398 No Way Out
“What if someone buys our ice directly like how they buy the dry rice noodles? How much would that cost?” Xue Wufu asked as he finished the porridge in his bowl.
“This isn’t dried rice noodles.” Xue Sifu finished eating and put down his bowl. “The dried rice noodles can be stored for many days, but the ice can only last for a few hours even if wrapped in a quilt. People who buy it like this must be rich people who don’t lack money. Once they buy it, they will definitely buy more than one or two kilograms. When the time comes, the ice will be sold for twenty coins per kilogram. Twenty coins are considered cheap for them. If they want to buy ice, they’ll definitely buy a few kilograms without even blinking.”
“Ah!” Xue Wufu, who had also finished his breakfast, immediately jumped up happily and stopped squatting. “This way, our family can definitely buy a shop in town this year! That’s great!”
“Alright, hurry and get ready. You’re going to town with us today. Xue Yan and Jiang Yue might not be able to handle the crowd.” Xue Sifu laughed. He was also at his wit’s end with this younger brother of his who had always been arrogant.
After saying that, he looked at Xue Yan and Jiang Yue, who had already finished eating their breakfast quietly.
“Don’t forget that this is for Doctor Shen.” Liu Guixia had also finished eating and started to help move the small wooden boxes onto the ox cart. The small wooden box she was moving was bigger than the other small wooden boxes. This small wooden box contained ten popsicles wrapped in quilts and ten blocks of ice. “When you come back in the afternoon, remember to bring this wooden box back. In the future, use this wooden box to bring some ice to Doctor Shen’s house every day. He has helped our family so much.”
“I know, I will.” Xue Sifu and Xue Yan responded.
“Okay.” Jiang Yue agreed.
Liangpi, dried rice noodles, and other things were also loaded onto the ox cart. The bucket of sour plum juice was also loaded onto the ox cart, and some small things that were to be brought to towns, such as small bowls and spoons, were also packed and placed on the ox cart.
With all the ice in the pot, Jiang Yue, Xue Yan, Xue Sifu, and Xue Wufu were not in a hurry to go to town. Instead, they made six small pots of ice with their families.
He poured out the six small basins of ice. They were not wrapped in oil paper because they were taken to the town to cool the sour plum juice and were not for sale. They didn’t eat it either. Therefore, they wrapped it in quilts directly. Anyway, the quilts would get wet and need to be dried in the sun when they came back.
Fortunately, he had bought enough quilts at home. If this one was wet, he could use another dry quilt.
The six small basins of ice were placed in a wooden box that was of the right size. This wooden box wasn’t bought yesterday but was found by Liu Guixia at home. She had asked them to specially put the ice for the iced sour plum juice. She was afraid that Xue Sifu and the others would be careless sometimes and take other ice by mistake. It would be much better to have a special wooden box assigned.
“If you make more ice, it will all be in big boxes. Once it’s done, ask Erfu or Sanfu to borrow an ox cart and send it to town. That’s right, can you cook another bucket of sour plum juice and bring it along when the time comes? I feel that one bucket of sour plum juice might not be enough later.” Xue Sifu said.
“Sure, of course!” Liu Guixia immediately agreed.
“It’s still early, so don’t worry. Just make a large wooden box of ice and send it over first. Maybe you’ll have made a large wooden box of ice before we reach the town. If it’s not enough, I’ll let Wufu come back to inform you, and you can continue making more.”
