Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 696 Feeling Guilty About the Child

The clay soil provides enough oxygen to keep the grapes alive, while the carbon dioxide in these containers limits the grapes' metabolism and hinders the growth of fungi.

The clay layer controls gas emissions and reduces water loss in the grapes, thereby protecting the fruit's freshness and juiciness.

Additionally, the clay and straw combination can absorb moisture which can lead to bacterial growth. So this method doesn't add chemicals or preservatives at all, so the taste remains the same.

It has to be said that this preservation method is both scientific and ancient, and most importantly, it is effective. Hualei was very surprised when he ate the grapes they had preserved for several months.

Although the taste is a little different from the freshest grapes, the taste is not bad. So, Hualei thought, since the magic bowl can keep grapes fresh, it should be able to keep lychees fresh too, right?

This method will be used to keep the lychees fresh and transport them to the capital to be sold. By then, will there be a scene of "a horse gallops through the dusty streets, and the concubine smiles, but no one knows that it is the lychees coming"?

However, making the semi-finished product of the Fairy Bowl, picking lychees, and sealing the Fairy Bowl requires a lot of manpower and resources.

I don't have many people in Xichang Prefecture now, and I have no ability to handle such a big thing, so it's best to find someone to cooperate with.

So, Hualei went to Changliang Prefecture City to learn more about it, and called together several wealthy gentry with good reputations in the prefecture city to hold a meeting. At the meeting, Hualei proposed several ways to cooperate.

Several wealthy families would each contribute a certain proportion of the money and gather people to help make the magical bowls to preserve the freshness of the lychees. The government office would be responsible for transporting them to the capital city for sale.

The profits obtained can be withdrawn according to their respective proportions. Although Xiang Tongzhi's family is not one of the richest in Changliang Prefecture, it has a good reputation. Therefore, Hualei also let the Xiang family participate.

The Xiang family and the Zhen family were responsible for making the semi-finished product of the magic bowl. That day, Hualei followed Xiang Tongzhi to their own farm to teach them how to make the magic bowl.

In fact, the method of making it is not difficult. Hua Lei just gave a few instructions, and the people in the village made suitable clay bowls and began to dry them.

As for asking the people to buy lychees, packing and preserving them, Hua Lei will ask the household affairs staff of the state government to organize and guide them. When the time comes, he will take the time to come over and there should be no problem.

Because it would take more than a month for the lychees to mature, Hua Lei returned to the government office first and began to write a letter to Tian Xiaofu, asking him to try to dispatch a boat to Changliang Prefecture next month.

On the way back, Hua Lei stopped by Meilin County and took a look at the newly rebuilt pond. She found that the pond embankment had been re-compacted with gravel and sand.

After finding professional workers from the workshop to check and finding no problems, Hualei returned to the government office. Other county offices were also finishing up the digging of ponds.

The few guards sent out by Rong Jin all sent back messages saying that the other Anbang soldiers were basically fine, and there hadn't been any serious incidents like the one in Meilin County where they ate and drank for free for ten days or half a month.

It happened once or twice, but after Hualei posted the notice, it never happened again. After hearing this, Hualei felt relieved.

In fact, Hua Lei was not good at these things. Therefore, Hua Lei asked Rong Jin to help supervise the following part, and she focused more on other aspects.

The weather was getting hotter and hotter. Even though Jinnian and Jinshi often hid in the house, one was crying out from the heat. There was no other way, so Hualei had to start using ice.

Although it is not possible to keep lychees fresh with ice, it can still be used at home. I put ice cubes in the rooms of the two children and made some cool drinks for them from time to time to cool them down.

In fact, Hua Lei felt a little guilty about the two children. Ever since she arrived in Xichang Prefecture, she had been so busy that she had no time to accompany them.

Not to mention, he often went to the state capital below and often didn't go home for ten days or half a month. Even if he was working in the government office every day, he was busy like a top. Hualei hadn't told Jinnian a bedtime story for a long time.

As for Jinshi, he is now learning to walk, and Hualei has no time to take care of him. He is basically taken care of by the wet nurse and the maids.

Seeing the child trapped in the house, Hualei felt very distressed. So she put the vertical waterwheel that Uncle Zhao had practiced on next to the well and built a shed on it with oilcloth.

Let Jinnian take Jinshi to play on the water wheel and cool down the yard at the same time, just treat it as a game.

During this period, there were several heavy rains in Xichang Prefecture. The crops in the fields were relieved after a long drought. They stretched out their branches and leaves in large areas and grew rapidly.

However, the river water has become abnormally turbid. Here, because of the hot weather, many people drink cold water directly. Therefore, many people have suffered from diarrhea in recent times.

The pharmacies on the street were packed with people, and many people in the government office had to take leave because of diarrhea. Later, even the well water became turbid, and Hualei was worried that the two children would also get sick.

So, I decided to ask Uncle Zhao to help me make a simple water purifier to filter the turbid well water.

Use a wooden barrel and drill some holes of appropriate size in the bottom. Then put two layers of gauze on it from bottom to top. Spread a layer of clean fine sand half a finger deep on the gauze.

Then spread a layer of charcoal particles one finger thick on the fine sand, place pebbles of appropriate size on the charcoal particles, cover them with a perforated bamboo sieve, and a simple water purifier is ready.

Slowly pour the turbid well water from above, and soon, clean water will slowly flow out from the bottom of the bucket. The water that has been filtered through layers is much cleaner than the original water.

Hualei tried it herself and found the effect to be good, so she asked Wan Tongpan to post a notice to make the method of making a simple water purifier public.

The people were also asked to filter the water they were going to drink before boiling it, so that they would not easily get diarrhea. In Xichang, stones and sand were easy to obtain, but charcoal was rarely used.

If you don't have charcoal at home, you can use wood ash instead, or you can leave it out. The most important thing is to boil the water you drink.

Many villagers initially disliked the trouble of boiling water, not to mention making a water purifier to filter river water. However, as family members suffered from repeated diarrhea and needed to take medicine, they thought of making a water purifier to try.