webnovelfull Chapter 451 Making Ice from Saltpeter
Chapter 451 Making Ice from Saltpeter
The next few days were truly a short and bittersweet night.
Lu Zhenzhen even suspected that if Fu Zhiyi was the king, he would probably be called a tyrant, and she would be the evil concubine.
He was always in love with her, finding all kinds of excuses not to go to the county government office to handle official business, just wanting to be affectionate with her.
Although this meat is delicious, I can’t stand eating it until I’m full every day.
Lu Zhenzhen could no longer tolerate Fu Zhiyi, and after five days, when he still showed no signs of restraint, she finally kicked him out to the front yard.
She made a harsh statement: if you don’t go to the front and handle your work honestly, you won’t be able to sleep with her for a month!
Fu Zhiyi then touched his sore butt with a wronged look on his face and went to the front to do his work.
He seemed to be pestering Lu Zhenzhen every day these days, but he was actually not idle either.
Things that need to be dealt with have already been dealt with.
The three hundred people that Tang Liang brought with him also calmed down. Some of them stayed in the farm, some went into the mountains to hunt, and the remaining smart ones were settled at the dock by Lin Dejiang and Huang Chunsheng with the cooperation of each other.
The identities assigned to them were both true and false. They just said that they were people brought from the north, and they couldn't make it in the north, so they came to South Vietnam to find a job.
Hundreds of strong men formed a small gang right at the dock.
The idle men carrying bags and unloading goods at the Nanyue dock wanted to cause some trouble, but they were outnumbered and looked tough. Moreover, they had the support of two trading companies, so they turned a blind eye and let these hundreds of people stay at the dock temporarily.
As for the others, the two advisors that my uncle, Minister Lan, had found had also arrived.
Those who were noticed by Minister Lan and specially recommended to Fu Zhiyi were naturally experienced and slick people.
It is said that everyone has his or her own expertise. Within just a few days of the two legal advisors' arrival, the account books in the Nanyue County government and the complex relationships between the personnel were sorted out.
The county lieutenant and the chief clerk can no longer use their little tricks and schemes.
The two men realized that this new Lord Fu was not easy to fool. On the one hand, they were busy making up for the previous mistakes, and on the other hand, they had asked the women in their family to pass on several invitations, anxious to come and pay a visit to Lu Zhenzhen, the wife of the county magistrate, and wanted to take the lady's route.
Lu Zhenzhen was not in a hurry to meet these housekeepers and their wives. She had accepted the invitation, but she had not yet said when she would meet them.
Now that she had finally kicked the clingy Fu Zhiyi away, Lu Zhenzhen's first priority was to get busy with making ice from saltpeter.
The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and the family has to spend dozens or even hundreds of taels of silver every day just to buy ice. The owner of the ice shop gives a discount because it is the county government that makes the decision.
It's only May, but it can be hot in South Vietnam until September or October. How much money will this cost?
Lu Zhenzhen felt distressed about the money she had spent in the past few days.
Sure enough, beauty is not only a hindrance, but also causes financial loss.
He cursed Fu Zhiyi in his heart, then signaled someone to go to the front and get the saltpeter he bought last time.
Then he ordered someone to bring a large basin, which was mostly filled with water. Inside the large basin was a small basin, which was also filled with clean water.
Then pour the saltpeter that has been ground into powder into the large basin.
While pouring, stir quickly with a long wooden stick to mix the saltpeter powder evenly.
After the saltpeter was completely dissolved in the water, you could feel the water temperature gradually dropping.
Lu Zhenzhen signaled for someone to carry the large and small basins to a cool place and leave them there. The next step was to wait.
In just about half an hour, Lu Zhenzhen saw that the water in the small basin had frozen into ice.
This scene alone made Madam Ye and the four older maids dumbfounded.
The way he looked at Lu Zhenzhen was as if he was looking at a goddess.
"Husband, Madam, are you trying to turn water into ice?" Haitang managed to say this after a long while.
I've only heard of turning stone into gold, but this is the first time I've heard of turning water into ice.
Lu Zhenzhen was at a loss for words when she ordered, "Go to the front and invite the master over so he can see my work."
Someone went there immediately.
Not long after, Fu Zhiyi arrived.
Fu Zhiyi touched the ice cube, a look of surprise on his face: "Can it really work?"
Lu Zhenzhen signaled for someone to bring a large bucket and a basin, and she provided guidance while Fu Zhiyi tried it out himself.
Watching the water in the basin freeze into ice, Fu Zhiyi happily picked up Lu Zhenzhen and spun her around twice: "Zhenzhen, you really are my lucky star!"
Now, although Huang Chunsheng, Lin Dejiang and Yu Wenlong seem to be on my side and are trying their best to curry favor with me.
But businessmen are profit-oriented. If you can't let them benefit, they won't be very sincere in doing things for you.
I was just wondering what opportunity I could use to completely subdue these three people.
Unexpectedly, this opportunity came.
Fu Zhiyi rarely lost his composure, not caring about the presence of servants.
Nanny Ye and several maids turned around with an aunt's smile on their faces, covering their mouths and backing away.
Lu Zhenzhen then patted Fu Zhiyi's shoulder and asked him to let her go.
Fu Zhiyi let go of Lu Zhenzhen with a grin, rubbing his shoulders and looking at the two large buckets of ice, thinking quickly in his mind.
Lu Zhenzhen was calculating the bill for Fu Zhiyi. "This saltpeter isn't cheap. Half an ounce of silver is a pound, and the ratio of saltpeter to water should be half, or one-third, to make a basin of ice like this."
"But the only advantage is that this saltpeter can be reused. After making ice, you can boil the water in the bucket dry, scrape off the saltpeter powder, and make ice cubes again."
"But even so, the final cost of making ice from saltpeter is definitely more cost-effective than buying ice. More importantly, the ice produced this way is cleaner, as it uses clean well water. Most of the ice sold is taken from rivers, which contains a lot of impurities. People with weak stomachs should not try it lightly."
Fu Zhiyi silently calculated in his mind that even though the saltpeter was not cheap and the amount used was quite large, after calculating the cost, it was still a huge profit.
What's more, labor is not worth much money. As long as there are enough people, we can make a batch of ice and try it out first.
Knowing what was going on, Fu Zhiyi looked around and saw that there was no one around. He hugged Lu Zhenzhen and gave her a kiss, "Thank you, Madam! I have no way of repaying your kindness. I will definitely marry you when I come back tonight—"
After saying that, he ran away without waiting for Lu Zhenzhen to react.
After taking a few steps, he turned back and told someone to send the two basins of ice to the county government office in front.
He went to the front and ordered someone to call Lin Dejiang and the other three.
After all this trouble, Fu Zhiyi came back in the evening, and he looked visibly relaxed.
After dinner, they sent the servants away and sat in the pavilion to enjoy the cool air.
Fu Zhiyi then told Lu Zhenzhen that after he called Lin Dejiang and the other two over, he asked them to take a look at the two basins of ice first.
At first, several people misunderstood, thinking that Fu Zhiyi's salary could not cover the cost of buying ice, and asked them to come, hoping that he would give him some money as a gift.
He had already figured it out in his mind that it would not be difficult for these three people to provide ice to Fu Zhiyi's family as a filial gift. He was extremely happy to do the county magistrate such a favor.