The county magistrate's daughter only wants to farm

"Grandpa Meng, why are you here?" Gu Yin asked in surprise.

Meng Xiang laughed and teased, "What? Girl, you don't welcome an old man like me?"

"What are you talking about, Grandpa Meng?" Gu Yin smiled and invited him to sit in the living room. "Isn't it because I see that you are obsessed with papermaking and it's rare for you to come out of the village?"

"Hahaha, that's true!"

"Then why did you decide to come out today?"

Meng Xiang drank his tea slowly, glanced at Shi Yuheng who came with him, and then said, "You'll have to ask the boy from the Shi family about this."

"Oh? What does this have to do with Mr. Shi?" Gu Yin looked at Shi Yuheng and asked.

Shi Yuheng raised his hand and touched his nose, looking a little helpless. "Uncle Meng has been trying to figure out how to make paper more durable recently. He's even trying to make thicker and more wear-resistant hard paper."

"I've been trying this for a month or two, but there's been little effect, so I thought Miss Gu might know a solution since she's well-informed, so I brought Uncle Meng here."

"Of course, I also said that I would take Uncle Meng to visit the county and gather some people."

Gu Yin paused as she picked up the teacup and asked curiously, "Why did Grandpa Meng suddenly think of doing this?"

Meng Xiang took a sip of tea, glanced at Shi Shi Yuheng, and said in a pretentious manner, "It's this brat who keeps harassing me every few days, complaining that the covers of books nowadays are too thin and soft and easily damaged!"

"There are no outsiders here, so please don't be embarrassed, Uncle Meng." Shi Yuheng ruthlessly exposed, "It is obvious that Uncle Meng cares about the boy. When he heard that the boy wanted to start with books to find a solution to the moisture-proof problem, he took the initiative to propose researching better paper materials..."

Gu Yin did not hide her admiration for Shi Yuheng, "Mr. Shi has gone to such lengths for the academy's library. This spirit of pursuing perfection is truly admirable!"

"Ms. Gu, thank you for your praise. I just think this is a rare opportunity, and I want to try to see how far I can go in doing this, so that I can accumulate experience and gain knowledge..." Shi Yuheng bowed and said gently.

Shi Yuheng took on the task of preparing the library himself, just to give himself a chance to gain experience.

Now, in order to preserve the books in the library as intact as possible, in addition to keeping the library dry and ventilated from the construction layout of the library, he also took the books themselves into consideration.

If the books themselves can have a stronger moisture-proof function, the service life of the books will be longer.

So there was a series of things that happened next.

"Hey! Stop talking nonsense..." Meng Xiang interrupted the two people's pleasantries and asked Gu Yin directly, "Girl, just tell me if there is any solution?"

"I have been thinking about this for more than a month, and I am not completely clueless. The key point is the viscosity of the pulp. The viscosity of the viscous solution extracted from the twigs of the schisandra tree is still a little bit poor. If we can find something with better viscosity, we may be able to make cardboard."

People in the Daji Dynasty called carambola "wu-lingzi". Thinking back to the papermaking technique given by Gu Yin, it took a lot of detours to use this "wu-lingzi".

"It's okay. I understand if there's no other way. Don't feel pressured." Meng Xiang added after asking.

After hearing this, Gu Yin secretly said in her heart that there is no coincidence in the world.

But she was not in a hurry to answer, but smiled and said, "Grandpa Meng, let me introduce you. Did you just go around the county town? Are you hungry?"

"I just happened to have a new snack here. Why don't you try it first, Grandpa Meng and Mr. Shi?"

Although she asked for their opinions, Gu Yin didn't even give them a chance to object. She just stood up and led them to the flower hall.

After a while, the servants brought up two plates of translucent round cakes. In order not to make it appear too monotonous, the servants also served a few other snacks.

"Come and try this. I just made it today." Gu Yin pushed the cassava cake, which was fried slightly brown on both sides, in front of the two people.

Meng Xiang thought that Gu Yin had no other options, so he put the papermaking issue behind him and looked at the cake he had never seen before, and asked curiously, "What is this?"

"Cassava cake!" Gu Yin replied.

“Cassava cakes?”

"Cassava? What is it? How come I've never heard of it?"

Meng Xiang asked repeatedly.

Gu Yin said proudly, "It's fresh out of the oven, the only one of its kind in Daji Dynasty, of course you haven't heard of it!"

"Hahaha, it seems like I'm in for a treat!" Meng Xiang picked up a piece without hesitation.

"Huh? This cassava cake is sticky? It smells good!"

"Hiss! It's a bit sticky..."

Meng Xiang muttered as he ate.

"Mr. Shi, would you like to try it?" Gu Yin looked at Shi Yuheng.

Shi Yuheng watched Meng Xiang constantly using his tongue to try to get the biscuit off his teeth, and hesitated for a moment...

But I was too embarrassed to refuse, so I could only try it cautiously bit by bit.

Gu Yin looked at Shi Yuheng raising his sleeves and couldn't help but sigh in her heart, "Sure enough, handsome guys all have idol baggage..."

Meng Xiang at the side felt unsatisfied after eating one piece, so he ate two or three more pieces in a row, and finally commented, "Girl, this cake is good, fragrant! But it's a little sticky..."

Wait, sticky?

"Girl, tell me honestly, can this cassava be used as a thickener?" Meng Xiang suddenly asked seriously.

Gu Yin smiled and said, "Grandpa Meng is indeed a man obsessed with papermaking. He can think of the function of cassava just by eating a cake."

"Hmph! Girl, did you know this a long time ago and deliberately test me with the cassava cakes?" Meng Xiang pretended to be angry and snorted coldly.

Gu Yin smiled and said, "How dare I test Grandpa Meng? I just thought of it. Besides, this is a good opportunity to think about how to do it..."

"Can it really be used?" Meng Xiang became nervous and asked anxiously to confirm.

Gu Yin didn't keep the secret any longer. "Just as Grandpa Meng has seen, tapioca flour does have a strong viscosity, which just meets your requirements, Grandpa Meng."

Meng Xiang laughed loudly after hearing this and said, "Girl, you really have a way! It's worth my trip!"

"You are lucky to have come across this by chance. Otherwise, I would never have thought of this effect of cassava."

"But if you want to use it to make paper, cassava flour is not viscous enough, you need to use cassava starch!" Gu Yin explained.

Meng Xiang was stunned. "Tapioca starch? What's the difference between it and tapioca flour?"

Gu Yin smiled faintly, "Well... cassava starch is more delicate and pure than cassava flour, and of course the viscosity is definitely better. I happen to have one or two kilograms here, why don't you take it back and try it first, Grandpa Meng?"

"Okay!" Meng Xiang was very excited and did not forget to ask about the usage of cassava starch.

Gu Yin had never tried it herself. She only saw cassava starch as a papermaking enhancer by chance on the Internet. She thought it was novel and did some research on it. Otherwise, she would not have known this method.

"I just remember putting tapioca starch into water to make a starch emulsion, then heating it to make it sticky... and finally putting it into the paper pulp and stirring it evenly to make it act as a glue..."

Gu Yin only remembered a rough idea of ​​the specific proportions, and Meng Xiang still needed to figure out the actual operations himself.

But I guess this is not a big deal for him.

After Meng Xiang got the cassava starch, he couldn't wait to go back to Zhuangzi to study it.