Dominate the ancient academy

When they arrived at the place, several people got off the carriage and ran into the mountains. The coachman stayed behind to watch the carriage. This place was not far from Beijing, so there would not be any danger.

Shu Xiaoxiao confirmed the location and found that it was indeed saltpeter. She put down the sack and shovel and said directly, "Let's dig!"

Su Shiche: “…”

Shen Guanqing: "..."

Zhou Hekang: “…”

Cao Yixing: “…”

Weren't we looking for ice? How did we end up digging the soil?

Several people looked at each other, but no one moved.

Shu Xiaoxiao opened the sack and said, "Hurry up, this is an important raw material for making ice. Do you still want to use ice?"

Several people looked at each other, and Shen Guanqing quickly held up the bag: "Ye Xiao and I will hold the bag, you guys hurry up and dig!"

Su Shiche rolled his eyes and didn't care about his curiosity about these white stones. He picked up a shovel and shoveled the white crystals into the sack.

But after digging a few times, he started to cry out that his hand hurt. When he stretched out his hand, he saw two crystal clear bubbles.

The others immediately looked up and down, as if they saw nothing.

Su Shiche curled his lips and had to shout, "Next, next."

The most tiring work his hands have ever done is writing big characters, and now he is doing hard labor. It will be a big loss if he can't make this ice.

But the problem is that there is only a tiny bit on a shovel, and his hands got blisters, and he didn't actually get much done.

If Third Brother or Lu Leran were there, it would be like a piece of cake to shovel these away. After all, Zhou Hekang and Cao Yixing have learned martial arts, so they are more skillful than Su Shiche.

After digging half a bag of saltpeter, everyone except Shu Xiaoxiao had a few transparent bubbles on their hands.

Shen Guanqing and others felt that Shu Xiaoxiao had already thought of a solution, so they didn't let her take any action. She couldn't use her brain and the physical effort at the same time.

In fact, the main reason was that Shu Tingfei was too protective of Shu Xiaoxiao. If he knew that Ye Xiao was with them and was injured, even if he didn't attack their opponents, he would definitely roll his eyes at them for several days and would dislike them for everything.

In the academy, as long as Shu Tingfei was present, Ye Xiao didn't have to do anything. Shu Tingfei's attitude towards Ye Xiao was even more considerate than their servants were to them.

Every time they saw Shu Tingfei being so considerate to Ye Xiao, they all wanted to have a cousin like him.

But when I think about it, even my own brother is not so considerate, so forget it, cousin!

Anyway, they have already got blisters on their hands, so they don't want to have another one like Ye Xiao did. It's not that they are afraid of Shu Tingfei's contempt and ridicule.

Shu Xiaoxiao:......

After working hard to load the bags onto the carriage, Su Shiche was a little skeptical: "Ye Xiao, can this really be used to make ice? Look at our hands. We have put in so much effort. This is the first time I have worked since I was a child. My hands are still burning with pain."

Others also stretched out their hands, and there were a row of transparent bubbles, crystal clear and beautiful.

Shu Xiaoxiao wanted to laugh but didn't dare to, and immediately comforted her: "Would I really lie to you after all the effort?"

"I'll make a basin of ice for you to wash your hands later. Is that okay?"

"Don't worry, when have I ever lied to you?"

After returning to the general's residence, Shu Xiaoxiao placed the small basin inside the large basin, poured water into both, put saltpeter in the large basin, and stirred it with a stick.

White steam first came out of the water in the basin. Shu Xiaoxiao put her hand into the basin and the water inside had begun to cool down.

Others also curiously put their hands into the water, feeling the cool breath, and were all surprised: "It's cold, it's really cold!"

Su Shiche wanted to put his hand into the small basin, but Shu Xiaoxiao stopped him immediately: "The water there is for drinking, don't touch it!"

Su Shiche withdrew his hand that was about to reach into the small basin, put it back into the large basin, and asked curiously: "Isn't the water in this large basin drinkable?"

Shu Xiaoxiao said as a matter of course: "The water in the big basin is poisonous, otherwise why would we have a small basin! Only the water in the small basin is drinkable."

"I want to try it now. I'm hungry and tired after running for so long!" Cao Yixing said aggrievedly.

The others nodded immediately. It was already past breakfast time and they were still working. Now they were starving.

"Wait a minute, I'll ask someone to go to Tianranju to pack the food, and we'll eat here."

The ice had just been made, and she was reluctant to let it leave the ground.

While the servants were at Tianranju, Shu Xiaoxiao had prepared some sour plum soup, fruit juice, and honey water, and chilled them in saltpeter for a while. Drinking them was indeed refreshing and made one feel happy.

Shen Guanqing and his friends also drank tons of these fruit drinks. If they were not chilled, they would definitely be very greasy to drink in the hot weather. But after being chilled, they were not greasy at all and were very cool. They were cool and sweet and made people want to drink more.

Several people gathered around the ice and ate a cool meal. No one was suffering from the summer heat. Shen Guanqing even sighed: "This is the most comfortable meal I have had in the past few days."

There is always ice to use, and there is always cold drink to drink. Isn't that very comfortable? The servants have delivered drinks several times.

They brought back a lot of saltpeter, and after dinner, they started making ice happily. All the basins of different sizes in the house were filled with ice, and the temperature in the house dropped a lot.

Su Shiche looked at the room full of ice and said excitedly, "It's so hot now, and the price of ice is not cheap. What do you think about us selling ice? We will definitely make a lot of money."

Zhou Hekang also said excitedly: "Yes, ice is more valuable than gold now, so it will definitely make money."

Shu Xiaoxiao was naturally happy. In the novel, selling ice was definitely a highly profitable industry. It was much more expensive than salt. If one sold ice, it would not be a problem to become rich enough to rival a country.

Saltpeter can be reused and water is free, so ice is a no-cost business. Although it can only be sold in the summer, Zhou Hekang also said that the price of ice is now higher than gold, so even if it is only sold in the summer, it will definitely make a lot of money.

"We sell ice cream. If we buy a shop now, we don't need to decorate it well. We can buy the shop today and open it tomorrow."

Time is running out and they have to make a fortune before the weather gets cold.

Several people were excitedly discussing where to buy a shop. Only Shen Guanqing remained silent. When they were about to leave, he calmly asked, "Are you sure we can keep the ice-making recipe?"

???

Four question mark faces? What does that mean? With their status, who dares to steal their recipes?

Shen Guanqing continued, "It would be fine if it was any other small business, but this ice is very profitable. As long as we open a shop to sell ice, the old foxes in Kyoto will be able to guess that we must have a way to make ice, because there are only a limited number of ice cellars in Kyoto, and such ice will not suddenly appear."

"The profits of the ice cellar are so huge, those old foxes will definitely not let it go, and it will be difficult for us to keep it then."

Su Shiche said: "Then I will look for my father."

Zhou Hekang also thought of it: "With such a huge profit, I don't believe your father won't be tempted. Anyway, I don't believe my father."

Shen Guanqing: "..."

Cao Yixing: “…”

Well, they don’t believe it either.

Shu Xiaoxiao: Although she believes in her father, her general father is not here!

Far water cannot quench near thirst. Besides, she couldn't bear to see her general father offend too many people because of the ice.

Su Shiche: "Then we won't sell it?"

After hearing what Shen Guanqing said, he understood. After all, he was the prime minister's son, so he could naturally understand some things.

Bing does make money, but it's money from those old foxes. It's not just a few taels of silver. They are busy all day long, either for power or money. It's impossible for them to watch such a huge amount of money flow into their hands so smoothly!

They definitely want to get a piece of the pie, and they may not be able to stop them, but if they don't sell it, it's all a lot of money!

Shen Guanqing groaned for a moment and said uncertainly: "Unless... unless we have a backer that the old foxes in Kyoto dare not offend."

Su Shiche shook his head. His father might have an enemy. If he was reported by the censor for competing with the people for profit, his father would definitely make trouble for him.

When Shu Xiaoxiao heard this, her eyes lit up. Backer! She has this!

The last time we sold salt, Senior Brother Yun said that the emperor was also short of money, and even the emperor who governed the entire Daning might be the poorest.

After all, whenever there were natural disasters, man-made disasters, or wars in Daning, the emperor had to come to get money.

If the method of making ice is given to the emperor, it would be fine for her to take 10% of the profit! If that doesn't work, half of it would be fine.

This is like traveling back to ancient times. In ancient times, people were not tolerant of strange people and things that ordinary people could not understand.

They always talk about evildoers, people being burned to death, etc., and are easily pushed out when natural disasters or man-made disasters occur.

If she were to travel through time from modern times to the 1960s or 1970s, or something like that, she would simply hand herself over to the country and lie down. How much safer and easier that would be!

Unfortunately, she could believe in the motherland with the five-star red flag flying, but she dared not believe in Da Ning of this feudal society, even if he might be her ancestor.

She can take risks and give everything for her motherland. As for Daning, she can only do her best to do something for Daning, but she will not give away everything about herself.