Chapter 131: Making Soy Sauce
That afternoon during the visit to the Botanical Garden, Xiang Chuan submitted the application for the club’s Outdoor Study for the first time, lasting one week.
In order to improve the students’ understanding of club activity content, the school allows students to conduct research and study targeted at club activities off-campus during club activity time, which is Outdoor Study. However, to prevent students with self-control issues from succumbing to the temptation of playing and using study time to wander outdoors, the school often entrusts club advisor teachers or students’ parents to accompany them. If there is no guardian, Outdoor Study is generally not allowed.
The location Xiang Chuan applied for Outdoor Study conveniently resolved this issue—because the location was at the Xiang Family Mansion.
When the principal and grade director received this application, they had already learned from the teachers’ group chat that Xiang Chuan had purchased an entire container of soybeans. After the precedent of the Class Competition, they naturally knew that Xiang Chuan was preparing to make something new, and the location was chosen at the Yue Xiang chairman’s home equipped with complete facilities. As long as there were adults at home, there was no need to worry about lacking guardians to supervise the students.
The principal signed with a flourish—approved!
Thus, A Bite of China Club became the first club this semester to apply for Outdoor Study, making many first-year high school students envious.
Meanwhile, the A Bite of China Club members, as the subjects of the topic, were gathered together, listening to Xiang Chuan arrange the preparation of materials.
“Flour, salt, water—these don’t need special preparation; your home should have plenty, right?” Ainuo looked at the materials list, the corner of their eye twitching involuntarily.
“Our family’s flour was mostly used up by my tinkering last month, and Da Xing just restocked. We don’t know how much we’ll use this time.” Xiang Chuan glanced at the container behind her that was nearly two stories high and frowned.
Originally, she hadn’t planned to buy so much, but these dry soybeans were really cheap. The middle-aged female supervisor even gave an extra discount and prepared the container and transport robot, which made Xiang Chuan, who loved browsing the Vegetable Market, unable to refuse.
But to consume all these soybeans, a similar amount of flour would be needed. After the family’s three meals became routine without new seasonings, Xiang Chuan didn’t want to keep using up the home flour. Moreover… it couldn’t always be the club president footing the bill, right? Modern flour wasn’t worth much anyway.
“Fine, fine, you win.” Ainuo rolled their eyes.
“Do we need to prepare any equipment?” Ouyang Yating asked. In her view, the vessels needed for such a large container must be substantial.
And that was indeed the case.
“I need the largest possible steamer, at least as wide as two of our desks.” Xiang Chuan gestured, “Also at least twenty large jars. Oh, the jars look like this…”
She pulled out the terminal light screen and scribbled on a blank page, finally managing to draw the shape of a jar. No help for it; her elementary school art grades had been failing.
Modern times probably didn’t have clay crafting anymore, right? Xiang Chuan thought, then added: “These jars need to be made of opaque glass. If I really can’t find opaque ones, please help prepare some light-blocking cloth or equipment to cover the outer layers of these jars. Besides that, I also need some sterilized extraction devices that won’t harm the starter culture, as well as baffles that can be timed and detect weather.” As she spoke, she pulled out a sketch she had prepared earlier.
“I’ll handle this. My mother often needs highly light-blocking equipment, so I can ask her. I can also ask my uncle about the metal equipment.” Liang Gong raised his hand.
“Then I’ll leave it to you. Since it’s urgent, equipment or materials don’t have to match the dimensions perfectly; as long as they can cover the entire outer layer of the glass jars, it’s fine. I’ll send you the dimensions of the glass jars later.” Xiang Chuan instructed, then looked at Ainuo and Ouyang Yating: “Liang Gong and I will handle the equipment, so the remaining salt and flour are up to you two.”
The childhood friends exchanged a glance: Since the club president said so, they had no choice but to do it.
Chou Manman and Nancy watched the four arranging the work for the next week without interjecting. After all, this was their proper club activity. As members of other clubs, during normal club activities, unless invited, it was best not to meddle to avoid unnecessary disputes.
But once the finished product was ready, they certainly wouldn’t forget to mooch some food and drink. The two stared at the container behind Xiang Chuan, eyes gleaming.
After this arrangement, the A Bite of China Club members had no mood left in the afternoon to appreciate the plants. So in the new area, they casually found a resting spot, opened the communication devices on their terminals, and began preparing raw materials through their respective connections.
Because Xiang Chuan had obtained the contact for the glassware manufacturer when custom-ordering the club activity room, she quickly got in touch and requested custom thick and colored fiberglass. The other party was surprised by such a customization request, but thanks to modern advanced technology, these seemingly outrageous orders were no trouble. They were just curious about the use of these glassware, but decisively accepted the order and scheduled delivery to the Xiang Family Mansion at eight the next morning.
After resolving the most headache-inducing vessel issue, Xiang Chuan let out a huge sigh of relief.
She leaned on the bench, watching the three busily contacting factories or ingredient suppliers, and couldn’t help but reflect: A month ago, she had to rack her brains and effort to produce just a small jar of yeast. Now, in the blink of an eye, she had three like-minded partners joining to start making at least ten jars of soy sauce. Wasn’t this a kind of achievement?
Xiang Chuan thought, a smile involuntarily appearing on her face.
Ainuo, having contacted the flour supplier, looked up to see their club leader with a smile like a parent whose child had just grown up, and the corner of their eye twitched: “What are you grinning about like an idiot? If you have time for that, do some math problems.”
Xiang Chuan: …
Her club members were still as unlovable as ever.
That evening after returning home from the Botanical Garden, Xiang Chuan informed her family of A Bite of China Club’s Outdoor Study plans for the next week. She didn’t say directly what she planned to do, but Xiang Weiguo and Lin Minzhi, with their information channels, naturally knew their daughter had bought a huge box of dry soybeans today. Linking it to last month’s flour, they understood their restless eldest daughter was planning something big.
As father and Yue Xiang Group boss, Xiang Weiguo naturally wanted most to stay home and witness the birth of something that might change the Third Fleet’s agricultural system or even food culture. But as the company’s top executive, he couldn’t stay home all the time. After the pilot operation of Yue Xiang Restaurant, the shareholders unanimously approved the franchise store and chain store project, starting to lay out store networks across the entire Third Fleet Main Ship and adding food raw material processing factories.
Lin Minzhi was no better off. The Cultural Affairs Bureau’s linguists and historians were in an uproar over the three books Xiang Chuan provided, all eyeing her to lure their eldest daughter over. But Lin Minzhi understood her daughter’s intentions well, so she was busy fending them off with tai chi. Now that Xiang Chuan planned new food development, Lin Minzhi fully supported it. As long as the results could silence both sides, there was no worry of their daughter being dragged to the Cultural Affairs Bureau as an emotionless cultural consultant.
After much thought, the couple decided to leave Lin Minzhi’s secretary Lisa and Xiang Weiguo’s secretary Xiao Ye. The two would take turns supervising A Bite of China Club’s activities that week, avoiding major impact on the couple’s work while meeting the Outdoor Study guardian requirement.
Most importantly, the couple could get first-hand updates on their daughter’s activities upon returning home.
Xiang Chuan was unaware of these behind-the-scenes maneuvers and fully supported the couple’s proposal. After dinner, she immediately rolled back to her room to plan the next week’s schedule.
After school on Monday noon, the four A Bite of China Club members headed straight to the school gate amid Class Eight classmates’ envious gazes. Each family’s anti-gravity vehicles were already waiting. Xiang Chuan was thinking of taking everyone straight home, handling lunch, and immediately starting on the soybeans, but before she could speak, Ainuo and Ouyang Yating said in unison: “I’m going home first.”
“…” Xiang Chuan turned her gaze to the only one who hadn’t spoken, Liang Gong.
“I… I’ll come after eating.” Liang Gong lowered his head, a bit embarrassed.
…Just say you want to nap first; no need for all this beating around the bush! Xiang Chuan sulked in the back seat of her family’s car.
Before producing food that satisfied the desire for food, Xiang Chuan couldn’t idle. As soon as the anti-gravity vehicle stopped in front of the Xiang Family Mansion, she dragged Da Xing, who came to greet her, straight to the warehouse door beside the mansion, took out four 100-kg portions of soybeans, and directed Da Xing to wash them and soak them in slightly warm water. Though the weather was warming lately, tap water from the water bureau was basically like purified water—very cold in spring, summer, and fall. Soaking soybeans in that temperature would waste the whole day.
Seeing the soybeans soaking in four sturdy fiberglass containers, Xiang Chuan finally felt at ease to go eat lunch.
“Young Lady, welcome back.”
As Xiang Chuan entered the hall, Lisa, who was sitting on the sofa with several light screens open, immediately stood up to greet her.
“Good afternoon, Lisa. Are you the only one home today?” Xiang Chuan casually signaled Da Xing to start lunch.
“Yes, Young Master is scheduled to return after the noon school meeting. The director and Chairman Xiang both have regular meetings today.” Lisa saved her documents, closed the light screens, and followed Xiang Chuan into the dining hall.
“If there’s a meeting, won’t it be inconvenient for you not to be with Mom?” Xiang Chuan frowned. “How about you go to Mom’s side later, Lisa? Or when we start making the koji this afternoon, you watch for an hour or two and then meet up with Mom?”
“No, the director and Chairman Xiang specifically instructed me to follow Young Lady and your group through the entire production today.” Lisa said, “Also, the school’s Outdoor Study requires daily guardian certification using the students’ terminals for physical verification; it can’t be done via other communication devices.”
It had to be like that? Xiang Chuan bit into the beef patty Da Xing served, blinking in confusion, and blankly opened the teaching program’s Outdoor Study instructions—sure enough, there it was. Probably because earlier seniors used parents’ photos to fool the system and go play, only for it to be discovered, leading to this countermeasure.
Student wits vs. school countermeasures—this was truly the eternal millennial showdown.
How moving.
Xiang Chuan looked at the snail noodles and pan-fried buns in front of her, swallowing without elegance.
Was this a dream? She deeply inhaled the long-missed snail noodle aroma. Ah, this fresh and spicy scent mixed with the fermented tangy aroma of pickled bamboo shoots was her only consolation after a hard week. Even more surprising, the snail noodles even had braised eggs and duck feet on top.
Duck feet, no less!
Duck feet!
Xiang Chuan couldn’t help but sigh.
After snail noodles from her hometown went viral, for some magical reason, everyone eating them had to add fried eggs, claiming fried eggs were the standard.
—As if! Clearly, these boiled-to-peel duck feet and braised eggs cooked in snail noodle broth were the real standard!
She picked up her chopsticks, happily scooping up rice noodles with pickled bamboo shoots and wood ear mushrooms; the aroma made her swallow several times.
Slightly opening her mouth, ready to send this taste of home into her mouth—
“Wake up!!!!”
“Wah!!!”
Xiang Chuan jolted up, her right side losing balance, falling straight into a soft mass. Looking closely, it was Da Xing acting as her cushion beside her.
She blankly lifted her head to see Ouyang Yating standing in front of the sofa, looking at her with the same expression Ainuo used when seeing her finished math homework. Ainuo stood a few steps behind, wearing the same expression. Liang Gong beside him turned to look at the wall—an expression she knew well; it was what Liang Gong did whenever their club leader did something stupid.
Seeing Xiang Chuan still dazed, Ouyang Yating frowned tighter: “Get up already; it’s time to work on our soybeans.”
“Ah? Oh.” Xiang Chuan snapped back, standing with Da Xing’s help. While combing her hair with the comb Da Xing handed her, she noticed it was just past one. Too early! She looked at Ouyang Yating doubtfully: “Weren’t you going home to nap?”
“Who said anything about sleeping?” Ouyang Yating raised an eyebrow. “We went home to get luggage.”
Huh? Luggage? Xiang Chuan was stunned, then noticed each of the four had a small anti-gravity floating box beside them—of course, “small” relative to her usual containers. Accurately, it was about the size of the box she used at the start of school for clothes and daily necessities: a one-meter-long, one-meter-wide cube. Any bigger and the portable anti-gravity device couldn’t handle it.
“Where are you planning to stay?” Xiang Chuan’s brain short-circuited. “There are no hotels nearby.”
“Do you think we don’t know there’s no hotel nearby?” Ouyang Yating shook her head helplessly, handing her luggage to Da Xing. “Put the luggage in the guest rooms. Are those beans in the warehouse?”
“They’re outside… Wait, don’t just decide on your own.” Xiang Chuan felt she couldn’t keep up with Ouyang Yating’s thinking. “Are you planning to stay at my house?”
“Why else would we bring luggage?” Ainuo looked at her like she was an idiot, handing his and Liang Gong’s luggage boxes to Da Xing, then turned to head outside.
Huh? Really staying at her house?
Xiang Chuan, full of question marks, was dragged out of the living room by Ouyang Yating, her mind still processing the info.
How did they suddenly come over? Did their families know… Oh, they all went home for meals and packing, so yes… Did her own parents know? Did Lisa know? Why didn’t anyone tell her?
Xiang Chuan looked back at Lisa at the end of the group; she was casually handling work on several light screens like nothing was up.
Fine, ninety-nine percent they all knew. But why didn’t she? Xiang Chuan was depressed.
“Why soak so much at once?” Ouyang Yating stood before the four large black glass jars, eyes wide.
Ainuo and Liang Gong were also shocked by the scale.
Originally, the three thought their club president would at most use one large glass jar to make something. But now four full large glass jars were lined up before them, making the trio draw in a cold breath.
How much was she planning to make? Would it even work? The three, who thought they’d just casually accompany their club president, were stunned.
“Can’t take them out yet; I started soaking at noon, need at least another hour and a half.” Xiang Chuan instructed. She didn’t care about the three staying over anymore. Thinking about it, there were plenty of guest rooms; ten people could stay no problem. No need to worry about that hassle.
“Club President, you… plan to use all the soybeans in these four glass containers to make that thing you mentioned…” Liang Gong stared at the four large glass jars, his usually quick mind knotting up.
“Soy sauce.” Xiang Chuan raised an eyebrow. “The method isn’t that hard, and considering future usage, four large jars feel insufficient. But since it’s the first time, we’ll make four jars first, and leave the rest to my father and them to worry about.”
Four jars of soy sauce would at least let her family and club eat their fill before mass production.
Satisfy her own little belly first, then figure out how to benefit society. —By Xiang Chuan classmate, who ate clear soup egg drop noodle soup for a month 30,000 years later.
The three club members naturally didn’t know their club president’s little scheme; they just thought: There’s no way we can finish this…
