Chapter 15

First Volume, Chapter 15: We're Going to Make a Fortune

Liu Hongyan didn't believe Qin Feng's nonsense—not a word about White Sugar had she ever heard.

But seeing Qin Feng react so strongly, she still agreed to sign the contract, lest this fellow have a fit and truly fall ill—that would be disastrous.

With Liu Hongyan's financial backing secured, Qin Feng no longer hesitated and set to work without restraint.

First, he commanded Qin Xiaofu to light the stove and throw all the Red Sugar into the pot; once fully melted, he stirred it constantly with a wooden stick, and over time, the Red Sugar gradually thickened into a viscous paste.

Liu Hongyan stood by, utterly confused as to what Qin Feng was doing.

It was just melting Red Sugar—how could that turn into White Sugar?

Besides… Red Sugar was already the product of sugarcane juice boiled down; Qin Feng was merely returning the Red Sugar to its original state.

At that moment, Qin Feng brought a large basin of water and had Xiao Xiangxiang fetch some yellow soil from the garden, pouring it all into the basin.

Qin Feng rolled up his sleeves, plunged both hands into the basin, and stirred thoroughly until the water and soil blended completely into a large basin of muddy broth.

Liu Hongyan shook her head repeatedly—this wasn't sugar-making, it was pure nonsense.

She was a fool to believe this brat's nonsense.

He was grown enough—she didn't know whether to call him childishly innocent or utterly uneducated.

But to prevent Qin Feng from having a fit, she dared not stop him, only watching silently, eager to see what tricks this brat would pull.

Qin Feng set the stirred muddy water aside, circled the stove once, judged the Temperament Control sufficient, then brought a large basin, placed a wooden frame atop it, and set a large funnel on the frame.

He plugged the funnel's mouth with CottonCloth, then ordered Qin Xiaofu to quickly ladle all the cooked Sugar Paste into the funnel.

As time passed, the Sugar Paste gradually hardened; to observe the hardening more clearly, Qin Feng directly reached his hand into the funnel.

Liu Hongyan gasped, snatched his hand away, and scolded in a shrill voice: "Are you mad? Look at how dirty your hands are—how dare you waste this?"

This much Sugar Paste cost a fortune!

Liu Hongyan wasn't short of Silver, but that didn't mean she could squander it—otherwise, Jinshan Yingshan would be spent to nothing.

Qin Feng suddenly screamed in agony, face twisted in pain; Liu Hongyan, startled, instinctively released her grip—whereupon Qin Feng seized the chance and plunged his hand into the Sugar Paste.

Liu Hongyan's face flushed crimson with rage, she slapped him: "You little brat, how dare you trick me! You've ruined such fine sugar!"

Qin Feng begged for mercy while dodging around the stove, shouting: "Sister, I know what I'm doing—can't you just trust me once?"

"I trust your big head!"

Liu Hongyan stared at the Red Sugar contaminated by soil, her heart ached; she grew furious and wanted to leave, eyes shut to avoid seeing it—but Qin Feng grabbed her and held her tight.

Qin Feng shook Liu Hongyan vigorously, this grown man acting like a child pouting: "Sister, don't go—just wait a little longer."

Unable to resist Qin Feng's persistent nagging, she relented, standing aside with cheeks puffed in annoyance.

She let him do whatever bizarre thing he planned, no longer interfering.

Once the Sugar Paste was sufficiently hardened, Qin Feng poured all the prepared Yellow Mud Water into the funnel.

Seeing this, Liu Hongyan's heart clenched—such fine Sugar Paste, destroyed like this!

She wanted to shout a rebuke, but the words died on her lips; if this could improve Qin Feng's condition, a few catties of Sugar Paste wasn't worth mourning.

Qin Xiaofu and Xiao Xiangxiang, standing nearby, looked utterly unfazed.

If the Young Master didn't waste money, would he still be the Young Master…

Qin Feng rubbed his hands eagerly, waited until the Yellow Mud Water fully submerged the Sugar Paste, then tossed the basin aside and yanked out the CottonCloth blocking the funnel's mouth.

Because the Sugar Paste had hardened, it did not spill out through the funnel's mouth.

But as time passed, drops of black liquid began dripping from the funnel's mouth, their flow gradually accelerating until, later, the drops merged into a continuous thread.

Qin Feng stood by, eyes fixed on the funnel, watching until no more liquid dripped; then he peered into the funnel and burst into loud laughter, grabbing Qin Xiaofu and Xiao Xiangxiang in both arms.

"Hahahaha, Xiao Fu! This Young Master did it! I did it!"

Seeing Qin Feng act as if possessed, Liu Hongyan grew worried, stepped to the funnel, peered inside—and froze in shock.

The once dark-red Sugar Paste had completely changed color, now resembling fine white snow.

This… how was this possible?

Liu Hongyan rubbed her eyes hard—this wasn't an illusion—then she extended a finger, plucked a tiny bit, and placed it in her mouth; its sweet flavor instantly flooded her entire mouth.

"Sugar… this is White Sugar? It's… even finer than Sugar Frost!"

Liu Hongyan was awestruck.

Now that the Red Sugar's origin had been damaged, Red Sugar's output had shrunk, and Sugar Frost was merely a thin surface layer formed during Red Sugar crystallization—extremely rare and precious, reserved solely as Imperial Tribute.

Yet the quality of this White Sugar far surpassed Sugar Frost by miles, and its yield was astonishingly high.

Liu Hongyan grew ecstatic—with this sugar-making method, how could wealth fail to flow?

Overcome with excitement, Liu Hongyan hugged Qin Feng and kissed him twice: "You actually did it—this time, our family is going to get rich!"

Qin Feng, for the first time ever, blushed deeply, nervous like a blushing virgin, and chuckled foolishly: "Not our family's getting rich—it's us getting rich."

This crude sugar-making method came from the ancient book "Tiangong Kaiwu" from his past life.

As always, his past-life success as a top salesperson wasn't just due to his tongue—he relied on vast, eclectic knowledge.

Moreover, the principle behind this sugar-making was simple: it merely filtered pigments from sugarcane juice using Yellow Mud Water—anyone could learn it.

Liu Hongyan didn't understand what he meant—weren't they family? Why draw such a sharp line?

Qin Feng revealed his merchant's grin, lowering his voice: "This sugar-making method must be kept strictly secret—otherwise, White Sugar will soon flood the market. As the saying goes: hoard goods to drive up prices; rarity creates value."

Liu Hongyan pondered: "Logically, for every catty of Red Sugar, we can produce a catty of White Sugar—the yield is enormous; not just a few catties, even tens of thousands of catties could be made. One tael of Sugar Frost sells for two taels of Silver—our White Sugar should fetch at least five taels of Silver per tael, right? How much profit will we make then!"

Qin Feng didn't rush to explain, only grinned mischievously and asked: "Sister, how much does Red Sugar cost per catty?"

Liu Hongyan didn't think twice and replied: "Three cash."

Qin Feng shrugged:

"So there you have it.

"If we mass-produce White Sugar, countless talented people across the land will eventually deduce the sugar-making method; once they uncover its secrets, White Sugar will soon drop to Red Sugar's price."

"So this White Sugar needs to be produced in fixed quantities, and it needs to be packaged—turning this ordinary White Sugar into a high-end product that ordinary people wouldn't even dare imagine.

"Only then can we rake in enormous profits!"