Chapter 55 - Making Soap

Xiaoguo did not notice the two people that were leaving the county. She took them for passers-by.

When they arrived at the noodle shop, she carried Zhuang Zhuang out of the donkey cart and walked into the noodle shop. Xu Ruyi was already waiting for Xiaoguo in the noodle shop. Xiaoguo put Zhuang Zhuang down and asked Uncle Xu to look after him while she went to the street entrance to divert potential customers to the restaurant.

Before going out, she asked Ruyi to boil the soup base. This will allow the fragrance to waft out to the streets. Then, she walked to the place where she used to set up the stall. Before she got close, she saw a group of people queuing up. Someone with sharp eyes spotted Xiaoguo. “Hey, young lady, why are you so late today?”

The rest of the crowd were attracted by her voice and looked towards Xiaoguo. Xiaoguo jogged over and explained, “I’m sorry. Shall we walk to the corner of the street? I’ve opened a shop with someone. Now, everyone can eat potato noodles at any time.”

As soon as she said that, everyone was glad to do so. It was much more convenient this way. They followed Xiaoguo to the Ruyi Noodle Restaurant. It seemed to be everyone’s first time seeing the restaurant, so they kept looking around the place.

Ruyi brought out the pot of soup base according to Xiaoguo’s instructions and let the fragrance be carried away by the wind to the streets. This brought in another group of people who were attracted by the fragrance This was In addition to the customers Xiaoguo had brought.

Xiaoguo helped to bring out the ingredients from the kitchen and watched Xu Ruyi cook the fish balls. She helped her when she got too busy. The potato noodles were still ten copper coins a bowl. This was what Xiaoguo and Ruyi had discussed before.

As it was a trial operation today, they didn’t prepare a lot of ingredients. They would close the shop when everything was sold out. Tomorrow would be the actual run. With Xiaoguo’s help, Uncle Xu and Zhuang Zhuang collected money at the side. All the food was sold out before noon.

Among the customers who came, some of them brought bowls to take away their orders, and some of them dined in at the restaurant. After sending off all the customers, Xiaoguo helped Ruyi clear the bowls and chopsticks from the tables and brought them to the kitchen. When she came out, Uncle Xu was settling the accounts for the day. When she sat down beside him, Uncle Xu had finished doing the accounts. After he put down the abacus, Xu Ruyi asked nervously, “How much did we make?”

Uncle Xu pushed up his glasses and kept Xu Ruyi in suspense. He watched as Xu Ruyi stared at him nervously with her unblinking eyes. Finally, he couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Haha, after deducting the money for the ingredients, we have ten taels and two taels of silver!”

“What!!” Xu Ruyi exclaimed in surprise. It was really an unexpected number.

Xiaoguo was also shocked, but this wasn’t entirely a surprise for her. First of all, they had prepared more ingredients than she did before, and had sold many bowls today. This amount of earnings is about right.

Xu Ruyi held Xiaoguo’s hands excitedly and shook them vigorously. “Sister Xiaoguo, this is really great!”

Xiaoguo was delighted. “Yes it is!”

There was nothing left for Xiaoguo to do. After all, it was their first day doing a trial run. It seemed that the results were pretty good. The customers who were waiting for Xiaoguo knew now that they could buy potato noodles at Ruyi Noodle Restaurant. There was no need for Xiaoguo to bring them around anymore. Moreover, Ruyi seemed to be getting the hang of things. Although she was slightly unfamiliar with the routine at the beginning of the day, she got over it as the day passed. Xiaoguo was quite relieved to see that.

Before leaving, Ruyi thought about buying a few servants. If she had to do everything herself, she wouldn’t be able to prepare more ingredients. Xiaoguo didn’t offer her own opinions. Although she was the expert when it came to making potato noodles, it was better for Xu Ruyi to make business decisions for the shop. With regards to running a shop, Xu Ruyi would definitely know more than her.

After sending Xiaoguo off, Xu Ruyi went to a shop that specializes in buying and selling maids and servants. If she bought a maid, the contract would be kept by her. She felt more at ease with this arrangement. After all, with the contract in hand, the maid could not be as fickle-minded as an employee. A maid would not be able to leave anytime like her previous employees.

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Xu Ruyi spent six taels of silver on two girls who were about twelve years old. She found out about their background from the seller. They were servant girls who had grown up in a rich family. Their family had fallen on hard times and they were sold off for money. Xu Ruyi saw that the two of them appeared neat and tidy, so she paid the price for both of them and took with her their sale contracts.

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She brought the two of them to the noodle shop and arranged accommodations for them in the backyard. She then briefly introduced the environment and gave them a quick lesson. After seeing that they understood what she was saying, she went out to buy ingredients. After all, they were opening for business tomorrow and there was still a lot to prepare.

By the time Xiaoguo left the noodle shop, it was time for dinner again. Xiaoguo brought Zhuang Zhuang to a stall selling wantons. The two of them ordered two bowls of wantons and started eating while it was still hot.

“Mother, are we going home after eating?” Zhuang Zhuang asked vaguely as he chewed on the dumplings.

Xiaoguo heard him. “I need to buy some things after dinner. We will go back and make soap this afternoon.”

There was plenty of time. The two of them finished their dumplings in a leisurely manner. After paying for the food, they walked towards the street with the donkey cart. Xiaoguo had read about the ancient method of making soap. She had two of the ingredients, wood ash and lard, at home. The ancient method also required alcohol. She didn’t have alcohol at home, so they had to buy some. Xiaoguo also wanted to make some sulfuric soap for bathing and washing their faces. Sulfuric soap was good for its anti-bacterial and grease-removing properties. Lastly she needed to buy knotweed from the medicinal shop. This was for washing their hair.

After buying everything she needed, Xiaoguo brought Zhuang Zhuang home. The donkey cart did not enter the house when it arrived at the house. There was not much grass left at home, so Xiaoguo took the opportunity to gather more grass.

Zhuang Zhuang went home and brought the cows out to graze. Xiaoguo let him be. She entered the house, took the sickle, and brought the donkey cart to the river bank.

The grass here was rather lush. Xiaoguo worked quickly and cut the grass. In no time, the entire cart was filled with cut grass. The cows had eaten their fill, and so did the donkey. Seeing that it was about time, they went home.

When Zhuang Zhuang returned home, he took on the task of unloading the grass. Zhuang Zhuang hugged the grass in his arms and threw it down by the wall. He even remembered to feed the chickens and ducks. Seeing that Zhuang Zhuang could handle everything by himself, Xiaoguo went back to the house to get a pot and started boiling the soap pods.

First, he washed the pods with clean water and placed them into a pot. She then added water to the pot and allowed it to boil. When the water was boiling, she added wood ash and wine. When the water began to boil again, Xiaoguo filtered the liquid from the pot with a piece of gauze cloth. She poured out one third of this mixture into a clay jar —this would be used as a cleaning liquid to wash the dishes.

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Another half of the soap pod mixture was taken out and placed in another pot, where lard and sulfur were added. This mixture was boiled and poured into a rectangular container after being filtered. It was then left in the shade to cool down. When this liquid had solidified, it could be cut into blocks and used to wash the face and body. With the remaining portion of the soap pod water, lard and knotweed were added. This was also filtered, and left to solidify. This soap will be used for washing their hair. Knotweed is a herb that helps with the growth of healthy hair.

After making the soap, she gathered the soap residue that was left behind after the filtering process, and rolled them into balls. This could be used for washing clothes. She had enough residue to make a total of five balls and they were left on the windowsill to dry.

At this moment, Xiaoguo, who had just finished washing her hands, heard a rousing chatter from the chicken coop. Curious, she went outside to check. Before she could step out, she saw Zhuang Zhuang running excitedly towards her with something in his hands. Xiaoguo held him and saw that his face was flushed with excitement. Feeling puzzled, she asked him, “What’s wrong?” As she spoke, she reached out and removed the chicken feathers stuck to his head.

“Mother, Mother, look!” He opened his palms and moved them towards Xiaoguo.

There were two chicken eggs and one duck egg. Xiaoguo asked Zhuang Zhuang happily, “Did they lay these?”

“Yes, yes!” Zhuang Zhuang nodded. “When I went to feed them grass just now, I saw that there were two chickens and ducks still in the coop. So I went in to take a look. When I lifted the nest, they were startled and ran out. I then found three big eggs at the bottom!”

As he spoke, Zhuang Zhuang handed the eggs over to Xiaoguo like they were treasures. Xiaoguo lifted her brows and said, “See! Didn’t I tell you that they would lay eggs in two days?”