Early the next morning, Zhao Xin first went to the wine shop next door to ask for a day off, and then went to the state city with Zhao Yan.

The father and son bought eight catties of alkali stone, one and a half catties of coarse salt and eight catties of limestone sold by the official seller in turn, and then came to the oil mill to buy soybean oil, but the manager of the oil mill saw that Zhao Yan and his son only needed four catties of soybean oil, and they refused to reduce the price of life or death, so in desperation, the father and son had to spend one hundred and twenty yuan to buy four catties of soybean oil, and agreed with the steward that if he bought soybean oil here for a long time in the future, one pound of soybean oil could be discounted to twenty-five yuan.

At the end of the day, at the beginning of the afternoon, the father and son returned to the courtyard next door to the winery with large bags and small bags of purchased materials.

"Second son, why are you here?" Zhao Xin looked at Wang Lin and asked in surprise.

Wang Lin stood up, looked at the big bags and small bags in the hands of the father and son, and then replied: "Master, I came to play with my senior brother, but I didn't find anyone when I came." I want to ask you to teach martial arts, who knows that the people in the wine shop said that you have something to do today and have a day off, and I have nowhere to go, so I will count ants here to play. ”

Zhao Xin has corrected Wang Lin's title many times, but it doesn't seem to have any effect, and Zhao Xin is too lazy to correct it now.

"Senior brother, what are you buying here? I'll help you with that. Wang Lin came over curiously, and was about to take over the two oil gourds in Zhao Yan's hands.

Four catties of soybean oil is not sinking, Zhao Yan is very easy to carry it, seeing Wang Lin stretched out his hand to take it, Zhao Yan was afraid that he would break the oil gourd with numb hands and feet, so he hurriedly took two steps back and shouted: "You don't need to mention it, you should stay where it is cool." ”

When the words fell, before Wang Lin could speak, Zhao Xin had already said loudly: "Xiaolang, how can you talk to the second son?" The second son is the heir of the owner, that is the young owner, you can't bully him with your cleverness. ”

Zhao Yan complained in a low voice when he heard this: "Even if it is a young owner, it is also your young owner, I am not a long-term worker of their family......"

Wang Lin didn't care about this, he was more curious about what Zhao Yan and his son bought, and seeing that Zhao Yan didn't mention the gourd in his hand, he turned his gaze to the several heavy paper bags that Zhao Xin was carrying.

With the help of Wang Lin's 'enthusiasm', Zhao Yan and his son finally took the things into the house, and after opening a few paper bags one by one, Wang Lin couldn't help but be disappointed, isn't this the thing he accompanied his senior brother to see yesterday?

There was a simple pot stove in this single room assigned to Zhao Xin, Zhao Yan pulled the cheap father to the pot stove, glanced at Wang Lin, who was holding alkali stone and limestone to compare with each other, and then asked Zhao Xin in a low voice: "Dad, what is the reputation of that king, have you done anything to bully the market?" ”

Zhao Xin replied inexplicably: "The owner has a good reputation, and over the years, he has often built bridges and paved roads, relieved orphans and widows, and treated the people below very well. Xiaolang, what are you asking for? ”

Zhao Yan only had an idea after seeing Wang Lin, if this soap can be made, it can only be regarded as a small fight if it is sold by his father and son, and if this soap is famous, into the eyes of some people, and he is forced to hand over the soap formula himself, then will he pay it or not? After all, this is a feudal society with an imperfect legal system, and it is the rule of man rather than the rule of law, so if ordinary people want to develop, it is best to learn to take advantage of the situation.

Zhao Yan wanted to borrow the momentum of Wang Lin's father Wang Dahu, if there is a part of Wang Dahu in this soap business, if there is any problem at that time, it will naturally be solved by Wang Dahu, and the Wang family has a big business, with Wang Dahu taking the lead, this soap must be better than his father and son, even if he shares it with the Wang family, he will definitely make more money than his father and son alone, so Zhao Yan wants to understand the temperament of this Wang Dahu, if this Wang Dahu has a bad reputation, then Zhao Yan will naturally avoid intersecting with him, When making soap, Wang Lin will also be avoided as much as possible, so as not to be known by Wang Dahu.

Zhao Yan is still willing to believe the words of the cheap dad, since Wang Lin's father has a good reputation, there is no need to drive Wang Lin away, and making soap will inevitably have some physical work.

Hearing that Zhao Yan wanted to help him do something, Wang Lin, who was worried about having nothing to do, agreed, and then was assigned by Zhao Yan to grind alkali stone and limestone into powder, seeing that he was doing it happily, he seemed to be quite satisfied with this job.

Zhao Yan told Zhao Xin about his whim, for being able to cooperate with a 'big man' like Wang Ye Wang Yuanwai, Zhao Xin was terrified and longing, but Zhao Xin was still a little unacceptable to Zhao Yan to use Wang Lin as a strong laborer, but seeing Wang Lin's cheerfulness, he didn't say anything, but turned around to find the container that Zhao Yan needed.

When everything was ready, Zhao Yan first put the ground lime powder into a large wooden barrel, and then poured several buckets of well water into it.

Zhao Yan's chemistry was taught by the physical education teacher, and he didn't study it hard at all, but fortunately, he still remembered the soap practice recorded in the later articles, and after the quicklime and water fully reacted, he saw a tumbling in the barrel, and the quicklime and water produced a calcium hydroxide solution, that is, hydrated lime, and a large amount of heat was released during the reaction, and the solution in the barrel was heated.

Seeing that it was almost, Zhao Yan poured the ground alkali noodles into it one by one, the alkali content in the trona stone was not less than fifty percent, at this time, the alkali noodles were put into the wooden barrel, and then after stirring, the liquid in the bucket was boiling endlessly like boiling water, and the water vapor rose up, and the whole room was shrouded in a thick of clouds in a moment, and then looked at the solution in the barrel, it was already a lot less.

Zhao Yan added two more buckets of water to the wooden barrel, and the solution in it was born, and the next thing was to wait patiently.

After a quarter of an hour, the original turbid solution in the barrel was already distinct, and the liquid floating on it was caustic soda, which was what Zhao Yan was trying to get, and the one that sank to the bottom of the water was calcium carbonate, which was useless to Zhao Yan at this time.

The caustic soda obtained at this time is liquid caustic soda, and if you want to get solid caustic soda, you need to go through steps such as clarification, filtration, evaporation and concentration, but liquid caustic soda is enough, so Zhao Yan just filtered it slightly, and then put the caustic solution into a large iron pot, and then put it on the stove to start heating.

In the process of heating, Zhao Yan slowly poured the soybean oil into the pot, stirred it with a stick, and the caustic soda and the grease continued to saponify at high temperatures, and the grease gradually disappeared, and a thick layer of viscous liquid was born in the pot, which was the preliminary soap.

After the reaction between the domestic lye solution and the oil is complete, it is time to start salting out. Salting out is to separate the sewage from impurities in the soap, and the method is also very simple, Zhao Yan directly poured the official coarse salt into the iron pot, and then kept stirring until the soap and water were completely separated, commonly known as 'water separation'.

After 'dividing the water', Zhao Yan stopped stirring, took the lid and put it on the iron pot, and sat quietly and waited.

"Xiaolang, how is it?" Zhao Xin asked a little nervously.

Wang Lin had been itching for a long time when he watched Zhao Yan, and finally saw Zhao Yan stop, and he was busy asking, "Senior brother, what are you and the master doing mysteriously today?" ”

Zhao Yan wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said weakly: "Wait another hour to know, let me rest for a while." ”

Wang Lin saw that Zhao Yan didn't tell him, so he turned his head to look at Zhao Xin, and was about to open his mouth to ask, but Zhao Xin had already said: "Second son, I can't tell you clearly, let's wait another hour, and we'll know when the time comes." ”

Wang Lin was blocked back, so he had to squat helplessly on the ground to draw circles, occasionally he would look up at the sun outside the door, looking forward to today's time passing sooner.

About an hour later, Zhao Yan got up and opened the lid of the iron pot, and saw that the viscous liquid inside had solidified slightly, and the appearance was milky yellow.

It worked! Zhao Yan was quite excited in his heart, but he had to wait until it was completely solidified to try the effect.

Zhao Xin had already prepared a square wooden box, Zhao Yan put the semi-solidified soap into the wooden box, then compacted it, and put it at the door to dry for a while, the soap in the wooden box had already dried, and the soap as a whole showed a translucent dark yellow.

After Zhao Yan's confirmation, Zhao Xin took a piece of iron and cut the soap in the box into roughly forty equal parts, one of which weighed about two taels, equivalent to about 100 grams in later generations.

Zhao Yan picked up a piece of soap and pinched it with his hand, and found that it was a little soft, this should be a problem of grease, if you use lard and mutton fat to make soap, it will not be so soft, but this is a small problem, even if the soap made is a little soft, it is much harder than the soap ball sold in the store, and a piece of soap and soap ball of the same size, the soap will definitely last longer than the soft soap ball.

The next thing is to test the effect of the soap, Zhao Yan found a dirty linen cloth, first put it in the water and washed it, the dirty things on the linen cloth could not be washed off at all, and then he rubbed the soap on the linen, and then rubbed it a few times, the surface of the linen cloth was covered with foam, and after a few dips in the water, the linen cloth was taken out again, and the dirty things on it were much less, and the original dirty linen cloth also revealed its original color.

Seeing this, Wang Lin suddenly said with a sense of realization: "Senior brother, it turns out that you are making soap balls, but how is the soap ball you made different from the soap balls sold by others, the color looks the same as, it is too ugly." ”

Zhao Yan's face turned black when he heard this, and he picked up two pieces of soap and threw them at Wang Lin, but Wang Lin caught them casually, Zhao Yan immediately pouted and said, "Don't care if it's good-looking or not, just use it." These two pieces of soap are given to you, one for your own use, and one for your father, which is definitely better than the soap balls and honey locusts sold outside, and some of the old dirt on the body can be washed off after scrubbing a few times, not to mention that it is very cheap, absolutely good quality and low price. Remember, be sure to give your dad a piece. ”