It was a cloudless and crisp autumn weather.

Early in the morning, Chu Fan ran around the village as always, returned to the yard with a drenched sweat, and carried a bucket of water from the well shirtless.

Since meeting Liu Chengren that day, Chu Fan has become more eager to boil his muscles and bones, Chongzhen Dynasty is not a paradise for weak literati, without a strong body, how to face the upcoming turbulent life?

After drying his body carefully, Chu Fan returned to the house, and Xian Cha, who had already gotten up, helped him comb his hair, and then put on his clothes and came out to prepare for breakfast-he did not wear a shirt, but a cloth jacket and trousers, which was convenient for narrowing the distance between him and the ten workers who officially started work today.

The stove in the courtyard has been built, and although it was rushed out yesterday, it is still decent. On the stove was a large brand new iron pot with a huge spatula half a man high.

At the beginning of the hour, the ten people that the Zhang family had found the day before came one after another.

After everyone arrived, a long table was set up in the courtyard, and Zhang took the opportunity to have breakfast to introduce these ten people to Chu Fan one by one.

The three cooks are all men, and two of them are in their fifties surnamed Zhang and Ma, respectively, and are the old tenants of the Chu family, and their loyalty goes without saying; The other one in his thirties is the Yuan branch of the Chu family, according to his generation, Chu Fan still has to call Uncle Nineteen, he is an honest man who can't beat a fart with three sticks.

The seven cigarette workers are all aunts, and six of them are the daughters-in-law of the old tenants of the Chu family, and in the end, this one surprised Chu Fan, who was actually the only concubine of his third uncle Chu Ning, Chu Fan should call the little third aunt.

"The family was bored and panicked, and his second aunt said that she was looking for someone to help, so I came...... Big nephew, I don't want to be paid, I just have a job to do it. "The little third aunt eats sweet with a big cake in one hand and a mouthful of white porridge, and her rudeness is not much better than that Ge Bi.

"What the third aunt said, how can you let you do it in vain? What to do. Chu Fan responded with a smile.

After breakfast, the official start of work. Chu Fan took the three cookers to fill the iron pot with half a pot of water and lit the stove.

The water boiled until it was steaming, Chu Fan stretched out his hand to try it, it was a little hot, Chu Fan said to the three cooks, "At any time, the fire can't be big, just keep it at this temperature, you all come and try." ”

After repeating the instructions a few times, Chu Fan went back to the house and closed the door, called Zhang, Chu Qin, and Xian Cha to him, opened the cloth bag containing Ah Bian and said, "This is the biggest secret of our family's translation, only the four people in our house can know, and no one can tell him." ”

Seeing that he said solemnly, the three of the Zhang family nodded yes one after another.

Chu Fan saw that Xiancha was curious, picked up a piece of Ah Bian and sniffed it in front of his nose, quickly snatched it down and said, "This thing must not be touched...... Except when it's time to add it to tobacco, it's usually best not to look at it! Don't forget! ”

The three of them became more and more confused, and they talked about the bottom of the matter, and Chu Fan was inconvenient to say, so he could only prevaricate on the grounds that this was a miracle medicine that was most suitable for the Japanese people.

Then he explained the ratio of tobacco to Ah Bian to the three of them in detail, and repeatedly emphasized that weighing Ah Bian can only be done by his own family, and he cannot fake any outsiders, including the third aunt.

After speaking, Chu Fan weighed eight and a half catties of Ah Bian in front of him, put Ah Bian in the pot, and slowly dissolved, and a strong smell of urine immediately spread in the yard.

In the puzzled eyes of the courtyard, Chu Fan weighed fifty catties of tobacco and put it in the pot as well.

"Eldest nephew, I only know that this dry tobacco is used to smoke, how can I ...... Can you still cook it? The more she looked at it, the more strange the little third aunt smiled.

Chu Fan stood on the stool next to the stove, stirred the tobacco in the pot vigorously, and responded with a smile, "Little third aunt, this tobacco is not clean, it has to be washed with water." "He didn't want to explain, so he just made it up.

"Hey! Just tease me...... Ever heard of washing clothes, washing tobacco? Haha......" The third aunt couldn't help laughing, and everyone in the courtyard laughed.

In the laughter, an hour passed, the water in the pot gradually evaporated, Chu Fan commanded the three cooks to put out the fire, and kept stir-frying the tobacco in the pot with a spatula, until the water vapor could no longer be seen, Chu Fan took everyone to take the tobacco out of the pot, spread it in the dustpan and continue to expose it to the sun, so that the tobacco was completely dry.

In the process of waiting for the tobacco to dry, Chu Fan took out the three guillotines he had prepared before, took out a pale yellow mulberry paper, took out a small note one finger long and half a finger wide, and said to the third aunt and the other six people, "Just according to this size, all the pieces of paper will be made into small strips." ”

Everyone followed the paper, but Chu Fan went into the kitchen and brought out the fish maw glue that had been boiled the night before-the last time after sticking the Xuande furnace, Chu Fan recognized this ancient liquid glue.

The paper strips were well put and the tobacco shredded out, Chu Fan began to teach them to roll cigarettes: first use fish maw glue to dip the paper strips into a small paper tube, then put one end on the table, stuff the tobacco from the other end, poke it firmly with a wooden stick, and a cigarette is finished.

The little third aunt has a rough appearance, but she is really ingenious, Chu Fan demonstrated it twice, and she figured it out. After rolling a few cigarettes, she made a suggestion to Chu Fan, she could make some wooden molds, according to the thickness of the cigarettes, and put the paper tube in her eyes, it would be much more convenient to stuff tobacco into it.

Chu Fan happily accepted, called the carpenter in the village, and after explaining the size and style, he ordered a batch of wooden molds on the spot.

When Ge Bi came, the old man came in without saying a word, curiously wandering around to see everyone busy, and finally stopped beside a cigarette maker, reached out and picked up a cigarette roll and looked left and right.

After looking at it for a while, he walked up to Chu Fan and asked, "Young Master, is this ...... You suck it, right? It's the same as smoking dry tobacco? ”

Chu Fan nodded.

"Then I'll try it." After Ge Bi finished speaking, he reached into his arms and took out the fire fold.

"Wait!" Chu Fan was startled, and hurriedly stopped him and said, "Uncle Ge, you can't suck!" ”

"Why?" Ge Bi was stunned.

Chu Fan pulled him to the corner of the courtyard and said in a low voice, "Uncle Ge, these cigarettes are to be sold to the Japanese country, and they can only be smoked by the Japanese people." ”

Ge Bi frowned and looked at the cigarette roll in his hand, and then looked at Chu Fan, his eyes were full of question marks.

“…… Uncle Ge, you will know in the future, anyway, remember one thing, we Ming people, we must not suck this! Chu Fan couldn't explain it, so he had to emphasize it repeatedly.

After appeasing Ge Bi, Chu Fan continued to guide everyone, he bought more than 20 catties of Abian and more than 200 catties of tobacco from Dengzhou this time, which was enough to train these ten people to mature their hands.

After eating at noon, whether it is the stove worker or the cigarette aunts, they are all gradually looking a little bit better.

At this time, the sound of a carriage sounded outside the door, and Chen Shangren came.

"What does it smell like?" As soon as he entered the courtyard, Chen Shangren frowned and asked.

"Come into the house and say it in the house." Chu Fan accompanied him through the courtyard and into his room.

After sitting down, Chen Shangren saw that Chu Fan was full of confidence and smiled, and he couldn't see the sad face of the other day at all, and asked curiously, "Why is the virtuous nephew so elated?" ”

"Uncle Chen, if you have thought of a plan and act according to the plan, 30,000 silver and other idle ears." Chu Fan stroked his palm.

"Oh? Will the plan be settled? Chen Shangren asked curiously.

Chu Fan didn't answer, went out and took a cigarette roll back, put it in front of Chen Shangren and said, "That's it." ”

Chen Shangren picked up the cigarette roll and looked at it for a long time, "Isn't this just dry tobacco?" ”

"This tobacco is not the other tobacco," Chu Fan smiled proudly, "As soon as this thing arrives in Dongying, it will definitely be all the rage, and each one can be sold for 1 cent of silver, and it is still in short supply!" ”

Chen Shangren, who was opposite him, was already dumbfounded.

"A penny of silver? Are you crazy? ”