Duke of Zhenguan

"Brother, where did you get so much money?"

Upon seeing the piles of silver, Li's first reaction was not joy, but worry.

"Mother, I'm selling the brewing recipe!"

Lin Chuan explained the matter of selling the child to Li in detail.

I kept it from Li Shi before because I was afraid she would worry, but now there's no need to.

Only then was Li relieved. Taking the silver, she temporarily forgot about yesterday's fire and called out to the house with a smile:

"Er Ya, come with me to buy meat!"

Lin Chuan wanted to see the notice at the county government office in person, but he stopped Li Shi:

"Mother, I'll go buy it!"

"Okay, go buy some more salt, we're out of salt at home!"

After leaving Yanshoufang, Lin Chuan took a detour to the Chang'an County Government Office, and sure enough, he saw the notice that had just been posted on the bulletin board outside.

The above content is similar to what Li said. On Thursday, he and his gang of subordinates were arrested on charges of coercing people to death and luring people into prostitution.

He committed suicide in prison on Thursday out of fear of punishment, while others were sentenced to hanging or exile.

He was arrested one day and the trial was completed the next; the action was remarkably swift.

Based on Lin Chuan's understanding of Tang Dynasty punishments, this newly issued proclamation was full of loopholes, but ordinary people didn't care about them.

After arriving at the West Market, I heard many people discussing Thursday's incident. Regardless of whether they had been bullied by Thursday, they all solemnly declared that the officials in the government were wise and that a bully like Thursday should have been beheaded long ago.

The West Market was bustling in the evening. There were poor people dressed in coarse linen clothes like Lin Chuan, as well as various merchants wearing fur coats. The shops, big and small, were crowded with people, making it a lively and bustling place.

After following the flow of people for a while, a salt shop came into Lin Chuan's view.

Compared to other shops selling rice and grains, the salt shop was much less crowded.

Upon seeing a customer, the seventeen or eighteen-year-old waiter immediately rushed forward and enthusiastically introduced the customer:

"Sir, we have the finest Qinghai salt here, as well as sea salt transported from the Laizhou area..."

Perhaps seeing Lin Chuan dressed in hemp clothes and straw sandals, he pointed to several bags of coarse salt in the corner and said:

"And there's also coarse salt transported from Puzhou!"

The Lin family's daily necessities were always taken care of by Madam Li. Lin Chuan had no memory of the salt price, so he pointed to the green salt that the shop assistant had initially introduced and asked:

"How much is this per pound?"

"Sir, this is top-quality salt transported from Tuyuhun, five hundred coins a pound! No bargaining!" the waiter said with a smile.

His tone was quite polite.

Lin Chuan nodded knowingly. This green salt should be salt directly mined from Qinghai Lake. As its name suggests, it has a faint greenish hue and obviously contains a lot of impurities.

But it was already the best quality salt in the salt shop.

With only two strings of cash on him, Lin Chuan naturally wouldn't buy any salt, not even the slightly inferior sea salt. Pointing to a few bags of coarse salt in the corner, he asked:

"What about this one?"

"This is two coins a pound!" the waiter said with a smile.

"Could you make it less?"

"Sir, this is already the cheapest price. This is the price of Puzhou salt in Chang'an!" the waiter said.

"Then I'll go ask around at other places!" Lin Chuan nodded.

The waiter quickly stopped Lin Chuan and said with a wry smile:

"Sir! I really can't go less. If you buy ten catties, I'll give you one catty for free!"

"I'll go check out other places!" Lin Chuan shook his head again.

The waiter didn't stop them anymore.

I went to two more salt shops, and sure enough, they had the same price: the worst coarse salt was two coins a pound, and you could get one pound free if you bought ten pounds.

Under the astonished gaze of the shop assistant, Lin Chuan bought twenty catties of the worst coarse salt.

After buying salt and half a pig, Lin Chuan carried the things home.

Upon entering the house, Li took the salt from Lin Chuan, opened it, glanced at it, and softly asked Lin Chuan:

"Brother, why did you buy so much salt? How much does it cost per pound?"

"Two coins a pound!"

"The price has dropped a bit, but it was still two and a half coins a pound in October! It's good to buy more!" Mrs. Li said with a smile.

Seeing that Li was about to go inside with the salt, Lin Chuan quickly stopped her and said softly:

"Mother, you cook the meat first, I'll prepare the salt first!"

The coarse salt consisted of large and small grayish-brown blocks, containing an unknown number of toxic minerals. While the original owner might have been able to eat it, Lin Chuan dared not.

Under Li's questioning gaze, Lin Chuan found a stone mortar and pestle, first grinding the salt into a fine powder, then adding water and stirring.

Since there was no activated carbon available, I had to break up some charcoal to use instead. I filtered the turbid solution several times through a bamboo tube filled with charcoal fragments, let it settle for a while, and then filtered it again and again with fine linen cloth.

Finally, a small stove was set up, and the filtered solution was put into a pot to boil.

After finishing all that, it was already dark. The pot of meat was emitting a rich aroma, but the family of three showed no interest in eating and all gathered around the small stove.

As the water in the pot evaporated little by little, a thin layer of white crystals appeared before the three people's eyes.

Lin Chuan reached out, dipped his finger in the water, tasted it, and sighed softly:

"This is what salt should be!"

Upon hearing this, Madam Li asked with a look of astonishment:

"Brother, is this salt?"

"Mother, would you like to try some?" Lin Chuan said with a smile.

With some skepticism, Li reached out, dipped her finger in the mixture, and put it in her mouth.

salty!

Moreover, it had no bitter taste at all. Although she had never eaten high-quality salt in her life, she had seen salt when she went to buy salt.

The salt in the pot is whiter than even the best green salt, so it's definitely better.

Watching her son transform the grayish-brown salt into salt even better than the finest green salt after some manipulation, Li thought for a long time before finally giving Er Ya a serious instruction:

"Er Ya, you absolutely mustn't tell anyone what you saw today!"

"Mother, I understand, I won't tell even if you beat me to death!" Er Ya nodded sensibly.

"We really can't tell anyone, our family is counting on it to live a good life!" Lin Chuan nodded with a smile.

This stuff will definitely have to be given away sooner or later. The coarse salt we have now contains too many impurities, and these impurities are all toxins. Giving away the salt recipe will not only allow ordinary people to eat purer salt, but it will also pave a way for me to advance my career.

However, how to present it is also a problem. It would be best to present it directly to Li Shimin, without letting middlemen make a profit.

After a hearty meal of meat, Lin Chuan wrapped himself in a tattered quilt and fell into a deep sleep early.

The next day, the weather was unusually clear, the wind was not strong, and the temperature warmed up significantly after the sun rose.

Lin Chuan got up early, ate breakfast, and then sat under the eaves to bask in the sun.

He no longer felt weak and exhausted; he could clearly feel his hands and feet becoming stronger.

Li Shi also sat by the riverbank with Er Ya, sewing clothes. Having eaten more salt and oil these past few days, Li Shi's thin face had regained some healthy rosy color. While sewing, she casually remarked:

"Brother, in a few days I'll go buy some things and visit Aunt Zhang to ask her to help me find a suitable young lady..."

Lin Chuan was stunned for a moment before he realized what was happening, and said speechlessly:

"Mother, what's the rush? I'm only fifteen!"

"What do you mean fifteen years old? You were born on the twelfth day of the eleventh lunar month, so you'll be sixteen in half a month, and seventeen by your full age! It's time to get you married!"

Your Uncle Wang's son, Wang Dalang, got married last winter, and now his wife is already showing her pregnancy!

I've done the math. With the fifty taels of silver you've earned, besides preparing a generous betrothal gift, you can also renovate the house and build two more side rooms! Finding a spouse won't be difficult!" Madam Li rolled her eyes at her son and revealed the plan she had been pondering all night.

"Bang! Bang!"

Just as Lin Chuan was about to speak, there was a knock on the door.