Chapter 10: Sugar Making Success

After a while of playing around with his daughter, Old Master Su’s mood improved. He casually asked, “Mingyue, do you have something to talk to your father about today?”

Otherwise, why would she be sitting in the front hall waiting for him?

Only then did Su Mingyue remember the real reason she had come. She had come to complain!

“Father, let me tell you…”

“Bang—” Old Master Su angrily threw the teacup. “Scoundrel! Does he really think that the Su Family is blind, to approve of that lowly thing? Even if my Daughter never marries, I will never let you marry him! Wait, I’ll go get revenge for you.”

“Father, wait a moment, let me finish talking.”

After a moment, Old Master Su finally smiled, “This person seems to be alright. When there’s an opportunity, I’ll personally thank him.”

“Hehe, good! Then I’ll go back to my room now!”

“Go ahead, go ahead. Don’t forget to go to the accounting office for some money!”

“I’m not lacking money.” She still had to maintain the image of a “frugal and diligent wife,” after all!

She couldn’t let that image collapse so easily!

However, today was also a success. She had achieved her goal.

She had successfully gotten Shen Lang to show his face in front of her father, which would make it easier for him to ask for her hand in marriage in the future…

Thinking of this, she felt a bit melancholic. When would she ever be able to marry him?

At the same time, Shen Lang was also stirring the sugarcane juice in the pot, sighing.

Sigh, when will I be able to marry my beloved…

Sugarcane juice, sugarcane juice, you have to be a bit more cooperative.

A few days ago, when he went to the county, Shen Xiuyan discovered that sugar was extremely expensive now, especially the candy sugar.

That made him think about making sugar himself.

By coincidence, there was a sugarcane grove at the foot of the mountain that no one wanted, so when he returned home, he took Shen Yuanming with him to chop down some.

After boiling it over a big fire, the filtered sugarcane juice gradually became thicker.

Shen Xiuyan began to pour the syrup into bowls.

Zhou Shi stood outside the door, curiously asking, “Yuanming, what is your brother doing?”

Shen Yuanming shook his head, “I don’t know either. When he came back from the county, he asked me to help him chop down that unwanted sugarcane, then we pressed the juice for an afternoon. After that, he took the juice to the kitchen and started stirring it, but I’ve tasted the juice, and it’s just like before, nothing extraordinary, can’t even fill your stomach. I don’t know what he’s trying to do.”

“This…” Zhou Shi felt sorry for the firewood, not knowing whether to stop him or not.

When the brown syrup was finally out of the pot, Shen Xiuyan wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Then, he saw his mother and younger brother standing by the door, so he called out, “Mother, Yuanming, come over and taste this.”

With curiosity, the two of them lightly picked up some amber-colored syrup with chopsticks and then tasted it.

“Sweet! This is actually sugar!!!” Shen Yuanming couldn’t help but widen his eyes.

Even Zhou Shi looked at Shen Xiuyan with an expression full of disbelief, “This, this, this… this is actually sugar!!!”

It was no wonder they were so shocked. After all, sugar was a precious commodity, and eating a bite would make one feel sweet all day long.

But the sugar-making process of the Nanyue Dynasty was so complicated, and the price was always sky-high, making it something ordinary people couldn’t afford frequently. And now, it was made so simply???

Shen Xiuyan smiled faintly, “How is it? If I sell this sugar for ten copper coins a pound, do you think anyone would buy it?”

Zhou Shi clutched her chest, “My foolish child, even if you sell it for twenty copper coins a pound, it would be snapped up immediately. If you didn’t manage the household, you wouldn’t know how valuable sugar is.”

Shen Xiuyan naturally knew this, or he wouldn’t be making sugar in the first place.

At this point, Zhou Shi was too busy to deal with Shen Xiuyan. She rolled up her sleeves and ordered, “Yuanming, take the machete and come with me to cut sugarcane.”

Now, she was full of energy and no longer cared about the firewood. She couldn’t wait to go and chop down all the unwanted sugarcane to make more sugar.

“Yes! Mother!” Shen Yuanming was also so excited that he couldn’t speak. If they sold this, wouldn’t their family be able to have meat every meal from now on?

At this moment, the way they looked at Shen Xiuyan changed. Their eyes were filled with admiration.

“Wait, you two don’t go yet. I still have some things to do, stay and help me out,” Shen Xiuyan quickly stopped them. With just the three of them, they wouldn’t be able to make much money, and the priority now was to invent everything first.

“Alright, alright.” The two of them were now completely deferential.

Taking advantage of the daylight, Shen Xiuyan and the others quickly set the syrup in the bowl, and after it solidified, they cut it into blocks. Thus, the brown sugar blocks were officially made.

Then, he boiled another pot of brown sugar water, used the leftover charcoal from burning wood to filter it instead of activated charcoal, and after filtering, the clean liquid was boiled again until large amounts of white crystals appeared—white sugar.

Although there were still many impurities in the white sugar, its color and shape were already impressive.

At least, the mother and son staring at the pot both shuddered.

When they realized that this batch of sugar was even richer and smoother, their gasps continued non-stop.

They covered their trembling hands, “Where did you learn this recipe from…?”

Shen Xiuyan scratched his head, “I happened to come across an old book recently, and tried following what it said. I didn’t expect it to actually work, hehe.”

Zhou Shi: “……”

Shen Yuanming: “……”

“Hehe,” they thought, “Hehe, you big fool!”

Is it really that simple!!!

Just tried it and succeeded?

How many people would be frustrated by this!

Could it be that our family has produced a genius?

Indeed, reading is important! No wonder so many people fight to go to school. As the saying goes, ‘In books, there is beauty, in books, there is a golden house.’

Now, money is just around the corner!

With this skill, our family will never lack money again.

Shen Xiuyan had a hard time convincing the two of them, who wanted to chop sugarcane all night. With just the three of them, they could make money, but not a lot.

What Shen Xiuyan needed now was a large sum of money.

He shared his thoughts with the two, and they agreed.

So, the next morning, Shen Xiuyan went to find the village chief.

“Shen Family boy? A rare guest!” The gray-haired village chief smiled, “What brings you to me today?”

Shen Xiuyan took out the sugar.

Shen Xiuyan explained his intentions.

The village chief was so shocked that he fell off his chair.

“Shen Family boy, oh no, Mr. Shen, are you serious? You really want to hire people from the village to work for you?”

This was a huge opportunity! During the off-season, many people would go to the county to find work, but the jobs they found were usually hard and didn’t pay well.

Now, if the Shen Family boy was willing to hire people from the village, it was a great chance to make money without leaving the village. The only question was how much the pay would be. As long as it was more than five copper coins a day, there would definitely be many people willing to work.

“Of course, that’s why I came to find you,” Shen Xiuyan smiled serenely, “I trust you. You can choose the people, start with twenty, both men and women are fine as long as they are honest, and each person will get ten copper coins per day.”

“Really?!!”

“Really!”

“Mr. Shen, you’re very kind!” This price was even higher than what they could get in the county, and people would definitely fight to get it.

The village chief, being human and having his own motives, rubbed his hands awkwardly, “Well, could my son and daughter-in-law go too?”

He didn’t want to miss out on such a good opportunity.

Shen Xiuyan emphasized, “As long as they are honest and willing to work.”

“Alright, alright, my kids are honest, that’s all they have!” The village chief laughed like a blooming chrysanthemum.