374 Frozen
Xue Sifu and Xue Yifu immediately laughed when they heard Xue Yan’s instructions.
Then, the two brothers didn’t have to fight anymore. One of them carried a bucket of well water and the other carried a bucket of river water. They didn’t need that much water.
Seeing that everything was ready, Xue Yan let the small pot be put into the big pot.
Xue Sifu quickly poured the water in.
After that, Xue Yan asked them to add some river water to the big pot, which reached 80% full.
The height of the small pot was exactly the same as the big pot. Seeing Xue Sifu add well water into the small pot, Xue Yan followed Jiang Yue’s instructions to not add water higher than the water level of the big pot.
“Why can’t the water in the small pot be higher than the water in the big pot?” Yu Hongyan did not understand why he was doing that.
Xue Yan said, “The water in the small pot and the water in the big pot are separated by a wooden board. The saltpeter is in the big pot. I think if the saltpeter can really make ice, the water in the small pot should be less. Otherwise, the water in the big pot will freeze, but the water in the small pot will not.”
“Yeah! Why didn’t I think of that!” Yu Hongyan understood immediately. “Xue Yan, you’re really smart!”
Xue Yan glanced at Jiang Yue again and felt a pang in his heart.
“And then you pour saltpeter into the big pot now?” Xue Sifu asked.
Upon hearing this, Liu Guixia and the others immediately perked up. They didn’t even blink, not wanting to miss the next scene. What if this can really make ice?
Jiang Yue was still watching the scene calmly.
“Let’s pour more first,” said Xue Jie.
“Why don’t you just pour half a bag?” Xue Sifu suggested.
This was too much. Xue Yan wanted to say. When he said to pour more first, he didn’t mean to pour this much in one go.
However, he thought that if he really said it, his Sifu would definitely feel that something was wrong. After all, in Sifu’s eyes, they still didn’t know whether this could be made into ice. They were still exploring it, so who knew how much saltpeter should be added? Moreover, he himself had said to pour more first.
Besides, the saltpeter could be reused. Even if they used it all now, it would still be in the pot and would not disappear.
When the water freezes, Sifu would know that he had added too many saltpeter crystals and he would reduce it later.
“Then I’ll try half a bag,” Xue Yan said.
“Alright!” Xue Sifu immediately prepared to pour it.
“I’ll do it.” Xue Yifu said.
Xue Sifu knew that Yifu was stronger than him, so it would definitely be easier for him to collapse. He said, “Alright, then you do it, Yifu.”
Xue Yifu picked up a sack of saltpeter. Then, he tilted it, and half of the sack fell down. Xue Yifu quickly stopped pouring and put the rest of the saltpeter and the sack to the side.
Saltpeter was easily soluble in water, so when it was poured down, the saltpeter began to disappear quickly.
Liu Guixia, Li Hehua, and Yu Hongyan all held their breaths.
Xue Yifu held his breath as well.
Xue Sifu’s heart was in his mouth, his two hands unconsciously clenched into fists, his eyes staring at the situation in the pot.
Jiang Yue was still very calm, but she observed the whole situation. She knew that saltpeter would absorb a lot of heat when dissolved in water, not to mention that if so much saltpeter was poured down, the ice would quickly form.
Sure enough, the water in the big and small pots quickly froze at a speed visible to the naked eye.
When Liu Guixia saw this, she immediately clasped her hands together, looked up, and thanked the sky, “God bless! May the heavens bless us! May the heavens bless us!”