0p0 Chapter 403: Building an Oil Mill
Chapter 403: Building an Oil Mill
It was scorching hot in mid-July.
Due to the good weather during this period, all the peanuts planted in the fields were pulled up.
The novelty of picking peanuts in the beginning has now become numb. In order to save time and effort, Xu Yuan asked Chen Dafu to make a tool specifically for threshing peanuts. The tool is very similar to the threshing barrel for threshing rice. It is shaped like an inverted triangle, with a slope from high to low, surrounded by wooden boards on both sides and blocked by bamboo strips at the bottom.
By throwing the peanut roots onto the opening baffle, the peanuts can be easily pulled out by using the force. The sloping opening can be directly covered with a sack. It is convenient and quick, and much faster than picking them with a rake or by hand.
Once Chen Dafu promoted this peanut picking tool extensively, it brought him great success. The wrinkles on Chen Dafu's face never went away from the sound of the copper coins jingling in his hands.
I was even more looking forward to how the peanut oil in my mouth would be made.
At this time, Xu Yuan brought Village Chief Gu, Uncle Wang and others to a wasteland and began to plan to build an oil mill.
"How big a place should this be? It should be similar to the place for making fish balls." Grandpa Wang gestured as he looked at the open space.
The floor plan of Hsinchu Village appeared in Xuyuan's mind. In addition to the peanut oil mill, Xuyuan also planned to build a place dedicated to making brown sugar when sugarcane was grown in large quantities. All of them wanted to be concentrated in one place, so the planning scope was relatively important.
"Well, that's about right. Let's just build a place of this size first." Xu Yuan replied, and then discussed some details with everyone.
To make peanut oil, the first few steps are relatively simple, but the final step of pressing the oil requires some effort. Since there are several oil mills in the county, the tools are common. As long as you have money, you can naturally get that set of tools. They all use the wood pressing process.
"Okay, let's do it like this first. We will start clearing this wasteland tomorrow and put the production of peanut oil on track. Girl, just let me know if you need any tools." Village Chief Gu ordered.
This time it was built in the name of Village Chief Gu and Uncle Wang. After all, Xu Yuan knew that a big tree is more likely to attract thieves. There was no elder in the family, so Xu Yuan didn't want to make himself so tired, so he decided to just be a hands-off boss.
Village Chief Gu and Uncle Wang both took good care of him, so Xu Yuan could trust them.
Since we want to make money, let's make it together and no one should be jealous of anyone else.
After agreeing on the construction of the oil mill, everyone dispersed and went about their business.
The peanuts, which had been exposed to the scorching sun for five consecutive days, were now completely dried out.
At this moment, Xu Zhi, Duo Xian and Guo Zi, who were in the shade of the yard, were holding two bamboo sticks tied together in their hands and peeling the peanut shells quickly.
The bamboo sieves piled on the ground were filled with plump peanuts. Many people would grab one or two and put them in their mouths to chew until they were almost full.
It only took an hour for me to go from being excited at the beginning to being numb now.
Lai Fu, who was curled up at the feet of many people, was also chewing peanuts in his mouth. He was eating them so happily that he even took the initiative to pick up the peanuts on the ground and started to bite off the shells.
Xu Zhi was afraid that Lai Fu would mix the peanuts he had bitten open with the peeled peanuts, so he quickly put the peanuts on the ground on the shelf.
"I'm so tired, second sister, my hands hurt so much." Many people could not sit still anymore. Blisters began to appear on their fingers, and they were accidentally punctured. They cried out in pain and yelled.
"Then go and rest for a while and come back here." Xu Zhi raised his eyes to look at the many people beside him, feeling a little distressed for their red and swollen fingers, and comforted them.
"Okay, I'll go turn over the rice." Xuanyu threw down the last peanut in his hand, stood up and walked towards the place where the rice was drying.
After a while, Xu Yuan appeared in front of his door with a big crucian carp in his hand. He saw the figure passing by not far from the house again, and his eyes narrowed.
"Sister, you're back! How's things going?" Guozi saw the figure walking in from the door first, and then saw the fish in Xuyuan's hand and asked.
"Fish! There are more fish. Did the village chief give them to me?"
"With big sister's help, there is nothing that cannot be accomplished." Manyu said proudly, with his hands on his hips, his mouth raised high, looking at the fish in Xuyuan's hand, his eyes shining, "Big sister, are you still eating braised food today?"
"Steamed food, why do you want to eat something so hot in such hot weather?" Xu Yuan replied unhappily. They had been eating such hot food these past few days and were getting a little hot. Many Japanese sweets and the two of them had blisters at the corners of their mouths, but they didn't even cry out in pain. Xu Yuan had to help them cool down.
Many people said "Oh", steamed ones are also delicious.
"Your task these few days is to prepare a large amount of peanuts. They will be useful when the time comes."
After hearing this, many people were even more confused. They had never thought that peeling peanuts was such a troublesome thing.
As expected, good things that can be sold for money often require a price. How can they be obtained so easily? Many people were turning over the rice on the ground, bending over the place where lychees were drying, picked up a dried lychee, peeled off the shell, and stuffed the flesh into their mouths.
Well, that's really nice.
Many of them hummed unknown tunes and worked leisurely.
"Xiaoduo, don't mix glutinous rice with regular rice. Be careful."
Xu Yuan looked at the people who were turning over the rice and gave instructions with a smile on his face.
"Don't worry, big sister, those sticky rices are easy to recognize, I won't get them mixed up."
……
On the other side, when Village Chief Gu returned home, he went back to his study immediately and started drawing on paper.
Although Xu Yuan said that they could just follow the normal structure of a house, Village Chief Gu felt that it still needed to be carefully planned. The site had been confirmed, and now all that was left was the layout of the building. The oil produced must be carefully stored, which meant building a large storage rack or a cellar.
Xuyuan's idea is to build another storage room and camouflage it from the outside.
Village Chief Gu thinks this is feasible, but he wants to build a secret room with a mechanism on this basis, which will be more effective. It would be even better if he builds another room that can refrigerate ice.
There was a "dong" sound.
Village Chief Gu's thoughts were interrupted. He had no choice but to put down the brush in his hand and look towards the place where the noise came from.
This was shocking. He immediately stood up from his squatting position and his face changed.
From outside came Gu Qingming's frightened shout and Xu Qing's urgent questioning.
It was a real mess and very noisy. Village Chief Gu stroked his forehead which was suddenly swollen and painful, and shook his head helplessly.