vstars Chapter 24 Making Soap
Chapter 24 Making Soap
Yun Dan and her companion arrived at the village chief's house.
"Uncle, Aunt, we've come to see Grandpa Village Chief."
The village chief's son said, "Xiaoyue, Xiaoya, come in quickly. My father is inside, you can go ahead."
As soon as the two entered, they saw the old village chief and called out, "Grandpa Village Chief!"
"Uh, what are these two brats doing here? We just parted ways this morning, and they're already showing up now," the village chief thought to himself.
"Do you two need to see Grandpa?"
"Grandpa Village Chief, didn't I talk to you this morning about how to make money to improve the lives of the people in Sujia Village? I've come up with an idea, so I've come to find you."
As Yun Dan spoke, she pulled Xiao Yue to sit on the bench.
"Oh, you've already come up with something in just one afternoon. Come on, tell me how to make the villagers rich, and let Grandpa hear it."
"Grandpa Village Chief, Xiaoyue and I have come to talk to you about this, but we have conditions."
When the village chief heard Yun Dan say this, he laughed and scolded, "You little brat, you haven't even told us what happened yet, and you're already making demands of your village chief grandpa. What if we don't make any money? Where am I supposed to find the money to compensate you for these conditions?"
Upon hearing the village chief's words, Xiaoyue anxiously stepped forward and said:
"Oh, Grandpa Village Chief, we really came to help the village. I believe Xiaoya can definitely do it. Wasn't the charcoal we sold last time made by Xiaoya? Look at the clothes I'm wearing, I bought them with the money I earned from selling charcoal."
"Grandpa didn't say he didn't trust you, Yueya, why are you in such a hurry? Tell me, how do you plan to help Grandpa? As long as Grandpa has the ability to help, he will definitely help you."
"The charcoal, waterwheel, and paper you produced are enough to warrant Grandpa's help."
"Grandpa Village Chief, this is what I'm thinking. I want to renovate all the houses in the village into adobe and tile houses."
Before building houses, we'll plan the village's structure so that every household can have a new house.
"We will also build another academy so that all the children in the village can have access to education. Once the academy is built, we can invite a teacher from the town to come and teach."
The village chief listened to Yun Dan's words with a smile, but the more he listened, the more unreliable this little girl seemed. She hadn't even made any money yet, and she was already thinking about planning houses, building houses, building academies, hiring teachers, and so on.
"Stop! Stop! Stop! Hold on, you little brat, are you trying to make your grandpa happy?"
Even if all the possessions of a family in our Su family village were sold, they still couldn't raise more than a thousand taels of silver.
"You're building houses and academies, hiring teachers, and wanting every family to live in a new house—do you have silver or gold?"
"Oh, Grandpa Village Chief, I'm not joking. As long as I make this, I'm sure I can sell it for a good price, and then I'll have lots of money."
"Then tell Grandpa what you want to make and what materials you need."
"What I want to make is something called soap."
"Soap? What's that?"
"Grandpa Village Chief, soap can make clothes cleaner, and you can wash your body and hair when you take a bath, and it won't leave fleas on your hair."
The village chief muttered to himself, "Soap? Soap? Little girl, you mean soapberry, right?"
"No, no, soap pods need to be soaked in water, and my soap comes in bars."
Grandpa Village Chief, this is what I'm thinking: once these soaps are made and sold, the money will be used as village funds.
The money for building houses, establishing academies, hiring teachers, and paying villagers' wages all came from this fund.
"Hmm... girl, I'm truly grateful to you for thinking so much about the village. Since you want to do it, then go ahead and do it. I fully support you."
"Grandpa Village Chief, after we finish our morning work in the fields, I'll take a few uncles and elders to collect tree sap in the afternoon. Could you please help me arrange the manpower?"
"Okay, I'll talk to them about this. Go back and have your grandfather come over after he finishes eating, and I'll discuss it with him."
Yun Dan went to see Grandpa Lin and said she would go to the village chief's house that evening because the village chief had something to discuss with her.
The next morning, Yundan and the village children were making bamboo tubes to hold the tree sap when they collected it.
Each bamboo tube had two holes through which vines were strung together, and they would be tied to trees. In just one morning, a group of people made over a hundred bamboo tubes.
In the afternoon, more than a dozen adults led more than a dozen children to collect tree sap.
Every tree containing resin will have several deep, slanted scratches, through which the resin will flow into the bamboo tube.
There are also some tree sap lumps stuck to the tree, which can be collected and melted into oil when heated.
Meanwhile, the people in the group were all building a thatched hut. This makeshift thatched hut was huge, covering an area of more than 200 square meters.
Some people went to town to buy large pots, and Old Master Lin always took out the money first, which amounted to ten taels of silver.
When everyone returned to the village with six pots of different sizes, they could still see that the baskets on the backs of the others contained many other things.
Over the next few days, the villagers were busy in the fields in the morning and in their thatched houses in the afternoon, all preparing for the preliminary work of making soap.
Several busy days passed, and that afternoon several adults returned from the woods, each carrying a load of two buckets of tree sap.
The next day, Yun Dan arrived at the factory early in the morning. Unexpectedly, many people were there even earlier than her, and they all seemed to be excitedly pumped up.
After greeting everyone, Yun Dan asked several aunts and uncles to start a fire and heat the oil.
These were all trivial matters to them. They were very familiar with the practice of heating pork cracklings in ancient rural areas.
The adults, some standing and some sitting nearby, watched, wondering how complicated it was. Turns out it was hot lard—no, it was hot tree oil.
Then the uncles and aunts were asked to filter out the water from the buckets where the wood ash had been soaking for the past few days.
After waiting for about an hour, Yun Dan saw that the oil was almost heated and said:
"Uncles and uncles, please take these big bamboo ladles and scoop out all the residue from the oil."
Everyone did as instructed, and waited until the oil in the pot was gone.
Yundan told everyone to pour the oil into the bucket.
Yun Dan divided the nine barrels into three categories for comparison. Since this was the first time making such a large-scale barrel, the proportions were still slightly off, so she could only proceed step by step and test it.
The first three buckets contain 20% water and 60% oil.
The three buckets in the second row contain 25% water and 55% oil.
The three buckets in the third row contain 30% water and 50% oil.
Once everything was poured, Yun Dan added the water from the collected mugwort to five bamboo tubes, wondering if the mugwort scent would develop after the soap dried.
The remaining 20% is left as a buffer to prevent oil from leaking out during stirring.
Seeing everyone working together to stir the mixture, and someone getting tired so the next person could take their place, Yun Dan wondered how to make a stirring aid that would make things easier.
"Uncles and elders, this consistency is just right. Everyone should put this oil into these bamboo tubes and place them in a cool, ventilated place to let it solidify slowly on its own. It will be ready in a few days."
Grandpa Village Chief came over and asked, "Little girl, can you make money like this?"
"Grandpa Village Chief, it's not possible yet. This is just an experiment for me. I have to wait a few days until they solidify before I can try again."
"Okay, no rush, take your time. If it really succeeds, the whole village will work together to make money, and then, just like you said, every family will have a new house to live in, and the children will have access to education. Haha..."
The older generation in the village are all smiles; nothing makes them happier than ensuring the well-being of their descendants.