By mid-June, Aunt Fan still hadn’t returned.

If Aunt Fan’s hometown was far away, Yang Haiyan might not send anyone to check, but since her hometown was in the neighboring county, and given that she had lived with them for two years and performed well during her work, Yang Haiyan was still concerned about her and sent Meng Ping to check the situation in the neighboring county.

Meng Ping, who went to check, didn’t come back quickly.

The Eunuch from the capital, Eunuch Chi, had already left, and Wei Ting moved in with the Ministry of Works personnel to the Shoushan Taoist Temple.

Although the Temple was quite old and rundown, it was not small, and its design had been carefully crafted.

When Prince Liang built the temple, he put in a lot of effort since it was also meant to be his residence.

The Temple had been renovated, so Wei Ting and the Ministry of Works personnel moved there to begin their study of the gunpowder.

The entire Temple had been sealed off by Qin Fang.

The thousand soldiers from the East Suburb Barracks had all been moved there, as well as the constables from the county office.

After all, the East Suburb Barracks was quite large, and just a few hundred soldiers wouldn’t be able to surround it.

At the same time, Qin Fang was almost at the Shoushan Temple every day.

The Emperor had sent him a private letter assigning him to monitor the Ministry of Works personnel to prevent them from leaking information about the gunpowder.

So even though Qin Fang wasn’t busy, he had to patrol the Shoushan Temple every day.

As for the chained ma , they had moved away from the Shoushan Temple to the General’s Mansion.

The General’s Mansion was so large that it was easy to empty out a courtyard for the chained man, making it convenient to settle them.

Since Eunuch Chi had left and Wei Ting moved to the Shoushan Temple, the children at home were busy.

Qin Shoucheng went to the academy every day, while Qin Siya and Meng Qiu went to learn embroidery.

Even when they had to do needlework, they did it in the master’s workshop, so Yang Haiyan was quite free for a time.

She spent her days embroidering to improve her skills, making inner clothes and pants for Qin Fang, especially the pants, which Qin Fang wore out quickly.

In ancient times, fabric wasn’t as durable as modern fabric, so it tore easily.

However, she had some work to do recently.

Sweet potatoes and potatoes had been purchased in large quantities, and she called Granny Lian to help.

The two began experimenting with making potato starch and sweet potato starch in their courtyard.

Yang Haiyan had never made potato or sweet potato starch before, but she still had some basic knowledge.

Both potato starch and sweet potato starch required cutting the potatoes and sweet potatoes into chunks, then using a stone mill to grind them into a paste.

The starch that flowed out was the potato starch and sweet potato starch.

However, this slurry needed to be mixed with water and left to settle.

Early that morning, Granny Lian went to check on their secret experiment with the potato and sweet potato starch.

When she saw a bucket of potato starch and a bucket of sweet potato starch settling properly, she hurried to find Yang Haiyan: “Young Lady, Young Lady… it’s a success!”

Yang Haiyan was having breakfast when she heard Granny Lian’s words.

She immediately put down her bowl and chopsticks, her interest piqued: “Let’s go take a look.”

The two of them went to the room where they had placed the potato and sweet potato starch, and they saw that the starch had indeed settled, with water on top.

Yang Haiyan said, “Granny Lian, let’s pour out the water, then take this outside to dry. Once it’s half-dry, we can take it out, and when it’s completely dry, we can crush it into flour. I just wonder what it will taste like.” Of course, she knew it would taste good, but could she say that?

Granny Lian praised, “Young Lady, you’re so clever! How did you come up with the idea that potatoes and sweet potatoes can be turned into flour?”

Yang Haiyan replied, “I didn’t just think of it suddenly; I was thinking that since barley and corn can be ground into flour, and potatoes and sweet potatoes have a starchy texture when eaten, they should be able to be ground into flour as well.

After we ground them and saw how sticky it was, it reminded me of the process of making ice with saltpeter, which can be reused.

The Emperor sent a letter, rewarding us with two hundred pounds of saltpeter and informing the general that saltpeter can be reused.

As long as the water is boiled away, the saltpeter dissolved in the water can be extracted. So I thought that if the flour and water are mixed together, can’t we separate the flour from the water? That’s how I came up with this idea to try it out.”

She couldn’t take full credit for the idea; it just happened that the Emperor appreciated Qin Fang’s contributions and understood that bestowing titles on Qin’s mother and grandmother was not commensurate with Qin Fang’s merits.

Therefore, in the letter sent by Grand Eunuch Chi, it was mentioned that saltpeter could be reused.

Thus, attributing her inspiration for making potato and sweet potato starch to the Emperor made sense.

However, through this incident, Yang Haiyan once again realized the wisdom of ancient people.

The ideas of gunpowder and the reusability of saltpeter came to mind in just a few days; it’s no wonder that ancient people could compose poetry at the age of three.

In modern times, it would be simply impossible.

Granny Lian didn’t know that saltpeter could be used to replicate ice.

When she heard Yang Haiyan mention it, especially since it was the emperor who said so, she immediately felt that the master’s family was impressive.

The general must be favored by the emperor; otherwise, the emperor wouldn’t have disclosed this matter.

The emperor only told Qin Fang about this; he indeed had no intention of informing anyone else.

The national treasury of Qi Kingdom was somewhat lacking, and the emperor planned to do business by selling ice, so this matter would not be made public.

Moreover, if it became known that saltpeter could be used to make ice, the nobility and commoners would all seek saltpeter.

Saltpeter was very important to the court, and the emperor didn’t want the nobility and commoners to look for it.

However, if the emperor sold ice, the price would naturally be low, set at a price affordable to ordinary families.

After all, saltpeter could be reused; even at a lower price, it would still be profitable for the emperor.

For a country to develop, money was indispensable.

The emperor hadn’t yet reached thirty and was naturally ambitious.

The emperor could tell Qin Fang this for two reasons: first, the saltpeter mine was discovered by Qin Fang, and second, the method of making ice from saltpeter was discovered by Yang Haiyan.

He was also worried that the Qin family would use saltpeter to make ice and waste it, so informing them that saltpeter could be reused was the best option.

After another two days, the potato flour and sweet potato flour were half-dried.

Yang Haiyan instructed Granny Lian and Aunt Yu to pour the potato flour and sweet potato flour out of the wooden barrel and sun-dry them outside.

The weather in June was very hot, and after just two days of sun, the potato flour and sweet potato flour dried completely.

It took about seven days for both the potato flour and sweet potato flour to be ready.

Seeing the white potato flour and sweet potato flour, both Granny Lian and Aunt Yu were very excited.

After all, Granny Lian had made it herself, and Aunt Yu had been guarding the gate to prevent others from coming in.

Granny Lian said, “Xiang Jun, this really is flour.”

With the arrival of the imperial decree for Yang Haiyan’s title, Old Mama Lian led everyone to change how they addressed her from “Mrs. Yang” to “Xiang Jun.”

However, those who were unaware wouldn’t think of “Xiang Jun” as her title, but rather as her name.

Yang Haiyan smiled and said, “Isn’t it flour? You can crush this flour, and today we’ll make noodles.”

Granny Lian asked, “Should we call Aunt Kun Zhang to make it?”

Yang Haiyan replied, “No need. We’ll make it in the small kitchen in the courtyard. I’ll tell you what you need, and I’ll do the cooking.”

Granny Lian hurriedly said, “No, no, no, let me do it. Xiang Jun has a noble status; how can I let you cook?”

Speaking of her noble status, Yang Haiyan didn’t mind.

However, being a third-rank Xiang Jun had a realistic benefit: her salary was two hundred eighty-five taels of silver per month, which was the salary of a third-rank official in Qi Kingdom.

Since it was her own title and not dependent on her husband’s rank, she didn’t have to take half of an official’s salary, which made it quite rewarding.

Yang Haiyan said, “I’ll only do it occasionally. It’s just that the potato flour and sweet potato flour are ready, and I wanted to make them for the general when he comes home, but I haven’t done this before. So, I need to practice first.”

At this, Granny Lian was genuinely happy because the master and mistress had a good relationship.

Now that Xiang Jun wanted to make this for the general, she naturally wouldn’t oppose: “Then I’ll go prepare what you need.”

Yang Haiyan replied, “When it’s done, both of you help me taste it. If it’s not good, you must tell me the truth.”

Granny Lian teased, “Xiang Jun is the wisest person I’ve ever seen; she will definitely do well.”

Yang Haiyan said, “You’re just flattering me.”

Granny Lian laughed and went out to prepare the ingredients.

Yang Haiyan made a stir-fried potato flour dish and a sweet potato cold noodle dish. It wasn’t her first time cooking, so she was quite steady in the kitchen.

Once everything was ready, she, Granny Lian, and Aunt Yu each served themselves a small bowl.

Since there were two types of flour, they each had a small bowl, making two small bowls in total, which was still enough.

Granny Lian tasted the stir-fried potato flour first.

When Madam was cooking earlier, she found it fragrant, and now that she tasted it, it was indeed delicious.

The flavor of the potato flour noodles was completely different from that of regular noodles.

After tasting a bite of stir-fried potato flour and then a bite of sweet potato cold noodles, she couldn’t help but say, “Madam, your skills are truly exceptional.”

Even Aunt Yu, who usually only did her work and rarely spoke, couldn’t help but say, “Madam’s cooking is delicious.”

Yang Haiyan had some confidence in her culinary skills.

After all, she had lived alone for more than ten years, and without basic cooking skills, how could she take care of herself?

However, she couldn’t compare herself to a good chef, but she was still happy to receive praise from Granny Lian and Aunt Yu.

Yang Haiyan said, “It’s just because I put in more ingredients, so it tastes good. When the general comes back tonight, I’ll make it for him, so the big kitchen won’t need to prepare our meals.”

Granny Lian said, “I’ll go tell them right away.”

Since the general’s residence had a large courtyard, clearly divided into outer and inner courtyards, Qin Siya and Qin Shoucheng didn’t accompany them for dinner.

Qin Shoucheng was already thirteen years old, and it wasn’t quite appropriate for him to come to his sister-in-law’s courtyard for meals all the time.

Qin Siya was also ten years old.

Yang Haiyan had arranged for a woman to watch the courtyard for her and a little maid to serve her, so on weekdays, her meals were brought from the big kitchen.

Thus, the dinner was just Yang Haiyan and Qin Fang.

Qin Fang returned at his usual time, entered the courtyard, and saw Aunt Yu guarding the gate.

He asked, “What has Yan Yan made today?”

He wasn’t prying for details but wanted to understand his wife and show concern for her.