Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 147 - 146: Making Soap

Chapter 147: Chapter 146: Making Soap
After reading the letter, Qin Yao let out a cold laugh, tossed the letter on the desk, blew out the lamp, and went to sleep.
But, could it be that Liu Ji actually saw her go to the county town?
The letter was full of probing, just to confirm whether she had caught on to him indulging in food, drink, and leisure in the city instead of tending to business.
Qin Yao felt utterly unaffected; whether he was probing or not was already irrelevant, now Liu Ji was nothing but a dead account to her.
There are still four small accounts at home, any one of which she tops up casually would yield better results than his dead account.
It’s merely a matter of being a few years later; life now is getting better day by day, she’s in no rush.
As for the money Liu Ji owes, if he can’t pay it back, he can use his life to make up for it.
Qin Yao didn’t want to think about this person anymore to affect her mood, closed her eyes, cleared her mind, and fell into a deep sleep.
Having been in the mountains for many days without a good night’s sleep, Qin Yao made up for it all at once, sleeping until noon before getting up.
Da Lang Brothers and Sisters know her personality, so they didn’t disturb her.
They made breakfast themselves, left her portion warm on the stove after eating, and whoever was in charge of chores washed the pots and bowls.
Da Lang and Second Lang took care of the dirty clothes, as the Dragon and Phoenix Twins were still unable.
They wanted to join in and have fun, but Second Lang found them bothersome and chased them off to feed the chickens and horses.
The clothes Qin Yao had changed were also washed clean by Da Lang and Second Lang, hanging neatly on the bamboo rods in the yard.
Once all the chores were done, those practicing martial arts practiced, those reading books read because they knew such opportunities were rare, so they were very self-disciplined.
Especially when Da Lang told them that Qin Yao had given each of the siblings a name, Second Lang was eager enough to almost swallow the books.
Si Niang held a brush, dipped it in clear water, and wrote her name on the table. The characters were found by Second Lang from the books, one flat, one diamond, easy strokes, but for Si Niang, they were already very complex characters.
The crooked strokes were repeated over and over on the wooden table, with the little girl smiling silly as she wrote.
Sanlang also wanted to write, but unfortunately, none of the siblings had learned the characters for ’Ming’ yet, and Second Lang couldn’t find the corresponding ones, so could only write "Zishu," two simple characters, with Second Brother.
When Qin Yao got up, only the rustling sound of writing and drawing could be heard in the yard, her heart naturally calmed down.
She stretched, walked past the window of the four siblings, and four pairs of eyes immediately looked over; Si Niang dropped the brush, slid off her chair, ran out of the house, and rushed into Qin Yao’s arms.
"Mother, how do you write Little Brother’s and Big Brother’s names?" she asked.
Qin Yao glanced into the house suspiciously; she thought they were practicing writing but didn’t expect they were writing their names.
Da Lang said somewhat embarrassed: "I told them the names Auntie you gave us."
Qin Yao’s lips curled slightly as she carried Si Niang inside, put the little girl back on the chair, picked up the brush, and wrote down all four names.
Her handwriting wasn’t particularly beautiful but was neat.
"Here, practice according to this, you’ll need it for school later." Qin Yao put the brush down, touched each head, clapped her hands, and went to the kitchen to find something to eat.
The four exchanged glances and smiled, leaning in to look at each other’s names. When Second Lang read the names out loud, each responded heartily, claiming their own name.
A name that belonged exclusively to them, not a number among siblings from some family. Like Jinbao and Jinhua, calling out, you’d know whose name it was.
For breakfast, Da Lang cooked white rice porridge, chopped half a pound of meat into minced meat, and stir-fried it with a big bowl of chopped pickled vegetables to make a side dish.
Qin Yao poured all the minced meat and pickled vegetables into the porridge pot, making it refreshing and appetizing.
She finished the porridge and dish in one go, cleaned up, lit a fire under the pot, and began rendering pig fat.
The fat was cut into small pieces; a layer of oil was brushed into the heated iron pot before all the fat pieces were thrown in, making a sizzling sound and then an enticing aroma burst forth, attracting all four children to rush over, curiously peeking at the kitchen door.
"Mother, what are you shoveling ash for?" Sanlang asked.
Si Niang muttered to herself, "Are you feeding Old Huang again?"
She had seen Qin Yao alkalize rice straw with plant ash before and thought it was the same practice.
Qin Yao shook her head, "I’m making soap today."
"What is soap?" Second Lang asked confusedly, deep breathing the meat aroma wafting from the pot.
It was time for lunch; though breakfast was late and should last until evening, he was already hungry.
Qin Yao replied, "Used for washing clothes and taking baths; you’ll know once it’s made."
Da Lang remembered asking about soap powder at the grocery store yesterday and uncertainly asked: "Auntie, are you making soap powder? Is it the one that’s twenty cents per tael?"
"Almost." Qin Yao nodded, asked Da Lang to find her two basins and some cloth.
Then instructed Second Lang to bring the river clam shells they had collected by the river in summer.
"Sanlang, Si Niang, you go to Liu Huolang’s house and buy three taels of coarse salt for me." Qin Yao placed a half bucket of ash at the kitchen door, went back inside, and fetched Six cents to hand to the Dragon and Phoenix Twins.
The two took the money and ran to Liu Huolang’s house, happy to be involved.
Second Lang quickly brought over half a bag of clam shells, and Qin Yao tossed all the leftover charcoal from last winter into the stove, burning them separately, and poured the shells in for high-temperature heating.
When the pig fat was rendered, the clam shells were also nearly done.
She first scooped out half a jar of pig oil to cool, packed the fried residue into a small bowl, and the mother and four children worked while eating.
The crispy residue, when bitten, crunched mouthfully, leaving a fragrant taste.
Qin Yao moved the stone mortar used for mashing sesame in the kitchen, poured in the roasted clam shells, pounded into a fine powder to reserve.
Then poured the earlier plant ash into a clay pot, added water and boiled, filtered it through layers of cloth, to make lye.
Clam shell powder was stirred into the lye, filtered again, and left under the eaves to precipitate overnight.
The coarse salt they bought back was crushed and ground into powder for use.
The following day, Qin Yao brought out the cooled pig oil, poured the lye into the pig oil, then added the ground coarse salt powder, stirring with a wooden stick to initiate saponification.
The Da Lang siblings watched the liquid gradually become solid and thought Qin Yao was casting spells.
Qin Yao casually gave them a lesson on how the saponification reaction occurs.
But the siblings held strongly: This was definitely a spell!
Not oxide calcium and salt wash nonsense.
The saponified white paste remained soft, so Qin Yao packed it into bamboo tubes and opened it three days later into two white cylindrical bars.
She cut the paste into twelve small pieces with a string, placed them in a flat bamboo basket in the storage room’s ventilated area, to be used for washing clothes and hands after drying for a month.
"It still needs a month..." Si Niang pouted, asking Qin Yao: "Mother, can’t we use it now?"
"Sure, but it’s not any good, like dung paste." Qin Yao hung the basket on the beam, jumped off the stool, waved them out.
"Give it a month, no one is allowed to sneakily take it down," Qin Yao instructed sternly.
Si Niang could only sigh, "Alright then."