ice making

　 As long as it worked, having received his consent Li Feng felt relieved, he turned around and told Tang Chunming. Surprisingly, Tang Chunming’s eyes lit up when he heard it. Ice is a good thing, how could he have forgotten such an important thing before? He called Li Feng over and whispered a few words to him.

　　Li Feng was surprised and asked, “Is this really possible? Can it make ice?”

　　“You’ll know if you give it a try, even if you get the ice back, it can’t be kept for long anyway, there’s no ice kiln at home to store it. Besides, it’s time-consuming, laborious and expensive.”

     Tang Chunming didn’t remember where he had seen saltpeter-based ice-making, but he wouldn’t remember it wrong. Besides, the process was not complicated. All you needed was saltpeter and water, he had no intention of using this method to make money for the time being. He just wanted to make his life more comfortable.

　　”Okay, I’ll buy the essentials and try it out, I’ll also bring some ice back first.”

　　Li Feng quickly bought ice and saltpeter from the county town, the ice was placed in the farthest corner of the house, but the house soon filled with an icy air, Tang Chunming finally breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing Li Feng and Dr. He experimenting with saltpeter to make ice outside with great interest, he could only poke his son’s face in frustration.

    But his son was also a fool, even after being poked, he still smiled foolishly at his mother, with his mouth full of saliva, in the end, he had to wipe up the mess.

　　”Mom, Uncle Feng said that you can’t poke my brother’s face all the time, it will hurt.” A-Lin criticized his mother righteously. Mother took advantage of Uncle Feng’s absence to bully his brother again, as an older brother, it was his responsibility to protect his younger brother.

　　Tang Chunming withdrew his fingers guiltily, he didn’t expect that A-Lin’s eyes were so sharp that he even discovered his sneaky movements. He argued guiltily: “I didn’t bully him, didn’t you see that your brother was smiling happily? Look.”

　　The child’s eyes opened fully on the third day, and his red, wrinkled little face had fully grown, Tang Chunming felt a little happier when he saw him. Otherwise, he would be so depressed after all the hard work to give birth to an ugly son.

    Moreover, this silly son would cry when he was away from him, but when he came back to him, strangely, the crying would stop immediately, and he would even call out to him. This finally gave Tang Chunming an inexplicable sense of satisfaction, well, he would hold up the spanking he had intended for now, and give it to him when he was naughty in the future.

　　”Ah…ah…” The toothless child was completely unaware of his mother’s plans and continued acting cute to him, unconsciously increasing his favorability and trying to gain favor from his mother, even though he had always been disliked.

　　”Mom, my younger brother is still young and ignorant, look, his face is all red because you poked him.” A-Lin was not easily fooled by his mother, he glared at his mother and touched the red place with heartache.

　　Tang Chunming covered his face, why did his position in A-Lin’s heart drop after he gave birth to this little goblin? It was his fault! The favorability value that had just risen dropped again in an instant.

　　Outside, Dr He’s excited voice was heard: “Feng Xiaozi, it really worked. Look, the ice is out, the ice is out…” He was dancing with joy like a child, and the happy shouts of Da Mao and Er Mao were also heard.

　　Tang Chunming also laughed when he heard this, it was all his fault for not remembering it earlier, he lived too comfortably in modern life and habitually forgot the differences here. He would have to dig an ice kiln to store ice when winter came.

　　The adults and the children celebrated outside for a long time before coming to Tang Chunming’s room at his age, Dr. He didn’t have so many taboos with Tang Chunming. His clothes were still wet and some places were still stained.

    The smile on his face had not faded: “Ming Ge’er, this is a good idea, we won’t have to worry about running out of ice in the summer. By the way, Ming Ge’er, how do you plan to deal with this ice-making method? I saw that although the saltpeter is not edible, you can still make ice by separating the saltpeter with an iron bucket, then the ice is then edible, now you can hit it and add some income.”

　　Tang Chunming gave them a thumbs up, he only mentioned the possibility of making ice from saltpeter, but they found the ratio of saltpeter to water in such a short time and also considered the issue of the ice being edible.

    However, he had never thought about making money from the ice, if it were before, he might have used it, but now he didn’t even have time to clean up the back mountain, so how could he have time to do other business?

　　”A-Feng, what do you think? No one at home is free right now, why don’t we hand it over to someone else?”

　　Dr.He looked at Tang Chunming with admiration, from the first time they met, he felt that this ger was a broad-minded person who was very receptive in terms of money. If you say he didn’t love money, but he bought a whole back mountain to look for money and If he loved money, how would he give away the easily available money?

　　If Tang Chunming knew about Dr. He’s thoughts, he would probably be very upset. It’s not that he doesn’t love money, he just doesn’t have the time to bother with it. Besides, compared to selling ice cream, he should put more focus on the development of the mountain.

    If he develops it well, he will generate money continuously, which is much more reliable than selling ice cream. Besides, even if he gives it to others to do, he can still get a share, Dr. He really thought too highly of him.

　　To be honest, he wanted to help those he liked to make their lives better, otherwise, the distance between him and Zhang Xiu would grow and their relationship would become more distant, and he didn’t want such a situation to happen. 

    At the very least, Zhang Xiu wanted Da Mao and Er Mao to continue with their studies, with a stable income, he would be able to send them to school without having to worry about the tuition.

　　It is not good if only one person’s life gets better, If everyone’s livelihood also improves, it will bring him a good reputation. So, why not do it?

　　Originally, he had planned to wait until my back mountain was developed before making other plans, but now the ice-making project has appeared at the right time.

　　”Okay, Ming Ge’er, we’ll do whatever you say, but you have to choose the right person to hand it over to.” Li Feng did not disagree, he was not short of money, and Ming Ge’er knew how to make money.

　　”Okay A-Feng, I’ll think about it, and note down the plan later, so you and Dr. He can help take a look at it.” Since you’re doing it, just do it well, that is, write a plan, and then give it to others and you don’t have to worry about it anymore.

　　”Take your time to think about it, don’t be in a hurry, your health is more important.” Li Feng reminded worriedly.

　　He said he would think about it slowly, but Tang Chunming was bored lying in bed every day, so he wrote out the plan that night and handed it to Li Feng and He Lao, even Wang Ying and Tang Chunrong who came at night and heard it.

　　This matter had to be handled by the village head, the village head’s family, Zhang Xiu, and Wang Mo’s families each took 20% of it, and the remaining 20% ​​was for his stepmother and A-Rong. Of course, Dr He was counted as one of Tang Chunming’s family members and was not given a separate share.

　　Because the ice-making process is extremely simple and anyone can basically learn it after just one look, those who want to participate, must be trustworthy so as not to reveal the secret too early and earn a few more years of money, it is unlikely to keep it a secret forever.

　　Seeing that the hot season was almost over, Li Feng quickly called the village head to discuss the matter. After the village head read the plan and saw the ice-making process with his own eyes, his jaw dropped and he couldn’t find his voice for a long time.

　　”Are we really supposed to do this?” Li Zheng asked in disbelief.

　　”Yes, this is ​​Ming Ge’er and Feng Xiaozi’s idea, we just need to open a shop in the county town and have a few people to take care of it. The starting capital for opening the shop will be funded by Ming Ge’er. 

     Anyway, the shop belongs to him and will not be included in the profit sharing. We can seize the time to give it a try this year if it works, we can start a big business in the future when summer comes.” 

  Old He was of course on Li Feng and Tang Chunming’s side, if others benefitted, they had to know who gave them the money.

　　”This… this is not good… this is just taking Ming Ge’er and Feng Xiaozi’s money for nothing, we can’t do this.” The village head, who finally digested the content, shook his head and waved his hands. It would not sound good to say this out loud.

　　This reaction satisfied He Lao, who was not greedy and had a clear mind, so he advised: “Both of them don’t have time to do this now, if I didn’t mention it, neither of them would think of opening a shop, which would be a waste. Now that you are helping them, they have a share in it, so it’s not a loss.”

 “As for the shop, even if they don’t manage it in the future, they can rent it out or sell it, and according to Ming Ge’er, if the business is good next year, you can all take out some money to use in the village, whether it is to set up a school or something else, in short, let other families in the village benefit from it.”

　　”This…” The village head hesitated, “How about we discuss it among ourselves?” He was also tempted, his two sons were studying in the county, and the annual expenses were not small. He could still support them now, but the burden would become heavier in the future.

   Seeing Ming Ge’er’s family getting more and more prosperous, he was envious, but he also knew that this was other people’s ability and he would not have the wrong idea, and he even had to stop others.

　　”You have to hurry up, the weather is getting hot and we won’t have much time left to use ice we have to make some money this year, right?” Dr He advised with a smile.

　　”Okay” The village head left in a hurry and called the other families to his house to discuss the matter.

　　The result was of course within Dr He’s expectations, several families agreed, but some wanted to turn down some of the offers, saying that the twenty percent shares were too much.

    Tang Chunming did not agree but offered to compromise, which was that during the period of opening the shop, they would follow the rules and pay the rent to Tang Chunming separately, and not include it in the profit sharing, Tang Chunming did not refuse again.

　　The matter was decided and it could be started immediately, others stayed in the village to continue studying the ice-making process, while Li Feng rode his horse to the county town and asked Teng Yu to help find a shop, they thought it was simple.

    They didn’t have any other connection in the county town, and anyway, the cooperation relationship with Teng Yu would not be interrupted in a short time.

　 Tang Chunming already knew that Teng Yu was the owner of Tingjing Pavilion in the county, although he felt a little uncomfortable when he first found out, he soon let it go.

    He was hesitant because of so many concerns, moreover, he could see that Young Master Teng was trying harder to build good relations with them because of Li Feng, so there was no need to find other connections to take care of their business in the county.

　　Teng Yu was very happy that Li Feng found him and asked him to do something for him. Within two days, a shop with a good location was owned by Tang Chunming, and the village head and several other families also discussed and worked out a plan.

　　”We’ve discussed it, since we don’t have much time, we can send people to the town to test the market first. Once we gain experience, we can come up with a better plan next year. After all, none of us has done business before, and we don’t know the way to do business. During this period, I’m afraid we’ll have to ask Young Master Teng to take care of us.”

   The village head came to discuss with Li Feng in person, and Tang Chunming was listening on the side, he knew that Tang Chunming was the one who came up with most of the ideas, and felt ashamed of his previous prejudices, no wonder his husband often scolded him.

　　”Can everyone at home spare some help? I’ve seen the shop over there, it’s no problem to have food and accommodation there.” Li Feng said worriedly.

　　”That’s no problem, Wang Mo and his husband can both spare some time, and they can also go to the mountains, your uncle and I will go there every other day to check on the situation and visit the two children by the way.”The village head replied.

 As for Ming’ger’s stepmother and younger brother, they also knew that Ming’ge’er counted them as part of the family to take care of them, so they weren’t asked to send anyone. Besides, the mother and son really couldn’t spare any manpower, and Wang Ying still had to take care of Ming’ge’er here.

　　Wang Mo followed and said, “My child is under the care of his Grandma, since we both have nothing to do, we might as well go to the county town to see the world. If it weren’t for Ming Ge’er, we wouldn’t have this opportunity.” 

    Wang Mo looked at Tang Chunming gratefully, he didn’t expect that Tang Chunming would give them such a big benefit. Regardless of whether they could make money or not, this kindness alone would be enough for their family to remember for a lifetime.

　　”Yes, I can’t go over there because Da Mao and Er Mao are with me, otherwise I would also like to go with them to take a look.” Zhang Xiu showed a regretful expression. There was another reason, that is, someone had to take care of Tang Chunming. Wang Ying only came once in a while during this period, and there were livestock to raise at home, so he couldn’t just leave them all to other families.

　　”Then why don’t you go over with your uncle someday to take a look? Isn’t there enough time? Da Mao and Er Mao are sensible now.” Tang Chunming said with a smile. Of course, he also knew what Zhang Xiu meant.

　　Zhang Xiu smiled without saying anything, he and Dashan planned to send Da Mao and Er Mao to school after they finished their work in the shop. Now their lives were getting more and more relaxed and they didn’t have any worries. The busier he and Dashan were, the more energetic they felt and their lives seemed more promising.

　　Wang Ying also knew Tang Chunming’s feelings and did not say anything to push him away. If he did, he would be pushing his stepson away and making their relationship, which was gradually recovering, rift again.

　　After the discussion here, things started to move in the county town, Teng Yu specially picked a shopkeeper from his side to lead them and also serve as the accountant. When the shopkeeper left, Li Feng went to the county town to take a look and didn’t care about the affairs over there anymore. Like Tang Chunming, he became a hands-off shopkeeper and didn’t care about anything except the final dividends.

　　However, good news kept coming from the city, the wealthy families had a high demand for ice and had no shortage of money. With Teng Yu’s help, the business quickly took off. Zhang Xiu, who would occasionally visit, always came back with a smile on his face. Needless to say, they must have made a lot of money.

　　Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, little A-Sen was one month old. Tang Chunming’s confinement was finally over, he used two buckets of water and rubbed the stains off his body layer by layer until his skin was almost broken. He climbed out of the bucket and felt that he had lightened by several pounds.

　　However, Tang Chunming pinched the soft flesh of his belly and said to Li Feng with gritted teeth: “You haven’t forgotten what you said before, right? Starting tomorrow, I will practice martial arts with you to get rid of all this fat and build a body of muscles!”

　　Li Feng turned his eyes away awkwardly, if he continued to watch, he was afraid that he would not be able to control himself and would not be able to wait until Ming Ge’er came out of mourning. “I haven’t forgotten, but I have to ask Dr He first.” After saying that, he ran out in a panic.

  Tang Chunming realized his reaction belatedly and looked at himself speechlessly, he was well-dressed and had gained weight, would he continue eating like this?

　　During this month he was treated like a pig, Li Feng couldn’t do anything with him, so Wang Ying was asked to take over when his stepmother put on a cold face and brought the soup that had been stewed for a long time with a look of “will you eat or not”, Tang Chunming dared not refuse. 

    Later, when others found out, so they let Wang Ying look after him while he was eating. Tang Chunming had to bite the bullet and swallow the food that was meant for pigs, now he feels nauseous when he sees chicken soup.