Disaster Apocalypse: Farming, Family, and My Hidden Secret Space-Chapter 68. Salt

The reason why this child has been so keen on buying coarse salt in recent days has finally become clear. Every time we go to town, he buys several pounds, and no matter what we say, he sticks to his plan—as it turns out, he always had his own ideas.

"Dad, you’ll need a sieve, a small iron hammer, charcoal, a wooden bucket, a funnel, burlap, an iron pot, and a stone mill," Hua Chengtian said.

The tools needed for purifying salt were carefully contemplated over these days, and Hua Yunxiang blurted them out almost without thinking.

We have all these at home, and even if we don’t, we can piece them together from the items in the storage space.

The only thing that needs to be made is a funnel-shaped wooden frame, and since the weather is turning cold, we have stored up a lot of charcoal.

This wasn’t difficult for Hua Chengtian, and in no time, he had made one.

While the three men were preparing, the mother and daughter-in-law in the household, busy with boiling medicine, watched the two men and the child at home messing around with bewilderment.

When the old man brought out all the coarse salt at home, Granny Hua couldn’t help but ask.

"Old man, why are you rummaging through everything and using so much salt?" Granny Hua blocked Old Man Hua with a stance that he couldn’t take the salt unless he explained clearly.

"To purify it," Old Man Hua hurriedly replied, eager to flash past his wife with the salt and into the courtyard. Following his granddaughter’s instructions, he smashed the salt into the smallest possible granules with an iron hammer.

"Old man, what did you mean by purifying just now? Isn’t the salt fine as it is?"

Granny Hua, even more confused, followed them into the courtyard.

"Taste it yourself," Old Man Hua was busy smashing the salt and didn’t have time to explain to her, but he took out the bag of salt his granddaughter hadn’t put away from his pocket, and handed it to Granny Hua, telling her to taste it.

Granny Hua, puzzled, took what the old man handed her and poured a little into her hand from the opening.

Since the old man told her to taste, she would see what they were up to.

Upon seeing what was in her hand, she hesitated but still pinched a bit and put it in her mouth, then froze, staring incredulously at the substance in her hand, then quickly looked at the old man.

She finally understood what purifying salt meant according to the old man.

So, the old man, the son, and granddaughter were trying to create salt like what she had in her hand.

Granny Hua was baffled, with a nagging feeling that the old man and son had lost their minds.

The government couldn’t even manage this; how could it be done so easily?

In her moment of doubt, she forgot how the old man had the salt in her hand in the first place.

"Wait a second... your dad and you guys..."

"Wife, hold your questions until we finish. You’ll see soon," Old Man Hua interrupted, full of trust in his granddaughter. If she said it could be done, then it certainly could, and he stopped his wife from talking further.

He was busy now and couldn’t be distracted.

Granny Hua: "..."

She bit her lip and glared at him but understood that since the old man had said so, he wasn’t planning on telling her right now.

No matter how anxious she was, she could only wait, placing the bag of salt on the bench beside her, turned around, and went back into the room. When she came out, she had an iron weight in her hand as she returned.

Old Man Hua raised his eyebrows, seeing a smile playing on his wife’s lips.

Zhi, who had been boiling medicine in the kitchen, was also curious about what her in-laws were saying, but she didn’t come forward because she had to keep an eye on the medicine.

Once the medicine was ready and Hua Chengtian drank it, Zhi, now informed and surprised by everything, joined in with her mother-in-law.

First, they ground the smashed salt into powder on the stone mill. Then, they poured the collected salt powder into a bucket, added water, and stirred it evenly. Once fully dissolved, they covered it with burlap to filter it, repeating the process several times.

Next came the detoxification of the saltwater. They packed the crushed charcoal in burlap and placed it in the funnel wooden frame Hua Chengtian had previously made. They then poured the filtered solution back into the wooden bucket through the funnel frame, repeating until the resulting liquid no longer appeared slightly turbid, with a yellow-black hue.

Honestly, even though all the steps were familiar, and she acted as if she was fully confident in front of her grandpa and dad, Hua Yunxiang wasn’t sure about the filtering process’s outcome.

But seeing the obviously clearer liquid, Hua Yunxiang felt more confident, dipped her finger in the liquid, placed it in her mouth, and her eyes lit up. The bitter taste in the saltwater was gone.

Seeing his daughter’s expression, Hua Chengtian knew it had worked and quickly tasted it himself, as did Old Man Hua, Granny Hua, and Zhi, who all tried the liquid.

Tasting the salty water without any bitterness, Hua Chengtian and Old Man Hua both turned red with excitement.

"Daughter, how do we handle the rest? Tell me..." Hua Chengtian couldn’t help but urge the child, as Old Man Hua continually nodded and rolled up his sleeves, ready to work hard.

At this point, Hua Yunxiang dared not dawdle—her dad was in such a high-spirited mood and might just flick her forehead if she procrastinated, so she quickly told him the last step, the cooking process.

The rest was simple—one person tended the stove while another managed the pot to boil the saltwater dry until a thick layer of salt crystals formed on the pot’s bottom, which could then be scraped out and ground into powder using the stone mill.

At this point, the salt purification was complete.

Seeing the thick layer of white crystals at the bottom of the pot, Hua Yunxiang knew they had succeeded.

Hua Yunao and Hua Yunxiang returned from the academy, finding it strange not to smell the expected aroma of food. Besides their younger sister and the fourth sibling who opened the door for them, their grandparents and parents were all standing dumbfounded around the table in the main room.

The two brothers exchanged puzzled glances.

"Sis, what’s up with them?" the brothers asked, looking at their sister.

"Bro, they’re looking at the salt," said little Xiaoxiao, nibbling on a small tangerine, a burst of sour and sweet flavor prompting the brothers’ attention.

"Little Four, what are you eating? You can’t be greedy since we’re so good to you!" Brother Hua squinted his eyes.

"I’m not being greedy; this is my sister’s reward for me," rushed Little Four, stuffing the last small tangerine into his mouth, afraid that Brother Two would snatch it and swiftly covered his small backpack.

This act of covering up amused the two brothers, and Brother Hua intentionally reached toward Little Four with a mischievous look.

"Let Second Brother have a taste..."

"It’s my sister’s reward for me..." Little Four struggled but didn’t run, his face a mix of reluctance, though his grip on the backpack slackened.

With a pouting mouth, he reached into his backpack and pulled out a tiny golden yellow tangerine.

"Here, my sister only gave me three; let’s give Big Brother and Second Brother one each." His face was filled with agony, which truly made people laugh.

"Your brothers didn’t spoil you for nothing," Brother Hua lightly flicked Little Four’s forehead, taking away the small tangerine amid Little Four’s reluctant gaze.

He gave it a sniff—indeed, the scent was delightful, with a glint of wonder in his eye as he looked at his sister.

This kind of fruit was never seen in town, though the smell was familiar.

Many students from well-to-do families at the academy had eaten similar ones, though much larger and not with such a rich aroma as the one in his hand.