Transmigrated into the fat wife of the future prime minister

Chapter 91 Ovens and Bread Ovens
Upon hearing this, Li Xiufang felt relieved. Now that she thought about it, this younger sister was truly different; she knew how to treat people and hadn't forgotten her Xinyi.

Although Xinyi is still young, she will have this younger sister-in-law to help her in the future, so things won't be too bad.

Liu Chunhua looked at him with disdain, "Xun-ge'er is really enjoying himself. With his aunt taking care of him, he can even study and write. Third sister-in-law, I never expected your Xinyi to be like this."

"Liu Chunhua, do you even know how to speak? If you don't, no one will think you're mute," Wang Cuiqin retorted directly.

"Second sister-in-law, don't try to stir up trouble here. Don't you know what Baoli is like? My Xinyi is a daughter. If she wants to study, we can earn the money ourselves."

Besides, Xinting is also your daughter. Your younger sister has never let her lack food or drink, nor has she wronged her. Last time she came back, she even said she would teach her a skill.

"You know your sister's temperament best, don't piss her off and ruin your daughter's future," Li Xiufang said.

"Hey, I was just saying that offhand. I know you two don't like me, I'll just leave." After saying that, Liu Chunhua patted Li Xiufang and turned to leave.

Wang Cuiqin and Li Xiufang ignored her and went straight into the house.

In the county town, the zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) at Gu's restaurant were selling like hotcakes again in the afternoon. Those who bought some were overjoyed, while those who didn't complained that He's family had prepared too few and should have prepared more.

Many people even wanted Mrs. He to put these zongzi into the food she sold every day.

Mrs. He smiled and said, "These zongzi are made at a loss. If we sold them every day, the price would be much higher. If they were more expensive, would you be willing to buy them?"

After He finished speaking, everyone touched their noses and smiled. If it was cheap, they could buy it, but if it was expensive, they really couldn't bear to buy it.

No wonder Mengniang said that things on this street can't be sold at high prices; the consumption level is already limited. Even if you have the best things, you can only sell them cheaply.

Because it is the Dragon Boat Festival, the food at Gu's Restaurant sold out early, and everyone went home to have a reunion dinner with their families.

Summer days are getting longer, and it's still not dark at all.

Having a rare moment of leisure, Ms. He stood outside with the elderly couple next door, enjoying the breeze and chatting.

In the following days, Xu Qingmeng would call Xinting to her side every time she cooked. Although she didn't usually hide when cooking, she would now explain things to Xinting in more detail, which taught Xinting a lot.

After the Dragon Boat Festival, Xu Qingmeng brought the oven blueprints to the blacksmith shop.

Upon entering the blacksmith's shop, one found the master and apprentice working diligently on their work.

Upon seeing Xu Qingmeng enter, the older blacksmith stopped, walked up to her, and asked, "Madam, what kind of iron tools would you like to have made?"

Xu Qingmeng took out the oven she had already drawn: "Uncle, I'd like to have a metal box like this made. I wonder if you can make one here?"

The blacksmith glanced at the blueprints and said, "This is simple, it's just an iron box, isn't it?"

"Uncle, it's not just a metal box. It's a metal box that can be used to cook things. It needs to be able to make a fire inside and have a door on the outside so that you can put food in."

The blacksmith asked with some skepticism, "Then what's the difference between this and a stove?"

Xu Qingmeng couldn't help but laugh and said, "The difference is huge. I call this an oven. It allows food to be heated more evenly."

The blacksmith immediately became interested and rubbed his hands together: "Alright, tell me, how do you want it made? And how big do you want it?" Xu Qing thought for a moment and said: "This iron box is about three feet long, about two feet wide, and about two and a half feet high. It needs to be sturdy on all sides and can't let in any air."

The blacksmith nodded. "That's not difficult. Are there any other requirements?"

"It needs to have a layered structure inside, with a frame made of wire, two layers, each about a foot apart. The frame should be able to be pulled out for easy access," Xu Qingmeng said.

The blacksmith listened and nodded, "No problem, so how do you make this door?"

Xu Qingmeng thought for a while: "The door should be made of sheet metal, with a thin layer of asbestos wrapped around the four sides. This will not only provide insulation but also seal the door. Of course, the door should have a handle."

The blacksmith asked, somewhat puzzled, "Asbestos? What's that? Can it withstand high temperatures?"

Xu Qingmeng explained with a smile, "Sure, you might not know about asbestos, but you do know about chlorinated cloth."

"You should have said so earlier! That's true, it can be washed in fire and is very heat-resistant. But how do you heat it?"

"You also need to leave a charcoal fire pit at the bottom, about one foot wide, one and a half feet long, and eight inches deep, with some gaps around it to allow air to circulate, so that the fire can burn brightly."

"Alright, I understand now. It's just that this fee is estimated to cost quite a bit of money," the blacksmith said.

"It's alright, money is no problem, please make it for me as soon as possible, Uncle," Xu Qingmeng said quickly.

"Alright, don't worry, my wife can come and pick it up in two or three days. If you're satisfied with anything, I'll make some changes for you then. But you'll have to give me a deposit of one hundred coins first," the blacksmith said with a smile.

“Okay, no problem, then I’ll trouble you, Uncle!” Xu Qingmeng didn’t know if it could be made in ancient times, but she had to try. If this didn’t work, there was always a bread oven, right?

After paying the deposit, Xu Qingmeng left.

In the afternoon, Xu Qingmeng led Uncle Li Quan and the others to the pastry shop. Although Xu Qingmeng had never made a bread oven before, she had watched videos.
Xu Qingmeng was at best a theorist, and she even drew a rough sketch.

Bread ovens do not rely on open flames to bake bread; they use the residual heat of charcoal fires. This means that bread ovens need to have extremely strong heat retention capabilities.

This way, the residual heat of the charcoal fire can bake the bread until it's fully cooked. Besides bread, you can also make other things like pizza, roast chicken, roast duck, dried meat, meat floss, dried fruit, and so on.

The base was made of bricks, and a three-layer foundation was built first. A thickened stone slab was laid on top of the foundation. Then, a groove was built on top of the stone slab with bricks, and insulation material was filled into it to form an insulation layer.

This so-called insulation material was clay that Uncle Li Quan got, plus fine sand, pebbles, and so on.

Finally, a layer of clay was applied to the outermost layer, and some straw and hay were added in the middle to prevent the clay from cracking and falling off.

Finally, make a simple kiln door, and you're all done.

"Uncle Quan, thank you for your help again. Here's the payment..." Xu Qingmeng was very happy looking at the freshly baked bread.

“It was no trouble at all, why would I need to pay wages? The wages you paid for the renovation of this shop were already quite high.”

(End of this chapter)