The next day, Carpenter Wang sent the mold that He Zhiyuan asked for. He also bought lime and soda. He also asked his mother to find the lard oil left behind by killing pigs during the New Year.

In fact, He Zhiyuan had no practice in making soap in his previous life. He only read about it in time travel novels. He only knew that high-grade sodium oleate and glycerin were formed after saponification reaction of sodium hydroxide and oil, and high-grade sodium oleate is

Soap.

Sodium hydroxide had not yet appeared in the Ming Dynasty. His first thought was to use sodium carbonate and hydrated lime to react to obtain sodium hydroxide. Sodium carbonate is soda, which had already appeared in the Ming Dynasty.

He said to his mother and Rose: "Mom, weigh eighteen pounds of pork fat, put it in a pot and let Rose boil the oil."

Then he said to his father: "Dad, weigh two kilograms of quicklime, put it in a basin, soak it in water, and let it boil the slaked lime."

Following He Zhiyuan's instructions, Zhiyuan's mother put the pork fat in the pot, and Yue Ji lit the fire and began to boil the oil. After a while, the pig fat slowly melted, steam came out of the pot, and the lard slowly increased until

The lard no longer increased. He Zhiyuan asked Yueji to stop the fire, used a strainer to remove the remaining solid lard from the pot, and then left the oil in the pot and covered it with a lid to keep it warm.

At the same time, He Zhiyuan asked his father to weigh a pound of soda, put it in a basin, scoop out water, and stir it with a wooden stick until all the soda dissolved. Then he asked his father to weigh a pound of hydrated lime and slowly put it in a bowl of soda water.

In the basin.

He Zhiyuan stirred it in the basin with a wooden stick. After waiting for two moments, the water in the basin gradually became clear, and a layer of white solid settled on the bottom of the basin. He Zhiyuan knew that the precipitated water would be calcium carbonate, and the clear water above would be sodium hydroxide solution.

.

He Zhiyuan carefully scooped the top layer of sodium hydroxide solution into another small basin. He took it to the kitchen and slowly poured it into the hot oil pan. He said to his father: "Dad, please stir the pot with a wooden stick quickly."

, the sooner the better.”

As my father stirred quickly, the color of the oil in the pot slowly turned yellow, the oil splashes gradually decreased, and the oil in the pot became thicker. After stirring like this for about two moments, there was no more oil in the pot.

Oil flowers.

He Zhiyuan then asked Niang and Yueji to take out the mold made by Carpenter Wang and place it on a wide-mouth basin. The mold had a total of twenty-four grids, and each grid had several gaps.

Then she asked Rose to find a piece of gauze and cover it on the mold, straighten all the twenty-four grids, and then scoop out the viscous liquid in the pot and pour it evenly into the mold.

"Zhiyuan, is this okay?" My mother looked at the sticky, mushy body in the mold that had not yet solidified, and was dubious.

"We'll have a look tomorrow morning. If it's solidified, it's soap." He Zhiyuan replied.

"If that doesn't work, all this pig fat will be wasted."

"You're a crow's mouth, it's just the New Year, and you can't say anything nice!" He Shaoyun scolded her. Chen knew she had said the wrong thing, so she quickly shut up and stopped talking.

The next day, at dawn, He Zhiyuan was still lying in bed dreaming. He vaguely heard his mother shouting in the yard: "Zhiyuan, get up quickly!"

He Zhiyuan was suddenly awakened. What was my mother doing so early in the morning? Is there a thief in the house? He Zhiyuan did not dare to neglect and quickly got up from the bed. He hurried to the yard and asked: "Mom, what's the matter? Is there a thief?"

"No, come and take a look at this soap."

"What happened to the soap?"

He Zhiyuan followed him to the kitchen, and Zhiyuan's mother opened the door

He opened the cloth and said, "This soap has hardened. Is it ready?"

"Oh! Mom, this is what happened so early in the morning. Are you going to let me sleep?" He Zhiyuan said impatiently.

"I've watched it several times throughout the night. How can you still sleep after such a big deal? How about some snacks?" Zhiyuan Niang replied angrily.

He Shaoyun and Yue Ji also went to the kitchen one after another and saw that the soap had solidified. Their father asked: "Can it be taken out now?"

"Yes, let's turn the mold over." As he said that, He Zhiyuan and his father lifted the mold and turned it upside down. He Zhiyuan took out a piece of soap and gave it to Rose and said: "Rose, find some clothes and try washing them with soap."

When Zhiyuan's mother heard that she wanted to try soap, she quickly found some dirty clothes and soaked them in a basin of water. Then she asked, "Zhiyuan, how do you use this soap?"

"Soak your clothes first, put soap on them and rub them a few times. Rub wherever there is dirt. Then rub it with your hands and repeat it several times before washing it."

Yue Ji followed He Zhiyuan's instructions and started to wash in the basin. After washing for a while, foam started to form in the basin and the water became turbid. It was obvious that the clothes became cleaner.

Zhiyuan Niang looked at the dirty water washed out of the rose basin and said in surprise: "It's amazing. This soap is much easier to use than stove bottom ash, and it's also easier to use than wild jujube leaves."

When the washing is almost done, pour out the dirty water and wash it again with clean water. The clothes will be completely clean and look like new clothes.

The two women were stunned when they saw the cleanly washed clothes. In the past, they had to rub and rub a piece of clothing and beat it with a stick, but they still couldn't get it clean even after washing it five or six times. Now it's clean after just one wash with soap, and

It doesn't take much effort.

"Master, you are so awesome. It takes much less effort to wash clothes than before. I have never used such a good thing before." Yue Ji said excitedly. She knew very well what soap meant to them women.

He Zhiyuan thought in his heart that when we can consummate our marriage, I will let you see how powerful I really am. But he could only say: "From now on, our family will use soap to wash clothes. Soap can not only wash clothes, but also wash your face and bathe."

We can also make soap in the future. After taking a bath with soap, your body will be fragrant and smooth, not to mention how comfortable it will be."

"For such a good thing, we have to sell it at a good price." Madam Zhiyuan said with wealth.

"Let's calculate how many materials were used and how much it cost." He Shaoyun was more rational.

"The materials are less than 150 fen, plus labor costs, the firewood cost is 160 fen, and the average cost of a piece of soap is about 7 fen." He Zhiyuan had already calculated clearly and said casually.

"It's only seven cents, so you can't sell it at a high price. How much soap do you need to make to earn four thousand taels of silver?" Zhiyuan Niang said with some disappointment.

"Why can't we sell it at a high price? A piece of pig pancreas costs one tael of silver. If we sell it for a hundred cents a piece, many people will rush to buy it," He Zhiyuan said.

"Yes, yes, Zhiyuan is right." He Shaoyun said: "As long as the formula is kept secret, no one knows how much it costs. But where can we buy this soap? Go to the city and open a shop. It will cost a few hundred taels.

Even thousands of taels of silver."

"This is easy to handle. We don't need to retail it ourselves at first. We will go to a grocery store in the city and sell it at a lower price so that they can make money. They will definitely be willing to buy our soap. As long as everyone knows about it, they will definitely

It's easy to sell. As long as we have sales and we make money, we can open a larger workshop and deliver goods to grocery stores in nearby prefectures and counties. Maybe they will have to rush to place orders. By then, we won't have to worry about running out of money.

Make money." He Zhiyuan said to his father.

When Zhiyuan's mother heard that she had made money, she was immediately happy. She pulled her husband's arm and said, "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and discuss with those families and buy their empty house. Find someone to repair it. It's over."

We will start work on the Lantern Festival."

"Mom, it's too early. It's not too late to go after breakfast." He Zhiyuan said.

"Yes, yes, mother is so happy and confused."

He Shaoyun rolled his eyes at her and said, "You are confused when you are happy, and you are confused when you are not happy, so you never understand."

"I'm in a hurry. If I don't hurry up, when will I earn enough four thousand taels of silver?!" Ms. Chen was about to get angry when she heard that her husband was going to scold her again.

When He Zhiyuan saw that he was about to go off track again, he immediately said: "Don't argue, let's discuss the important candidates for the soap workshop first."

"Yes, yes, Zhiyuan, tell me, who are needed?" Zhiyuan's mother immediately stopped getting angry.

"First of all, it is the purchase of various animal fats. This raw material is used the most. You have to go to the countryside, especially the butcher's house to collect the fats. This person needs to be honest and reliable. Secondly, there must be a person in each of the three houses.

Reliable people are in charge.”

"Then let Zhiyuan's brother-in-law come. He is reliable and honest, and he is a relative." My mother first thought of her younger brother.

"Okay, he counts as one. He Zhide is honest, but has a quick temper. He has no problem managing a house. He Laoliu counts as one. Plus Da Xuzi's father can't catch much prey in winter, so let him come too.

." He Shaoyun named three people in one breath.

"Then how many hired workers do we need?" The old woman asked He Zhiyuan again at this time.

"No more, let's find thirty first."

"Thirty?! How much wages will it cost? We only have a capital of more than one hundred taels of silver." The old lady said distressedly.

"Mom, you can't settle this account. If you have more people, you can make more soap, and you can make more money."

"That won't work either. Let's find a few less people first. Once the soap is sold, it won't be too late to find others."

"Okay, I'll listen to you. Then let's find fifteen people first."

"There is also a salary, we have to settle it before looking for someone." I am very attentive and will not be careless about money matters.

Dad said: "Nowadays, a long-term worker is responsible for food and accommodation for 500 yuan a month. But with so many people employed, food and accommodation are also a problem."

"Let's not look for people from other villages. We'll look for people from this village. We don't have to worry about food and accommodation. One tael of silver a month is a lot." The old woman who knocked on the door still felt sorry for the money and gave her a very low wage.

"Isn't one tael of silver too low?" Dad said.

"It's quite a lot. It's winter, and everyone has nothing to do at home. If there's a place to make money, wouldn't everyone rush to do it?"

"Mom, you can't be too tight-lipped about this. We are all fellow villagers. Have you forgotten that I said that within a year we will all live a good life in our village?"

"It can't be too much. Give more supervisors and let them supervise the work to prevent some sneaky people who only take money but don't work?" The old lady was careful and immediately thought of someone who would work hard but not do any work.
Chapter completed!