Chapter 144 Soap Powder
It was still early when we left the restaurant.
Qin Yao led Dalang to the West Market where stalls were set up to sell white-haired squirrels.
Ordinary people would not even give a second glance at this kind of "distracting" stuff.
Qin Yao could only hope that she was lucky enough to meet a manager who was out shopping and take a liking to her and bring her back to please the young master or young lady in the mansion.
The little squirrel didn't eat because what Dalang fed it yesterday was not to its taste.
Qin Yao and the lady selling peanuts nearby spent two cents to catch a small handful. The originally listless little squirrel's eyes suddenly lit up, and if it hadn't had the hemp rope around its feet, it would have jumped into Qin Yao's arms to grab the peanuts.
Dalang put it down, took the peanuts handed to it by Qin Yao and fed it. The little squirrel picked it up and ate it. The way it chewed the food looked particularly cute.
Dalang looked at it and felt a little reluctant.
But he also knew that the current situation at home was not suitable for raising this little guy, and he just hoped that he could meet a good family who would treat the little guy well.
The lively little squirrel was still quite attractive. Seeing those people dressed as housekeepers appearing at the corner of the street, Qin Yao immediately started shouting.
She didn't feel embarrassed at all. The whole street was filled with her hawking voice, and it was hard not to attract attention.
A housekeeper and a man who looked like a shopping boy came forward curiously to ask for the price. Qin Yao held up six fingers and said, "Six hundred coins."
The two of them gasped when they heard this. What the hell? This is too expensive!
Looking at the clothes the mother and son were wearing, they looked like beggars. The shopping boy shook his head in disdain and walked away. After walking a few steps, he turned back and sneered:
"There's not even two taels of meat, but you're still selling it for six hundred coins. You're crazy for money!"
After saying this, I thought the mother and son would look embarrassed.
Unexpectedly, neither of them even glanced at him. The younger one was concentrating on feeding the squirrels, while the older one started chatting with the housekeeper.
I vaguely heard a few words: "White-haired animal is a rare species, only seen once in a century" and "It has a good temper, boys and girls will definitely like it when they see it."
"This kind of squirrel with dyed white fur and a cute face shape can only be found in the deep mountains. It only costs 600 coins. You will make a lot of money if you buy it." Qin Yao said seriously.
The housekeeper thought about it and said happily, "Then let's do it."
The shopping boy, who had not walked far, was startled and hurried back, wanting it too.
"Sorry, there's only one. Whoever buys it first gets it." Qin Yao gave him a contemptuous look as if he didn't know the value of the item, and smiled as she handed the little squirrel to the housekeeper and put it in the basket on her wrist.
"It won't run away, will it?"
"No." Qin Yao pulled the housekeeper aside and taught her some techniques on how to train small animals.
There is also after-sales service when buying things. The housekeeper looked at the white-haired squirrel chewing peanuts in the basket and loved it more and more.
After receiving the six hundred coins, Dalang's reluctance instantly disappeared and he only thought about buying something to take home.
Qin Yao found a carpenter who made carriages in the city and ordered a carriage.
The carriage will not be delivered until mid-October, but Qin Yao can wait. After all, the carriage she customized is of unconventional style and a bit complicated.
Qin Yao asked to install a fixed table in the carriage, preferably one that could be folded and stored normally, and unfolded and stood up when needed, and also had a certain amount of storage space.
As for other things, Qin Yao had no requirements for the time being because the space in the carriage was very small.
I thought to myself that I would study carriage bearings in the future and make a four-wheeled carriage.
However, if we cannot produce alloy materials, this idea will probably be difficult to realize.
The awkward four-wheeled carriage was not as flexible as the current two-wheeled one.
The carriage had to be made of good materials, and the wheels had to be covered with metal, so five taels of silver were spent.
Dalang followed his stepmother and watched her hand over five taels of silver to someone without blinking. The young boy, who had never seen so much money before, was a little shocked.
But when he heard Qin Yao say that this carriage was made for them to use in school next year, he was immediately moved to tears.
Dalang was so moved that he completely forgot that he had a father in the academy in the city.
Qin Yao bought some cloth and shoe soles, and also brought two kilograms of pastries and five kilograms of meat.
After buying these, Qin Yao passed by a grocery store and suddenly remembered the cleaning products for bathing, so she wanted to see if there were any soapberries for sale.
As expected, there was none at all. There was only a kind of cleaning powder called soap powder, which would produce foam when it came into contact with water. It was said to be made from pig pancreas.
Qin Yao was a little interested and asked how much it cost.
The shopkeeper looked her up and down, saw the bow and arrow and the knife tied with cloth on her back, and said with disdain, "Twenty cents for an ounce."
"One tael?" Qin Yao suspected that she had misheard the unit. Was she sure it was not one catty?
The shopkeeper looked impatient as if he knew you were going to ask him this question, and said heavily, "It is one tael!"
"Forget it, let's go, Dalang." Qin Yao turned around and left. If she couldn't afford it, couldn't she make it herself?
Thanks to the inspiration from the grocery store, she suddenly remembered how to make soap in junior high school chemistry class.
So he went back to the pork shop to buy fat.
Unfortunately, it was a little late and there was not much meat left on the meat stall, so Qin Yao only bought four pounds.
Fat is more expensive than pork belly, twenty-five cents per pound, exactly one hundred cents.
Two pounds of fat can produce one pound of oil, and four pounds of fat can produce two pounds of oil, which is enough for her to make ten bars of soap.
After all these purchases, only 81 taels of silver were left from what Manager Fan had given her. Together with her original savings, she had a total of 184 taels of silver left.
Who would have thought that going into the mountains to gain experience would actually bring such an unexpected gain?
Thinking that she could buy a few more acres of good farmland, Qin Yao was in a good mood and all her fatigue disappeared.
However, Dalang obviously couldn't hold on any longer, so the two of them took a ox cart home and he slept all the way.
At first he was leaning against the car fence, and as he fell asleep, his head fell on Qin Yao's back.
When the driver stopped the car and arrived at Xiahe Village, he lay across Qin Yao's thighs.
Qin Yao woke him up, and Dalang's face immediately turned red.
The sun was about to set, and they had to hurry back to Liujia Village. Qin Yao carried weapons on his back and his hands were full.
Dalang carried his small bag and weapons, and held two kilograms of delicious pastries in his hands.
The braised pork noodles they had eaten at noon had been almost digested by now, and the aroma of the pastries wafted into their noses. Reason and impulse were constantly fighting along the way, and Dalang had a very difficult time walking.
Fortunately, the two finally arrived at Liujia Village before nightfall.
The mother and son stayed in the forest for so many days without washing their hair or changing their clothes, looking like beggars.
The people who were enjoying the cool breeze by the village well didn't recognize the mother and son at first, until they heard the three brothers and sisters of Erlang playing and shouted "A Niang" and "Big Brother" in surprise and rushed over. Then they looked up in surprise and found that the beggar was actually Lady Qin!
Jinhua and Jinbao led the way and shouted excitedly when they entered the house: "My Third Aunt is back!"
People in the house had already had dinner, and Old Man Liu, who was repairing farm tools, all had their eyes lit up.
(End of this chapter)