Salt is the first of all tastes.
Many dishes don’t require complicated seasoning; just a sprinkle of salt can instantly add a lot of flavor.
Unfortunately, although the salt is good, the price is too expensive.
Even though Southern Xinjiang is a sea salt production area, a small bag of mediocre quality coarse salt can be sold for thirty copper coins. It is difficult for the untouchables to satisfy their hunger, so how can they have so much money to buy salt?
Many untouchables have sallow complexions and thin bodies, and are listless. Their hands and feet even twitch at night, like walking corpses. In fact, it may not necessarily be caused by the so-called "miasma poison", but it may be caused by insufficient salt intake in daily life.
At this time, Xu Gang tasted those few bitter salt crystals and felt that he had tasted delicious food in the world.
Seeing that there was still a little bit on his fingers, he wanted to suck it clean, but then he thought again and sprinkled the few grains of salt back.
Noticing this little action of his good brother, Qin He couldn't help but feel sad.
"I said I will definitely make you rich. From now on, whether it's salt or money, we can have as much as we want!" Qin He patted Xu Gang's shoulder hard.
"Brother Qin, I believe you!" Xu Gang replied forcefully.
He couldn't understand how Qinhe could refine salt from the bitter pond water, so he could only regard it as a god in his heart.
"I'll fetch a few more buckets of Kutan water!" Xu Gang was particularly motivated at this time.
"Okay, be careful along the way."
One of them fetched water, and the other made salt in a pot. They worked like this all night long.
When the sky turned white, the two of them had already saved a pot full of salt.
These salts are not clean white, but amber in color. If you look carefully, you can still catch a glimpse of black impurities inside.
Qin He knew that the current conditions were limited, and it was not easy to produce such quality. In the future, when we get bigger, we will consider improving the process and removing impurities.
"We'll build a few more stoves tomorrow, and we'll make a fortune soon!" Xu Gang said excitedly.
Qin He nodded, but could not relax his brows.
"Brother Qin, what's wrong with you?" Xu Gang asked doubtfully.
Qin He solemnly said: "Refining salt is only the first step. If we want to turn salt into money, we have another difficulty to overcome."
"What difficulty?"
"Ship!"
Selling smuggled salt is a serious crime and cannot be openly hawked. This is a well-known truth.
But there are ways to sell salt privately - private salt has been monopolized by salt gangs and pirates in the past.
The two groups often had bloody conflicts in order to compete for profit. If Qin He and Xu Gang rashly went to sell salt on the black market, they might be dead that night!
After hearing Qin He talk about the joints, Xu Gang was stunned for a moment, and then became nervous.
"What should we do? We have worked so hard to get so much salt, but we can't just throw it in our hands and eat it ourselves, right?"
Qin He would choose to make salt, and naturally he had already thought of a way.
He planned to find a good-looking businessman to cooperate and hand over the salt to him for resale. Although some profits will be lost in this way, the shipment will be the fastest and the risk will be the lowest.
Qin He solemnly expressed his thoughts and then asked Xu Gang for his opinion. After all, when it comes to money, you must first put the words on the table and make it clear.
After hearing this, Xu Gang scratched his head and said, "Brother Qin, whatever your decision is, I will listen to you."
"Okay." Qin He nodded, "You clean up, and we will bring a bag of salt to find the blind man Hu to cooperate."
Blind Hu is a well-known gangster in this area. He makes a living by buying stolen goods from untouchables at low prices and then reselling them. He also has a notorious sister, the third aunt who specializes in the skin and flesh business. One of the siblings sells women, and the other sells illegal goods. They are a perfect match.
At the moment, Xu Gang followed Qin He's instructions and separated out a small bag of salt as a sample, and then hid the other salt in the pile of debris - he originally wanted to hide it in a more secret location, but Qin He stopped him. Their personal salt looks like a pile of rubble from the outside. No one will notice it if it is placed among the debris. If it is hidden too deep, it will make people suspicious.
Xu Gang felt justified and admired Qin He more and more.
Seeing that the plan to make a fortune was just around the corner, the two of them, who had not slept all night, were not tired at all. After preparing everything, they went straight to find the blind man.
Blind Hu usually receives goods at a dilapidated Fox Fairy Temple.
Qin and Xu rushed to the Fox Fairy Temple without stopping, and they bumped into a rickety figure.
The man's back was like a hump, his legs were one long and one short, and he was leaning on an iron crutch under his right arm. The left side of his face was covered with burns, and there was a dark hole under his eyeball.
The appearance is so terrifying, who is the blind man if not Hu?
Blind Hu was accompanied by four or five companions with sticks at their waists. When he saw Qin He and Xu Gang approaching, he stopped them first.
Xu Gang was tall, so the people who came to block him couldn't help but put their hands on the stick at his waist.
"Fourth Master Hu!" Qin He stopped and greeted politely, "You Liang'er, please give me some advice."
"Liang'er" means good goods, and can also be used for beautiful women.
"To call" means to ask the other party to make an offer.
When he heard that there was a good product, Blind Man Hu, who was holding a clay pot and observing the texture carefully, carefully put the pot down, and then glanced at the two of them.
"Brother Qin, I haven't seen you for a while." Blind Hu grinned.
Qin He's predecessor was a small character, with neither power nor ability. He only loved to talk about loyalty in the world, so he left a good reputation.
Blind Hu waved his hand and motioned for Qin and Xu to come over.
"It's not the time to open the market yet," Hu Xiazi said.
There are rules for buying and selling. Qin and Xu arrived too early, so no wonder they were stopped.
"This Liang'er can't see the sun, I hope Fourth Master Hu will forgive me." Qin He's attitude was respectful.
Blind Hu nodded. Qin He knew so much about etiquette today that he was a little surprised.
He asked Bandang to bring out the wooden table from the Fox Fairy Temple, and took out a piece of silk cloth from his arms, unfolded it and spread it on the table.
"Uncover it." Blind Hu motioned to Qin He to take out the goods and put them on the table.
The reason why we need to go to the trouble of getting a table is because of the principle of "good goods cannot be handed over" - if something falls or something goes wrong during the handover, whose fault is it?
Qin He also gave Xu Gang a look, and Xu Gang immediately took out the salt in his arms and poured it on the table.
Seeing this amber crystal, Blind Man Hu was stunned for a moment, and then his one eye widened.
"This, this is-"
"Salt." Qin He no longer hid it.
Hu Xiazi has also seen private salt before, but this is the first time he has seen such luster.
To show that it was non-toxic, Qin He and Xu Gang each dipped a little salt crystal into their mouths. Blind Hu hesitated for a moment, then touched the place where Qin He had touched with his finger, and lightly tapped it on his tongue.
"Bah!" The bitter taste in his mouth immediately made him spit it out.
But the blind man immediately showed joy, and his ugly face covered with burns and missing an eye grinned with a terrifying smile.
"How much salt do you have?" Blind Hu asked happily.
He never thought that Qin He would ask directly.
"How much do you dare to ask for?"
