At noon, Xu Ping went to see the vat of winemaking, and now that the weather is hot, he can start steaming one after another. I can't wait for the fermented rice made with sweet sorghum a few days ago, and it will spoil if I put it in again.

The afternoon suddenly became busy.

Xu Ping and Xu Chang inspect the equipment for steaming wine and prepare, Sang Yi and Sun Qilang go to the field to continue experimenting with the harvester, and the harvest season is coming soon, which cannot wait.

Li Yonghe took a few of his men to the forage field of the herd pasture, inspected it in advance, and stayed there at night before returning tomorrow.

Li Zhang followed Sang Yi and Sun Qilang to the field to play for a while, and after watching the novelty of the harvester for a while, he felt bored, so he pestered Gao Daquan to take him fishing.

At this time, the equipment for steaming wine has already been replaced, and the volume of the special retort is larger than that of the large vat of winemaking, and one retort is just the material for steaming a vat. The iron pot is also specially made, which happens to be a set, and it is all placed together on the side of the brewing ground.

It has been fenced off and several rooms have been built, and it has been completely turned into a brewery, where the villagers watch the night at night.

Xu Ping looked at all the utensils, and the coal used for the fire had been piled up on the side, and a dozen large vats containing wine were placed on the side, waiting to be brushed.

After turning around with Xu Chang, I went to see the fermentation vat. At this time, the heat is a little insufficient, but it is barely enough to start steaming. Since they were brewed together at the time, once they started, they had to be steamed continuously.

After reading everything, Xu Ping always felt that something was missing, and stood there and didn't leave.

Xu Chang stayed aside and asked cautiously, "Da Lang, do you think something is wrong?" ”

Xu Ping turned around a few times, and suddenly remembered: "Everything, I forgot one thing!" ”

Xu Chang was taken aback and looked at Xu Ping in confusion.

Xu Ping pointed to the wine vat buried in the ground and said: "These are different from cooked glutinous rice wine, where can they all be brewed at one time?" After steaming once, the remaining ingredients should be re-buried in the vat and brewed again, so as not to waste food! The used vats should be brushed and cleaned, and they cannot be used immediately, so we have to find a few more large vats to bury here. ”

Xu Chang heard this and let out a sigh: "Da Lang, this is too much filter." Sorghum is as cheap as the soil, what a waste! Besides, Da Lang still has to use this sake lees to steam the sake pastry over there, so he has to refuse. ”

Xu Ping disagreed. This is a real waste of food, and his thoughts in his previous life thought that it was a great sin and could not be done easily. The fermentation of the first steamed sake is not complete, and the taste is also different.

Xu Chang couldn't help it, so he had to find two Zhuang Ke and bury two more vats in the ground.

When all this is done, it is time for the sun to set.

Xiuxiu is going to beg in Lin Suniang's courtyard tonight, and she won't come back, but she has Li Zhang, a guest in her house, so it's not good to be lazy.

Before Xu Ping returned to his small courtyard, he went to the vegetable garden to pick a few tomatoes, dig a few potatoes, pick two cucumbers, and bring a handful of shallots, ready to make do with Li Zhang.

Back in the courtyard, Li Zhang hadn't come back yet, so Xu Ping was washing vegetables by the water tank.

Not long after, Li Zhang ran in from outside, and saw that Xu Ping was busy there, so he came over to take a look.

Xu Ping glanced at him: "How was the harvest this afternoon?" ”

Li Zhang held two grass carp weighing three or five catties, almost leaned on Xu Ping's nose, and said proudly: "It's okay!" Brother, this is really a good place, endless fish, endless crabs! Why didn't I find out last time? ”

Xu Ping smiled: "You've been busy with these in one afternoon?" ”

Li Zhang said: "Actually, there are still some more, I asked Gao Daquan to take them back for Zhuang Ke to eat." By the way, there are also some shrimp, let's eat them. ”

In his other hand, he carried a small straw basket with a pound or two of grass shrimp in it.

Xu Ping was also happy to see it, and took it: "Okay, let's make a stir-fried prawn in the evening!" I forgot that there is such a good thing in the water, I really shouldn't have it! ”

Xu Ping was busy here, so Li Zhang went to the house to drink water.

Coming out of the house, Xu Ping had already cut the tomatoes, sprinkled them with sugar, made a sugar tomatoes and brought them to the table. When Li Zhang saw it, he stretched out his hand to grab it.

Xu Ping opened his hand: "It's delicious when the sugar stains go down, what are you anxious about!" ”

Li Zhang grinned and asked Xu Ping, "Why is my brother busy?" What about Xiuxiu? ”

Xu Ping said: "I said I had already said that she would beg for luck tonight, and she would not come back." ”

Li Zhang muttered: "Girls are trouble." ”

For tonight's dish, Xu Ping made a sugar-tome-to-tomato, a stir-fried shredded potato, a fried grass shrimp, and a braised fish nugget.

In this era, eating and drinking are indispensable, the two brothers touched a glass, Li Zhang took a piece of tomato and chewed it in his mouth, and praised it in his mouth: "The persimmons grown here by my brother are really delicious, especially the sugar used on them, the color is good, and the taste is extraordinarily sweet!" ”

Xu Ping just smiled bitterly and shook his head.

It's sprinkled with sugar, I don't know how much effort it took Xu Ping! The weather was hot, Xu Ping himself wanted to eat a sugar tomato, and asked Xu Chang to go out to buy sugar, only to know that there was only brown sugar in this era, and it was extremely impure and had a lot of impurities. The price of such sugar is still frighteningly expensive, and it is not affordable for ordinary people. Ordinary people who want to eat sweet food to satisfy their cravings can only buy sugar, that is, maltose and the like. In order to turn the brown sugar he bought into white sugar, Xu Ping added lime water and decolorized it with activated carbon, and the final product was still slightly yellow, and it could not really be made into sugar.

Sometimes Xu Ping also thinks that his luck in this trip is really bad to come to such a place. At the feet of the Son of Heaven, he can't play any tricks, and there are obviously many ways to make money, so he can only watch with his eyes, but he can't do it.

In this era, the quality of sugar is so poor, the production is small, and the price is frighteningly more expensive, if you pass through a place where sugar cane is produced, you will become very rich in less than two years. Sugar is a necessity of life, and with the Song Dynasty's pervasive attitude towards commercial profits, there was no monopoly, so it can be seen that this market is still a large blank.

Hate Xu Ping's crossing welfare is sweet sorghum, I was quite happy at first, but I regretted it after knowing the market for sugar, if it was better to change it to beets, it would be able to do a big job. Although the sugar content of sweet sorghum is also very high, there are too many harmful impurities in it, and the technology of this era cannot come up with pure sugar at all, and can only be boiled into syrup, so what's the use?

After a few glasses of wine, Li Zhang ate a plate of persimmons, and Xu Ping just ate shrimp. In his previous life, this was something he couldn't afford to eat, and of course he had to eat it when he had the opportunity.

Full of wine and food, Li Zhang asked, "Brother, I heard that you are going to steam wine tomorrow?" ”

Xu Ping glanced at him: "What, you're also addicted to drinking?" At a young age, don't learn badly! ”

Li Zhang smiled: "Where, I was drunk twice, and I didn't dare to drink the soju you brewed again." But Grandpa Duan, who drank the wine he brought last time and learned to be strong, never forgot it, and asked me to bring him two more jars this time. ”

Xu Ping shook his head: "It's not that I'm reluctant, it's just that I'm here in Zhongmu County, and it's risky to bring wine to the capital." If Grandpa Duan likes to drink, when will you bring him to live with me for a few days and have a good drink. ”

Li Zhang sighed: "Daddy said the same thing." However, Grandpa Duan is old and doesn't like to move around. ”

Xu Ping's heart moved, remembering his tricycle, and said to Li Zhang: "And in a few days, I will harvest the crops in the field here, and I will not be so busy, I will go to the capital with you and pick him up." ”

Li Zhang just sighed: "What can you do?" It's a pity that my grandfather has worked hard all his life, and he has such a thought when he is old, and he can't take advantage of his intentions, and I can't help it. ”

Xu Ping didn't say anything, and gossiped with him.

After eating, the two of them cleaned up, and they didn't feel sleepy, so they sat in the courtyard and talked.

At this time, a bright moon hung high, casting mottled shadows through the poplars in the courtyard.

I don't know what Xiuxiu is tossing in the yard over there, and it's lively all night.

The two brothers gossiped for a while, and they were bored. Xu Ping remembered something and said to Li Zhang: "You come with me, I'll find something for you to play." ”

Li Zhang got up when he heard the play, followed Xu Ping back to the house, and took out the alcohol lamp. This is no longer the original one, Su Er saw the alcohol lamp and was greedy, so she asked Xiuxiu to tell Xu Ping that she wanted it too, Xiuxiu pressed and didn't tell her, so she took that one away, and asked Lin Suniang to use needlework at night, and Xiuxiu couldn't help it. This one is only made of the Rujiao porcelain cup that Sang Yi brought back from Ruzhou to Xu Ping, which is more exquisite.

Holding the alcohol lamp, Xu Ping took Li Zhang to the big poplar tree in the courtyard and shone on the trunk.

A cicada is lying on a tree, coming out of its shell, white and boneless.

Li Zhang asked Xu Ping suspiciously: "Brother wants this?" Does anyone want a cicada to molt when they are sick? ”

Xu Ping smiled: "What do you want!" You look closely, as long as the ones that haven't come out of the shell yet, catch more, and tomorrow we will fry the wine. ”

Li Zhang laughed: "Brother said laughing!" I've never heard of anyone eating this. ”

Xu Ping said: "You children don't understand, this is a good thing, and only when you understand it will know that it is delicious." You just have to catch it, and you won't know the benefits until you eat it in your mouth tomorrow. ”

Li Zhang's childlike nature, when he heard Xu Ping say this, he went to catch it. The two of them went straight from the courtyard to the outside of the courtyard, at this time no one paid attention to this kind of thing, there were very many of them, and they crawled everywhere, or it didn't take much effort, they caught more than a hundred of them, and held them in a basin of water.

Back in the house, Xu Ping drained the water, salted it, and said to Li Zhang: "When Xiuxiu comes back tomorrow, fry it in hot oil and eat it, you will know how delicious this thing is!" ”

Xu Ping also once accidentally found that there were a lot of cicada monkeys climbing on the poplar trees in his yard when he was enjoying the shade in the courtyard, and he caught a lot of them on a whim and fried them in oil to satisfy his appetite. In his previous life, this kind of thing was already popular, and the price was expensive, and Xu Ping just remembered what he used to eat when he was a child, but when he grew up, he couldn't afford to eat it. came to this world, but everywhere.

When the two brothers were done, they washed themselves in the courtyard with cold water, and gossiped on the bed for a while, until midnight, when they fell asleep together.