Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

"Squeak," the white mouse responded.

The two, one human and one mouse, surprisingly had no communication barriers; the mother immediately took the white mouse into her arms.

"Mother, aren't you going to ask me where it came from?"

“Actually, I’ve been having a lot of dreams lately.” Mother held the white mouse like she was holding her little sister. “It’s incredible, I feel like I’ve seen it in my dreams before.”

"You're the one who helped us repair the house, aren't you?"

"squeak."

Mother smiled and scratched the white mouse's chin.

Zhuang Xing asked and learned that his mother had noticed an "outsider" in the house since before winter.

Although it was just a feeling, the white rat, as a spirit of the house, had an indescribable connection with its mother.

The mother noticed that the rice in the house was missing, but she didn't investigate further. Today was the first time she had met the white mouse, but it felt like she had been raising it for a long time.

Zhuang Xing stood to the side, feeling somewhat superfluous.

Getting down to business, his mother's high level of acceptance saved Zhuang Xing a lot of trouble. He simply explained the origins of the white rat and what kind of monster the white gold rat was.

"I see..."

The mother sat down, and the white mouse lay on her legs, its belly exposed. It squinted its eyes, as if enjoying the hands that were tickling it.

"I understand. Let Xiaobai stay with us. I'll make sure they have enough rice and flour."

During the conversation, the mother gave the white mouse a nickname.

"But Mother, if anything strange happens around you in the future, you must tell me," Zhuang Xing said. "This time it's alright, it's just my friend. What if some monster gets into our house?"

Zhuang Xing explained the seriousness of the matter to his mother in a very serious manner. His mother only said that she did not want him to worry and wanted to cause him as little trouble as possible.

But actually, saying nothing is the biggest problem.

When going down the mountain to exorcise demons, the biggest fear is that the villagers will lie about the situation and deliberately conceal some things.

Often, it is because of some incorrect information that a very simple matter becomes more and more complicated.

After Zhuang Xing gave several examples, his mother finally assured him that she would never do it again.

At the same time, Zhuang Xing explained his concerns to his mother, and the two reached a consensus not to let their father know about the white rat.

Mother gave the freshly steamed buns to the white mouse.

These steamed buns are made with fermented sourdough.

During the month that Zhuang Xing returned home, he taught his mother how to ferment old dough.

Actually, if the weather were a little warmer, the dough could ferment on its own with natural yeast present. But it's too cold in winter, and even the yeast loses its vitality. It took quite a while before the dough fermented into sourdough.

At first, her mother was worried that the sourdough would upset her stomach, but after Zhuang Xing steamed it twice, she accepted the soft and fluffy steamed buns.

The white mouse carried away a whole plate of steamed buns, and then it burrowed into the ground, probably to go back and deliver food to Big White and the children.

Father was completely unaware of this; he was still feeding the black horse fodder at the door and sweeping the snow away from the entrance of the shed.

I took Wuzhui outside for a run yesterday, and it seems a bit tired today, just chewing on hay.

Zhuang Xing then ignored it and went to find Yun Ling with the dried spirit fruit and dried spirit grass he had obtained from the white rat.

Chapter 133 Temperature Measurement and Tiankui Grass (Two-in-One)

They found Yunling by the wheat field. Recently, she and Daoist Yuanyan had stopped doing anything to make the wheat sprout.

The weather is terrible. It's the coldest time of the year, and even if the wheat sprouts, it will be difficult for it to grow into seedlings that can withstand the cold.

Even so, they continued to conduct all sorts of experiments.

There is a wheat field that they use specifically to plant wheat seedlings at different growth stages.

From newly sprouted wheat to wheat seedlings transplanted seven, fourteen, and twenty-one days later, the wheat fields were divided into sections according to the growth time and condition of the seedlings.

It seems to be to test the malt at various time periods, to see what level of cold it can withstand, and at what temperature it will freeze to death.

Various kinds of data are very important. With this data, we can avoid many detours and make the promotion and planting of wheat easier.

They've been doing this work since the very beginning of cultivating the wheat seeds.

When Zhuang Xing arrived, he saw Yunling walking through the snow, checking the condition of the wheat sprouts in the field. She would occasionally place her hand on the wheat seedlings and use her true qi to probe their condition.

Master Yuan Yan was in the larger wheat field. The experiment was important, but getting the wheat seedlings to successfully produce seeds was even more important. Most of the time, Master Yuan Yan focused his energy there, and the experts and able-bodied men brought by the prefect from the capital also gathered there.

Since they didn't know at what temperature the wheat seedlings would freeze to death, they had to shovel some snow from the fields every day to prevent it from burying the seedlings and try their best to keep them alive.

Zhuang Xing didn't disturb Yunling; he simply waited for her to finish her work.

It didn't take long for Yunling to walk around the small wheat field. She looked up and saw Zhuang Xing walking out from there.

"Is there anything else to do later?" Zhuang Xing asked.

"We need to dig out the frozen wheat seedlings, record their condition, and then replant new ones," Yunling said.

"Let me help you," Zhuang Xing said.

"Mm." Yunling nodded.

Although Zhuang Xing was eager to know what spiritual herbs and fruits he had obtained from the white rat, he knew that business was more important, so he decided to do what needed to be done first before thinking about anything else.

He took a small shovel and helped Yunling dig out the dead wheat seedlings. While she was digging, Yunling picked up a pen and wrote something. She used a small, stiff-bristled pig bristle brush, which had a firm and elastic tip and was easy to use.

However, after helping Yunling with her work for a while, Zhuang Xing discovered something he hadn't noticed before.

This is just a small detail. When Yunling was writing her record, she started by using the number of days since winter began, the depth of the snow, and the snowfall to explain which wheat seedlings were frozen to death and which did not survive.

At first glance, it seems fine, but in reality, it's quite vague.

The Great Yu Dynasty had not yet invented a "thermometer," and even the word "temperature" was meaningless.

People in this era have only a vague sense of "temperature," relying mainly on physical sensation.

In this case, the data that is summarized is, frankly speaking, not very useful for other applications.

After all, it's not the same day every year that snows the same amount of snow; sometimes it might not snow at all, but the weather can still be very cold.

The situation should be recorded using more precise temperature data.

Zhuang Xing felt obligated to develop the thermometer so that temperature could become a well-known unit of measurement like "chi" (尺), "jin" (斤), and "mu" (亩).

He mentioned this place to Yunling, who pondered for a moment and said, "I don't quite understand, can cold and heat be measured?"

“Yes, you can.” Zhuang Xing scooped up a handful of snow with his hands. “Look closely.”

Although Yunling didn't know what Zhuang Xing was going to do, she still stared intently at the ball of snow.

Zhuang Xing activated his true qi, and the snow melted into water in his hand at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"What did you see?" Zhuang Xing asked.

"The snow has melted," Yunling said.

"Do you remember how much snow was in my palm before it melted?" Zhuang Xing continued.

“This…” Yunling frowned. She felt as if she had grasped something, but she was still confused about it.

Zhuang Xing didn't mince words; he spoke directly and frankly.

"Look, when the snow melts into water, doesn't it look like there's less?"

Yunling nodded.

"Because the snow was in my palm and the surrounding area got warm, it seemed to gradually decrease and melt into water."

"But in reality, its weight has not changed."

"The only thing that changes with temperature is its size."

"Therefore, as long as we can measure how much its size changes when it gets hot, and give it a unit like a foot or a pound, we can make hot and cold things measurable."

Yunling looked carefully at Zhuang Xing's palm and thought for a while.

For others, it may be difficult to change their mindset and understand Zhuang Xing's meaning in a short period of time.

However, Yunling was taught by Zhuang Xing, and the two studied together when they were young, so Yunling's way of thinking is closer to Zhuang Xing's.

She had a sudden realization, but then a fatal problem occurred to her:

"But when it gets hot, snow can turn into water, but when it gets cold, can snow turn into something else? It won't change, will it?"

“It certainly won’t change, so we can’t use snow and water as measuring units,” Zhuang Xing said.

"Then what should we use?" Yunling asked.

"Just use lead concentrate," Zhuang Xing recited the answer directly.

Lead essence is mercury, which some alchemists used in alchemy. Besides lead essence, it has many other names, such as divine glue, primordial water, flowing pearl, etc.

Cinnabar is natural mercury sulfide. In this era, mercury was already playing a role in some aspects.

There is a prescription for treating scabies, which is a mixture of mercury and realgar. Mercury was also used in the tombs of princes and dukes, and it was also used to punish some vicious criminals because it was a highly poisonous substance. Pouring it into a wound would cause great pain.

However, mercury has other unique properties. It evaporates at room temperature, and when placed in a sealed, transparent container, it expands or contracts with changes in temperature.

If I remember correctly, mercury only solidifies when it reaches tens of degrees below zero.

At that temperature, the wheat seedlings would have died long ago. The temperature that mercury can measure is within the range where the wheat seedlings can survive, making it perfect for recording data.

"Zhuang Xing, you're so smart!" Yunling exclaimed.

"It's alright," Zhuang Xing said.

The clever one wasn't him, but the inventor of the thermometer; he merely borrowed it.

After taking care of the experimental field, the two went to the agricultural official in charge of spreading the wheat seeds and explained the thermometer issue.

Manufacturing a thermometer requires relatively complex processes and materials.

It requires transparent, sealed glass, and also silver amalgam, which is rare on the market.

It would be more appropriate to entrust the production to the court's artisans.

To help Nong Si understand his meaning more directly, Zhuang Xing brought a bowl of snow and explained it to him in detail, which finally made Nong Si understand.

The agricultural official recorded the principle of the thermometer and wrote down all the necessary materials and construction details. He then handed the document to the imperial messenger, instructing them to send it to Yidu immediately so that the thermometer could be manufactured.