Chapter 78: An Unexpected Scene

Making crooked jujube sugar is not difficult; the process involves simple steps like removing stems, washing, crushing, adding water, extracting juice, and boiling. The tools needed are just a stone mortar, a cloth for filtration, a pot, and a jar that has been scalded with boiling water and dried for storing the syrup.

The challenge lies in the quantity they collected, nearly three baskets full. After removing the stems, they had almost a full bucket, making each step of the process time-consuming. Just the stemming and crushing took a lot of time.

When it came to boiling the sugar, there wasn’t much skill involved; the key was to manage the heat and stir frequently, especially towards the end.

Shen Ning, having watched the process once, felt that she could handle these tasks next time.

The siblings were fascinated as they watched the initially greenish-yellow juice gradually turn red during boiling, finally becoming an enticingly dark brown syrup. It seemed almost magical.

When it was time to fill the jar, they were thrilled. Together, they carried over the dried jar, watching Sang Luo spoon the syrup from the pot into the jar, the sweet aroma making them drool.

By the time the jar was almost full, the sides of the pot had been scraped clean, filling the jar perfectly.

The expressions of the siblings, looking at the full jar of crooked jujube sugar, were those of complete fascination, as if they wished they could embrace and savor the jar like they would with honey.

Sang Luo, amused by their reaction, instructed the two: "Go get a bowl and two pairs of chopsticks."

Their eyes lit up instantly. Forgetting the jar by the stove, they hurriedly fetched a bowl and three pairs of chopsticks, excitedly handing the bowl to Sang Luo.

Sang Luo thoroughly scraped the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. After several scrapes, she lifted the spoon, revealing a half-spoonful of deep brown syrup.

The two children tiptoed, their necks stretched and eyes gleaming as they watched the syrup slowly poured into the bowl, as thrilled as little squirrels. Sang Luo filled the spoon almost full, then scraped it back into the pot for another round. The second spoonful wasn't as much, but it was enough to delight the children.

"Alright, let's twirl and eat it with the chopsticks."

A pair of chopsticks was passed to Sang Luo, "Big sister, you try too!"

Sang Luo, not being bashful, happily accepted the chopsticks, dipped them into the syrup, and then twirled, twirled, and twirled. By now, the syrup had almost cooled and was semi-solid, easily twirlable. With a few swirls, her chopsticks looked like a lollipop.

The children eagerly followed her example, twirling with excitement. The three of them, two young and one adult, lifted their chopsticks together and leaned back to enjoy the treat.

Sweet, aromatic, and smooth!

This bite was truly a satisfying reward for all their hard work!

Actually, this syrup could be molded into lollipops if they had molds and some bamboo sticks, which would probably sell for more. But it would require colder weather and modern soft molds for easy release, so Sang Luo didn't bother with it.

Shen An and Shen Ning were ecstatic, as if they had fallen into a honey pot, utterly content.

"Big sister, this is so delicious!"

"It's even better than honey."

Shen Ning felt this treat surpassed the honey they had eaten in childhood. Despite the memory of that taste, she found this crooked jujube syrup even sweeter and more delightful.

Sang Luo asked with a smile, "Shall we keep some for ourselves?"

The siblings shyly smiled and then nodded together.

Shen An declared, "I'll go with big sister every day to collect crooked jujubes. There must be more in the mountains, right? Let’s look for more!"

Sang Luo shook her head, "We'll pick them if we come across any, but let's not deliberately venture deeper into the forest. It's wild and risky, with the possibility of encountering wild animals. We can't handle that."

Shen An thought to himself that if his elder brother were here, it would have been different. His brother and Da Shan were brave enough to go deep into the mountains.

However, he quickly brushed off the thought. Lately, due to the tax collection in the village, there were people who hadn't returned since the same year his brother left. Many families were cursing, and Shen An overheard some unsettling things.

He didn't dare to dwell on those thoughts, knowing that not thinking about them was the only way to maintain hope.

So, when his big sister said not to venture too deep, he obediently agreed.

After each of them tried a chopstick of the sugar, Shen Ning covered the remaining syrup in the bowl with a plate, saving it for later as a snack. She also suggested, "Can we add some sugar to our egg drop porridge tomorrow morning? I've never had sweet egg drop porridge."

Just thinking about it made her sure it would be delicious.

The cauldron still had some residual sugar, hard to scrape out. Once it cooled down, Shen Ning added some water and boiled it, using a wooden spoon to occasionally wash the sides of the cauldron where the sugar was. She made quite a bit of sweet syrup, which she carefully preserved in a soup bowl.

For the next few days, they could drink this sweet syrup directly, and she planned to share it with Xiao Ya if she came over to play.

After the crooked jujube syrup in the jar had completely cooled, Sang Luo finally sealed it with a lid.

For two consecutive days, Sang Luo and Shen An went to the mountains to pick sour jujubes and dig konjac. They also made daily trips to the crooked jujube tree.

Though they couldn't replicate the first day's bountiful harvest, they managed to shake down more ripe crooked jujubes by shaking the tall bamboo next to the tree, intertwining its top with the tree branches.

After two days of this routine, they made another half jar of crooked jujube syrup. With over two hundred pieces of sour jujube cakes dried, Sang Luo decided to visit the town the next day, along with Qin Fangniang and others.

In the evening, she took out the old broken pottery jar from under the bed. The once full jar now seemed almost empty.

The only money left was the seventy-odd copper coins from after buying the cotton, accompanied by a bunch of IOUs rolled up.

Sang Luo took out all the IOUs, called Shen An to bring his small sand tray, and started doing calculations in the sand with a twig.

Of course, she couldn't use Arabic numerals; she had to rely on the characters from her memories of the Great Qian Dynasty, which were not as convenient to write but there was no other way.

After calculating the sum of the receipts, Sang Luo realized that from the initial debt of 2,500 copper coins, she had already repaid 6,355 coins in less than half a month by selling mushrooms and vegetarian tripe.

"Still owe 845 coins."

Sang Luo pondered.

Tomorrow morning, the 20 jin of vegetarian tripe to be delivered to Dongfu Lou would bring in 340 coins, leaving a balance of 505 coins.

There were 368 pieces of sour jujube cake, equivalent to 368 coins.

That left a shortfall of 137 coins.

Thinking of the jar and a half of crooked jujube syrup, Sang Luo felt confident that she could settle her account with Dongfu Lou the next day. She let out a sigh of relief, neatly stacked the Dongfu Lou receipts, and placed them in her purse along with the seventy-odd coins.

After putting the empty pottery jar back under the bed, she said, "I'm going out for a bit to see who has a jiao. I need to borrow one."

For selling the syrup tomorrow, she couldn't use a scale to weigh it due to its semi-liquid state; it had to be measured by volume. Using her household wooden spoon wouldn't be convincing, so it would be better to use a jiao, a common container for selling vinegar, sauce, and wine during the Great Qian Dynasty.

However, for farming households that don't engage in brewing or vinegar making, the likelihood of having a jiao at home is quite low. If she can't find one, Sang Luo will have to buy one from a bamboo ware shop tomorrow.

After making a round and finding none, Chen Laotai reminded her, "Why don't you ask at Zhou Cunzheng's house? I remember your Zhou Aunt likes to buy medicinal herbs for brewing wine, they might have one."

Hearing that Zhou Cunzheng's family might have a jiao, Sang Luo hesitated.

She managed to make and sell some items, which was no secret among the Chen families. Due to their cooperative relationship, they respected each other’s privacy and even helped cover up for her when needed.

This is why she only asked the three families if they had a wine ladle to borrow.

As for Zhou Cunzheng's family, although they knew somewhat about her situation, Sang Luo still didn’t fully trust them.

Sugar in this era is a luxury. Malt sugar is common and not considered a special skill, as its production method is widely known and even passed down in ancient texts and poems, occasionally made by rural women.

The crooked jujube sugar she made, if documented in medical texts, might be known to some, but she did not find such a reference in her original memories.

Therefore, Sang Luo prefers not to draw attention in the village.

She shook her head, "Never mind, I'll buy one from the shop tomorrow morning."

Seeing her decision, Chen Laotai guessed she might be planning to sell something and nodded, "That works too, those containers aren’t expensive."

Early the next morning, Sang Luo left for the county town with Qin Fangniang and others.

This time, Zhou Cunzheng and others didn’t accompany them. Instead, they asked Feng Liuniang, who happened to be hawking goods in the streets, to keep an eye on the grain shop's situation and prices, to avoid wasting the trip and the entrance fee to the town.

Sang Luo herself went to the county town, but still had Qin Fangniang deliver the vegetarian tripe for her. She planned to sell her goods first, gather enough money, and then collect today’s receipts from Qin Fangniang before going to Dongfu Restaurant to retrieve her debt notes.

Gan's wife and Feng Liuniang knew that Sang Luo had other goods to sell but were unclear about the specifics, so they didn’t inquire or invite her to join them. Upon reaching the town, everyone dispersed to their own tasks.

Sang Luo’s first stop was naturally the wood and bamboo ware shop. They had all kinds of wood and bamboo items, including bamboo wine measures, which were indeed inexpensive, costing only two coins.

Honestly, if it weren’t for the need to measure sugar for selling, and the requirement for accuracy, making such a device wouldn’t be difficult.

After purchasing the wine measure, Sang Luo decided to first go to Yongfeng Zhai to sell her jujube cakes, which would lighten her load.

When she arrived, Yongfeng Zhai had just opened for the day.

The shop girl cleaning the counters brightened up upon seeing Sang Luo and immediately called out, "Shopkeeper, Madam Sang is here!"

Shopkeeper Yan, seeing Sang Luo, welcomed her with a beaming smile, quickly coming around from behind the counter: "We've been eagerly waiting for you!"

As he spoke, his eyes darted towards the basket Sang Luo carried.

Seeing the wooden board inside the basket, dividing it into two layers and holding four jars, his eyes lit up: "We've been waiting for your crystal jujube cakes. The last batch sold out yesterday morning, and I was just worrying when you showed up. Perfect timing, let's get them jarred and displayed immediately."

Upon saying this, Yan Shopkeeper immediately signaled two shop girls to move the jars for repackaging.

The two girls, already near the counter, were familiar with this task as they had done it a few times before. Aware that the shop had opened and customers might arrive at any moment, and knowing the crystal jujube cakes had been particularly popular these days, they promptly went to fetch the jars, ready to quickly count, repackage, and stock the shelves as soon as Yan Shopkeeper gave the word.

Sang Luo couldn’t stop them in time, and the two shop girls each grabbed a jar of the zhijujube sugar that was placed on top, covered loosely with a wooden board for easy access.

Sang Luo hurriedly called out, “Wait, that’s not it. The two jars at the bottom are the ones.”

However, being right next to the counter, the shop girl had already placed the jars down and partially opened the lids before Sang Luo could intervene.

Surprised, one of the shop girls exclaimed, “What’s this?”

Sang Luo was at a loss for words.

She hadn’t expected this situation to unfold.