Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 3002 If it were a normal production method, the wax liquid would be filtered several times to obtain the cleanest rice core wax. Then, the waste wax, secondary wax, and newly harvested insect wax would be boiled together again to continuously extract rice core wax. The remaining part would eventually be produced as horse tooth wax.

There's no need to go through all that trouble now; relatively pure wax is enough.

Zhou Zhi found some thin bamboo skewers used for barbecue, scraped them even thinner, then fetched a basin of cool stream water, and said to Yan Xiao with a smile, "Salt Rat, it's time for your magic trick."

Next, Zhou Zhi began to insert the branches into the molten wax, then took them out and chilled them in cold water. The branches were then coated with a layer of wax. This process was repeated, and the wax coating on the branches became thicker and thicker until they became candles with a stick attached to the bottom.

"That's a clever method," Yan Xiao said with a smile. "It even comes with its own base, not bad at all."

“Actually, there’s an even simpler way.” Yang said, finding a lunchbox lid, floating it on ice water, and scooping a spoonful of wax onto it. The wax quickly turned into a semi-solid state.

Remove the lid, cut the semi-solidified wax into strips with a knife, then pinch two strips together on a bamboo stick, and a small candle will come out.

This saves a lot of production time. Yan Xiao looked at the candle and said, "It's faster, but it doesn't produce the same neat texture as the method used for pork knuckle."

"Isn't this simple?" Zhou Zhi thought that people who work in sports have made themselves stupid. He used to be such a clever person. He took the candle, stuck it into the pot, soaked it in cold water, and then rolled it on the stone slab: "Isn't that it? If you want it thicker and more uniform, just keep doing it this way."

"Alright!" Yan Xiao finally grinned. "Get out of here, get out of here, leave this fun job to me and Lao Yang!"

The wax-making process had already produced a considerable amount of charcoal. Zhou Zhi collected it and placed it on the barbecue grill, putting a kettle of boiling water on one end, an iron plate on the other, and leaving the meat skewers in the middle.

At this moment, the girls returned, laughing and very excited. It seemed they had taken quite a few good photos. Meanwhile, Azi's basket was filled with several kinds of wild vegetables.

"Wow! The base is all set up!" Feng Xueshan looked at the tent area and the canopy area with great satisfaction. Her biggest worry was that the camping conditions wouldn't be good enough to affect Xiao Shunzi's rest, but now it seemed that her worries were unnecessary: ​​"You guys are so capable! These tents are quite beautiful. The conditions are so much better than what we had back then!"

"Is Brother Yan Xiao's candle ready?" Mai Xiaomiao asked.

"We've made a lot!" Yan Xiao replied from the stream. "Ask Zhouzi if the candlelight is ready and if dinner is done yet!"

"We don't need your candlelight for dinner," Zhou Zhi laughed. "A late-night snack is fine, everyone wash your hands. Dinner will be quick and easy!"

The ingredients for dinner were all semi-finished products that had been seasoned in the morning, mainly meat skewers, including beef skewers, lamb skewers, as well as small intestines that everyone likes, and several kinds of chicken wings and chicken tips.

On the hot plate, you can cook pork belly, fried eggs, ham sausages, and stir-fried vegetables.

The main dish was frozen rice porridge. With the experience from last time, the porridge was made even faster this time. I soaked the rice beforehand, let it dry on the surface, sprayed it with a little oil and mixed it well to prevent it from sticking. Then I put it in the freezer overnight. Now, when I use it to cook porridge, I only need to put it in boiling water and cook it for a few minutes until it blooms and becomes cooked. Then I sprinkled in diced ham, diced sausage, chopped deer ear chives and chopped wild onions. A pot of fragrant and delicious savory porridge was ready in no time.

The rest of the barbecue is something everyone can participate in, so there's no need to trouble Zhou Zhi to do it all by himself.

So everyone sat together and enjoyed a pleasant dinner as the sun set. Little Shunzi was held by everyone in turns, but he was a bit tired today. After finishing his milk, he started to wilt and fell asleep in the blink of an eye.

Feng Xueshan carried him into the tent and put him down. She came back and said with a smile, "Baby is happy today. He's a little too excited. He usually doesn't go to bed this early."

Yang He laughed and said, "Having a child means less time for myself. Today I've managed to steal a little leisure time. I'm going to have a good meal."

"No need for alcohol tonight, right?" Yang Honghui picked up the stainless steel bowl, took a sip of meat porridge, and exclaimed, "Wow, this is so comforting..."

"I did bring two bottles," Zhou Zhi said. "Would Old Yang like some?"

Yang Honghui waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, I've been spoiled by Grandpa Chi Ri for a few meals, and I haven't even had a chance to properly taste the food of Daliang Mountain. I'll take a break tonight, and if you want to drink, you can come for a little tomorrow during the day."

"Can we go swimming tonight?" At this time, the temperature had begun to drop gradually. The cold air met the water vapor rising from the lake, forming a white mist that transformed the already beautiful lake and mountain scenery into a fairyland.

"Let's skip it today," Zhou Zhi said with a smile. "We're going to be here for several more days anyway, so we can still go for an early swim tomorrow morning."

Yan Xiao thought about it and agreed: "Then let's just enjoy our barbecue skewers!"

"I'll make everyone a dish of pickled mustard greens," Feng Xueshan said. "After eating too many barbecue skewers, pickled mustard greens can help clear away the heat. We dug them up by the warm stream, and they're so tender."

"When we went to the horse-grazing area this time, we found that the place had changed." Azi, her mouth greasy from eating lamb skewers, told Zhouzhi about what they had encountered that day.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Zhi asked.

“There’s a new spiky fence around the boundary between the pasture and the woods,” Azi said. “Grandpa probably planted it to separate the horse pasture because he knows we often come here to play. This way, wild animals can be kept outside the fence, and the horses can’t run away. Once the fence is closed, the horses can move around freely inside.”

"What kind of tree is that thorny bush?" Zhou Zhi asked. "To fence off that patch of grassland, we'll need to plant quite a few."

"I don't know, it seems to be some kind of orange?" Liang Hong said. "It looks a bit like the red oranges from my hometown, but it's much smaller. There are still a lot of them hanging on the trees."

"It smells like oranges when you break it open," Feng Xueshan said. "To be precise, it smells like orange peel, but I didn't dare to taste it."

Zhou Zhi nodded: "Generally speaking, wild Rutaceae citrus plants that are this short and bear small fruits are either Citrus aurantium or Citrus trifoliate orange. Both are plants with long, sharp thorns and are often used to make thorny fences to protect villages. The difference between the two is that, according to the Compendium of Materia Medica, both fruits are as large as bullets and are similar in shape, but the Citrus trifoliate orange has a thick and fragrant peel, while the Citrus aurantium has a thin peel and is not fragrant."

"Based on your description, the thorny fence that Grandpa Chi Ri used to enclose the horse farm is most likely a trifoliate orange tree, and the dried fruit hanging on it is the trifoliate orange mentioned by Yan Zi when he was sent to Chu: 'Oranges grown south of the Huai River are oranges, but those grown north of the Huai River are trifoliate oranges.'"

"Fructus Aurantii Immaturus is a good Chinese medicinal herb and also a good spice. Tomorrow we'll go pick some and use it with pheasant to make a dish called 'Citrus Peel Chicken'!" (End of Chapter)