HPDBC Chapter 175
Chapter 175
Chapter 175
To make sugar from beets, the most important step is to add milk of lime, and the proportions need to be carefully controlled, similar to making tofu which requires experimenting with the amounts.
First, wash the beets clean, then remove the outer rough skin and roots.
After bringing the cleaned beet roots home, grate them into shreds and soak them in warm water. After that, filter the juice and start adding the milk of lime.
Once this process is done, filter again, and the juice can then be placed on the heat to be boiled down. The liquid will become thicker and the color will darken.
The sugar water will turn into a paste, and eventually into sugar crystals. During the frying process, keep adding a little sugar water to the pan and continue frying.
When all the liquid has turned into brown sand-like grains, it means success has been achieved.
The first two times were thin sugar syrup, while the third time is brown sugar crystals. Wen Qian thought this should be considered brown sugar.
Wen Qian packed the sugar into jars, and did not waste the sugar syrup either, collecting it as well.
The homemade sugar was not as fine as the white granulated sugar she had stockpiled, but it could still be traded. The first person she traded with was her neighbor.
To make white sugar, the process would be even more complicated, though it was possible but unnecessary, as industrial sugar production before the calamity had achieved that level of quality and yield.
But in all honesty, for her alone to produce sugar in large batches would be extremely laborious.
So she didn't plan to build a sugar refinery afterward, and just intended to finish processing the beets in her space.
After all, the demand here was limited, and it was time-consuming and laborious. Compared to making sugar from beets, she preferred the taste of malt sugar.
However, now that she had mastered this skill, it wouldn't be too difficult for her to do it again in the future.
Often, she was training her hands-on abilities. The methods and techniques she knew were only on paper, and if not put into practice, would forever remain mere theory.
When truly needed, there were few chances of success on the first try, so she practiced in advance so that whenever it was needed, she could execute immediately.
As the saying goes, you're never too old to learn. Since she had ready methods and books available, she tried everything the conditions permitted.
Beets, sugarcane, and malt - apart from honey, she had tried all the other sugar sources.
Of the brown sugar she made, she kept only a portion for herself and traded the rest at the market. The surplus was bought by the grocery store owner.
Wen Qian took the main road, while they took the small path, following her from a distance.
Initially they didn't act when near the village, as the terrain was too flat and open.
One should know that at this time, whether stealing or robbing, if caught, everyone would cry for their beating.
They could only wait until she went further before acting. But unexpectedly, after passing through a small path, they lost sight of the woman's trail.
Their heart sank, wondering if they had been discovered. But she couldn't fly, so how could she have shaken them off so quickly?
They calmed down, thinking she must be hiding. After all, she was the one afraid, so she hid.
Their mood lightened, imagining her hiding in a panic, not daring to move or breathe. If they found her now, she would be startled.
For some reason, they felt like a cat playing with a mouse. Cats don't usually catch mice to eat, but to play. Now they could relate to the cat's curiosity.
The next second, they pushed through the bushes with their gun, spotting a faint hat tip in the distance, and quickened their pace.
Pushing through the last bush, they saw a hat - the woman's hat, now stuck on a wooden pole embedded in the ground.
Wen Qian was indeed playing cat and mouse, but she was the cat.
As they angrily reached out, grabbed the hat and threw it to the ground, a hand grenade fell out from inside.
This type of stick grenade was once very common in TV shows. The person felt their heart skip a beat in shock.
His instinctive reaction was to take three steps back and jump into the nearby bushes. As he fell to the ground, Wen Qian shot him.
The man who was shot immediately lost all his strength, and at that moment, he deeply regretted not realizing that the woman had such a bomb.
Powerless, he tried to roll over, but his back was excruciatingly painful. Lying on the ground, he gripped a gun in his hand but couldn't find a target to shoot at.
Unable to raise his head, his vision was limited to the nearby grass. If someone were to approach from behind...
He kept trembling, but to no avail. He seemed to hear rustling sounds from the bushes.
He felt blood on his body, but it appeared to be only one wound. It was then that he realized he was not injured by a bomb but rather by a gunshot.