When Cheng Yaojin arrived at the Fang Residence, Fang Er was busy in the kitchen.
He was working on salt.
Without suitable filtering materials, he layered more than ten pieces of gauze, which he had exchanged from the system, with charcoal particles in between.
After preparing these filtering materials, he began to work on the saltwater.
"I say, Brother Fang, what are you busy with in the kitchen so early in the morning?"
Cheng Yaojin was curious about why Fang Er was in the kitchen again.
As he was pouring coarse salt into the boiling water, he heard Cheng Yaojin's voice from behind him.
"Brother Cheng, what wind blew you here so early? Aren't you craving alcohol again?"
Fang Er didn't stop his work, he just asked Cheng Yaojin.
Last night, Cheng Yaojin and Yu Chi Heizi had left in the middle of the night. After sobering up, they had left the Fang Residence.
"That's a given, but there's another matter. Those few thieves from the night before last have confessed. They said that when you went to pawn things, the shopkeeper targeted you. Zhou Tong and the others were sent by that shopkeeper. Moreover, the shopkeeper was audacious enough to impersonate my name and swindle people. This time, he will be punished accordingly."
Cheng Yaojin leaned closer to Fang Er and explained the situation.
"No wonder! I pawned things in the afternoon, and thieves broke into the house at night. Since they've confessed, let's deal with them according to the law."
Fang Er was indifferent.
Several pounds of salt had already been poured into the pot, and it was difficult to dissolve more salt. Fang Er then took a wooden bucket and used a spoon to slowly pour the saltwater onto the filtering material.
Soon, some filtered sand particles appeared on the gauze, along with other impurities, which were adsorbed by the charcoal particles sandwiched in the middle.
He filtered it three times consecutively, changing the filtering material each time.
Fang Er dipped his finger into the filtered saltwater and tasted it.
"Hmm, good. This is the saltwater I wanted. Xiao Qing, clean the pot, then boil this barrel of saltwater dry to extract the salt." Fang Er wiped the sweat from his forehead. Damn it. It was too hot. Refining salt in the kitchen during the height of summer was truly not a human job.
Seeing Fang Er busy, Cheng Yaojin didn't know what he was doing. Seeing that Fang Er was about to hand the work over to the servants, he asked again, "Brother Fang, why are you in the kitchen working on such a hot day instead of enjoying the cool outside?"
"Whew! It's cooler outside. Come, let's sit in the courtyard, and you'll know in a while."
Fang Er was deliberately mysterious and didn't say anything, just pulling Cheng Yaojin to sit in the courtyard.
A maid quickly brought the pre-prepared cool boiled water.
Fang Er gulped down the bowl and almost moaned with pleasure.
It was so damn refreshing, like having a bottle of iced 'fat house water' after a sauna.
Seeing that Fang Er hadn't answered his questions after asking twice, Cheng Yaojin stopped pressing and sat in the courtyard, chatting with Fang Er intermittently.
"Young master, look quickly! The saltwater has actually produced salt! This salt is too fine, and it's not bitter or astringent. This is excellent quality salt!"
About half an hour later, Xiao Qing came running with a bowl of salt and delivered it to Fang Er.
Fang Er was not surprised; this was all within his expectations.
Cheng Yaojin couldn't sit still.
Excellent quality refined salt, which was not bitter or astringent, was produced in Fang's small kitchen?
Cheng Yaojin jumped up from his chair, snatched the bowl from Xiao Qing's hand, and saw a bowl full of white refined salt. He scooped some with his hand; it was still steaming. He tasted it, and there was no bitterness or astringency at all.
"I say, brother, what kind of magic is this? You turned that coarse salt into this excellent quality refined salt right here in this small kitchen?"
He couldn't believe it and grabbed Fang Er's arm to ask.
"What's so difficult about this? It's very easy. My maid has learned it now. By the way, Qing'er, do you remember how to do it?"
Fang Er replied dismissively, then asked Xiao Qing again.
"Young master, it's very easy. Xiao Qing learned it immediately."
Xiao Qing replied proudly.
Although she also found it miraculous, she had to pretend to be calm to make her young master look good.
This was excellent quality refined salt. The best sold on the market before was Qing Yan.
Qing Yan was lake salt, while this refined salt was extracted from sea salt.
Qing Yan cost five qian of silver per jin, which was unaffordable for ordinary families. They ate coarse salt, which cost thirty wen per jin and contained many sand and impurities. Even poorer families could only use vinegar cloth for seasoning, which was sour and refreshing! But this refined salt extracted from coarse salt tasted even better than Qing Yan! It had no bitterness or astringency of Qing Yan at all!
"Brother Fang, what is the cost of your refined salt?"
Cheng Yaojin asked excitedly.
"In terms of cost, about three jin of coarse salt can produce two jin of refined salt. After deducting labor and firewood costs, it's at most fifty wen per jin of salt."
Fang Er calculated in his mind.
Cheng Yaojin was so excited upon hearing fifty wen per jin that he almost jumped up: "Brother, is what you said true? Fifty wen per jin of refined salt! Do you know what this represents?"
Fang Er gave him a side glance: "What else can it represent? As a commoner, can I go and sell salt? This is the root of the powerful families. I'm just refining it to eat more comfortably. That damned Qing Yan and coarse salt are too damn unpalatable!"
Cheng Yaojin also calmed down. He himself was from humble beginnings, otherwise, he wouldn't have become a bandit and eventually followed Li Er.
Currently, the salt on the market was controlled by aristocratic families. At this time, there was no salt and iron monopoly. Even Li Er could only follow behind the powerful families to get a small share.
In a monopolized business, the profit was naturally terrifyingly high. Thirty wen per jin of coarse salt, equivalent to thirty yuan in later generations based on purchasing power, thirty yuan for a lump of coarse salt per jin. If this were in later generations, no one would even look at it, yet even now, half the people couldn't afford it!
"Brother, you don't know, but my soldiers are even limited to coarse salt. Since you know how to refine refined salt, do you know how to produce coarse salt? If you can solve this problem, I, Old Cheng, guarantee you promotions and high official positions!"
Cheng Yaojin's eyes rolled, and he patted Fang Er's chest.
"Brother Cheng, you flatter me too much. I bought my coarse salt from the East Market. I don't have mines, nor am I by the sea, so where would I get coarse salt for you?"
Fang Er was speechless. Damn it, coarse salt couldn't just appear out of thin air.
"Does Brother Fang mean that you can truly produce it? But you don't have the conditions?"
Cheng Yaojin asked, his eyes wide.
"How rare is that! If there's a mine, you can mine it, and then refine it. If you're by the sea, you can sun-dry salt. This should be common knowledge, right?"
"Brother Fang, I know about sun-drying salt from seawater, but the yield is too low. A salt worker can only sun-dry less than five jin of salt a day. I did discover a salt mine at the end of last year, but that salt is simply inedible! It's even more unpalatable than coarse salt, and eating too much of it can cause problems for people! Brother, do you have a solution?"
A salt worker sun-drying five jin of salt a day; this was something Cheng Yaojin had seen with his own eyes. He had also tasted the mineral salt himself, which was why he knew so clearly.