The daily life of a peasant girl taking the imperial examination

While explaining the function of saltpeter brine to everyone in the family, Zhuge Yunshu distributed the iced watermelon juice he was carrying to each member of the family so they could have a taste.

At first, the elders of the Zhuge family, especially Zhuge Fengshou and Chen Cuifang, couldn't hide their shock at the benefits of the brine that Zhuge Yunshu mentioned.

So the elderly couple, engrossed in their own world, didn't pay much attention to the large bowl of shaved watermelon that Zhuge Yunshu had brought over.

It wasn't until Zhuge Yunshu scooped the food into small bowls and handed them to the two elders that Zhuge Fengshou and Chen Cuifang came to their senses. Chen Cuifang, in particular, exclaimed "Oh my!" and looked at her granddaughter with a shocked expression.

"Why is this thing so cold?"

As she spoke, she couldn't resist using the spoon in her small bowl to scoop out a spoonful of the broken watermelon and put it in her mouth. It was cool and icy, especially on this hot summer evening. Taking a bite of it, she felt a sense of complete enjoyment that Chen Cuifang felt she couldn't describe with the few words she had learned.

Since she can't express it verbally, she can express it through her actions!

Zhuge Fengshou, at this moment, saw Chen Cuifang eating watermelon from her bowl, bite after bite, with a very happy expression on her face.

Not only that, but after finishing what he had in his hand, he was only distracted for a moment, and then he discovered that the watermelon in his bowl had been quickly devoured by his wife.

"Comfortable!"

After finishing two bowls of shaved watermelon, Chen Cuifang couldn't help but let out a sigh!

Then, he smacked his lips, savoring the moment, before realizing what he had done. He then pointed in astonishment at the plate of shaved watermelon that Zhuge Yunshu was holding:

"Dahua, how come there are ice crystals in the watermelon in the middle of summer?"

As soon as she spoke, the Zhuge family members came to their senses one after another. They each took a spoon and scooped a spoonful of watermelon from the large bowl held by Zhuge Yunshu and put it in their mouths.

"Wow, there really are ice shards."

Swallowing it down, it wasn't the kind of coolness you get from chilled well water, but rather a refreshing, invigorating feeling.

Even Zhuge Laifu and Lin Siniang, who were already quite worldly-wise, were stunned by the out-of-season shaved ice.

Finally, Lin Si Niang was the first to come to her senses. She looked at Zhuge Yunshu curiously and then spoke:

"Big Flower, where did you get this ice?"

You see, back in Jingling Prefecture, she'd heard wealthy ladies talk about how some powerful families had a secret method: to make summers more comfortable, they'd dig a cellar almost as deep as a well, then in winter they'd carve out clean ice blocks and store them in the well, retrieving them for use when summer came...

The reason it's called a secret method is that other wealthy families have also tried to store ice in this way for winter, but for some reason, they often find that by summer, the ice they stored has already melted into a pool of water.

In some homes, even the watermarks on the ground have disappeared.

This was also the part that shocked her the most about her daughter suddenly making this shaved watermelon.

Therefore, there are currently no places in the Great Xia market that sell ice.

Even if there were, it would probably be those spendthrift sons of powerful families who secretly took some out to exchange for money.

Thinking this, Lin Si Niang couldn't help but turn her gaze to the large barrels in the courtyard.

Zhuge Laifu did the same. The couple exchanged a glance and then, in perfect unison, put their hands into the water in the bucket.

"It's very cold!"

Lin Si Niang and Zhuge Lai Fu both exclaimed in surprise.

This is not as cool as well water.

It was only at this moment that Lin Si Niang and Zhuge Lai Fu confirmed their previously vague guess—

This shaved ice was made by their daughter.

Lin Si Niang couldn't keep a secret, so she blurted it out.

"Dahua, this shaved ice, you and your cousins ​​didn't make it at home today, did you?"

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone in the Zhuge family turned their attention to her. Upon seeing this, Zhuge Yunshu readily admitted to the matter.

Upon hearing such certainty, Old Master Sun's eyes lit up:

"Everyone says that saltpeter can be used to make ice, but throughout history, very few have succeeded. Moreover, saltpeter is so expensive in pharmacies. Yun Shu, you really are..."

Although he didn't say that last word of praise aloud, everyone present understood!

Zhuge Yunshu, on the other hand, felt his ears burning as he was being stared at so curiously by everyone in his family.

There was nothing she could do; after researching for an entire afternoon, all she managed to make was a smoothie.

Her initial idea was ice cubes!

If those time travelers from other parallel universes knew that she was still such a weakling even with the information, they would definitely laugh at her!

Thinking this way, Zhuge Yunshu couldn't help but place his hopes on the last two buckets of water.

Hopefully, her guess is correct; cleaner water combined with high-purity nitrates will produce more ice.

Zhuge Yunshu was very calm and composed.

It wasn't until after dinner that she led her family to the well in the backyard.

To be honest, it would be a lie to say she wasn't nervous looking at the large wooden tub wrapped in straw.

However, despite the tension, Zhuge Yunshu was still eager to know the final experimental results.

So, Zhuge Yunshu and the others swept the straw around the wooden bucket clean, and then lifted the gauze covering the bucket.

And so, the small wooden bucket placed inside the large wooden bucket appeared before everyone's eyes.

Upon seeing this, Zhuge Yunshu's face showed obvious excitement.

Because she was the closest, she was the first to see the water in the small wooden bucket freeze.

Seeing Zhuge Yunshu's expression, the Zhuge family members were delighted and then craned their necks to look over.

"This is amazing! I never knew you could make ice in the summer." Zhuge Yun Chu's face was full of shock.

In order to see the final product, she and Zhuge Yunxi stayed at Zhuge Yunshu's house for dinner.

Apart from Zhuge Yun Chu and Zhuge Yun Xi being shocked by this scene, the rest of the Zhuge family were already stunned in place.

Zhuge Yunshu saw that they all stared wide-eyed in disbelief. To be honest, she was just as incredulous as they were.

I wasn't surprised that the water in the small wooden bucket had frozen into a layer of ice, but rather I felt sorry that she had used so much saltpeter to produce such a small amount of ice.

Sure enough, what's written in novels is all unreliable.

The chances of traveling back to ancient times and becoming rich by making ice, especially if you come from a farming family, are practically zero.

You should know that this small bucket of ice contained almost all of the nitrates she had obtained that day.

It took an entire afternoon of repeated trials to arrive at the optimal solution.

Zhuge Yunshu felt that the cost of trial and error was too high, both in terms of the effort and manpower spent.

It would be a lie to say I wasn't disappointed by this result.