"Dramatically increase? What do you mean? Are you saying the south might need a huge amount of ice in the future?"
Hearing Qu Bing's suggestion, You Ye immediately became interested. He was counting on selling ice to make money, after all. Naturally, the more he sold, the better.
"It should be. A few days ago, my wife, Clan Zhan, sent me a letter. I remember telling you that my wife belongs to the same clan as the Second Madam. She's currently helping me manage the Photo Studio in Hanyang Commandery.
"She told me that a few days ago, the Chieftain had said he wanted to develop something called the Food Industry, using the Mechanical Factory to produce some new types of food and drinks. One of them was Wheat Wine, brewed from wheat. Wheat Wine is different from Baijiu. It's best suited for drinking in summer and can relieve the heat. It has a low alcohol content, so it's suitable for drinking freely and doesn't get people as drunk as Baijiu. If it could be chilled with ice before drinking, it would taste even more refreshing.
"Besides Wheat Wine, there's also some kind of fruit soda, another heat-relieving drink that can be chilled. There are also things like canned meat. Transporting and storing those meats would require a large amount of ice to keep them fresh. It's just that the Food Industry hasn't been established yet.
"But I think this is definitely going to be a market. In the future, the places that need ice certainly won't be limited to fishermen along the coast. That's why I think you should expand the scale. If Uncle You doesn't believe me, you can write and ask the Chieftain. Asking one more question won't hurt.
"Our Heyuan Commandery is already quite far from