Chapter 26: Prince Yu: Practice Makes You Really Know

In a secluded courtyard in the backyard of Prince Yu's Mansion, Zhu Zaigui was burning a stove with mud all over his face. There was a large iron pot on the stove, and in the pot was the yellow mud that Zhu Zaigui asked Meng Chong to dig from outside.

Looking at the yellow mud that was almost fried dry, Zhu Zaigui was excited. This was just the beginning of his experiment, and he didn't know whether it would be reliable or not.

But now the arrow has been drawn to the string and has to be shot. Zhu Zaigui took out about one pound of brown sugar from the bag beside him, and then put the one pound of brown sugar directly into the pot. Then Zhu Zaigui swung his arms and waved a large wooden shovel to stir the pot, working very hard!
But after stir-frying for a long time, not to mention how to separate the yellow mud and sugar, just looking at the situation in the pot, Zhu Zaigui didn't seem to notice any white sugar appearing.

Seeing this, Zhu Zaigui was also upset. Did the experiment fail? Or was it that yellow mud simply couldn't turn brown sugar into white sugar?
Zhu Zaigui looked at the shit-like thing he had made and became emo all over.

"What exactly went wrong?"

Zhu Zaigui sat aside, cross-legged and tilted his head, thinking about the reasons for the failure of the experiment.

Then Zhu Zaigui tried hard to recall the passages from the novel he had read. According to the novel, the protagonist learned the methods from "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature".

It is only the 28th year of the Jiajing reign, which is at least 50 years away from the time when Song Yingxing was active. This means that during these 50 years, someone would have used yellow mud to decolorize brown sugar and turn it into white sugar. Otherwise, how could Song Yingxing have included this method in "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature"?

You should know that the scientific value of "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" is the same as that of "Dream Pool Essays". They are both examples of inestimable ancient science and technology collections, and there will be no problems in things that are generally feasible.

So since it’s not a problem with the yellow mud and brown sugar, it must be a problem with your own experiments.

There must be something wrong with my testing method or steps.

Zhu Zaigui was thinking and recalling at the same time, and he recalled in his scattered memory fragments how the process of yellow mud decolorizing brown sugar was recorded.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Zaigui finally thought of an extremely important key point, that is - water!

If the memory fragment's memory is correct, it should be brown sugar discolored by yellow mud water.

So how do we get this yellow mud water?
Is it to mix yellow mud directly with clean water?

The problem was stuck again at this point, and Zhu Zaigui didn't care anymore.

Anyway, there is a saying that goes "Practice makes perfect."

Moreover, he had dozens of kilograms of brown sugar with him, which made him wealthy. He had enough time to try and fail dozens of times. What was there to be afraid of?
Therefore, Zhu Zaigui did not stop and shouted to Meng Chong who was guarding outside the courtyard, "Meng Daban, bring me two buckets of clean water!"

Meng Chong, who was guarding the gate of the courtyard, heard Zhu Zaigui's call and quickly responded, "Your Highness, please wait a moment. I will go right away."

Meng Chong watched Zhu Zaigui's experiment at the gate of the courtyard for the whole morning. When he saw Zhu Zaigui frying yellow mud in a large iron pot, he was completely confused. But when he saw Zhu Zaigui put more than a pound of brown sugar directly in the pot and fry it together with the yellow mud, Meng Chong was completely confused. Does the prince want me to eat dirt?
Now hearing Zhu Zaigui shouting for two buckets of clean water, Meng Chong did not dare to be negligent in the slightest, thinking that Zhu Zaigui was preparing to wash the mud off his body.

After Meng Chong gritted his teeth and struggled to bring in two buckets of water, before he could say anything, Zhu Zaigui gave another order, "Go find another large water tank."

Meng Chong didn't know what Zhu Zaigui was going to do, so he could only respond and then quickly turned around to find the big water tank.

When the large water vat was found, Zhu Zaigui ordered, "Move this piece of yellow mud into the large water vat for me."

Meng Chong felt resistance in his heart when he saw the dirty yellow mud, but when he looked at Zhu Zaigui with his face covered in mud, he felt it was not appropriate to look at himself in contrast with his clean appearance.

So Meng Chong gritted his teeth and directly picked up the piece of yellow mud and put it into the big water tank. This hug made Meng Chong's body covered with mud.

If you don't know, you might think Prince Yu was in high spirits and wanted to play in the mud like ordinary children.

Before Meng Chong could catch his breath, Zhu Zaigui said, "Pour these two buckets of water in." Meng Chong exclaimed, "Your Majesty, don't you want to wash?"

Zhu Zaigui said, "Why are you washing it? Didn't you see that I have already invested fifty kilograms of brown sugar? Hurry up."

Meng Chong had no choice but to pick up the bucket and pour the clean water in the bucket into the large water tank.

After Meng Chong finished pouring the water, Zhu Zaigui instructed: "Use this wooden shovel to stir it for me. Stir it vigorously to break up the yellow mud and make it even."

Faced with Zhu Zaigui's confusing order, Meng Chong had no choice but to carry it out.

Finally, after some effort, the yellow mud and water in the large water vat were finally mixed together and turned into a vat of mud soup.

Looking at the jar of mud soup, Zhu Zaigui couldn't help but mutter in his heart: "This should be yellow mud water, right?"

Zhu Zaigui pondered over the records in his memory about the decolorization of brown sugar with yellow mud water, and he remembered a thing called "Waliu".

Zhu Zaigui asked: "Do you know what a waliu is?"

When Meng Chong heard what Zhu Zai'ao said, he hurriedly wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand, but ended up getting a lot of mud on his face. Seeing Meng Chong's clumsy and cute appearance, Zhu Zai'ao also laughed.

Facing Zhu Zaigui's laughter, Meng Chong didn't know why, so he replied, "I know."

Zhu Zaiqi hummed, "Since you know, go find one."

Meng Chong didn't know why Zhu Zaigui wanted Wa Liu, but he had already done what he had done before, so it didn't seem appropriate to ask at this time.

So Meng Chong went to find Wa Liu again.

When Meng Chong brought the tile-liu over, Zhu Zaigui suddenly realized that the tile-liu was actually a funnel, but it was much larger than the funnels of later generations, and it was made of pottery, like a small water tank.

Seeing the appearance of Walui, Zhu Zaigui took another look at the equipment in the courtyard and felt that it was a little insufficient.

Zhu Zaigui said, "Go get a few more large water tanks and find someone to make a wooden frame, otherwise there will be nowhere to put the tiles."

Originally, Zhu Zaigui wanted to do these things alone at the beginning, but after doing so, he found that the manpower and material resources required were not enough for one person to do it.

So now Meng Chong was being used like a donkey by Zhu Zaigui without being noticed.

By the time Meng Chong got the water tank and the wooden frame back, he was already panting from exhaustion. He panted and asked, "What are you going to do, my Lord? I feel like I'm going to become skinny from exhaustion."

Meng Chong finally couldn't help but ask the question in his mind.

Zhu Zaigui touched his nose embarrassedly and said, "It's good to be thin. It's healthy. I also want to be as thin as you."

Zhu Zaigui's words immediately made Meng Chong speechless. Zhu Zaigui was already very thin. If he really became as thin as him, wouldn't he become a fat man?
Before Meng Chong could respond, Zhu Zaigui coughed twice and said, "Put this wooden frame on the water tank and fix this tile on it."

Meng Chong sighed in his heart, but had no choice but to do as he was told. He felt like he was going to be exhausted today, and since he entered the palace, he had never done such heavy work in a single day.

This is really the first time a young lady has gotten into a bridal sedan!
(End of this chapter)

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