Chapter 461: Milk Is In Place

When she came out, Xiaoguo looked at the ring on her finger carefully and stroked it reluctantly.

“Thank you, Comrade Ring. Thank you for staying by my side and saving my life.”

Xiaoguo smiled sincerely and left the house with the thermometer.

Since she didn’t look down, she naturally didn’t notice the red light flashing on the ring. It looked the same as the light that was flashing in the kitchen earlier.

Yu Ling and Xiao Zhu had also brought over all the wooden buckets at the same time Xiaoguo returned from the space.

After the cow delivered the baby calf, Shu Botong transported all the sealed buckets that Su Changshcng had sent over to the shop.

In addition to the sealed buckets, there were also a few ordinary wooden buckets. Those would be used for collecting the milk during milking.

…..

“Sister Xiaoguo, how do you milk the cows?”

Yu Ling and Xiao Zhu were in a dilemma. They stretched out their hands, not knowing where to start.

Although it was a cow that they were handling, it was still a private part of the animal’s body, so they were feeling a little awkward.

Xiaoguo wiped her hands clean with a towel and said confidently with a smile, “Follow me.”

As she spoke, she pretended to be calm and extended her hands towards the cows.

To be honest, although she looked calm on the surface, her heart was beating like a drum.

It was her first time milking a cow, but she had watched videos of people doing it before. Due to her personal interest in the subject, she had observed in detail how milking was done in the video. However, there were still some differences when it came to doing it in person.

When she touched the cow, Xiaoguo took a deep breath. Based on the action that she was envisioning in her mind, she tugged on it a little harder but with gentle motions. The milk flowed out like water from a faucet and in no time, she had filled up half a bucket.

The little calf watched from the side, and it’s not clear whether it was upset because its food was being taken away. It kept coming over, wanting to drink the milk from the bucket. Fortunately, Xiaozhu and Yuling stopped it in time, otherwise, the whole bucket of milk would have gone to waste.

With Xiaoguo’s lead, Xiao Zhu and Yu Ling overcame the barriers in their hearts and slowly found the hang of it. In no time, they had filled up two buckets of milk.

Xiaoguo didn’t dare to extract too much milk. Although two buckets wasn’t a lot based on a cow’s daily milking output, it was enough.

She didn’t want to overdo it, and she couldn’t bear to do it to the cow.

Yu Ling was in charge of starting the fire. Xiaoguo held a thermometer and carefully checked the milk, stirring it from time to time. When the temperature reached 68 degrees Celsius, she kept it stable at that temperature for 30 minutes. For precision, she also bought an hourglass. After the last grain of sand fell to the bottom, exactly half an hour was up.

“Sister Xiaoguo, I’ve lit the candles on the cellar steps.”

Xiao Zhu said as she walked over. This way, it wouldn’t be too dark when they go down later.

Xiaoguo nodded. As she observed the temperature of the milk, she said, “Alright. In a while, pour the milk into a bucket and bring it straight to the cellar to refrigerate.”

“Okay!”

Xiao Zhu nodded and helped Yu Ling control the temperature of the fire.

Previously, when the craftsmen were digging the cellar in the shop, Xiaoguo suddenly had an idea. It would be so convenient if she had a cellar at home. Hence, she asked the craftsmen to come to her house and dig a medium-sized cellar.

Coincidentally at that time, she was making ice at home. She had wanted to bring the ice to the county, but she ended up keeping it at home for future use. After that winter, she had filled the whole cellar with ice blocks.

Now that she had a cellar, not only could she use it as an air-conditioned room in summer, she could also use it as a refrigerator.

Moreover, by sterilizing the milk themselves, they could directly store it in the cellar, saving them from having to transport the milk to the county cellar in buckets, which would be too troublesome. By squeezing the milk and sterilizing it on-site, they could also accumulate more milk in the cellar. Each time Su Changshcng came to collect the milk, he could bring back several more buckets in a single trip, which would save him the trouble of making several trips just to transport a few buckets of milk at each time.

When Xiaoguo went to the capital during the new year, Yang Jia was the one who helped her freeze the ice at home. Speaking of him, she was wondering if he liked the set of brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone that she had given him. It had been a few days since she last saw him. She didn’t know what he was busy with and why he hadn’t appeared in such a long time.

Xiaoguo suddenly remembered that Yang Jia wasn’t the only one whom she had not seen in a while. She hadn’t seen Mrs Yang recently cither. She was starting to wonder if anything had happened to them. This had completely slipped her mind since she had been feeling unwell over the past few days.

No! She had to visit the Yang family later.

“Sister Xiaoguo, the time is almost up.”

Seeing that she was in a daze, Yu Ling hurriedly reminded her.

Xiaoguo placed the scaled bucket below the faucet that was installed specially under the big pot. When the last grain of sand fell to the bottom of the hourglass, she opened the partition and the milk that had been successfully sterilized at low temperature flowed into the bucket below.

There were a total of three scaled buckets. The three of them each carried one bucket into the cellar.

“Watch your step.”

As Xiaoguo walked in front, she did not forget to turn around and remind the two young ladies.

“Don’t worry, Sister Xiaoguo. You watch your step too.”

“Okay.”

There were some leftover luminous rocks from the store renovation, so she transported them home and installed them in the cellar. Although it was not as bright as the shop, it was enough to provide some illumination in the dark.

As soon as the few of them entered the cellar, they shivered in unison. The temperature inside was very different from outside. They were not used to the cold and did not dare to take their time. After placing the buckets neatly in a corner, the three of them quickly came up.

In order to ensure that the cows could produce healthy milk, Xiaoguo also added a lot of nutrition to their diet. She made sure that they didn’t miss out on any of the refined grains or cut grass.

During her free time, she didn’t stay idle. Since the milk was starting to pile up in the storage, it was time for her to start writing the recipes.

There were many recipes that appeared in her mind, but she knew that it was not the right time to make everything all at the same time.

Xiaoguo carefully shortlisted some recipes and placed them together. She felt that these could be sold as the main items on the menu, and the rest could be freely added to the list.

Especially since it was almost summer, they could prepare some cold beverages. Fruit tea and milk tea were all popular items.

After tidying up, she sent the thick stack of recipes to Su Changshcng.

With an increasing abundance of milk in the cellar, Xiaoguo made several trips to transport them to the store.

Then, she informed Su Changshcng and invited him over. Apart from transporting the milk, she was thinking of explaining the recipes to him and demonstrating the production process herself.

Because of the milk cow, Su Changshcng had not left the county since he arrived the other day. After receiving the invitation, he quickly headed to the two-story building. Ever since he received the recipes, his mind was filled with doubts. He was hoping that Xiaoguo could help to enlighten him.

Xiaoguo was also waiting for him. When she saw him appear, she stood up and went up to welcome him.

“Why are you so polite today?” Su Changshcng raised his eyebrows in disbelief. She had never been so polite before. Why was she acting so strangely today?

To his surprise, Xiaoguo hesitated for a moment before glancing at him with a worried gaze while she walked past him. “Let’s go to the cellar.”

Xiaoguo felt that it would be difficult to explain. She might as well demonstrate and explain to him at the same time.

As soon as Xiaoguo finished speaking, Shu Botong suppressed his laughter and followed her to the backyard.

Clenching his hand into a fist, he coughed twice in embarrassment. He did not look at Xiao Zhu and Yu Ling, who were holding back their laughter. He then said something to Jia Bao, who was following him, and walked towards the cellar with a flushed face.

Yu Ling and Xiao Zhu did not follow Xiaoguo. Xiaoguo had already taught them most of the steps. Since they had learned almost everything, they stayed behind in the shop to clean up.

Jia Bao thought that it was awkward to stand around without doing any work, so he helped the two girls sweep the floor and clean the tables. He also cleaned up the dust that the two of them could not reach.

When they arrived at the cellar, Xiaoguo pointed to the side and said to Su Changshcng, who was following behind her, “There are a total of ten buckets here. Can you move them today?”

“No problem,” Su Changshcng said confidently without even looking. He could move twenty barrels, let alone ten.

“Alright, try to transport them as soon as possible, preferable without any delay. When you reach the capital, store them immediately in the cellar.”

Xiaoguo explained carefully in detail. Su Changshcng also listened attentively, not daring to be careless at all.

“By the way, you’d better bring back the clean buckets the next time you come to transport the next batch of milk.”

After all, these buckets were not disposable, so he had to bring back replacements each time he came back..