They immediately put their plan into action.
Zhao Ce directed Su Caier to scrape out the leftover charcoal from cooking today's meal on the stove.
Compared to the outdated purification methods in ancient times, Zhao Ce thought that it would be even more convenient if there was activated carbon.
By using the properties of activated carbon to absorb impurities and pigments in sugar water, the impurities in the heavily impure brown sugar can be removed and unnecessary pigments can be adsorbed, resulting in white sugar.
This method is simpler and more hygienic than the yellow mud purification method. However, he currently did not have the conditions to make activated carbon and could only try using the most outdated charcoal. Although the effect of using ordinary charcoal is much worse than that of activated carbon, it is still a good purification method.
Today, he had cooked a meal with only a small amount of firewood. There were still some old ash and charcoal with the same dry moldy smell inside. Zhao Ce did not mind and used a branch as chopsticks to pick them out.
The sugar that Zhao brought was not much, so he did not need too much charcoal. He chose several pieces of similar charcoal and carefully picked them out on the ground.
He also instructed, "Cai'er, find an old pot. We need to boil this charcoal." "Boil charcoal?" Su Cai'er blinked her eyes in curiosity. Although she was astonished when she heard her husband say he could make white sugar with charcoal, she realized that he was serious when he spoke.
Can charcoal really be used to make white sugar? After recovering from the shock, Su Cai'er quickly took action. She had washed all the pots today.
After boiling the charcoal, the pot would most likely be unusable. After thinking it over, she chose the cheapest small pottery pot and poured half a ladle of water into it.
She went to the kitchen with the pot of water and saw her husband squatting on the ground, starting a fire on the stove. There was already a faint flame inside.
For Zhao Ce, as a scholar, starting a fire was not a difficult task for someone who grew up in a rural area. He put the selected charcoal pieces in water and threw them into the pot after rinsing them. When he had enough money, he would grind activated carbon and use it in many ways.
The fire gradually grew larger, and soon the pot began to emit white smoke indicating that the water was boiling.
Zhao Ce took a pair of old chopsticks and opened the lid of the pot and stirred it before letting it continue to boil. Although this method could not produce activated carbon, the boiled charcoal could slightly enhance the purification effect.
Su Cai'er watched for a while and saw that there was nothing she could do to help in the kitchen.
She took out the moldy rice that had been left out earlier and carefully washed it outside. She couldn't let her husband eat rice with weevils.
Looking at the setting sun, Su Caier remembered her husband's concern for her eyes earlier. Her lips couldn't help but curve upwards. "Husband is so good... Not only did he save her, but he also didn't mind her leg problems or her eyes.
This is the first person Su Caier has met who didn't dislike her because of her eyes, besides her mother. Even if she worked hard, she couldn't make her husband eat white rice every meal, but she wouldn't let him go hungry with her.
With this thought, Su Caier suddenly felt energetic. She lowered her head and finished all the white rice in her hand before taking the pot into the kitchen.
In the kitchen, Zhao Ce had already prepared the charcoal and was now frying it in the ceramic pot after pouring out the water from the pot. Su Caier watched her husband's series of movements with great curiosity. Was he going to cook a dish with this charcoal?
After Su Caier cooked the porridge, the remaining charcoal was almost dry. Zhao Ce instructed her to boil all the sugar, and Su Caier didn't object.
She took out the only other small pot and poured in the small bag of sugar, then added water and stirred slowly as she boiled it.
As Su Caier stirred, she couldn't help but worry. Even if they worked hard, they couldn't make enough white rice for her husband, but she believed he wouldn't waste anything since he was making white sugar.
Even though they had only exchanged names today, they seemed to trust each other completely. They also had a mysterious sense of understanding when it came to working.
The water slowly boiled, and a sweet smell filled the air. Su Caier, who was closest to the pot, couldn't help but salivate. After swallowing her saliva, she worried that her husband would think she was greedy if he saw her. She glanced at her husband like a thief, but he was completely focused on handling the charcoal and didn't notice her.
Su Caier breathed a sigh of relief and gently sucked in the sweet aroma.
The sugar water boiled quickly, and the charcoal was ready. Zhao Ce instructed Su Caier to pour all the remaining charcoal into the boiled sugar water.
Su Caier watched as the charcoal was thrown into the bowl and muttered silently to herself, "White sugar... my husband will definitely succeed!" She stirred the mixture with a pair of chopsticks as more and more charcoal was added, causing the yellow, thick sugar water to gradually turn lighter in color.
Since they didn't have any cheesecloth at home, Zhao Ce used boiled hemp cloth to filter the mixture. He then added more charcoal to the hot sugar water.
The charcoal was added and filtered twice more until there was very little charcoal left, and the sugar water had become transparent.
Su Caier watched the transformation of the sugar water in amazement, her small mouth agape. Was this still sugar water? Zhao Ce was delighted by the color and knew it was successful. He put the pot back on the stove and reheated it to evaporate the water and concentrate the sugar.
While the white sugar was being boiled dry, they could eat dinner. As usual, they cooked a tasteless porridge made from moldy white rice. Zhao Ce's stomach was already growling, but he didn't care.
He took Su Caier's bowl and filled it with half a bowl of porridge with rice. Just as she was about to refuse, he threatened her playfully, "Eat it all! If you don't finish it, you won't sleep tonight!" After saying that, he licked his lips and felt like there was something wrong...
At the previous moment, the little girl had refused the porridge and said she only wanted to drink the rice soup, but because of that sentence, she took the bowl and muttered, "I have to sleep. We have to consummate our marriage tonight. I need to sleep to give birth to my husband's child."