March 30, afternoon.
Jiang Xuan, Chi Shao, and Stone Loach returned to the Vine Tribe with three bags of salt ores, as well as edible tubers like sweet potatoes.
When they saw the ancient stone mountain vine again, the bamboo forest, and the totem patterns on the huge rock in front of the bamboo house, they felt an indescribable sense of relief.
Jiang Xuan felt that this was the feeling of returning home.
"Chief, Chi Shao, Stone Loach, you're finally back!"
Hook Vine and South Star ran over excitedly. The vagabonds who were opening up the wasteland heaved a sigh of relief when they saw their chief return.
After staying here for a few days, the vagabonds cherished these days when they had a house to live in and food to eat.
If something happened to the chief, these good days might be over.
Jiang Xuan carried a bag of salt ores and said, "I took a little longer. I made you worry. Let's talk inside."
Jiang Xuan walked into the bamboo house, put down the beast skin bag, and took out a piece of salt ore.
Hook Vine and South Star gathered around, looking curiously at the stone. "Is this salt, chief?" South Star asked.
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "This is salt, but it's poisonous. You can't eat it yet."
"Huh? Poison?" South Star had wanted to try a piece, but he immediately retracted his hand.
Jiang Xuan said, "Don't worry, I have a way to turn it into non-poisonous salt. Take a clay pot to the stream to wash the ores first. After washing, bring them back with a jug of water."
"Okay, I'll go right away."
South Star excitedly carried a clay pot to the stream to wash the ores and fetch some water.
Jiang Xuan walked out of the bamboo house and found some soft moss nearby.
The moss was very thick. After washing it, it could serve as a filter.
In Jiang Xuan's previous world, many people had experimented with the purification of coarse salt. The process was very simple. There were only four steps:
Dissolve, filter, evaporate, crystallize.
The most important step was filtering. As long as the impurities in the salt ore that were not soluble in water were filtered out, it could be eaten after evaporation, crystallization, and purification.
Of course, it was impossible to remove all the impurities in the salt ore by filtering. After all, a small portion of the impurities would not dissolve in water.
If possible, it was best to further purify the refined salt.
Jiang Xuan didn't have the means now, so he could only use the simplest method. With the physique of the tribe, eating some impurities wouldn't be a problem.
Jiang Xuan found a very thick bamboo tube and dug out a section at the top and a hole at the bottom.
Immediately after, he laid a layer of washed moss at the bottom of the bamboo tube. Then he went to the fire pit and grabbed a few handfuls of charcoal to put into the bamboo tube.
Charcoal had an absorbent effect. By adding charcoal to the filter, it could remove the smaller impurities in the salt ore.
Above the charcoal, he laid another layer of moss. He added a layer of stones, then a layer of moss, then a layer of charcoal. He added stones to the top layer and covered the top with moss.
Finally, he injected a large amount of clear water into the filter and washed it briefly.
A simple primitive filter was done!
After five layers of moss, two layers of charcoal, and two layers of stones, he should be able to remove most of the impurities from the dissolved salt ores.
Chi Shao and the others watched as Jiang Xuan created this primitive filter.
Although they did not know exactly what it was for, they inexplicably felt that it was very powerful.
After Jiang Xuan finished making the original filter, South Star had already washed the two clay pots. One of the clay pots was even filled with clean water.
"Chief, what can I do?"
Hook Vine looked at Jiang Xuan expectantly. He wanted to participate too.
Jiang Xuan said, "Find a beast skin and lay it on the ground. Put a flat stone on it and smash these salt ores."
"Okay, I'm on it."
Hook Vine did not understand why such a stone was called a salt ore, but that did not stop him from working with enthusiasm.
He found an animal skin and two rocks. He placed one flat stone in the middle of the animal skin and used the other to smash the salt ore.
Then Hook Vine took out a piece of salt ore from the animal skin bag and placed it on the flat stone. According to Jiang Xuan's instructions, he smashed the salt ore into pieces.
Jiang Xuan placed the crushed salt ore into an empty clay pot. After placing about a third of the clay pot's capacity, he began to add water and stir it with a bamboo stick.
As Jiang Xuan stirred, the salt crystals in the salt ore gradually melted. The water became very turbid, and there was a large amount of insoluble sediment at the bottom.
Jiang Xuan left the cauldron still for a while and waited for the floating particles in the water to sink before starting to filter.
He emptied the other clay pot, set it down where he found it, and handed the original filter to Chi Shao.
"Sister, help me hold this bamboo tube."
"Okay."
Chi Shao held the original filter in both hands, above the empty clay pot.
Jiang Xuan picked up the cauldron containing salt water and gently poured water into the bamboo tube.
"Patter…"
As the salt water was injected, layers of moss, stones, and charcoal filtered out most of the impurities. Finally, the water that flowed into the clay pot became clearer, but the color was still a little red.
After Jiang Xuan poured the salt water, he went to the stream and washed the large amount of sediment at the bottom of the clay pot. He returned to the bamboo house and filtered the salt water again.
After he filtered it three times, the salt water he received was so clear that he could barely see the color.
Jiang Xuan placed the filtered salt water into the fire pit and cooked it over a rock.
It was a relatively long process and required a lot of patience.
After the salt water boiled, Jiang Xuan stirred it from time to time and smashed the remaining salt ores with the others.
When they finished smashing the entire bag of salt ores, a layer of the water in the clay pot had clearly evaporated. Above its inner wall, there was a small amount of white crystals.
Jiang Xuan found a bamboo shell and carefully scraped off the crystals.
He pinched a bit of salt crystal between his fingers and placed it on the tip of his tongue.
A pure salty taste stimulated his taste buds.
This salty taste was very close to real edible salt. It almost did not have the bitter and astringent taste of impure salt.
Chi Shao and the three youths looked at Jiang Xuan, hoping to see something from his face.
"Very salty!"
This was the first thing Jiang Xuan said.
"This is real salt. Salt that we can all eat!"
This was Jiang Xuan's second sentence.
"That's great!"
South Star was the first to cheer. He was proud to have been personally involved in the process of making salt. The excitement was indescribable.
"Come, try them all."
There was not much salt in the crystals, so Jiang Xuan gave each of them some.
Chi Shao carefully placed the bit of salt on the tip of her tongue and closed her mouth, savoring the taste.
Before long, her eyes were moist.
"It's really salt…"
In the past, the Deer Tribe also had salt. It was usually obtained from the large tribes in exchange for animal skins, bones, and other things.
Not only was it expensive, but it was not pure at all. It was bitter and astringent.
Initially, they thought that with just the few of them, they might not have the chance to eat salt in the future. They did not expect Jiang Xuan to create better salt.
The three teenagers felt the same way. They even licked their fingers clean.
Salt was something that every family in Jiang Xuan's previous world could afford, but it was exceptionally precious in this desolate world.
It was a blessing to be able to eat salt.
It was a very happy thing to be able to eat relatively pure salt.
At this moment, all five of them felt very happy.