"Boss, what are you buying so much soybean oil for?

The two of us can finish eating in a while, and the oil will go bad if it is left for a long time. Let's go back. Seeing that Chi Fei bought a large jar of soybean oil and came back, Zhang Xiao'e was suddenly anxious.

"It's not for food, I'm for another purpose. Don't ask just yet, help me move the other stuff in. ”

Zhang Xiao'e found out that on the mule cart he rented, in addition to the jar of soybean oil, there were many big bags and small bags.

Zhang Xiao'e had no choice but to help him move all the things in the car into the utility room.

After Chi Fei settled the rent of the mule car with the coachman, he said to Zhang Xiao'e, who was full of confusion: "I want to make something out, and I will praise you when it is completed." ”

Do you want to fry things in these soybean oils? The more Zhang Xiao'e listened, the more confused she became.

In the afternoon, Chi Fei didn't even write the manuscript he had to write every day, and hid in the kitchen alone to conduct a soap synthesis experiment.

Although he used to make soap for his grandfather, the raw materials used were all industrially purified, and as long as the proportions and steps were correct, it was natural to get the finished product.

But the ancient raw materials have not been industrially purified, and there are many impurities, so he has to try it himself, and then start making it in large quantities.

First of all, oil, it is best to use lard to make soap, but in ancient times lard was not cheap.

In the case of modern society, lean meat is usually much more expensive than fatty meat. This has prompted some shady merchants to use harmful chemicals such as clenbuterol in pigs to promote the growth of lean pork.

But in ancient times, on the contrary, because meat protein and animal fat were in short supply, fatty meat was far more expensive than lean meat, and only people with shy pockets would buy lean meat.

There are not many ordinary people who can really eat meat every day, and after ordinary people buy fatty meat home, they usually squeeze the oil first, and squeeze out the lard in the fatty meat as much as possible for future stir-frying. In this way, even if you can't eat meat every day, you can at least taste the taste of pork.

Since lard is so expensive, Chi Fei directly gave up using lard and used soybean oil instead.

In order to filter the impurities inside, he also deliberately bought some fine linen cloth back, and then used these linen cloth to filter the soybean oil many times to get a relatively clear finished product.

Next, there is the somewhat dangerous step of synthesizing caustic soda, also known as sodium hydroxide, from hydrated lime and soda ash.

The main component of hydrated lime is calcium hydroxide, which is synthesized with soda ash solution to obtain sodium hydroxide, that is, caustic soda. He had forgotten whether he had taken chemistry in junior high school or high school.

Relying on the vague memory of the experiment, he poured hydrated lime into a small jar, and then added a soda ash solution made of soda ash mixed with water to it, and stirred it continuously with a stick to speed up its reaction while adding it.

After stirring for a while, Chi Fei waited for them to react slowly.

After half an hour, until the white things inside had completely settled, Chi Fei carefully poured out the upper layer of liquid.

If he was not mistaken, the clear liquid would have been sodium hydroxide solution, or caustic soda solution.

In fact, he wasn't sure if these were caustic soda solutions, because when he used to make soap with his grandfather, he used caustic soda blocks bought directly from the market. As long as you put it in water and dissolve it, you can get a caustic soda solution, where is it so troublesome to make your own caustic soda.

But since there is no caustic soda for sale here, and no one even knows what it is, they have to make it themselves.

No matter what, just keep experimenting.

Chi Fei used a newly bought iron pot to slowly heat a small jar of soybean oil. Since there was no thermometer, he could only estimate that the oil temperature should be around fifty degrees, so he used another new small pot to heat the clear liquid of the suspected caustic soda solution to a similar temperature.

He then slowly added an appropriate amount of hot oil to the same heated liquid, stirring with a stick as he could.

After a while, when he saw the soybean oil and the clear liquid gradually mixed into a butter-like stickiness, he suddenly felt a little confident. It's very similar to the semi-finished products he used to see when he used to help his grandfather make soap.

When the mixture was so viscous that it could almost be written, Chi Fei stopped, and then the small jar was placed in a dark place to let it solidify on its own.

In order to increase his proficiency, Chi Fei divided the remaining soybean oil and soda ash into several experiments until all the soda ash was used up. At this time, there is still a small half jar of soybean oil left in the whole jar, which is estimated to be enough for them to eat for more than a month.

After doing all this, Chi Fei noticed that the sun was starting to set, and before he knew it, it was dinner time. So he hurriedly packed up his things, and then asked Zhang Xiao'e to cook.

Next, we have to wait.

It takes more than a month for the freshly made soap to completely solidify and produce a saponification reaction. In other words, it will take a month to know whether it will be successful or not.

Anyway, everything that should be done has already been done, so Chi Fei is too lazy to care, and continues to eat what he should eat, write the manuscript that should be written, and live as usual.

Just a few days after Chi Fei finished the experiment, the end of the month passed, and the second month officially began, and it was almost the day when Juyazhai and Chi Fei split the checkout.

Juyazhai is worthy of being a reputable time-honored brand, and on the second day of the month, the golden shopkeeper took the initiative to come over and check with Chi Fei.

After a bit of noise between the two sides, the golden shopkeeper said with a smile: "Little brother, congratulations, the first and second volumes of your "Xianxia" are selling well, and now they have been printed in the fifth edition.

There is such an amazing sales in such a short period of time, and the old man has been doing this business for so many years, and it is the first time he has seen it, which is really a hero. ”

Chi Fei also said politely: "This is all the result of the full support of the golden shopkeeper and all the colleagues of Juyazhai, Su Zhen does not dare to take credit alone."

Especially the matter of the scholars in the grass hall last time, if it wasn't for the help of the head of your store, how could Su Zhen survive safely.

I have always been very glad that I chose Ju Ya Zhai and the golden shopkeeper to contribute. If it weren't for you, where would Su Zhen be today. Su Zhen took this to heart. ”

The so-called sedan chair carries people, and when he heard Chi Fei's words, even the golden shopkeeper who was used to hearing good words felt very happy.

This means that Chi Fei is not a person who has forgotten his roots, and the two sides will have a lot of opportunities to cooperate in the future.

He himself was also glad that he made the decision to buy the manuscript of "Liang Zhu" at a high price, which led to the long-term cooperation between the two sides.

Now that "Liang Zhu" and "Xianxia" are popular, even he, who is the shopkeeper, has benefited greatly.

Although the salary of the shopkeeper in each branch of Juya Zhai is the same, the bonus is different.

Branches with high turnover will naturally receive a higher bonus at the end of the year than other stores.

Especially for a shopkeeper like him who has brought out a popular author, the bonus is even more incredible.

At the end of the year, the head of the family had privately given him a bonus of 500 taels and told him to keep quiet.

Of course, the golden shopkeeper can't talk nonsense, so that other branch peers can't guess how much bonus he has gotten, and can only watch with great envy the big sales of his popular "Liang Zhu" and "Xianxia".

"Little brother, I have something happy to tell you. Changqingfang, the largest bookstore in Suyuan Mansion in Jiangnan, wants to purchase the first and second volumes of "Liang Zhu" and "Xianxia" from us. 5,000 copies of each, for a total of 15,000 copies. If it sells well, we will continue to purchase in large quantities in the future.

Now we have signed a contract with the comprador of Changqingfang, and the book is in the process of being printed. When they settle the payment, you'll have another income from the next month. ”

"Oh, and such a good thing, thank you so much for being in charge and in charge." Chi Fei hugged his fists.

"Rejoice and rejoice. Little brother, this is last month's account book, you can see if there is any problem. ”

Chi Fei used abacus to quickly go through it, and then turned to the last page to see the total amount.

Three thousand six hundred seventy-two taels.

He received three thousand six hundred and seventy-two taels this month, which was one thousand and twenty taels more than last month.

Although I got a lot of money last time, I didn't have a lot of money, so I used almost all of it to buy the current quadrangle, and after buying it, the total net worth was only more than two hundred taels.

This time there is no need to buy a house, the money is really in his pocket, and Chi Fei is now steady.