Chapter 23 Soybean Oil

  "Nephew, I suddenly thought of a question, you said to use an iron axle." The young uncle woke up and naturally had doubts.

  "Yes, uncle, what's the problem? Can an iron axle withstand wear and tear? If a wooden axle is used, can it bear the weight of such a large waterwheel?" Yang Heng was also puzzled, wondering why his uncle would ask such a question.

  "It's not easy to turn the iron axle, and it's not as durable as you said. I've tried it on a horse-drawn carriage." This young uncle seems to have stories too, otherwise he wouldn't have such good carpentry skills.

  "Ah, wear and tear, wear and tear, little uncle, don't you have any lubricating oil?" "Lubricating oil? What's that?" The little uncle was even more puzzled. "Oh..." Yang Heng patted his head, this is the Tang Dynasty after all, lubricating oil doesn't exist here, maybe some edible oil can be used as a substitute, and using plant-based oil on low-speed rotating shafts is also possible.

  "Hey, little uncle, do we have cooking oil?" Yang Heng actually didn't remember, he hadn't used oil to stir-fry or cook for a while now. Ah yes, thinking of edible oil, the iron pot also needed to be seasoned.

  "Using oil for cooking, big nephew, you think we're some kind of wealthy family. Even in the city, not many households can afford to use edible oil. At most, they might use animal fat to make some lard when eating meat. Only truly aristocratic families would eat sesame oil."

  "Sesame oil? Uncle, are you saying that only sesame oil is left now?"

  "That's right. Rich people eat sesame oil, slightly poorer households eat animal oil, and poor people can just be grateful for having something to eat, let alone what kind of oil they use."

  This way of thinking from little uncle is really unacceptable, but perhaps the entire history of China has been able to continue because of people like him who are willing to accept their circumstances. Although there have been many peasant uprisings throughout history, none of them were ever successful. Perhaps the only exception was Zhu Hongwu in later generations, who was half a grassroots leader.

  Yang Heng found that recently there have been more associative thoughts, which is not a good phenomenon. He still needs to consider some things carefully, otherwise he will become a pure angry youth, which is not a good thing. After all, the world still needs him to save it. Ah, forget it, forget it, saying too much, saving the world, with Yang Heng's small shoulders, it's impossible to carry that burden.

  Currently, the top priority is the issue of edible oil. Since there's only sesame oil available at this time, perhaps vegetable oil could be an option, but are there any oil-producing vegetables around? Maybe it's better to choose bean oil for now, although Yang Heng's past life didn't like bean oil; he liked peanut oil instead. But who knows where peanuts are growing right now? Perhaps it's time to go out and make some merchant friends, maybe they'll bring Yang Heng a surprise.

  "Hey, little uncle, have you ever heard of bean oil?" "Bean oil? Nephew, what are you talking about? I've never heard of such a thing as bean oil." "Haha, that's good. Uncle, tell me, who would make stone tools like millstones?" Yang Heng first thought of extracting oil from beans, although he didn't know how to extract it, but he had seen peanuts being pressed for oil before, and he couldn't understand any other method of extracting oil.

  "There is, there is, your second uncle will make a millstone, you know those millstones in the village are all made by your second uncle." Indeed, the people of this era are still multi-talented, but their brains are a bit rigid, they have skills but don't know how to use them. Yang Heng didn't think about it, he was a transmigrator, from an era where knowledge exploded, what hadn't he seen before? Naturally, he had a broad perspective. This can't be said that his innovative ability is strong, otherwise, he wouldn't have transmigrated to this era. A successful person wouldn't do something as foolish as transmigrate. Although it's said that transmigration is beyond one's control, those successful people are very careful with their lives, they protect them well, and naturally, transmigration won't happen to them. They wouldn't take their lives lightly, and they wouldn't appear in dangerous places. However, if they were to transmigrate while sleeping, then it can't be helped."

  There was no spiral press, so a lever press had to be used. Second Uncle made a 60 cm diameter millstone according to Yang Heng's requirements and also made another part of the millstone that matched this one for pressing bean oil. This set of pressing tools was thus completed. Although these stone-made tools were not very useful, Yang Heng couldn't find much iron at short notice to make such a tool for pressing oil, so some soybeans would just have to be wasted.

  To talk about waste, it's actually not wasted much. The bean dregs after pressing oil can still be used to make tofu. In this poor era, being able to eat a mouthful of tofu made from bean dregs is already a luxury. Not to mention that these bean dregs are not like the ones in later generations with all sorts of additives, where even bacteria cannot survive, and eating them won't kill you or make you unhealthy, they just taste a bit worse. Even if people in later generations know that those foods are toxic, not many will say no to eating them. If this one is toxic and can't be eaten, then that one is also toxic and can't be eaten, then there's only starving to death or learning to live on wind. But is the wind safe?

  "It's out, it's out! Nephew is really great, and with just two stones, oil can be extracted!" The uncles on the side cheered up, while Dad and Mom were holding back their excitement and not saying anything, trying to maintain a dignified demeanor.

  "Oh no, I can't hold it in anymore! My son is the most impressive one. He's been secretly studying outside of school for a long time!" The old mother finally couldn't hold it in anymore. Since her son was doing so well, she naturally had a very happy face. She couldn't just let others praise him without praising him herself."

  "What did you say, sister-in-law? My nephew can still recognize characters. Sister-in-law, look at our family's children, shouldn't they also be taught by Nephew Heng?" "Yes, yes, sister-in-law, and my child too, you can't not teach them." "Alright, alright, don't tell me, go discuss with your nephew, he has the final say." The old mother decided at this moment that she should hand over the household to Yang Heng immediately and let him take charge. Looking at the construction of the house, the reclamation of the wasteland, and even the waterwheel that was about to be built, all of these showed that Yang Heng was in charge. It seemed that from now on, she would only enjoy her life. And also, there was that secret recipe for bathing, which she would teach to the child immediately, not waiting until the child got married, and consider it as passing down the legacy early."

  Yang Heng didn't know that he was about to become the master of the house, and he thought that after his old man became an official, he could become a spoiled young master and have a good time.