zhu Hongsan saw Zhao Tiedan's height and physique, and thought that this was a coolie who didn't need money, and said, "Cousin, you have nothing to do, my mother will find you in a while." ”

Zhao Tiedan agreed honestly, and the others went to play separately when they saw that there was nothing to do.

Zhu Hongsan said to Zhao Tiedan: "Big cousin, did your uncle ask you to come to me?" ”

"Yes, my father told me that he would come to you to play with you if he had nothing to do, and said that he would not suffer a loss if he followed you."

Zhu Hongsan thought to himself: It seems that my uncle saw something a while ago, and he was worried that his eldest son would suffer in front of his stepmother in the future, so he sent it to me to see if there was any way out.

Zhu Hongsan said to Zhao Tiedan: "Big cousin, is your aunt good to you." ”

"It used to be okay, but since my brother was born last year, it's not good."

"Can you eat enough at your house?"

"I can't eat enough, my mother and father are going to fight if I eat too much, I'm afraid that my father will be sad, so every time I say I'm full."

"Big cousin, if you don't do this, I'll go to my uncle and say, you can live in my house in the future and live in the same room with me."

"Okay, I like my aunt the most, my aunt is the best for me, she always buys me candy to eat."

"Okay, I'll let you do some work in a while, you have to listen to me, I'll let you do whatever you want, and I'll buy you something delicious when it's done."

Zhao Tiedan said happily: "Okay, when my father came, he let me listen to you, but you have to buy me something delicious." ”

"Don't worry."

When Zhu Hongsan was chatting with Zhao Tiedan, some of the things ordered yesterday were delivered one after another. Ten pounds of brown sugar, twenty pounds of lime, and twenty pounds of charcoal. A clay jar, and a few custom-made iron cylinders. Zhu Hongsan looked at the iron cylinder, and the handiwork was okay.

Zhu Hongsan instructed Zhao Tiedan to fill the vat with more than half a tank of water, and then put the lime inside. Then find a stick and start stirring, dissolving the lime, and the yard is filled with a lime smell. Seeing that it was almost over, Zhu Hongsan instructed Zhao Tiedan to put all the brown sugar into the lime water.

Zhao Tiedan asked, "Isn't this sugar all blind?" ”

Zhu Hongsan pretended to be angry and said, "Cousin, what did I say just now, didn't you listen to me?" ”

Zhao Tiedan hurriedly said: "No, I just feel distressed when I look at it." ”

"Listen to me, let you arrive."

Zhao Tiedan didn't say anything, put ten catties of brown sugar into the lime water and stirred, and it melted away after a while, turning into a pot of white lime sugar water. After waiting for a while, he asked Zhao Tiedan to set up a carbon stove, connected the iron cylinders together, formed a curved conduit, and put it on the carbon stove again and again, and put it into the lime water again.

After about ten minutes, the carbon dioxide begins to react with the lime, and bubbles begin to appear on the surface of the water. Zhu Hongsan instructed Zhao Tiedan to slowly stir the sugar water, prompting the lime to speed up the reaction. After more than half an hour, seeing that the bubbles became less, Zhu Hongsan knew that it was almost there, and it would become carbonic acid with carbon dioxide. Command Zhao Tiedan to take the catheter and wait for the lime water to settle.

After an hour, the lime water in the tank has finished precipitating, with clear sugar water on top and calcium carbonate below. Carefully separate the sugar water from the deposited calcium carbonate, add the bamboo charcoal you bought to the sugar water, and use the bamboo charcoal to absorb the remaining impurities in the sugar water. After the third pass, the sugar water basically becomes clear.

At this time, put the sugar water in an iron pot and slowly boil it over low heat, and after half an hour, the sugar water that reaches the saturated concentration begins to precipitate white sugar. Seeing that it is almost over, stop the fire and use the residual heat to evaporate the remaining water. White sugar appeared at the bottom of the pot.

Zhu Hongsan can see that there are about three catties, according to what his mother said, one tael of white sugar and ten taels of silver to calculate that three catties of white sugar are about three hundred taels of silver, the input is less than half a tael of silver, and the output is six hundred times, sure enough, science and technology are the first productive forces. This is still a production process, a lot of brown sugar is wasted, and Zhu Hongsan estimates that two catties of white sugar can be produced in the calcium carbonate that is poured out.

Zhao Tiedan kept lying on the side of the pot and watched the precipitation of white sugar, and asked, "Sanwazi, what is coming out of this sugar water, is it sugar?" How is it white. ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "You can taste it." ”

Zhao Tiedan scratched a little and licked it with the tip of his tongue, and screamed: "My mother, it's sweet, it's so sweet." This is snow candy, I heard my father say that it is only sold in Wuchang Mansion. After speaking, he put a handful of sugar in his mouth and ate it.

Zhu Hongsan said angrily: "Don't eat, you don't want to die." ”

The ancients were very weak and weak, and eating too much of this white sugar would cause nosebleeds. Sure enough, after a while, Zhao Tiedan's nostrils were bleeding.