Chapter 66

Speaking of Xia Hongsheng, since that day he left the school, he went straight to Mingxiangju. He found that Mingxiangju was already bustling with people, coming and going continuously. The shopkeeper was naturally full of admiration for Xia Hongsheng, as the exclusive naming rights had thoroughly promoted the name of Mingxiangju. In just a few short days, the cost of the exclusive naming rights had already been recouped by the customers who came to order tea. The shopkeeper was already considering whether to consult the family head about adding two more workshops to meet the speed of tea production. The shopkeeper was already convinced of Xia Hongsheng's business acumen, so when Xia Hongsheng delivered the organized materials, the shopkeeper immediately sent people to start working on it. Now everything was prepared according to the instructions.

Xia Hongsheng buried himself in the workshop, where the shopkeeper had bought several types of sugar according to his instructions. However, none of them looked good; some looked like clumps of soil, others like mud, and only the best maltose had a decent appearance, but it still didn't have the right taste. To make rock sugar, one first needed to make white sugar; otherwise, the rock sugar would not be crystal clear like ice but would turn yellow, becoming a yellow-brown or yellow-red opaque crystal. However, Li Shimin had not yet sent people to India to learn the sugar refining techniques, so the Tang Dynasty still used the method of sun-drying to produce sugar, which was sandy, yellow, and not very sweet.

There was a folk method for making white sugar, which Xia Hongsheng had seen once in the village where he taught. An old man who made sugar paintings didn't like the bought sugar and preferred to make his own. Xia Hongsheng found this folk custom very interesting and followed the old man to learn the process. It seemed that the method involved pouring mud water over the sugar. First, the sugarcane juice was extracted and boiled in a pot until it became a dark brown syrup. Then it was poured into a funnel to solidify into sand sugar. Mud water was then poured into the funnel, which carried away the impurities, leaving white sand sugar. However, there was no sugarcane available, so Xia Hongsheng decided to try melting the bought sugar to get the syrup.

Since Xia Hongsheng said it had to be absolutely confidential and reliable, the shopkeeper sent his own son to assist him. They set up an iron pot and poured all the bought sugar into it, slowly heating it. The sugar gradually melted, emitting a sweet and inviting aroma, and the color turned dark and yellow.

"Get some straw and a clay funnel. You don't need much straw, just enough to plug the funnel's opening," Xia Hongsheng said, looking at the boiling syrup and turning to the shopkeeper's son.

The shopkeeper's son, inheriting his father's efficiency, quickly brought in a clay funnel and handed it to Xia Hongsheng. The funnel's opening was already plugged with straw, and he brought some dry straw as a backup.

The syrup in the pot became thicker and darker. Xia Hongsheng wasn't sure about the exact heat level, but he remembered the process from the old man's demonstration, though the specific standards were unclear and needed to be tested.

Xia Hongsheng had the shopkeeper's son set the clay funnel on a water jar. They then lifted the pot together and slowly poured the thick, dark yellow syrup into the funnel. The funnel's opening was plugged with straw, and the syrup was too thick to leak through. At this point, they needed to wait for the black sand sugar to crystallize in the funnel. Once the black sand sugar crystallized, the straw could be removed, and yellow mud water could be poured into the funnel. The mud water would seep through the black sand sugar, carrying away the impurities and leaving white sand sugar in the funnel, while the impurities would flow into the jar below.

Xia Hongsheng recalled that the old man had mentioned that yellow mud slurry could be directly poured into the syrup for better and faster decolorization. However, Xia Hongsheng was unsure, so he decided to try the more conservative method first. If the mud water decolorization was successful, he would then try mixing the mud slurry directly into the syrup for further decolorization.

"Alright, that's it for now. It will take some time," Xia Hongsheng said to the shopkeeper's son. "Let's try making scented tea. I remember that the flowers and tea need to be mixed and sealed in a jar, then boiled and dried. If we can make it, the tea shop will have a new source of income. This scented tea has the flavor of tea and the fragrance of flowers, and it's good for health, especially suitable for women. I'm sure the ladies of the noble families will love it."

The shopkeeper had already gathered the petals as per Xia Hongsheng's request. It was just the right time for jasmine, and the newly opened jasmine flowers were fragrant and spread in a large circle, emitting a fresh aroma. The clay jars were also ready, but Xia Hongsheng was puzzled about the ratio of flowers to tea. He couldn't remember the exact proportions.

After careful thought, he decided to use paper to wrap the tea and layer it with petals in the jar. He thought the tea should be more than the flowers, as it was still tea. He filled the jar this way and handed it to the shopkeeper's son to seal the jar. They sealed several jars, using up all the jasmine flowers. Xia Hongsheng and the shopkeeper's son placed the jars in a pot, added water, and started a fire to boil them.

"Boil for a while, then remove the jars and let them cool. Take out the flowers, wrap them in paper, and dry them. It should be about right," Xia Hongsheng said, clapping his hands and sitting on a stool, waiting to retrieve the jars from the pot.

While waiting, Xia Hongsheng carefully thought about his next steps. The tea shop had gained a reputation thanks to the poetry meeting's naming rights and was already becoming well-known. The shopkeeper was working hard to secure the naming rights for the upcoming flower competition. If successful, the new tea's reputation would spread even further, and Mingxiangju would also benefit from the spread of the new tea. Currently, Mingxiangju had a monopoly on the new tea-making technique. The market prospects for tea were definite, as it had been loved for thousands of years and would not fail to sell. According to the agreement with the Xu family, regardless of the scale of the tea business, Xia Hongsheng would own 50%, which would be a substantial dividend. Once the first dividend was received, he could move his sister-in-law to Luoyang. With the tea shop's dividends as a foundation, her snack stall could develop into a food city. Xia Hongsheng didn't have the skills to make the grand dishes, and even if he opened a restaurant, he wouldn't have the signature dishes to attract customers. The Xu family's chefs were already better than him. Xia Hongsheng knew his advantage lay in the various home-style snacks that hadn't yet appeared in the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, a food city became Xia Hongsheng's best choice.

If conditions allowed, he could still collaborate with the Xu family, selecting suitable family members to be trained by him to learn a specific snack, then setting up a stall in the food city. These stalls could also hire chefs to make and sell specialty dishes, and the food city would take a certain percentage of their income. The food city would offer a wide variety of dishes at prices lower than those in restaurants and taverns, and more focused on daily meals, so there was no need to worry about a lack of customers.

This way, he would be one step closer to his goal of a carefree, luxurious life!

Xia Hongsheng smiled, thinking about finally being able to live the life he had always dreamed of. He suddenly felt energized and stood up from the stool, saying to the shopkeeper's son, "Let's go! We need to make a bucket of mud slurry!"

Soon, Xia Hongsheng and the shopkeeper's son carried a bucket of mud water back into the workshop and placed it next to the water jar. Xia Hongsheng picked up the funnel and saw that a layer of black sand had already formed at the opening. He dipped his finger in and found that the syrup was almost solid but not completely. This was just right; if it solidified too much, the straw would fall out, and the syrup would flow out, leaving no sugar to make white sugar. If it solidified too much, the mud water wouldn't seep through to carry away the impurities.

Xia Hongsheng and the shopkeeper's son lifted the bucket and slowly poured the mud slurry into the funnel. The mud slurry mixed with the syrup and slowly seeped through, carrying the dark impurities down and into the jar below.

Gradually, the black impurities in the syrup were carried away by the mud slurry, and a thin layer of white powder began to form on the funnel, like frost on a cold autumn morning.

Xia Hongsheng dipped his finger in the white powder and tasted it, a smile spreading across his face.