The sun rose as always, and our Wang Xingxin was not woken up by a chicken, nor was Liu Lao Er woken up. He was woken up by hunger, really hungry, that is, yesterday he ate two corn cakes and drank a bowl of not very clean water, and unsurprisingly was woken up hungry. Touching his shriveled stomach, the biggest problem Wang Xingxin is facing now is how to solve the problem of food and clothing. Thinking about the two burnt corncakes yesterday, he couldn't help but swallow.

Standing in front of the firewood room, Wang Xingxin sorted out his thoughts, thought about it, and shouted in the courtyard: "Uncle Liu, Uncle Liu, please come out, the kid has something important to tell you." Not long after, Liu Lao Er came out of the house, and it seemed that he had just woken up

"Wang Xiaolang, what's the matter?"

"Dare to ask Uncle Liu, what kind of salt are we eating now, and what is the price of salt now?"

"Salt is salt, and there is still a lot of salt, and the price of salt is not high, and a bucket of salt is worth a hundred yuan."

"Uncle, how much is a bucket of refined salt like snow?"

"Refined salt? But green salt? That's expensive, Qingyan has always been a pound of money, and it is not available to non-rich and noble families. ”

To get the accurate price of salt, Wang Xingxin's hanging heart suddenly let go. A bucket is 16 catties (I checked a lot of information, some say that a bucket is 30 catties, some say 16 catties, and some say 12.5 catties, take a median value of 16 catties) Even if a bucket of coarse salt is refined from a catty of refined salt, it is ten times the profit, Wang Xingxin feels that a happy life is coming.

"Uncle Liu, the kid has a way to refine coarse salt into refined salt, I estimate that a bucket of coarse salt can refine at least three catties of refined salt, I don't know if the uncle can partner with me to do this business, so that the kid can make some money and settle down."

"Xiao Langjun, what you said is true? Can you really turn coarse salt into green salt as fine as snow? ”

"How dare the kid deceive the uncle, now the kid is hungry like thunder, just want to make some money in exchange for food and food, this is a major matter related to the life and death of the kid, and he will never dare to deceive Uncle Liu."

"Alas! Xiao Langjun wants to be wrong, don't say that the old man doesn't want to see you hungry, even the government doesn't agree, the old man who starved to death is about to admit punishment in this village, and the five families in the whole village will always give you a bite to eat if you go to each family to help with farm work. ”

Hearing this, Wang Xingxin couldn't help but be a little moved, the folk customs of the Tang Dynasty are really simple.

"Uncle, the kid is definitely not telling a lie, I don't believe that the kid will make refined salt with you now."

"Really? If you need anything, just tell the old man, and the old man will see how you make the green salt. ”

After saying that, Liu Lao Er took out a jar of coarse salt from the house, and Wang Xingxin saw that it was really coarse salt, coarse enough! Crude indeed! The big ones are as big as walnuts, and even the small ones are as big as grapes. I took out a piece of coarse salt the size of a walnut and looked at the sun, and sure enough, it was yellow-brown and contained a lot of impurities. I licked it with my tongue, and in addition to the salty taste, there was also a bitter taste.

In the early autumn morning sun, Wang Xingxin didn't care about his shriveled belly, and said to Liu Laohan: "I need broken charcoal, clean linen, three large wooden barrels, an iron pot, and enough firewood." ”

"The old man has charcoal at home, and he also has sackcloth, and I will go to Gongzi's house to find iron pots and firewood with you, what more do you want?"

"It would be better to have a small stone mill, and I will grind the coarse salt."

"There are also stone mills, some of them, the old man is looking for someone to carry them, Xiao Langjun will wait for a while."

After a while, I saw that all five families in the village came to Liu Laoer's house, some carried stone mills, some held wooden barrels, and some also held a piece of linen. Liu Lao Er also hurriedly went into the house to get some charcoal, and looked at Wang Xingxin with both hands in his eyes.

Wang Xingxin looked at Liu Laohan's eager eyes, and then looked at all the villagers in Yuanlou Village, and immediately commanded without ambiguity. He had the coarse salt ground in a stone mill, and then the charcoal was crushed, rinsed with water, and wrapped in clean linen. Then Wang Xingxin asked people to wash the barrel again. After seeing that everything was ready, Wang Xingxin began to dissolve and filter.

Put the ground coarse salt into a large wooden barrel, add water and stir vigorously to dissolve it as soon as possible to reach saturation, then cover another wooden barrel with a double-layer linen, pour the dissolved salt water on the linen, so that some impurities are filtered out, and then the filtered water is poured into a wooden barrel filled with charcoal and filter out some impurities and some toxins can also be filtered out. In this way, most of the barrels of relatively clear saturated brine are obtained. Wang Xingxin dipped some in his hand and put it in his mouth and tasted it, it was salty and salty, but there was no bitter taste.

Wang Xingxin asked people to set up a cauldron, the fire was boiling, and the salted water was poured into the pot to boil. Everyone watched the water in the pot decrease little by little, and finally it was all dry, but what was left in the pot was fine salt. Liu Lao Er didn't care about the hot stuff, grabbed a handful of refined salt from the pot and rubbed it, it was as fine as snow, and put some in his mouth to taste, except for the salty taste, there was no bitter taste.

Liu Laohan trembled his hands and pulled Wang Xingxin: "Xiao Langjun really refined refined salt, it is really refined salt, whiter and finer than green salt." ”

"Uncle Liu, do you think this refined salt is easy to sell? We don't sell a pound consistently, don't always make money, as long as 688, that's right, as long as 688, 688 like snow essence salt to take home! ”

The excited Wang Xingxin used the advertising words of modern promotion.

"Hey, my little Langjun, don't say that the money is consistent, that is, if there is more such good refined salt, those big families will definitely compete to buy it, and there is no need to sell it at a reduced price."

At this time, the whole village became excited, and looking at the refined salt in the pot seemed to see a pot full of copper coins. Looking at Wang Xingxin, he is not an innocent little Langjun, but looking at a little golden man, all his eyes are shining. At this moment, a discordant cooing sound came from Wang Xingxin's stomach. Wang Xingxin touched his shriveled stomach and looked at Liu Lao Er with blank eyes. Immediately, a woman with strong eyes spoke: "Xiao Langjun, is there no need to eat?" The owner went to get some corn cakes, and then took two eggs for Xiao Langjun to eat. ”

Wang Xingxin burst into tears, fortunately, there are still people who remember that my brother didn't eat, it seems that now that the problem of food and clothing has been solved, there are still eggs to eat. Well, two eggs are just the right thing to do.

While Wang Xingxin waited for the woman's man to go and get the corn, he taught the people in the village how to refine the refined salt. This method is definitely simple and easy to learn, and it can be used again after being cleaned without too much waste. Just as Wang Xingxin was gulping down eggs and dipping them in salt, a little girl about 13 or 4 years old beside Liu Gangzi was looking at him secretly with big dark eyes.

After eating, Liu Lao Er beckoned all the families to bring all the coarse salt at home Wang Xingxin commanded everyone to refine, and was busy until the sun was about to set, and a total of 34 catties of refined salt were raised. That's thirty-four! A bucket of coarse salt is 16 catties, and more than 7 catties of refined salt can be obtained through consumption, which is 70 times the profit. After refining all the coarse salt, Liu Lao Er convened a meeting with the whole village, and the main content of the meeting was: First, from now on, Wang Jiaxiaolang is a key protection unit, and he can't be hungry or frozen. Second, the method of salt production must not be leaked and must be completely confidential. Third, tomorrow there will be Liu Laohan to lead the team, Liu Gangzi and other 5 people will go to Chang'an City to sell salt, and Wang Xingxin will get 70% of the silver money earned, and the remaining 30% will be divided equally among the five households in the village. In short, it was a triumphant rally, a historic rally, and a celebratory rally.

After the conclusion of the meeting, each family went back to their homes, but Wang Xingxin continued to live in the firewood room, the difference was that the firewood room had an extra table, on which there was a bowl of corn cakes, a few hard-boiled eggs, and a jar of water. The bed was not covered with hay, but a sheepskin from someone else.

Looking at the slightly changed firewood room, Wang Xingxin picked up the corn cake and eggs, thinking about whether to eat the corn cake or the egg first.