Drive to the Tang Dynasty, where supplies are refreshed daily!

We didn't pick a lot of wild fruits on the mountain, the most of which were hawthorns, but it was enough for the little ones.

Xiao Ran got up and went to the kitchen, where he made another pot of sugar snowballs. This was for Li Lizhi and the others. And it wasn't just sugar snowballs; cherry tomatoes could also be made this way, and they would taste delicious too.

Knowing there was something delicious to eat, Li Lizhi and the others put down their mahjong tiles and asked, "What delicious food has the young master made?"

When the little princess saw Li Lizhi and the others come out, she quickly ran over.

"Sister~ Seven this~ Good seven duck~"

The little princess picked up a sugar ball and held it to Li Lizhi's lips. Li Lizhi opened her mouth and ate the sugar ball, her eyes lighting up.

“It’s really delicious.”

The stir-fried hawthorns became much softer and less sour. The addition of sugar made them even sweeter, making them delicious and appetizing.

A moment later, Xiao Ran came out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of sugar snowballs. Seeing that Li Lizhi and the others were already eating, he smiled and asked, "How is it? Is it delicious?"

Li Lizhi nodded, and Zhang Jinhe also ate one, suggesting, "Young master, don't you plan to sell these sugar snowballs? They're like selling roasted chestnuts; I feel like a lot of people would eat them."

Xiao Ran hadn't thought of this before, but when Zhang Jinhe brought it up, Xiao Ran thought about it and it didn't seem like a bad idea.

Hawthorns are everywhere, the only thing that takes a little effort is washing them clean.

When we eat hawthorns at home, we always pick out the pits, but if we're selling them, we don't have to go through that trouble.

Anyway, Xiao Ran had never tasted pitted candied hawthorns before when he bought them.

"Jinniang is right. I'll think about it when I get back." Although Xiao Ran said he would think about it, he had already made up his mind.

It's still the same group of people who make roasted chestnuts; just let them take charge of making candied chestnuts as well.

In the blink of an eye, Xiao Ran reached out and pushed the bowl of sugar snowballs forward.

"Jinniang, eat more. Try the hawthorn cake when it's ready."

Zhang Jinhe smiled and said, "Okay, thank you, young man."

Finally, the sun set, and its afterglow spilled into the courtyard, gilding the trees with a golden edge.

Xiao Ran went to the car and took out the wooden mold containing hawthorn cake from the refrigerator.

He gently tapped the edge of the wooden mold, then turned it upside down, and a whole hawthorn cake fell onto a plate lined with parchment paper.

It was my first time making it, but the hawthorn cake turned out perfectly.

The color is a translucent coral red, like a meticulously carved ruby, or the most vibrant begonia petals in spring, exuding an alluring luster.

The surface is as smooth as a mirror, with even the fine grain of the wooden mold clearly imprinted on it, and the edges are neat and tidy without any roughness.

Bring it close to your nose and smell it; the sweet and sour aroma is just right, not too strong or too weak, enough to whet your appetite. Press it gently with your hand, and it has a slightly bouncy texture, not too soft or too hard, just right.

"Wow~" the little princess exclaimed, her little body jumping up excitedly.

"Gao Gao is so pretty!"

Xiao Ran smiled and took out a small knife to cut the hawthorn cake into small pieces, each piece square and with faint oil paper marks on the edges. He picked out the smallest piece and held it to Si Zi's mouth: "Be careful, it's a little cold."

The little princess couldn't wait to open her mouth and take a bite.

The first taste is a refreshing sweet and sour sensation, followed by the aroma of hawthorn. The texture is delicate and smooth, yet slightly chewy, and not sticky at all. The sweetness of the rock sugar balances the tartness of the hawthorn, making it sweet but not cloying, and sour but not astringent—the flavor is just right.

The little princess's eyes narrowed to slits, her little mouth puffed out like a squirrel with a pine cone in its mouth. She chewed a few times and swallowed, then quickly said, "Little slug~ I want seven more ducks~"

Xiao Ran was impartial, giving each of the little ones a piece. He had made quite a few hawthorn cakes, but some were still in the mold. Seeing that the little ones liked them, Xiao Ran simply unmolded the remaining hawthorn cakes as well.

The little princess was holding a plate of hawthorn cakes, with crumbs of hawthorn cake still stuck to the corners of her mouth, looking like a little kitten stealing food. Xiao Ran couldn't help but reach out and wipe them off for her.

"Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you," Xiao Ran said helplessly.

The little princess nodded, but didn't slow down her eating pace at all. She just kept her head down and ate, and in no time, half of the hawthorn cake on the plate was gone.

However, while eating herself, she didn't forget to hand Xiao Ran a piece: "Little Nangjunni, you're so good~ So delicious~"

Xiao Ran took it, tasted it, and found that it was indeed quite good, even better than he had expected.

Hawthorn is an appetizer, and for dinner, the little princess's favorite dishes were scrambled eggs with tomatoes and braised pork.

Although hawthorn cake is appetizing, it's not without its fillings, which caused the little princess to eat until she was stuffed that night. She sat in her chair, hugging her tummy and groaning, which made Xiao Ran both laugh and cry.

"Let's see if you'll eat this much next time," Xiao Ran said.

The little princess continued to whimper and rub against Xiao Ran's chest.

Actually, the little princess had already been given medicine to aid digestion, and she wasn't feeling so bad anymore, otherwise Xiao Ran wouldn't be so relieved.

The reason she was still humming was because she had been scolded by Empress Zhangsun for feeling unwell after eating too much. So now the little princess felt a little embarrassed and lingered in Xiao Ran's arms, not wanting to get out.

The little princess hummed and whimpered and fell asleep without realizing it.

Xiao Ran carried the little princess into the room and placed her on the kang (a heated brick bed). The little princess of Chengyang slept next to her, and Xiao Ran tucked them in.

"Go to sleep."

The little girls nodded obediently, then snuggled into their blankets and fell asleep. Xiao Ran also went back to his room to sleep.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Xiao Ran got up, washed up quickly, and then practiced Tai Chi with Sun Simiao.

After finishing Tai Chi, having breakfast, and then taking the kids to class, Xiao Ran went to the furnace in the glass workshop that was burning cement clinker.

Actually, the cement clinker should have cooled down completely last night, but after returning, Xiao Ran was busy making candied hawthorn balls and hawthorn cakes. After finishing, she ate dinner, so she didn't check on it until this morning.

The young men in charge of the cement furnace were also from the village. Xiao Ran shouted at them, "Clear out the clinker inside, be gentle, and don't bump the furnace wall."

Several young men responded with a "Yes!" and then took their specially made iron shovels and wooden rakes to the side of the furnace. They carefully probed into the furnace opening. Although the residual heat inside the furnace had dissipated, there was still a hint of smoke. The young men held their breath and carefully dug out the cooked food bit by bit, afraid of damaging the furnace if they used too much force.

The excavated charcoal was piled on pre-laid burlap sacks, forming a small, bluish-gray mound. The pieces varied in size, some bearing scorch marks from the firing process, but they looked quite neat and unremarkable. Xiao Ran took two steps forward, bent down, and picked up a medium-sized piece of charcoal. It felt slightly cool to the touch. He pinched the two ends of the charcoal between his thumb and forefinger, and with a gentle squeeze, the charcoal snapped in two with a crisp "crack." Fine powder fell from the broken surface, most of which scattered in the wind.

Xiao Ran's brows furrowed instantly. He picked up a few more pieces to test them, but they either crumbled easily or turned into powder with the slightest pressure. They were nowhere near as tough as he had imagined, and they didn't meet the basic requirements for making cement at all.

"Strange, how could this be?" Xiao Ran frowned. He had already made cement before, and logically speaking, the clinker produced by this ratio should not be so brittle.

Could it be that the temperature wasn't controlled properly? After all, they can only confirm the temperature by looking at the color of the porcelain pieces, which isn't entirely accurate.

When we made the kang (a heated brick bed) before, we used less cement and the kiln was smaller, so it was easier to control the temperature. But this time, the quantity is larger, and we are using a large furnace for firing glass, so it is inevitable that the temperature will be difficult to control.

Cheng Chumo and the others also cared a lot about cement. Seeing Xiao Ran's furrowed brows, they asked, "Young master, what's wrong? Is something wrong?"

Xiao Ran handed them the clinker and said, "Look, this is the clinker for making cement, but it crumbles at the slightest touch, so it's obviously unusable. The proportions should be correct, so there's probably a problem with the temperature during calcination."

Cheng Chumo scratched his head and asked, "So what do we do now?"

Xiao Ran shook his head and said, "There's nothing we can do. This batch of materials is probably ruined."

It was Xiao Ran's oversight. He thought that since he had succeeded last time, he should succeed this time as well. So he put the raw materials in according to the proportions and then left it alone. He did not expect that he would have a problem with the heat control. After all, he had succeeded last time.

It can only be said that a large quantity and a small quantity are ultimately different.

Xiao Ran sighed, "It seems we can only wait for the Ministry of Works to send over the raw materials so we can do it again."

Speak of the devil, and he appears! No sooner had Xiao Ran finished speaking than he heard a familiar voice: "Young master, the raw materials you requested have been delivered to you!"

Xiao Ran looked up and saw a guard in armor, or more precisely, the head guard named Fang Li.

Whenever Li Shimin gave Xiao Ran something, or came to pull up windows, Xiao Ran was always the one leading the team, and over time they became quite familiar with each other.

"That's wonderful! You've come at just the right time!"

Xiao Ran's furrowed brows instantly relaxed.

"Bring it in quickly, let's try again!" Xiao Ran said.

Several guards unloaded the goods, carrying heavy sacks in pairs. The sacks made a dull thud when they hit the ground, indicating that the raw materials inside were quite substantial.

Fang Li stood to the side and announced them one by one: "Young master, this is limestone, this is clay, this is iron ore powder, all of them are top-quality materials!"

Xiao Ran strode over, first patting the sack containing limestone. It felt solid and showed no signs of clumping. He untied the rope at the top of the sack, grabbed a handful of limestone, and found that the stones were uniform in size and uniform in shape, without any impurities.

Then I walked over to the sack of clay, took a handful of clay in my hand. It was fine and smooth, crumbled easily with a pinch, and there wasn't a single grain of sand. Finally, I looked at the iron ore powder. It was dry and loose, with a uniform color, and hadn't clumped due to moisture. It was all very good material.

The same proportions as before are still used. The only thing to think about now is how to control the heat and prevent it from fluctuating too much. It will probably require someone to watch it all day long. Also, the heat must be added evenly to avoid accidentally adding too much and making the temperature too high, and then having to wait for the temperature to drop before adding more heat.

As a result, by the time the temperature rose again, the temperature inside the furnace had already dropped.

Xiao Ran felt that the reason for the previous failure was very likely this.

"Little Nangjun~ Little Nangjun~" The familiar child's voice rang out again. Xiao Ran put down what he was doing and turned around to see a group of little guys.

Xiao Ran looked up at the sky and realized that it was already noon.

"Why are you here?" Xiao Ran asked involuntarily, raising his voice.

The little princess ran up to Xiao Ran, "We're going to play with Little Nang-jun!"

Xiao Ran smiled and said, "I have things to do, you guys go and have fun first."

The little ones noticed the cooked food on the ground. The little princess stared at it and asked, "Little rascal~ what's this~?"

Xiao Ran said, "This is something that can be used to build houses."

The little princess nodded as if she understood, but when they learned that Xiao Ran was busy, they volunteered to help.

Xiao Ran dared not let them stay. Putting aside the fact that these little ones could not be of any help, the fact that limestone releases heat when it comes into contact with water was enough to make Xiao Ran worry about their safety.

So Xiao Ran coaxed, "Go back and have fun. I'll make you hawthorn cakes when I'm done with my work, okay?"

Upon hearing this, the little ones perked up.

Third Sister said excitedly, "Then let's go pick more hawthorns!"

Princess Chengyang nodded in agreement.

Fearing they might go up the mountain on their own, Xiao Ran quickly said, "You can't go up the mountain by yourselves, understand?"

Princess Chengyang said, "Let's go find our elder sister together."

The little princess nodded in agreement, "And Sixth Sister too~"

Xiao Ran pinched the little ones' cheeks.

"Okay, remember to bring Fifth Uncle along, okay?"

Xiao Ran said this to Di Renjie. If he had to say who among the youngsters Xiao Ran could trust, it would be Di Renjie.

Di Renjie lived up to Xiao Ran's expectations, nodding earnestly to indicate that he understood.

Xiao Ran persuaded the little ones to leave, and then Xiao Ran began to weigh the raw materials again and mix them according to the proportions.

Cheng Chumo, Qin Huaidao, and Li Ke circled around Xiao Ran, seemingly wanting to help but unsure where to begin.

"Young master, is there anything I can help you with?" Cheng Chumo asked, unable to contain himself.

Xiao Ran looked up and around, and found that even Fang Li had gathered around. He said with a smile, "None of us are in a hurry to go back. Just let us know if you need anything, young master."

Xiao Ran didn't stand on ceremony: "Here's the recipe. Go weigh it first. I was careless this time. Although the proportions of the ingredients are the same, the quantities are different, making it more difficult to control."

The ceramic tile temperature measurement wasn't very accurate. Even if the furnace temperature dropped, the ceramic tile wouldn't show any significant changes unless it was for a very long time. It's no wonder the person controlling the fire didn't notice; they'll have to be more cautious this time. (End of Chapter)