Serial 79: Seeing Off Xuanyuan Hao, Yunduan Makes Soap, Preparing to Do Business and Get Rich
Yunduan watched Xuanyuan Hao's retreating figure grow smaller and smaller in the distance. She did not doubt his abilities in the slightest. He had the charm of a military commander who could climb high and raise his arm with a single shout, and the masses would respond in kind. Once his command was issued, thousands of troops and horses would willingly brave the dangers of arrows and stones to charge into battle for him, fighting fiercely and killing the enemy.
But just thinking that at only sixteen years of age, he would have to shoulder the heavy burden of restoring the nation and seeking revenge, and would live a life of licking blood from the edge of a blade, her heart clenched with wave after wave of sharp pain. In modern times, a child his age would still be a middle school student, happily studying under the care of his parents. Yet he carried on his shoulders a burden not meant for his age. Life had been too cruel to him.
The strong pass is truly like iron, yet now we stride forward from the beginning.
On a winter night, the little boat-like moon rippled in the deep blue sky. Shili Village, shrouded in darkness, seemed to have entered sleep, appearing exceptionally quiet.
In the Yang family's thatched cottage, the wooden door was lightly ajar, the candle still casting a dim yellow glow. Yunduan had not yet gone to sleep and was busily and energetically making soap.
Relying on her memories of high school chemistry from her past life, she had once made handmade soap in a laboratory. After arriving in ancient times, since there were no detergents like washing powder, washing clothes was extremely inconvenient. To solve this problem, relying on her memories from her past life, she prepared the tools for making soap and personally conducted the experiment again. She rolled up her sleeves, put the soap pods that had been soaked soft in water into a large iron mold, then used a polished, round, white wooden stick to pound them repeatedly with a "crack crack crack" sound until the soap pods were beaten into tiny fragments, then poured in a certain proportion of soda ash and mixed it well. By the time she finished all this work, it was already the middle of the night, and only then did she drag her exhausted body to put out the light and sleep.
Early the next morning, after getting up, she threw on a thick garment to fend off the biting cold and ran to the courtyard to look. In the iron mold, a large block of white handmade soap had solidified. Yang Yunduan was overjoyed beyond expectation. She picked up her sword, cut the large block of soap into more than a dozen small pieces of soap, then used the soap to wash the dirty clothes soaking in the basin. After rubbing the clothes repeatedly with her slender jade-like hands, she saw clumps of white foam emerge from the clothes, mixed with a fresh fragrance of soap pods.
Success! Yunduan was so excited she danced for joy, and hurriedly patted on Yang Laodie's door: "Dad, get up quick, I've made soap for washing clothes!"
After Yang Laodie was woken up, he threw on his clothes and opened the door. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and scolded fondly: "Girl, instead of sleeping well, you woke your dad up early in the morning."
Yang Yunduan stuffed a piece of white soap into her dad's hand: "Dad, this is soap. Take a look. With this, washing clothes will become faster and cleaner."
Yang Laodie was half-believing and half-doubting. He took the soap and washed clothes himself, and saw that some stains that normally could not be washed out were easily cleaned completely after evenly applying a thin layer of soap. This soap really was a treasure.
Yang Laodie could not stop smiling, and stroking Yang Yunduan's hair with reddened eyes, he said: "Our Yunduan is getting smarter and more capable. It's just a pity that your mother, who passed away too early, can no longer see you..." At this point, his voice choked up.
Yunduan's large, bright eyes were also filled with tears. She held her father's large hands, which had become rough from years of farm work: "Dad, we can take the soap to the street to sell. If business is good, I also plan to expand production and sell the soap far and wide to all places. I want to earn a lot of money to support you and my younger brother, so you can live a wealthy and good life."
Yang Laodie naturally believed his daughter had this ability. Father and daughter were full of longing for a happy life in the future.