Chapter 15 Filters

  A new week, two updates a day, around 10 am and 7 pm every day.

  The book is currently on the bestseller list, seeking rewards, collections, recommendations, clicks, comments and all other forms of support!

  ……

  One thing after another delayed the serving of this meal for a long time. However, neither those little guys nor the four members of the Zhao family cared about it. Especially Zhao Er and his family, their joyful expressions couldn't be hidden at all.

  Time rewound to half an hour ago, just as Li Anran was about to start cooking and discovered that the sugar from Zhao's house couldn't be used, a sudden flash of inspiration struck his mind.

  Ever since he knew he had really traveled to the Tang Dynasty, Li Anran had been racking his brains on how to earn his first pot of gold and have enough capital to establish himself in the Tang Dynasty. With those modern items that came with him through time-travel, making money was not a difficult task, but it was not easy to make this money safely and effortlessly.

  Taking advantage of the Refiner's identity and modern items like mobile phones to pretend to be a supernatural being is easy, but doing so would more easily attract the attention of this era's Daoist sects. Li Anran wouldn't be foolish enough to think that he could outwit those "old foxes". If he wasn't careful, it would be easy for the other party to completely "swallow" him, skin and bones included.

  As for pawning a sword or a lighter, it's not that it can't be done. But in a place like Lantian County, it's easy to sell at a low price, and if you want to sell at a good price, you have to go to Chang'an. However, going to Chang'an means taking greater risks, not to mention the powerful families, but also the existence of "black societies" in ancient times.

  Li Anran was very clear about his current situation, apart from the fabricated identity, he only had some self-defense capabilities due to the mysterious symbol and the powerful physique it brought. If trouble really arose because of these "treasures" on his body, not to mention those powerful families and nobles, they wouldn't even need to exert more effort than crushing an ant to kill him.

  It's just that this era's wandering knights and those despicable gangs have run into each other, even if it doesn't end in death, the outcome won't be good. The best-case scenario is to hide in the mountains and forests to avoid disaster, then change places and start anew. If you encounter some "powerful" guys, it will also be miserable.

  As for relying on the knowledge and learning of later generations, it's just a way to deceive people of the past. It's not necessarily useless, but Li Anran didn't want to put his own life in danger by relying on those who had crossed over from another time.

  Li Anran also knew that no matter how careful he was, unless he completely concealed any content related to knowledge of the future, he would eventually attract attention. However, as long as he had enough time, Li Anran was confident that he could stand firm. By then, even if he caused trouble, the risk he faced wouldn't be as great as it was now.

  It was precisely because of such considerations that Li Anran did not overly display his "divine" qualities, nor did he pawn off the items on him. Even the previous act of using the Zippo lighter as collateral with Sun Changgeng was, on one hand, out of desperation, and on the other hand, also to test the opponent's temperament.

  Otherwise, that valuable Ren Dan medicine formula would not have been taken out to cooperate with the other party for production without even a cooperation agreement being signed.

  Li Anran was still in a headache, whether it was Ren Dan or the meat processing industry he was about to engage in later, although they could make money, but the effect would be slower.

  After seeing the brown sugar at Zhao Er's house, I suddenly remembered that in this era, there was no white sugar like in later generations, and sugar was a high-priced commodity in ancient times. In the village where Li Anran lived before crossing over, it was not far from the largest sugarcane planting area in the county, and the sugar used daily was also bought directly from the sugar workshop.

  Don't look at these sugars, they are all produced from villagers' small workshops, but they use traditional sugar-making craftsmanship. No matter whether it's brown sugar, white sugar, granulated sugar or rock sugar, the quality is much better than those made with industrial technology.

  Li Anran, who had a sweet tooth since childhood, often visited familiar villagers' homes to get free sugar. Through these visits, he gained an in-depth understanding of the traditional method of making sugar. However, this method was very troublesome and not cost-effective for small batches, while large-scale production required specialized labor and equipment, plus the competition was already fierce.

  Even if the method of making brown sugar is not a secret recipe in the local area, no one in the surrounding villages would be foolish enough to add it, and those who want to eat it just buy it directly. Although the process from sugarcane to white sugar is indeed troublesome, for Li Anran at this moment, there is no need to be so tired, just deep processing will do.

  This wasn't the case, after confirming his own brilliant idea. Li Anran then had Zhao brothers smash the bamboo charcoal used for smoking meat into small pieces, washed clean and dried. He also had Zhao Er's wife prepare two pieces of coarse cloth for mending, combined with coarse sand, fine sand and a section of bamboo tube that were all washed clean, to make a simple filter.

  The brown sugar was then ground into a fine powder, dissolved in boiling water to make a saturated solution, and filtered through a bamboo tube filter to remove impurities. After filtering several times, it was slowly dried over low heat. In the end, we got a much smaller amount of white sugar that was crystal clear and snow-white compared to the original brown sugar.

  To say that this sugar is far from the white sugar of later generations, but for the Tang Dynasty, which has not yet introduced foreign white sugar technology, it is already sufficient. In fact, to process brown sugar into white sugar, only activated carbon is needed. Unfortunately, Li Anran does not have activated carbon on hand, and even if he knew how to do it, there was no time.

  Moreover, the crude sugar in Zhao Erjia's house has more impurities, not only need to filter out the natural pigments in the solution, but also need to filter out those impurities. Looking at the color of the sugar that is still relatively white, Li Anran was somewhat dissatisfied in his heart. But in the eyes of Zhao Er and others, it can no longer be described as ecstatic.

  Especially Zhao Er Bao and Zhao Da Bao, who were in charge of the whole household, clearly understood the price difference between brown sugar and white sugar, without needing Li Anran to explain it.

  As for the business of buying in bulk cheap miscellaneous sugar and processing it into high-quality snow sugar to sell, the four members of the Zhao family would naturally not object, but they didn't have a greedy heart. Li Anran originally wanted to invest with technology and take 50% of this business, leaving another 50% for the Zhao brothers, but unexpectedly, these two families did not agree at all.

  It's not that I think 50% is too little, but rather that it's too much.

  After a lot of pushing and shoving, Li Anran finally took on the identity of Chunyang Zhenren, and only then was the allocation ratio of Sanqi Kai finalized. At this point, the four members of the Zhao family were already overjoyed.

  Apart from Li Anran's signature dish, Snow Sugar, he also taught them how to cook pork well, how to use sauces, spices and seasonings to marinate the sliced pork, as well as methods for deep processing meat products through smoking, steaming, drying and roasting.

  As for the need to keep these methods confidential, it was unnecessary for Li Anran to instruct them, as the four members of the Zhao family had already sworn not to reveal a single word to anyone else. Especially Zhao Dabao's wife and Zhao Erbao's wife, who had parents above and brothers and sisters below, were repeatedly warned by their husbands, and they couldn't even tell their own families.

  On this point, the two women's attitudes coincidentally expressed agreement. It's not that they don't want to let their natal families benefit, it's just that this isn't the way to benefit. As the saying goes, a married-out daughter is like spilled water. If you really want to do good for your respective natal families, after making a lot of money in the future, you can give them some benefits from other places.

  But such an idea became even more determined after Li Anran took out his own mobile phone and took a few clear photos in Zhao Erjia's courtyard. Not to mention the Tang Dynasty, but even during the Republic of China period, photography technology would be considered a terrifying thing by some ordinary people living at the bottom.

  They were afraid that their souls would be taken away by the Western machine, and for Zhao Er and others, it was also thought to be so, so they became more and more reverent in their hearts.

  Some people would say, why doesn't Li Anran lower his status and get along with Zhao Er and the others? Isn't that how it's written in those transmigration novels? The protagonist gets along with ancient people, then the latter is grateful and willing to give their life for the former, and everyone lives happily ever after.

  Isn't it adding legs to a snake if you have to scare people by taking pictures?

  Actually, Li Anran had thought about this, and in the simple environment of ancient people, it's not impossible to achieve those online levels. However, in Li Anran's view, only after having a certain foundation and strength can such actions be considered as being close to the people and loving the people; if you have nothing and lower your posture, it will only make people look down on you.

  Apart from a fabricated identity, what else can be done to this extent? Only by making rewards and punishments clear and using both kindness and severity is the most appropriate. Most importantly, those ancient people described in the book had such simple and honest stories, Li Anran didn't dare to believe too much before experiencing it personally.