Chapter 85

85. Chapter 85: Ice Maker

Jiang Wei collected all the cooled snow cakes and ice cream in the kitchen into the space to start freezing, then picked some already frozen ice cream and snow cakes from the space, put them in large porcelain bowls, and placed them on the table in the courtyard.

She invited everyone to eat.

However, this time, not only did the sisters Chunmiao not move, but even Qiulian Niang sat still.

"Xiaoxiao's mom, it's not that I'm criticizing you, but these snow cakes and ice cream are things that sell for money. How can you just take so many out for us to eat?" Qiulian Niang shook her head helplessly.

She looked up at the darkening sky and added: "It's getting late, so I'll go back first. I'll find a few people to help you tomorrow."

After saying this, she left in a hurry without even taking today's wages, fearing that if she left slowly, Jiang Wei would stuff a basket of ice cream and snow cakes to her again without explanation like last time.

Seeing that Qiulian Niang had left, the sisters Chunmiao couldn't sit still either, saying directly: "Th-then Auntie Jiang, we will come again tomorrow..."

After saying this, the two sisters left as if fleeing.

Jiang Xiaoxiao came out of the room and happened to see the figures of the few people leaving, unable to help but chuckle: "Mom, why did you scare people away again?"

Jiang Wei shrugged helplessly.

She had a strong personality, always said what she meant, and was used to being direct. Sometimes she really did scare people of this era.

Jiang Xiaoxiao pointed to the egg beater in the room and said: "Mom, the egg beater's power is used up. What should we do tomorrow?"

Today, with the help of these electric egg beaters, the speed of making cream completely kept up with the production of ice cream. If the egg beaters were gone, whipping cream by hand would be unbearable, and the speed would be slow.

Jiang Wei looked at the sky that was almost dark and was silent for a while before suddenly saying: "Xiaoxiao, you come with Mom to the mountain."

"Okay!"

Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn't help but rub her hands. It was finally coming!

Thus, Jiang Wei entered the room, collected the electric egg beaters that had run out of power into the space, then went to the kitchen to collect the few vats of water into the space, locked the door, and led Jiang Xiaoxiao up the mountain together.

When they reached the mountainside, it was completely dark, and the mountain road ahead was almost invisible.

Jiang Wei rummaged through the space, took out two flashlights, and handed one to Jiang Xiaoxiao.

Jiang Xiaoxiao checked it; there were two batteries inside, which were newly replaced. Pressing the switch, the light of the flashlight illuminated a large area ahead.

She held the flashlight and followed closely behind her mother. The mountain was not safe at night, especially this undeveloped deep mountain forest, which was occupied by countless jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards. People in the village didn't dare to go up the mountain at night.

Therefore, Jiang Wei didn't need to worry about anything and directly took out the flashlight to use.

Jiang Xiaoxiao followed her mother all the way to a dense forest where few people visited. Jiang Wei checked the surrounding terrain, and after selecting a location, she picked up some dry firewood on the ground, piled it up, and burned a fire in the center.

Jiang Xiaoxiao observed the surroundings. This place was already deep in the mountains, with many trees around. No one should have come here yet.

However, why did her mother choose this kind of place?

Just as she was thinking, she suddenly smelled a pungent herbal smell. Turning her head, she realized it was Jiang Wei who had found some herbs from the space and put them into the fire to burn.

She didn't recognize these herbs, but it wasn't hard to guess that they should be used to prevent snakes, insects, and ants in the mountain forest.

Fierce beasts in the mountains generally hide during the day and come out at night, but with this fire, they shouldn't dare to approach.

Jiang Xiaoxiao gripped the flashlight in her hand, watching her mother clear an open space around, and then with a wave of her hand, several large machines appeared before her eyes.

Jiang Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up. This is an ice maker!

Her mother's space actually had this kind of thing!

However, she still pretended not to understand and asked naively: "Mom, what is this?"

"This is an ice maker." Jiang Wei stepped forward and introduced: "Pour water from this water inlet valve, and you can turn the water into ice cubes."

"So magical!" Jiang Xiaoxiao widened her eyes slightly, the firelight reflected in her pupils, revealing a hint of surprise.

But the ice maker needs electricity to start. Where is there electricity in this deep mountain forest?

She saw her mother wave her hand, and several large-capacity batteries appeared in front of Jiang Xiaoxiao.

She opened her mouth wide. This time, she was really scared.

She had seen this kind of large-capacity battery in the modern era; it was the power equipment for large truck emergency starters, which could store thousands of watts of electricity!

Using it to supply power to these ice makers was more than enough.

Jiang Wei plugged the ice makers into the power supply, then poured all the water from the large vats into the ice makers, and finally pressed the switch.

The water poured into the ice maker passed through the water inlet valve, then automatically entered a water storage tank, was pumped to the distribution pipe by a water pump, and the distribution pipe flowed the water evenly onto the evaporator cooled by the low-temperature liquid refrigerant. The water was cooled to the freezing point, and the water would solidify into ice.

And the water that was not frozen by the evaporator flowed back into the water storage tank and started the cycle again through the water pump. When the ice cubes reached the required thickness, they would enter the de-icing state and automatically enter the ice storage tank below.

Jiang Xiaoxiao watched from the side. The ice-making speed of these ice makers was very efficient. Gradually, the finished ice cubes had fallen into the ice storage tank below.

She looked carefully. The shape of these ice cubes was cylindrical. This was the cylindrical ice specially selected by Jiang Wei.

These ice makers could set the size and shape of the ice cubes, and could make the ice cubes into granular ice, snowflake type, scale type, plate ice, tube ice, and ball ice, etc.

But generally speaking, the surface contact area of cylindrical ice is small, it is not easy to stick into a ball, and it is convenient to use ice.

Moreover, the hardness of cylindrical ice is high, the temperature is lower, it can reach below minus 20 degrees Celsius, and the melting speed is slower. She remembered that in the modern era, industry and some merchants often used cylindrical ice to ice some high-end red wine.

If it was used to transport snow cakes and ice cream, cylindrical ice cubes were indeed better.

But the disadvantage was that making cylindrical ice cubes consumed electricity and took a very long time.

The models and functions of these ice makers were good. If fewer ice cubes were made, after pouring water and pressing the switch, ice cubes could be made in less than ten minutes.

But this time Jiang Wei poured several large vats of water into it. If she wanted to turn it all into ice, she would have to wait for more than two hours, and that was under the condition of sufficient electricity.

However, ice makers are most easily affected by the ambient temperature, especially in summer when the ambient temperature is high, the ice-making time will be longer.

Now it was late at night, and the weather on the mountain was slightly cooler, but with a fire burning nearby, I'm afraid it would take three hours to make it.

Jiang Xiaoxiao sat by the fire and waited, her ears full of the "buzzing" noise made by the ice maker.