Who Made This Mantou? (1)

Long Yuan made his way outside the house after finishing the steamed bun he had prepared for their dinner. It was light but better than not having anything at all.

What he did was not much different from the actual Yuan Long. The former also used to be like that after dinner. And since he's pretty inefficient in utilizing his Spiritual Essence while working, half of his effort is always ended up wasted.

But this wasn't the case for the current Yuan Long. Unlike the former, Long Yuan had plenty of experience in his work. Culinary work or food preparation is second to breathing and sleeping. He could even do them with his eyes closed.

'How unfortunate... I would love to enjoy a cigarette right now before continuing where I left.' Long Yuan muttered to himself before he started rotating the quern again.

The manual quern generates less noise, unlike the electronic counterpart used in the kitchen where he worked previously. This manual labor soon aided Long Yuan in controlling and utilizing the Spiritual Essence within his body.

He had no idea how it worked, but the more he spun the wheel, the better the milling process proceeded.

"How weird... Long-Gege hates milling the flour because it always ends up as an inferior-quality product. How comes he looked so happy this time? Did something happen to him?" the differences in mindset made Yuan Ling suspicious.

But to a mere fourteen years old girl, the concept of someone taking over her older brother's body does not exist at all. The possibility of assuming that her brother suddenly discovered something from his near-death experience is more likely.

Even if she was given ten chances to try, seven out of them would be "Long-Gege must have noticed something after his near-death experience."

Her curiosity brought her closer to the quern.

Long Yuan's action of keeping his eyes closed while operating the quern surprised his sister. But it was comprehensible since this was repetitive labor. And since he's been working with the quern since afternoon, it's understandable that Long Yuan already used the machine.

In Long Yuan's eyes, it was pointless to monitor the milling process since he'd have to run the machine the second time after he finished crushing the grains.

He had no valid proof that this quern stone was inefficient, but that was the fact. From his experience, the patterning on the upper and lower stone was barely efficient enough for him to finish what he was doing in a single run.

Since there's an order of how long the wheat grains would be between the quern stones, Long Yuan had no choice but to run the process at least twice to ensure the wheat reaches the quality he desires.

Even then, twice was barely enough for him to call this food-quality flour.

If he had to grade the flour from the quality he had seen, then the leftover on the quern and the holding sack would be merely animal fodder. This fodder-grade flour was precisely what Yuan Ling used to make the steamed bun last night.

As for the one he used just now, they barely passed his requirement as food-grade wheat flour. The fineness of the powder was still too granulated for him to work with them.

But after his third milling, the flour now looks more refined than before. As the bran and germ weren't removed before he ran the grain in the quern, it resulted in a slightly brownish flour collected inside the holding sack.

This slightly brownish flour is precisely the food-quality flour he's been waiting for. The texture of this powder was just fine enough for him to use them efficiently to create multiple dishes he had in mind.

The completion of this food-quality flour also reminded him about something the middle-aged man told him in the morning.

"The flour rot quickly. It was not recommended to produce a large quantity of flour from a low-quality ingredient like this Jinqian Wheat."

That was what Long Yuan was told by the middle-aged man before he disappeared quietly from his side. But now, he found out why he was told not to overstock the flour.

There might be a few other reasons out there, but from the scientific viewpoint, full-meal flour like the one he made had a shorter shelflife because it wasn't bleached. Unlike the bleached counterpart that resulted in a whiter appearance, the one he made had nothing removed from the grain itself.

But again, a fine food-quality wheat flour like this can be stored for at least half a month, as long he could keep it air-sealed and protected from pests and moisture. Even if he couldn't meet the two requirements strictly, the flour could still be kept for at least a week or so.

"Wow! This wheat flour you made was just like the one sold in the village," Yuan Ling said after putting her hand into the flour to have a feel of what Long Yuan made. Even she was shocked by how light and soft the flour could be.

Compared to the one she made yesterday, it was like a competition between gravels and sand.

"Sold in the village? Do you know how much they're selling this for?" Yuan Ling's sentence caught his attention. Perhaps selling them in the market would be much better than just eating by themselves if it is worth something.

Furthermore, it's not like he could only make a small amount once in a while.

He might take the whole day to finish refining a pound of wheat grains he had today, but it might take less time tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. And before he knew it, maybe half a day was all he needed to make the same amount later on.

"Hmm... I'm not too sure, but around ten copper coins for a sack, I guess?" Yuan Ling gave an inaccurate answer. But from its look, the food-quality flour is indeed worth something.

"In that case, how much does it cost to buy a piece of meat?" Long Yuan continued.

"If we're buying a piece of meat about the size of this plate, it would be around twenty copper coins." Yuan Ling replied. It seemed that she had a rough idea about the market.

It was pretty typical for a lass like her to know the food price in the market since she had to walk through the noisy place daily to reach her school.

Yuan Ling had no idea, but her simple answer was actually the turning point for their life.

After making sure he kept the food-quality flour aside in a sealed jar, the siblings went to sleep. This is also to save the fuel used for the only lantern in their old wooden hut.

"Long-Gege, can Ling-Er have the same steamed bun in the morning, please?" Yuan Ling asked in the darkness. It seemed that the fluffiness texture from the bun today got her interest.

"Of course. I'll wake up earlier tomorrow to make you some, alright?" Long Yuan replied without overthinking. He had no idea that Yuan Ling was the only one having nothing to eat during lunchtime in school.

"Thank you, Gege..." the lass quickly fell asleep after hearing her older brother's reply.

Long Yuan didn't stay awake too long either. With so much to do from the time he woke up, it was impossible for him not to feel tired at all. In less than a minute after shutting his eyes, Long Yuan's mind immediately wandered into his dreamland.

-----

It was morning when Long Yuan opened his eyes again.

'Looks like the lass is an early riser just like the previous me.' Long Yuan chuckled. He thought he could wake up much earlier than the lass to get the steamed bun ready, but it seems Yuan Ling was even earlier than him.

While the girl was busy preparing the water to wash later, Long Yuan worked on the remaining flour he had in hand. What he had there was just enough to be made into six steamed buns.

To his surprise, it seemed that the lass had been thinking about her food for the entire night. She even had a bamboo-woven basket ready and cleaned to store the steamed buns aside until lunchtime.

This time, the dough kneaded by Long Yuan rose much more than the one yesterday. Although he added no yeast into the flour at all, the protein content inside the dough was more than enough to generate the fluffiness that made Yuan Ling addicted to it so much.

Steaming the buns took them a while, but after it was done, Long Yuan made sure he stuffed the four fluffiest buns into the bamboo-made food basket before the lass snatched her meal box and rushes to the school.

As for Long Yuan, he's prepared to climb the Qingshan Mountain again with the same equipment on him as yesterday. He would slowly aim to harvest a little more each time until he could safely secure at least two pounds of food-quality flour in his food jar.

The path to Qingshan Mountain would naturally bring him through Old Wen's field. When he came across the old man, Long Yuan made an effort to "approach" the elderly and ask for His forgiveness for not doing what he was requested yesterday.

"It's alright, youngster. This old man still has enough flour in his house for a day or two. Just give me a hand and make some when you're available. Even if you don't just come here in the next three days. The sprouts should be ready by then." said the old man.

"I'll make sure to visit and also bring some of the flour later. Thank you, Old Wen." Long Yuan said before he continued heading to the Qingshan's foothill.