Tang Mingrui knew very well that the corn seeds from the Mo Family were meant to be sold to the government, and he only had one year to make high profits from it.
Although corn cakes were delicious, it was obvious that dishes made from fresh corn would be much more profitable.
He looked at He Zhiran: "Sister-in-law, do you have any ideas on how to preserve the freshness of corn?"
In Tang Mingrui's impression, not only was his sister-in-law very smart, she was also very knowledgeable, so perhaps she could come up with a good way to preserve corn.
When asked by Tang Mingrui, the first thing He Zhiran thought of was that fresh corn could be frozen for preservation.
The only way to freeze food during this season was to make ice.
It was no secret that people in the previous era used nitrates to make ice, something many children did in science experiments.
"Fresh corn can be preserved by freezing," she said.
Tang Mingrui...
Sister-in-law, what you said is the same as not saying anything.
Even though the weather now is not as hot as summer, where can I get ice?
"If I had known earlier, I would have gotten someone to store some ice cubes last winter. It's probably too late now," Tang Mingrui said, clearly somewhat discouraged.
In his knowledge, the ice cubes people used in summer were all preserved from winter.
Many mountain caves had extremely low temperatures. The ice cubes people stored in winter were kept in this kind of cave.
Not to mention these cold, gloomy caves were not easy to find, transporting the ice cubes was also a huge project, and many wealthy families hired a large number of workers to do it.
Even so, although the caves were cold, they were still not as cold as the winter air temperature, so the ice cubes stored inside could only slow down the melting.
By the time the ice cubes were used in summer, even the best ones would have lost half their volume to natural melting.
As a result, ice cubes were extremely precious in Da Shun in summer, and very few could afford them.
He Zhiran took in Tang Mingrui's disappointed expression.
She laughed and said, "Brother Tang doesn't need to worry about ice cubes. You just need to find a bigger place, the bigger the room the better, large enough to store the fresh corn you want to eat."
Tang Mingrui was puzzled by her words, but found a bigger place was no problem. The courtyard he had bought for his family was very spacious, with many extra rooms.
He just could not understand what his sister-in-law was going to do. If he took her words literally, it meant his sister-in-law could get ice cubes.
"Sister-in-law, what do you mean?"
"It's just as you thought, I can get ice cubes." He Zhiran was not too serious, but her tone inexplicably gave people an indisputable feeling.
Tang Mingrui was even more willing to believe her unconditionally. He stood up,
"Okay, I'll go back and arrange a bigger room now."
He was about to leave when He Zhiran called him back.
"Brother Tang, don't rush. It will take three days for my ice cubes to be ready. For the empty room you prepare, seal all four sides with mud, completely airtight except for the door. Only this way will the ice cubes not melt easily when stored inside."
In ancient times, unlike modern cold storage doors that could be tightly sealed, He Zhiran was thinking that they should try to make the room as enclosed as possible. With the weather getting cooler going forward, making the ice cubes a bit thicker should be no problem. At most, she could provide more ice cubes for replacement.
It would hold out at most another three months until the temperature in the northwest became subzero. By then, even without ice, the fresh corn could still be stored.
Tang Mingrui did not understand why He Zhiran asked him to seal the room with mud, but he believed her unconditionally.
"Don't worry, sister-in-law, I'll go arrange it immediately."
After Tang Mingrui left, Mo Jiuye asked He Zhiran doubtfully,
"Ranran, where are you getting the ice cubes?"
He Zhiran did not answer right away, but pulled him back into the room and then flashed into the space.
Nitrates were readily available online in large quantities and at very cheap prices.
Since this was her first time trying it out, she had only bought a small amount for experiments.
After seeing He Zhiran produce ice with his own eyes, Mo Jiuye felt even more distressed for her. Even though she had recovered from childbirth, he still did not want her to exert herself one bit. He even brought warm foot bath water to He Zhiran on time every day.
He Zhiran had also gotten used to her husband's care. From childbirth until now, Mo Jiuye had pampered her into gaining a full circle.
She had gotten a little fatter, but it did not diminish her beauty at all, instead giving her a different kind of charm.
Making ice with nitrates could not be completed in a short time. Worried someone would come looking for them, the couple brought the nitrates and left the space together.
In their own room, they found several wooden basins of different sizes. Mo Jiuye followed He Zhiran's method to operate.
In fact, making ice with nitrates was not difficult at all. After following He Zhiran's instructions, Mo Jiuye excitedly discovered a thin layer of ice forming on the water in the small basin soon after.
"Ranran, come and see, we did it!" he said excitedly.
He Zhiran knew that success was guaranteed as long as the method was right.
But she was still very excited, because this was the first time in her two lifetimes that she had used this method to make ice.
"My husband, by tonight, all the water in this basin will likely have frozen into ice cubes."
"Ranran, you may not know, in this season, many people would be extremely envious of an ice cube this big."
Having grown up in the palace as a study companion to Prince Nanqi, he had witnessed with his own eyes the fight between two of Emperor Shunwu's concubines over a not very big ice cube.
Although there were special personnel in the palace responsible for storing ice cubes, it still took huge manpower and resources.
The ice cubes that could be stored until summer without melting were extremely scarce, so even in the palace, ice cubes were very rare in summer.
And they were only used by Emperor Shunwu, the Empress Dowager, the Empress, and several consorts of higher rank.
Something so precious, yet his Ranran could produce it so easily with such a simple method, it really opened his eyes.
Initially, he thought He Zhiran was just whimsically trying it out, and did not expect her to succeed so easily.
As I said before, He Zhiran did not have much talent for business. She could earn silver in ancient times entirely thanks to her modern knowledge.
If she had not thought of making ice to store Tang Mingrui's fresh corn today, she would not have come up with the nitrate ice-making method either.
"It looks like the Mo Family has gained another source of income."
"If Ranran had come up with this ice-making method earlier, catching the summer season, she would have definitely earned a lot of silver."
"But it's not too late now either. As long as we keep our ice-making method secret, it will always be a source of income."
Now when it came to doing business and making money, Mo Jiuye could also talk eloquently about it.
It could be said that the changes in their living environment had, without them realizing it, gradually nurtured their business acumen.
Especially for He Zhiran, many ideas for making money with ice had already sprouted in her mind.
