Chapter 62 - 62 It's Really Sugar!
62 It’s Really Sugar!
Zhou Yu drove the donkey cart over and pulled all the beetroots home.
It was unloaded into the courtyard and piled into a small mountain.
The wolf cub was chasing the duck in the courtyard. When it saw the beetroots on the ground, it rushed over, picked up one, and ran.
“Little wolf, you can’t eat that~ spit it out.”
Seeing this, Zhou Xiaoyu shouted and chased after it with her short legs.
The wolf cub thought that Zhou Xiaoyu was playing with it, so it ran even more happily.
The wolf and the child started chasing each other in the courtyard.
Zhou Yu tied up the donkey cart. He was still a little worried and so he asked, “Li’er, are you confident in your method of making sugar?”
Zhou Xiaoli felt that no matter how much she said, they would only be convinced when she made the sugar.
Hence, she said, “I’ll make some right now.”
At this moment, Zhang Lan put on an apron and said, “Do you need Mother to help you with anything?”
“Yes.” Zhou Xiaoli nodded. She found four beetroots from the pile and weighed them. They weighed two and a half kilograms.
Then, she said, “Mother, help me wash the beetroots and slice them.”
“No problem,” Zhang Lan replied and took over. After washing the beetroots clean, she took it to the kitchen and started slicing it up.
Zhou Yu went to the donkey shed to get some firewood.
He had heard from Zhou Xiaoli that sugar had to be cooked with fire.
Zhou Yu looked at the remaining dry firewood in the donkey shed and said, “Brother Jun, come with me to the mountain to pick some firewood.”
With that, the two of them grabbed a machete and left.
The process of cutting the beets into thin slices was the most time-consuming. Fortunately, Zhang Lan’s knife skills were not bad. She quickly cut them into thin slices.
By the time everything was cut, Zhou Xiaoli had already washed the big iron pot and placed it on the stove.
“Put the beetroot slices in the pot and add cold water. Oh, right, don’t add in too much water, and don’t have too little either. Just make it level with the beetroots.”
Zhang Lan responded and followed Zhou Xiaoli’s instructions step by step.
At this moment, Zhou Xiaoyu ran into the kitchen and pulled Zhou Xiaoli up. “Sis, let me start the fire. I’m the best at it.”
As she spoke, she sat obediently in front of the stove, looking very much the part.
Zhou Xiaoli had already started the fire. Zhou Xiaoyu only needed to watch the fire and add firewood when required.
As such, she let her be.
Next, she would wait for the water to boil before turning the beetroots over. Then, she would continue to boil them until they were soft and turned into a pulp. Then, she could take them out to cool.
“And then?” Zhang Lan listened very seriously.
Zhou Xiaoli found two pieces of muslin cloth that were used to steam steam buns and continued, “Wrap the cold beetroots in the muslin cloth and squeeze. The liquid should go back into the pot.”
Seeing Zhou Xiaoli’s actions, Zhang Lan also placed the beetroots on the muslin cloth. After wrapping them all, she squeezed out the liquid from it.
“Mother, you have to squeeze it clean. Otherwise, the sugar yield rate will be very low,” Zhou Xiaoli added as she squeezed hard.
Zhang Lan did not know what the sugar yield rate was, but she still listened to Zhou Xiaoli and squeezed the beetroots harder.
After a while, Zhou Xiaoli felt that her hands were sore.
She could not help but sigh. It was really tiring to make sugar purely by hand.
“Li’er, I’m done squeezing. What’s next? Where should I put the remaining dregs?” Zhang Lan asked after squeezing.
“Just get rid of the dregs.”
“Huh? Throw it away?”
Zhang Lan was a little surprised. “Didn’t you want to make sugar? How can you make sugar if you throw it away?”
Zhou Xiaoli laughed. “Mother, the sugar isn’t in the dregs. We had just squeezed out all the sugar. It’s all in the liquid.”
“Ah?” Zhang Lan was even more confused. She looked at the pot of water in disbelief. “There’s sugar in this water?”
Zhou Xiaoyu was also curious. “Sis, is there really sugar in the water? Is it sweet?”
Zhou Xiaoli nodded. “Of course. After we make it, Third Sister will have an endless supply of sweets.”
The little fellow’s eyes immediately lit up. She clapped her hands excitedly. “Yay, yay, endless sweets!”
As expected, children liked sweets. When they heard that there will be endless sweets, they were so happy that they almost jumped up.
Zhou Xiaoli could not help but laugh. “Then you have to work harder to light the fire. When the water is dry, the pot will be filled with sugar.”
“Sis, don’t worry, I know how to keep the fire going.”
With that, she jogged back to the stove and stared at the fire seriously. She did not even move.
Looking at the pot of water, Zhang Lan was a little uncertain.
She opened her mouth, but in the end, she did not say anything. She listened to Zhou Xiaoli and began to stir with the spoon.
However, as time passed, she realized that as she stirred, the water turned into a thick liquid!
After a while, the liquid in the pot became thicker and the color gradually deepened!
“Li’er! Look, is this sugar?”
Zhang Lan called out to Zhou Xiaoli in surprise.
Zhou Xiaoli walked over to take a look and said, “Yes, that’s right. When the syrup water turns into a mucus-like dark brown color, the syrup will be boiled. After the syrup is cooled, it will form a solid sugar block.”
Seeing that sugar was forming, Zhang Lan instantly regained her strength. Her hands no longer felt sore.
By the time Zhou Yu and Zhou Junjun returned with firewood, the syrup had already been placed in the courtyard to solidify.
Zhou Xiaoyu had been staring at the sugar that was on the table. When she saw Zhou Junjun return, she immediately rushed over excitedly and bragged, “Brother, Brother, Sis has made sugar. It’s so sweet!”
“Wow, really!”
The two little fellows held hands and ran to stare at the sugar.
When Zhou Yu heard this news, his pupils dilated. He placed the firewood on the ground and rushed over. “It’s real.”
Zhang Lan nodded excitedly. “It’s done! Come and take a look.”
Zhou Xiaoli smiled.
They had produced about half a kilogram of sugar.
“Hubby, look, look. We used just four beetroots to make almost half a kilogram of sugar!”
Zhang Lan was very excited. “Then we’ll make a killing with so many beetroots! Haha, if Old Madam Lu finds out, she’ll definitely be furious!”
If the other party knew that their family used one copper coin for one and half kilograms of beetroots and sold them for 50 copper coins, Old Madam Lu would definitely be so jealous that smoke would rise from her head.
Zhang Lan instantly felt better.
The old woman from the Lu family had disgusted her today.
At this moment, the two little fellows could not help themselves but to grab the still soft sugar and eat it.
“Yes, it’s really candy. It’s so sweet.”
Zhou Junjun curled his fingers and was extremely happy.
Zhou Xiaoli couldn’t help but rub their heads. “You would have to brush your teeth properly tonight after eating sugar.”
Then, she said to Zhou Yu, “But, Father, Mother, there are so many beetroots. If it’s just the three of us, I’m afraid we’ll be exhausted even before we finish the pile.”
“Besides, we’re building a house tomorrow. We would be quite busy at home.”
Zhang Lan nodded. “It’s quite tiring. I’m afraid my hand will break if I cut that many beetroots, not to mention that I have to stir it continuously thereafter.”
Then, she changed the topic. “However, as long as I can earn money, it’s worth it no matter how tired I am!”