Gasp! She's a Time Traveler Using Modern Tech to Improve Ancient Life-Chapter 397 - 394: Success (Bonus Update)

The next day, they resumed making sweet potato vermicelli. After filtering it clean, they wrapped the settled sweet potato powder in cloth to squeeze out excess water, then used a rolling pin to crush the sweet potato lumps into a powder form, which they spread out on the small balcony outside the third-floor attic of the school to dry in the sun.

This place was clean, sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, reducing dust pollution.

By the time Xiao Chong and Dugu Di again appeared at the Lin Family Manor, the powder was almost dry, ready to officially enter the pastry (vermicelli) making stage.

This time coincided with a school holiday, not only did the future leading female force of Lin Family Manor come to make sweet potato vermicelli, but even the children gathered around.

Lin Wanwan directed Kun Lun to pour the dried sweet potato powder into a clean large vat, add an appropriate amount of boiling water, and stir while flushing it with long bamboo slats.

After about a quarter of an hour, the paste presented a transparent uniform appearance, making it easy to extract threads, which was considered the vermicelli paste.

Next, alum was added—something Lin Wanwan purchased from modern times, though it also existed in pharmacy during the Great Tang.

Alum is also known as white alum, and there is a detailed preparation method in the major work of Chinese medicine processing from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, "Lei Gong Pao Zhi Lun."

The wisdom of Huaxia’s ancestors is considerable, the civilization is splendid and magnificent. It is because folk books are not widely spread, and civilization inheritance was destroyed during dynastic changes, leading to many lost pearls.

Lin Wanwan bought it from modern times merely for convenience, and she always felt that alum made with modern high-tech should be cleaner than handmade by ancients.

She has a space-time bracelet, enabling her to open a Space-Time Gate, and a trip to the supermarket by car is much more convenient than going to the pharmacy on horseback!

After adding alum and continuing to mix with wet starch, it was followed by kneading the dough, handed over to the ladies of Lin Family Manor.

Although Jiangnan Road doesn’t focus on flour-based foods, the ladies still have the skill of kneading dough.

If there was no noodle-cutting machine, purely by hand, it would require a slotted spoon, yet it would still take quite a while.

Now with the noodle-cutting machine brought by Lin Wanwan, everything was much more convenient and swift.

The final formed vermicelli needed cooling and drying, which was all done indoors, and was moved to a spot sheltered from the wind and exposed to sunshine once completely cooled to dry.

During this process, Xiao Chong was most concerned with the hand-cranked vermicelli machine. But since he knew Lin Wanwan wouldn’t tell him the truth, he didn’t bother to ask, though he appeared deep in thought.

Seeing the vermicelli was basically completed, everyone at Lin Family Manor was excited!

"Wanwan, it worked, it really worked! We made vermicelli!" The Clan Leader of Lin was thrilled, rubbing his hands continuously.

Such agricultural by-products, when sold at the market, do not count as business, but can greatly subsidize household expenses; the vermicelli’s selling price isn’t cheap!

Compared to the tedious tofu products, the selling price is much higher, how can one be not excited?

The Great Tang calls all flour-based foods and foods close to flour-based foods as cakes, noodles are soup cakes, steaming buns in steamer baskets are steamed cakes (even the cakes Wu Dalang sold during the Song Dynasty were buns), all this way, they are cakes, greatly differing from the modern meaning of cakes.

Lin Wanwan had heard enough to become accustomed, smiling, "Alright! The vermicelli is almost done! In a couple of days, we can also harvest the sweet potatoes from the field. We will keep some for planting, some for eating, and turn all the excess into vermicelli for storage."

"Alright, alright, Wanwan, you worked hard." Several senior members of the Lin family praised Lin Wanwan generously.

As the crowd dispersed, Lin Wanwan asked Xiao Chong what to do with the made vermicelli.

Xiao Chong said, "This was crafted by my cousin’s hands, naturally I must treasure it well and take it all away."

Lin Wanwan: "..."

So I’m working for you for free?

Seeing Lin Wanwan’s speechless expression, Xiao Chong couldn’t help but laugh out loud, eventually proposing a seventy-thirty split.

"Sixty-forty! You take four, I take six!" Lin Wanwan directly said.

"Wanwan, if you were a merchant, you’d certainly be a cunning trader. The sweet potato raw material was all brought by me."

"Saying that, Cousin, look, it took me three days to make vermicelli, including fuel, labor, and effort!"

"Alright, alright, as you wish." Xiao Chong conceded.

After the dinner, Xiao Chong and Dugu Di traveled by boat.

As night fell, horses could not be swift, so transporting the vermicelli themselves was better.

Once they traveled far enough that they could no longer see the lights of Lin Family Manor, Dugu Di sat alone at the bow, calmly saying, "Zi Fang, the steel used in that vermicelli machine isn’t ordinary. I touched it briefly; the smoothness is comparable to Mo Blade. Is the steel refining technique in the Western Regions really so strong now? This raises my curiosity."

Xiao Chong said, "You’ve traveled far and wide these years, have you ever seen such things elsewhere?"

"Never. Even among those caravans of Hu Shang from the Western Regions, there aren’t any."

Xiao Chong said nothing more, Dugu Di waited for a while without receiving a reply, suddenly said, "Zi Fang, I wish to form a fleet to explore overseas. To see if the outside world is genuinely as intriguing as the Village Lady of Le’an displays."

Xiao Chong looked at Dugu Di, semi-seriously saying, "Xiwen, didn’t we agree you’d stay and help me? Why the change of mind now? Rashness isn’t a gentlemanly deed."

Dugu Di laughed, "Is Zi Fang disapproving? What secrets does the Village Lady of Le’an possess that you’re unwilling for me to probe into?"

"Ah, is there? Might you be overthinking?" Xiao Chong gracefully smiled, diverted the topic, "How’s the progress on the trafficking matter?"

Speaking of this, knowing Xiao Chong was shifting topics, Dugu Di still had to answer earnestly; after all, this was no laughing matter. He shook his head, sighed, "It’s hard to uproot completely; probably even with in-depth probing, at most only a few vines can be pulled."

Xiao Chong looked solemnly at the pitch-black river surface, faintly said, "Is that so, then let’s try first."

Meanwhile, Lin Wanwan had coaxed little Qingyu to sleep, and opened the letter sent by the Zhang Family’s eldest lady that day, not helping but laughing out loud.

Yet another person wishing to ask for the fan blueprints, Lin Wanwan was amazed by the Great Tang people’s awareness of copyrighted ideas.

Originally, Lin Wanwan hadn’t thought about it much, but after receiving several letters in succession, Lin Wanwan emerged with a new idea.

Turns out the fan displayed at the feast that day was indeed alluring. Estimated, those folks regretted not bringing over a carpenter to fastidiously replicate when returning home.

How could Lin Wanwan possibly give out blueprints casually? They didn’t provide any equivalent exchange to Lin Wanwan, yet wished to snatch a benefit; that simply won’t do.

Lin Wanwan decided to write replies to each one, telling those ladies, since all liked it, Red Face Smile would specially produce a batch of fans for everyone to purchase.

After all, her Red Face Smile wasn’t purely a cosmetic shop but a membership-based beauty salon. Selling some peripherals is no big deal, she dictated so.

Lin Wanwan decided to find her Third Uncle tomorrow and have him replicate a batch of fans to sell, fleece the area around Mao County first.

Such items are hard to prevent copies; with the physical object, a clever carpenter can easily imitate it, she could only make money through time difference.

Those hand-cranked fans made in the Great Tang era were Lin Wanwan’s custom order online in modern times.

The omnipotent online world, no matter what kind of merchandise you desire, you can find someone to take your order, even for entirely market-less hand-cranked fans.