I relied on a system to prolong my life in ancient times.

Chapter 56 Making Soy Sauce

On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Xiao Siyue decided to start making soy sauce.

"System, can you give me the recipe for soy sauce?" Xiao Siyue asked the system in her mind.

“Yes, host,”

Xiao Siyue sat at her desk and wrote down the instructions.

“Dad, this is a prescription the system gave me,” Xiao Siyue handed the paper to Xiao Qinian.

After taking the paper, Xiao Qinian saw the detailed steps. He couldn't help but ask, "Yue'er, is this soy sauce a kind of condiment?"

Xiao Siyue nodded and explained, "Yes, Dad, this is a seasoning, just like salt. It can make food more delicious and increase appetite. Moreover, this soy sauce can also be used to marinate food and preserve it for a longer time."

Xiao Qinian listened to his daughter's explanation, his heart filled with curiosity. He imagined that if he could make such soy sauce, it would indeed be a good thing.

"Did Yue'er give me this recipe because she wanted me to make it?" Xiao Qinian knew Xiao Siyue quite well and knew that his daughter had given him a recipe not just so he could see it.

"Hehe, Daddy's so smart." Xiao Siyue said with a grin. Wasn't she just trying to get her dad to take the blame?

Xiao Qinian smiled helplessly, patted Xiao Siyue's head and said, "Okay, let's go now."

Afterwards, Xiao Qinian asked Grandpa Xiao to go to town and buy three large earthenware jars to make soy sauce.

Xiao Siyue approached her grandmother and the others to start picking and washing beans.

"Grandma, the beans can't be bad, otherwise it might fail in the end," Xiao Siyue said patiently from the side. There was no other way; making soy sauce was too time-consuming, and every step had to be precise. Otherwise, it would be too disheartening to fail after spending more than half a year.

It took several people a whole day to finish selecting everything.

"Auntie, let's soak the beans overnight, and then steam them tomorrow," Xiao Siyue said. Soaking the beans overnight makes them easier to steam.

"Okay, Auntie understands." The group said as they poured water over all the beans and covered them with the lid.

Second day

"Yue'er, the beans are steamed. What's next?" Xiao Siyue listened to Old Lady Xiao's words, picked up a bean, and crushed it with two fingers.

"Grandma, that's all. Now pour the beans into the winnowing basket. After they cool, coat them with flour." Xiao Siyue told Old Lady Xiao the next step.

Old Mrs. Xiao did as instructed, but when it came to coating the flour, she felt a pang of heartache. Although her family was no longer short of money and could eat flour every day, they had experienced poverty before, and seeing it like this, she still couldn't help but feel reluctant to part with it.

"Yue'er, how much flour do you need?" Old Mrs. Xiao asked, her heart pounding as she saw that Xiao Siyue was asking for more even though a lot had already been poured.

"Grandma, every single bean has to be coated with flour," Xiao Siyue said without any mercy.

Upon hearing this, Old Lady Xiao handed her work to Zhao Yindi, turned around and left, wanting to avoid seeing or hearing it.

Xiao Siyue asked, somewhat puzzled, "Auntie, what's wrong with Grandma?"

Zhao Yindi understood her mother-in-law's feelings and said with a smile, "It's alright, your grandma is just worried about the flour."

"Huh?" Xiao Siyue thought to herself that she felt sorry for the child now, but she would have to add a lot of salt later, which would be heartbreaking. She suddenly felt a little guilty.

"Ahem, Auntie, just mix the flour well." Next comes the inoculation of bacteria.

A few days later, early one morning, Old Mrs. Xiao rushed into Xiao Siyue's room: "Yue'er, something bad has happened."

Xiao Siyue sat up in bed, still half asleep: "Grandma, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Yue'er, the beans have gone bad, they're all moldy and covered in mildew," Old Mrs. Xiao said with a pained expression. There were dozens of kilograms of beans and a lot of flour, enough for their family to eat for several days, and now they've all gone bad.

"Ah, what?" Xiao Siyue was startled and quickly got out of bed to go with his wife to check on the beans.

Seeing that the beans had turned a pale yellowish-green, Xiao Siyue was immediately relieved; this was the effect she wanted.

"Grandma, it's alright, it has to be done like this." Xiao Siyue comforted the old woman.

"Really?" Old Mrs. Xiao looked at Xiao Siyue with a skeptical expression.

"Really, Grandma, we can move on to the next step today!"

"Ahem, Grandma, we need to start preparing the salt water now. These beans will require about five dou of salt." Xiao Siyue said, her eyes gleaming as she looked at Old Lady Xiao. She knew that salt was extremely expensive in ancient times, costing about 500 wen per dou, much more expensive than rice or flour.

Upon hearing this number, Old Lady Xiao's heart leaped into her throat. Her eyes widened in surprise as she exclaimed, "What? So many beans require five bushels of salt! That's several taels of silver!" Her face paled, and she felt as if her heart was bleeding with heartache.

Xiao Siyue quickly comforted her, "Grandma, although salt is indeed very expensive, we're making soy sauce! Once we make the soy sauce, you'll see its value." She tried to alleviate Grandma Xiao's anxiety and worry with a bright future.

Old Mrs. Xiao frowned, still somewhat reluctantly muttering, "That's too expensive..."

But Xiao Siyue said firmly, "Grandma, I'm confident I can make good soy sauce. You'll see when the time comes; it'll definitely be worth it." As she spoke, she gave a confident smile, trying to convince Old Lady Xiao of her plan. She was also confident that when she tasted dishes made with soy sauce, she would be completely won over.

Old Mrs. Xiao hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded in agreement. She thought to herself, "Since my granddaughter is so confident, let's give it a try. I hope it's really as she says." With a helpless sigh, Old Mrs. Xiao turned to prepare the necessary salt.

"Okay, okay, let's get started."

After Old Lady Xiao and her daughters-in-law prepared the brine, they put the beans into it, and that was the end of it.

"Yue'er, is it all done?" Old Mrs. Xiao asked, closing the straw-woven lid.

"Grandma, that's all. Now we need to put the jar in the yard until it's completely dry. But we need to stir it every day, and we absolutely can't let any water get in, otherwise it will get infested with bugs. So we have to keep an eye on the weather." Xiao Siyue said seriously to everyone.

"I can handle this." Old Mrs. Xiao took on this heavy responsibility. It had cost her several taels of silver to make, and she didn't trust anyone else with it. She wanted to keep an eye on it herself every day.

“Okay, then we’ll leave it to Grandma.” What Xiao Siyue didn’t mention was that after it’s dried, water will be added to ferment and make sauce. However, this process doesn’t take long, about a month. We’ll talk about it later.

In the days that followed, Old Mrs. Xiao treasured the earthenware jar in the yard very much, and wouldn't let anyone but Xiao Siyue touch it, for fear that it would break.