Making you a son-in-law is not about making you conquer the world.

Sichuan is now directly under the emperor's jurisdiction and is far from Jiangcheng Prefecture. Even if Lin Ping had the desire to mine saltpeter, he didn't have the capability.

Therefore, this matter can only be put on hold. In any case, the saltpeter used to make ice can be dried and reused. As long as there is a certain amount in stock, it can meet commercial needs.

After Lin Ping entered Mingyue Tower, the scholars were drinking well water in the hall, their faces full of satisfaction.

After inquiring about the business situation over the past few days, Lin Ping was slightly disappointed, but it was also within expectations.

Although the private rooms on the second floor and above are very popular, they are mostly regular customers who have VIP cards. They get discounts on meals and are unlikely to recharge their cards anytime soon.

Therefore, the income situation of Mingyue Tower in the past few days is not optimistic.

"Sigh... How easy is it to build a real food city?" Lin Ping shook his head helplessly, and began to imagine the future layout of Mingyue Tower in his mind.

To make big money, you must open branches, preferably the entire Wuguo chain, and you must create unique features. You can't just focus on high-end products and abandon the broadest customer base.

So the question is, how can we create something unique? Even if Lin Ping adds a few braised dishes to Mingyue Tower, it can only bring temporary novelty. Besides, these kinds of dishes are greasy and can't be eaten every day.

The best solution Lin Ping could think of right now was to open a few seafood restaurants, since Jiangcheng is located near the Yellow Sea and has abundant seafood.

This still did not meet Lin Ping's expectations.

"Chili! Where are you? I've been looking for you for so long!" Lin Ping sighed, his mind filled with thoughts of chili.

In Lin Ping's view, food without chili peppers is soulless.

Unfortunately, chili peppers had not yet been introduced to the Wu Kingdom at this time, at least not in Jiangcheng Prefecture.

To create a true food court, chili peppers are indispensable; as for seasonings like cumin powder, those are secondary.

Before Mingyue Tower opened, Lin Ping tried to find chili peppers, but after searching the entire Jiangcheng Prefecture, he still couldn't find any, so he gave up on the idea.

"You brat, why aren't you practicing your sword?" Lin Ping said angrily to Lin Xiaomei, who was carrying a tray.

Lin Xiaomei looked aggrieved and was almost scared to tears by Lin Ping. She choked out, "I want to do more work so we can hire one less helper and save two taels of silver a month!"

These words undoubtedly moved Lin Ping. As a strict older brother, he could not show his true feelings too much, and scolded, "You clumsy girl, if you break a dish, it will be a loss. Starting tomorrow, you are only allowed to practice swordsmanship, not to do any work."

"Oh..." Lin Xiaomei replied with her head down, as if she had made a mistake.

She knew she was clumsy and had indeed broken quite a few plates in the past few days, so she figured it would have been better to hire another helper.

"How long do you practice each day?" Lin Xiaomei asked pleadingly.

"Start practicing when the rooster crows, and start resting when the dog sleeps," Lin Ping replied coldly. This truly meant getting up earlier than the rooster and going to bed later than the dog.

Lin Ping did this with ulterior motives. With less than a month to go before the battle between the two city lords, he needed two experts to win the final round. Jiang Yunying was one, and Lin Xiaomei was another.

Although Lin Xiaomei is highly skilled in martial arts, she has not yet reached the level of Jiang Yunying. In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, Lin Ping needs to urge her to practice martial arts properly.

"You must defeat your sister-in-law within a month, or your brother will be expelled from the city lord's mansion," Lin Ping said, feigning concern, even wiping away tears in shame.

"That won't do!" Lin Xiaomei immediately lost her composure, wielding her long sword horizontally through the hall and hurriedly went to the backyard to practice, startling the onlookers.

Before long, Li Mingxuan and the others, carrying large and small bags on their shoulders and drenched in sweat, ran into the hall, their tongues lolling out from the heat.

Lin Ping ordered the men to carry all the saltpeter to the backyard, and then opened the packets one by one; they were all filled with white powder.

The best way to identify different chemical substances is through flame testing, although saltpeter may contain a small amount of sodium sulfate, which may affect the effectiveness of the color test.

Lin Ping naturally had a better method. He pinched a small amount of powder and put it into a wooden basin filled with water. The decrease in water temperature proved that it was saltpeter.

After experimenting, Lin Ping only obtained five small packets of saltpeter powder, weighing at most ten pounds, which was barely enough to make ice porridge.

"Little Li, go to the kitchen and get a bowl of mung bean soup, and add plenty of sugar!" Lin Ping ordered loudly.

Li Mingxuan, still sticking out his tongue to cool off, happily scurried into the kitchen and quickly brought out a large bowl of mung bean soup.

Summer is just around the corner, and restaurants will be stocking up on mung bean soup to cool you down. Although it's not iced porridge, it still sells well every summer.

Lin Ping found a larger wooden basin, filled it halfway with water, then placed the wooden basin containing mung bean soup into the larger wooden basin, and finally added a sufficient amount of saltpeter powder into the larger wooden basin.

When the saltpeter is added to the water, it dissolves quickly and absorbs heat from the water, so those who are nearby immediately feel a cool sensation.

"Huh? Why is there a cool breeze?" Li Mingxuan asked in confusion, thinking that it was about to get cloudy and rainy. However, the sun in the sky was brighter than usual.

"Put your hand in the water and try it." Lin Ping smiled strangely, taking it as a way of letting Li Mingxuan "test the water" for him.

Li Mingxuan suspiciously put his hand into the water, wondering what Lin Ping was up to.

The moment his fingers touched the water, a chill ran through Li Mingxuan's body, causing him to shiver involuntarily and pull his fingers back as if he had been electrocuted.

"It's ice cold! It's actually ice cold!" Li Mingxuan plopped down on the ground, staring at the basin of water in astonishment, as if he had seen a ghost.

Encountering ice water in the summer is either like seeing a ghost or a pig climbing a tree; in short, Li Mingxuan was startled.

Lin Ping smiled but did not answer, and continued to add saltpeter to the water until a thin layer of ice formed on the surface.

The presence of an ice-water mixture proves that the temperature has reached zero degrees Celsius, meeting the optimal drinking temperature of four degrees Celsius.

Lin Ping scooped a bowl of iced porridge with a wooden spoon, first taking a satisfied breath of cool air, and then swallowing it in large gulps. He immediately felt a cool sensation travel along the tip of his tongue into his throat, and then down his entire esophagus.

The feeling was so wonderful that I almost cried out.

"You brat, hurry up and finish this half bowl of mung bean soup. If you waste even one bean, you can forget about eating tonight!" Lin Ping said with a grumpy face.

In such hot weather, it's impossible for Lin Ping to not be able to drink even a bowl of iced porridge. The reason he left half a bowl was because he was afraid that Lin Xiaomei wouldn't be willing to drink it.

Lin Xiaomei dared not disobey. Besides, she had been used to eating Lin Ping's leftovers since she was a child and did not mind that he was dirty. Holding a sword in one hand and a bowl in the other, she gulped down most of the food in one go, and her eyes immediately lit up.

"Iced porridge? You can actually drink iced porridge in the summer?" Lin Xiaomei stared at Lin Ping in confusion, then looked at the ice in the wooden basin, and immediately lowered her voice, "Brother, did you steal this from the king's ice cellar...?"