Chapter 260 Apprenticeship?
The alchemy furnace in front of him was actually only half a person's height.
Chen Yanting was very skilled at making fire. Du Ruo hardly needed to do anything. The charcoal fire in the big belly of the alchemy furnace was already burning vigorously. And after the charcoal fire started burning, there was almost no need to pay any attention to it. It burned very naturally.
Du Ruo was very satisfied when he saw the alchemy furnace in front of him with almost no smoke. It meant that the firewood was burning fully. In this case, the lower part of the furnace was qualified. Now he just needed to test the heating conditions and the sealing degree of the upper part of the furnace.
"Sweet potatoes, here come the eggs."
At this time, the young man ran over with a basket in his hand. In the basket were several sweet potatoes of different sizes and a few eggs wrapped in wet newspapers as Du Ruo requested.
"Just in time, the furnace should be almost heated up."
Du Ruo took the basket and instead of taking out the sweet potatoes, he took out a few eggs.
Du Ruo stretched out his hand and opened a small door in the belly of the alchemy furnace. Unexpectedly, the handle of this small door seemed to be carefully designed. Du Ruo grasped it with his fingers, but did not feel too high a temperature.
Du Ruo held the egg in his bare hands and put it into the small belly of the alchemy furnace. He could clearly feel the high temperature inside the small belly. He quickly put the egg into the ceramic cauldron body in the small belly and closed the small door.
Then he took out the tongs and stirred the burning charcoal a few times to extinguish the flames. He then threw an egg wrapped in newspaper into the charcoal.
"Okay, now let's see how long it takes for these eggs to cook."
After doing all this, Du Ruo smiled. Now it was time to test the heat conduction and heat concentration of the furnace.
"This way the egg below will explode."
At this time, everyone was watching Du Ruo's operation. Although they didn't understand Du Ruo's intention, no one asked any questions. Only Xiang Yuanyuan asked Du Ruo in a low voice.
"Yeah, that's how we always ate it when we were kids. We'd wrap the eggs in wet paper and throw them directly into the fire. When the eggs started to burst, it meant they were ready to eat, so we'd just take them out quickly."
Du Ruo couldn't help licking his lips as he spoke. There was not much to eat when he was a child, and the egg whites baked in this way would be a little hard and yellow, but unusually fragrant. That burnt aroma was Du Ruo's memory of his childhood.
The scene was silent as everyone looked at the eggs in the charcoal fire, with only the occasional subtle sound from the charcoal fire.
"Crack~"
After about five minutes, the egg wrapped in the wet newspaper exploded slightly. With the sound of the explosion, the egg changed its position. Then it was obvious that the moisture in the wrapped newspaper had completely dried up and it began to turn black.
“It’s exploded, it’s exploded, can we eat it now?”
Xiang Yuanyuan was more excited than anyone else. She stared at the eggs on the charcoal fire, patted Du Ruo's arm with her hand, her face full of excitement.
"Well, it's cooked. I'll take it out now."
Du Ruo smiled and nodded, then took a step forward and approached the alchemy furnace.
Without any sound or movement, Du Ruo, who had just taken a step forward towards the stove, stepped back and returned to Xiang Yuanyuan's side.
"Hubby, what...ah?"
Just when Xiang Yuanyuan was about to ask Du Ruo why he didn't take the egg out of the fire, she found that the egg in the stove was gone.
"His~~"
The others also took a deep breath at the same time and looked at Du Ruo's hand in shock.
At this time, Du Ruo was holding an egg between his fingers. The egg was wrapped in newspaper, half of which had been burnt black, revealing the yellow eggshell inside. The eggshell had cracked and the heat was visible to the naked eye.
The other half of the newspaper was still intact, tightly attached to the egg, and even the outline of the words on the newspaper could be vaguely seen.
Obviously, this egg is the one that was just in the charcoal fire.
The others looked at the charcoal fire in disbelief. It was empty. Then they looked at Du Ruo's hand, which was steaming and had occasional sparks on the edge of the burnt newspaper.
"Goo~"
The young man next to Chen Yanting couldn't help swallowing his saliva. Today he had seen how to take advantage of the situation.
His family runs a blacksmith shop, so he has been closely associated with high temperatures since he was a child. He knew how high the temperature of charcoal fire was when he was in elementary school, but Du Ruo was able to squeeze out an egg that had been burnt for five minutes in an instant.
He just felt that the knowledge he had learned could not explain such a phenomenon at all.
"Goo~"
Then another swallowing sound was heard, but this time it was the sound of Xiang Yuanyuan swallowing saliva.
"This smells so good, much better than normal boiled eggs."
Xiang Yuanyuan was not shocked. Du Ruo had already shocked her too many times and she was completely immune to it. At this moment, she just smelled the burnt aroma of the eggs and felt like eating them.
"This one just popped open, it's still a little hot, I'll peel it for you to eat."
Du Ruo smiled, then began to tear off the newspaper covering the egg with both hands, and opened the egg.
"You also know what's hot???" A thought rang in the minds of Chen Yanting and the other two. In addition to being shocked by Du Ruo's hand speed, they were also shocked by Du Ruo's ability to not be afraid of heat.
Just thinking about the temperature of a freshly cooked egg, one can easily guess what it is like, but Du Ruo was so nonchalant about it, which made them all want to lick it with their mouths.
"Hoohoo~~"
Du Ruo peeled the egg, broke off half, blew on it twice, and then handed it to Xiang Yuanyuan.
"Hoohoo~ It smells so good, Qi, you should try it too."
Although Du Ruo had cooled it down a little, Xiang Yuanyuan still felt it was a little hot in her hand. After blowing on it, she took a light bite and her eyes immediately narrowed with joy. Of course, she did not forget her good friend and broke off a piece for Li Qiyao to have a taste as well.
Du Ruo did not care about other people's reactions, but just focused his attention on the small belly of the upper part of the alchemy furnace, listened carefully to the movements inside, and counted slowly in his mind.
Xiang Yuanyuan and Li Qiyao shared the eggs and finished eating them. Seeing Du Ruo staring at the alchemy furnace, they also became quiet and stopped disturbing Du Ruo.
"Clap~"
About five minutes later, Du Ruo heard a slight sound coming from the belly of the alchemy furnace, and his face immediately lit up with joy.
"It's ready."
Du Ruo said this, then went over and prepared to open the small belly of the alchemy furnace to check.
However, no one else heard the subtle sound and were just waiting curiously for Du Ruo's next move.
"Wait a little longer, so the eggs can get more caramelized."
However, Du Ruo paused, thinking of the egg that Xiang Yuanyuan had just eaten. His previous movements were too fast, and he picked up the egg almost as soon as it burst. The egg was cooked, but it was still a little short of being burnt.
"Master Chen, this furnace is completely qualified, but it is a little too bright. Could you please polish it a little bit? It won't be so bright."
Du Ruo did not open the furnace's belly immediately, but turned around and started communicating with Chen Yanting.
"No problem, that's all easy to do. If Master Du doesn't have any other requirements, we'll clean it and polish it and you can take it away."
When Chen Yanting saw that Du Ruo was satisfied, he immediately smiled, but he thought Du Ruo came here specifically to get the alchemy furnace and thought Du Ruo would take it away.
"It's not convenient for me to take it with me, so I'd like to trouble Master Chen to send the furnace to Huangshan for me."
"I'm worried about the logistics. I'll ask my grandson to deliver it to you."
Du Ruo didn't intend to trouble the other party, but Chen Yanting took care of the matter directly. After he finished speaking, he made a gesture of invitation to Du Ruo, wanting to keep Du Ruo to chat for a while:
"Master Du, it's getting late now, how about having a drink?"
"No need, Master Chen. I've already bothered you a lot this time. I'll let Yuanyuan transfer the money to you."
However, Du Ruo did not plan to stay any longer. After hearing a few soft sounds coming from the furnace, he came to the furnace, opened the small door on the lower belly, and quickly reached in to take out the egg inside.
This action was not as shocking as taking out the egg from the charcoal fire, and Chen Yanting was not thinking about it. Instead, he was determined to keep Du Ruo.
"Master Du, the money is fine, but you see how hurriedly you came and went without even a cup of tea. It seems that we are not hospitable enough."
"Haha, here are eggs. Come, Master Chen, you guys should also try the eggs baked in this alchemy furnace."
Du Ruo looked at the egg in his hand with great satisfaction. The newspaper wrapping the egg had turned brown and became very crispy. Although the egg inside had burst, revealing part of the egg white, this was the effect Du Ruo wanted.
The appearance of this egg has already demonstrated the performance of the alchemy furnace, which completely meets his standards.
"Master Chen, if you have anything to say, just tell me."
Du Ruo separated two eggs from the basket in her hand and put them into the basket that Chen Yanting's grandson had just been in. Only then did she realize that Chen Yanting seemed a little anxious. Thinking of the other party's repeated invitations just now, Du Ruo still asked a question.
"This... Master Du, why don't you let me host a banquet? I have a few bottles of good wine here. How about we drink and chat?"
Chen Yanting glanced at his grandson beside him and continued to invite him without saying anything.
"Grandpa, Brother Du has an appointment at noon. If you have something to say, why not just tell me."
At this time, Li Qiyao noticed that Du Ruo began to frown, and hurried out to smooth things over.
But when she called out "Brother Du", everyone else didn't mind, except Xiang Yuanyuan who couldn't help but look at Li Qiyao a few more times.
"Alas, my grandson has been obsessed with Master Du's moves since he saw them last time. Master Du also knows about my martial arts..."
Chen Yanting originally wanted to invite Du Ruo to a banquet, and treat him with good wine and delicious food, and then talk to Du Ruo about this matter after they were all drunk. After all, the two of them were just ordinary buyers and sellers, and they didn't have much friendship.
"Master Chen, there is no need to mention this matter anymore. Firstly, I have no plans to accept any apprentices. Secondly, I don't have the energy to teach apprentices, and it would be bad to delay your grandson's future."
Du Ruo refused before Chen Yanting finished speaking. After that, he turned around and looked at Xiang Yuanyuan.
(End of this chapter)
