Delicious Milk

"Yes, yes, Xiaobei, thank you. Mother never expected Duke Mo to be so considerate." The mother and daughter enthusiastically discussed many details about hunting and tomorrow's feast, then went together to the old herbalist Grandpa's place to get different doses of foreign golden flower (Mandala) medicinal wine.

Arrows soaked in this wine, when shot into the eyes of beasts, a large dose could kill with one shot, while a small dose could temporarily paralyze and stun.

Xiangbei wanted to capture some water buffaloes alive, so they could put nose rings on them while they were unconscious.

"Xiaobei, hearing you talk about so many exciting hunting ideas makes me thrilled. When you were little, you disliked Mother dragging you to practice martial arts, preferring to stick with Grandfather all day learning medicine and gathering herbs. We hardly exchanged more than a few words. Whatever happened, Mother could only piece things together from your JingJing sister's chatter. But this time, the two of us have so much to talk about, and I'm really happy." After spending an evening together, Xiangbei felt the same love from Mrs. Huo as from all mothers in the world.

The grievances that Little Tong had left in her memory might have been due to her excessive desire for motherly love and the differences in personality and interests between mother and daughter. Nevertheless, Xiangbei felt very happy to be able to fill in this bond for her younger sister.

Until late at night, the two of them returned to their rooms to rest. As soon as Xiangbei got into bed, she entered the Jade Snow Cave. In front of the waterfall where Little Tong had fallen to her death, she detailed every moment spent with Mrs. Huo to the empty space. Although she no longer felt the presence of Little Tong as before, she could sense the relaxation and comfort pervading the cave.

Was it because she had let go of her own worries, or was it where Little Tong's soul found solace? She didn't know, but with each recounting, her empathy with the space grew stronger.

Tomorrow was a big day, and she needed to be in good condition and have more time. She might have to stay here for a few more days. Still, she started by practicing Tai Chi before soaking in the hot spring, refreshing herself before beginning her plan for a five-star reception.

Starting from the morning hygiene routine, she made a few small items as samples to hand over to Uncle Li for production arrangements tomorrow.

First, she handmade two toothbrushes using wild boar bristles and bamboo pieces. Then, she gathered some new bamboo shoots from the bamboo grove to scrape bamboo salt, soaked lemon peel in oil to make essential oil, and mixed it with coconut oil and baking soda to make bamboo salt toothpaste. In fact, what was most needed was a mirror for dressing properly.

"The space conditions are not enough. How about making arrangements to build a small glass kiln during some free time? The breakfast options are quite abundant, but I'm craving for some fried dough sticks. Let's make a batch of dough and fry them". Xiangbei murmured to herself, added baking soda and salt to the dough, observed the fermentation process, kneaded it three times, and then placed it in the Jade Snow Cave.

This space, which could stop time, was Xiangbei's favorite and a real cheat code. In modern times, Xiangbei's simplest fast food breakfast would be toast sandwiches, milk, and buns, but she hadn't had any since coming here. She quickly sketched a drawing of a brick oven.

When Xiangbei found several water buffaloes in the Peach Blossom Village, she noticed that they had been in the space for a while, and their temperament had become gentle and human-friendly. The calves had grown a bit, and the milk from several cows was full and swollen. Xiangbei unceremoniously milked a large bucket full of milk. The hand-crank centrifuge and mixer brought by Cheng Mo finally came in handy.

She poured the milk into a copper pot and warmed it up to about 40 degrees Celsius in the hot spring water. Then, she poured it from the inlet at the center of the centrifuge, separated the skim milk and skimmed milk, and transferred some of the cream to the mixer to whip until solid and watery. Xiangbei continuously drained the water to leave behind the solid butter, then poured out the butter, added one percent sea salt, and kept stirring until a large pottery bowl of salted butter was made. She covered it and placed it in the Jade Snow Cave.

Seeing that there was still a large amount of skimmed cream left, Xiangbei decided to process it on the side. She directly added an equal amount of granulated sugar to the pot and submerged it in the hot spring water. Slowly stirring until the sugar melted, she used a handcrafted double-action egg beater she had designed based solely on a rough outline drawing to whip the sweet cream in the pot. Although it was her first time using it, Xiangbei was surprised to find that it worked remarkably well when the two beaters started spinning. The foam grew thicker, and the liquid gradually turned into solid milky bubbles with a sweet, soft, and dense texture, just like the cream on cake decorations! She continued to keep it in the Jade Snow Cave.