Tea Merchants of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 134 She County

The special seasonings that Jiang Yin brought made Su Shan and Li Qing unable to stop eating. Even when they arrived in She County, Su Shan was still savoring the taste.

Su Shan couldn't help but said to Jiang Yin, "Brother Zhang, do you still have those seasonings? Can you sell some to me?"

Jiang Yin raised an eyebrow and said, "Brother Su, aren't you afraid of the spiciness? Do you still want to eat it?"

Just now, Su Shan was eating something so spicy that he cried. I thought he might not try it again, but I didn't expect he still wanted to eat it.

Su Shan sighed, "It's spicy and delicious. I can reduce the amount of seasoning in the future."

If you put less in, within your tolerance range, there shouldn't be any problem.

"Okay." Jiang Yin raised an eyebrow and said, "I'll give you some when I get back."

Then, she turned to Li Qing and said, "Brother Li, if you need it, I'll give you some too."

Li Qing quickly bowed and said, "In that case, I would like to thank Brother Zhang first."

He just didn't have the courage to ask for it, but he loved the taste very much.

They walked and talked, and soon they arrived at Su Shan's Hui ink workshop.

The workshop was not located in the downtown area, but in a large village on the edge of She County.

The entire farm is larger than the Jiang family’s tea factory in Mengshan. It has a large area and few people, and is mainly composed of factory buildings.

However, in addition to the workshop, the Hui Mo workshop also has houses for the craftsmen to live in.

Su Shan led them along as he introduced: "Hui ink production takes a long time, the process is complicated, and the materials are special, so it was not chosen in the downtown area."

Jiang Yin saw many craftsmen in the workshop polishing the Hui ink in their hands. Not only were their hands and bodies covered in black, but the floor and walls in the house were also covered in the same black ink.

Su Shan only took them to stop at the door for a while and did not go in. Instead, he took them to the material selection area first.

Su Shan said confidently: "The materials used to make Hui ink mainly include smoke, bone glue, and ink mud..."

As for the smoke materials, pine smoke, oil smoke, paint smoke, etc. are the main smoke materials. Among them, pine smoke is one of the most commonly used smoke materials, which is black in color and fine in quality.

Bone glue is one of the important raw materials of Hui ink. It has good viscosity and high transparency, and can increase the hardness of the ink stick.

Ink mud is another important raw material of Hui ink. It is sticky and plastic, and can adjust the hardness of the ink stick.

In addition to the above three main raw materials, Hui ink also adds some auxiliary materials, such as borneol, gold foil, pearl powder, etc., to increase the aroma and color of the ink stick.

The manufacturing process of Hui ink is also very unique, including tobacco refining, stirring, grinding, screening, drying, packaging and other links, each of which has strict operating requirements and standards.

In short, the selection of materials and manufacturing process of Hui ink are very particular and strict, so that high-quality ink sticks can be produced.

Jiang Yin was surprised and said, "No wonder you are so cautious in making decisions. It turns out that you are so particular about even the selection of materials."

To be fair, the production process and time consumed by Hui ink are much more complicated than those of Mengshan tea.

Su Shan raised his eyebrows and said, "Of course, so Hui ink is expensive, it is worth the price."

After selecting the materials, the next step is preparation.

The preparation of Hui ink involves many steps. The first step is to refine the smoke, using the smoke from burning wood as raw material, and then collect the smoke for later use.

The second step is to mix the ingredients, such as cigarette ash, glue, ink mud and other raw materials in a certain proportion to form ink.

The next step is stirring. Put the ink into the blender, add appropriate amount of water, and stir evenly to make the texture of the ink more delicate.

After stirring, grind again, put the stirred ink into the grinder, add appropriate amount of water, and grind into fine ink slurry.

After grinding, the next step is filtering. Pour the ground ink into the filter to filter out impurities and particles, making the ink clearer and more transparent.

The next step is sedimentation. Let the filtered ink stand for a while to allow the suspended matter in the ink to naturally settle to the bottom, and then pour out the clear water on the top.

The precipitation process can be slow or rapid, depending on the composition and concentration of the ink.

The precipitation of ink is a very important step. Usually, the raw materials of Hui ink contain some impurities and particles, which will be removed during the mixing, grinding, filtering and other steps, but some tiny particles may not be completely removed.

Therefore, during the sedimentation process of the ink, these tiny particles will slowly sink to the bottom, making the ink clearer and more transparent.

In addition, the precipitation of Hui ink will also affect the viscosity and use effect of the ink.

The more thoroughly the ink settles, the lower its viscosity will be, and the smoother it will be to use. On the contrary, if the ink does not settle thoroughly enough, its viscosity will be high, and it will feel a little blocked when used.

In the production process of Hui ink, the precipitation of ink is a very important link.

The next step is drying. Pour the precipitated ink slurry into a mold and place it in a ventilated and dry place to dry. Let it dry naturally until the ink stick is completely dry.

It usually takes more than half a year for Hui ink to dry. The specific time depends on the size, thickness and weather conditions of the ink.

If the drying time is not enough, the inside of the ink stick will become damp, affecting the use effect.

If the drying time is too long, the surface of the ink stick will be excessively dry while the inside will still be moist, which will also affect the use effect.

The drying environment of Hui ink should be kept ventilated and dry, avoiding direct sunlight and humid environment.

If the drying environment is too humid, the ink stick will become damp and moldy.

On the contrary, if the drying environment is too dry, the surface of the ink stick will be too dry and prone to cracking.

During the drying process, the ink stick needs to be turned over continuously to ensure that the surface of the ink stick dries evenly and avoid uneven drying.

Finally, there is the gilded decoration.

After drying, Hui ink needs to be decorated with gold to increase its beauty and use value.

When gilding, you need to pay attention to the fineness of the pattern and the matching of colors to achieve the best decorative effect.

In short, the drying process of Hui ink requires attention to many aspects such as time, environment, turning and gilding to ensure its quality and aesthetics.

Jiang Yin was shocked and said, "So, it takes at least half a year to make a successful piece of Hui ink?"

The cost is a bit high, and she suddenly felt that the ink blocks that Su Shan gave her earlier were a bit hot.

Su Shan smiled bitterly and said, "Yes, half a year is too short. If it weren't for the difficulty in making Hui ink, my Su family wouldn't be so timid."

If the effort is in vain and too much Hui Mo is lost, it will affect the foundation of the Su family.

Of course, the few pieces given out yesterday were nothing. After all, their Su family was one of the best Huimo families.

Jiang Yin nodded to show her understanding. If it were her, she would be just as cautious.

Even if it was Mengshan tea, she would not make such an attempt easily, so as not to end up losing more than gain.

Seeing this, the smile in Su Shan's eyes deepened, and he began to talk about the precautions for preparing Hui ink.

Su Shan explained carefully, and Jiang Yin listened attentively. With more knowledge, she would have something to say when she went to promote the product.