127: Jian Kiln

Returning home, Lu Chuan began to prepare beggar's chicken.

He Jingrui rolled up his sleeves, ready to dig a pit in the yard.

But Lu Chuan quickly stopped him.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?"

He Jingrui was dumbfounded.

"Dig a pit first? Isn't that how all the short video platforms teach it?"

Lu Chuan chuckled, and just as he was about to explain, a shout came from outside the courtyard gate.

"Who ordered the firebricks?"

"Here, here!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Chuan immediately shouted back and then pulled He Jingrui, running towards the courtyard gate.

When the two exited the gate, they saw two large trucks parked not far from the fish pond, and many villagers were curiously gathered around to watch the commotion.

Lu Chuan immediately jogged forward, directing the truck drivers to move their vehicles, slowly backing them towards his courtyard gate.

To the astonished gazes of the surrounding villagers, a total of over six thousand firebricks were unloaded, filling more than half of the yard to the brim.

In addition, there were other materials and tools needed for building the kiln.

"Thank you for your hard work, sirs!"

After seeing off the two sirs, Lu Chuan was ready to start building the brick kiln.

Lu Deming had already walked over, asking curiously, "Chuan Wa Zi, what are you trying to do?"

Lu Chuan quickly turned around and explained his idea of building a brick kiln to make beggar's chicken.

This left Lu Deming and the eavesdropping villagers wide-eyed with shock.

"Aren't you running a stall? This is such a big undertaking?"

"And weren't you selling grilled fish before? Why are you making roasted chicken now?"

Lu Chuan scratched his head, unsure how to explain.

But before Lu Chuan could speak, Lu Deming had already come up with his own explanation.

"You made money from grilled fish and want to transition to opening a restaurant? That's great, that's great, it's good for young people to have ideas! Keep it up, work hard!"

After speaking, he didn't wait for Lu Chuan's reply, turning to leave with a smile on his face.

Before leaving, he didn't forget to call over the other curious villagers, telling them not to disturb Lu Chuan's work.

...

Lu Chuan shrugged and smiled helplessly.

He turned, called He Jingrui, and began to work.

The cost invested this time was quite heavy.

Just the over six thousand firebricks alone were a considerable expense, not to mention the ingredients ordered.

But selling beggar's chicken at an exorbitant price was not his intention.

So, on one hand, to avoid losing money, and on the other hand, to meet the system's mission requirements, this stall operation had to be about small profits but quick turnover.

"What we are going to build this time is a large brick kiln capable of roasting 50 beggar's chickens at once."

Lu Chuan, wearing a hard hat, laid out the construction blueprint he had downloaded and printed from the internet on the table, then began to explain it to He Jingrui.

"The volume of a single chicken is roughly 0.1 cubic meters, so 50 chickens would be 5 cubic meters of space. We also need to consider flame circulation and heat distribution, so the actual minimum internal volume of the kiln needs to be about 8 cubic meters."

"Furthermore, for safety and performance considerations, a double-layer brick wall and an insulation layer are required, with the kiln wall thickness needing to reach at least 490mm."

"Also, parts like the arched top, flue, and kiln door will require additional bricks."

Lu Chuan pointed at the blueprint.

Since it concerned delicious food, He Jingrui listened very attentively.

One spoke, one listened, and time quietly slipped away.

Twenty minutes later, He Jingrui patted his chest, assuring him it was no problem and that he could handle it.

Lu Chuan was surprised and looked at him askance, seeing his confidence.

For someone who had never set foot in the construction industry, to start building such a difficult brick kiln right away and maintain such confidence really made him uneasy.

Lu Chuan, half-believing, let He Jingrui start working, while he watched from the side.

At first, He Jingrui was a bit clumsy, but as he gained proficiency, he actually started to look quite professional.

Only then did Lu Chuan confidently hand over the task of building the brick kiln to him.

The brick kiln was merely a cooking tool; making beggar's chicken was the main event.

Lu Chuan, as usual, improved upon the recipe given by the system.

Thanks to the Mind Bug ability and Little Black's help, he had successively found various suitable marinating ingredients in Yinhua City and the world on the other side of the rift.

Coupled with lotus leaves collected from the swamp and mud blocks from the Mud Monster.

It was hard to imagine just how delicious the beggar's chicken would be after multiple improvements, given so many favorable conditions!

As soon as Lu Chuan thought of this, he couldn't help but feel his appetite stir.

He entered the kitchen and took out a pre-slaughtered chicken from the freezer.

This was a Lu Yuan San Huang chicken from Changshu, characterized by its yellow beak, yellow feet, and yellow feathers, with a longer growth cycle of approximately 150-180 days.

However, this breed of chicken has evenly distributed fat and delicate muscle fibers, making it suitable for maintaining tenderness and juiciness after long periods of roasting, thus making it the perfect choice for traditional beggar's chicken.

After cleaning the chicken again, he began to stuff it with fillings such as mushrooms and shrimp.

Then, he marinated it with light soy sauce, cooking wine, five-spice powder, and a secret sauce made from mutated herbs.

While waiting for the marination, Lu Chuan went out again.

Upon seeing the brick kiln, which occupied most of the yard, gradually taking shape, he contentedly moved a large amount of firewood and stacked it nearby.

After giving instructions to He Jingrui, he ran back to the workshop to start mixing the yellow mud.

The mud blocks obtained from the Mud Monster had a unique fragrance of their own.

Lu Chuan brought a large bucket of clear water, weighed the sun-dried mud blocks, then added a specific proportion of water and yellow rice wine and stirred.

During the stirring process, the aroma of wine filled the air.

Lu Chuan, who had never drunk alcohol, even though he wore a plastic face mask, still felt a little tipsy, and his face began to turn red.

He had to slow his breathing, and after kneading for a while longer, he found that the mud had become like batter, and it exhibited the state of "not dripping when picked up, and not cracking when flattened," at which point he knew it was successful.

By this time, the chicken was also marinated.

After washing his hands, Lu Chuan took lotus leaves and wrapped the chicken tightly.

In typical home cooking, worried that the yellow mud might not be evenly coated, leading to errors during roasting, people would use aluminum foil instead of yellow mud at this stage.

However, this method would lose the special aroma of the yellow mud, so Lu Chuan did not adopt it, choosing instead to compensate with skill.

He took a damp cloth, spread it flat, evenly smeared the mud onto the damp cloth, and then placed the lotus-leaf-wrapped chicken in the middle of the mud.

At this point, he lifted the four corners of the damp cloth to wrap it, and with external force, the mud inside adhered tightly to the chicken's body without falling off.

Lu Chuan removed the damp cloth, checked the degree of the mud seal, confirmed that it was evenly coated, and that the thickness had reached 1.5 centimeters, then nodded in satisfaction.

Next, he only needed to wait for the brick kiln outside to be built, then proceed with the "firing and heating" step, and then he could start roasting the chicken.

To avoid any mishaps, Lu Chuan ran back to the yard and found that He Jingrui had already built the kiln.

He knocked on the thick kiln wall, feeling its solid hardness, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Good, start firing the kiln!"