In this era, electricity was not developed, and everyone went to bed early at night.

It's already past eight o'clock in the evening, nearly nine o'clock, and it is estimated that the boss has gone home to sleep.

Zhu Xiaohua walked around the neighborhood and shouted a few times upstairs, but no one responded.

Zhu Xiaohua had only met the boss once, and he didn't know where the other party lived, so he had to give up.

He went back to the photo studio and went to the darkroom.

Xiao Ding and Tang Yimin were sitting in the corridor on the second floor, their eyelids already fighting. Xiao Ding sat on the chair, his hand on his chin, drowsy, and almost fell down several times. Every time I leaned over and was about to fall, I hurriedly came back to my senses and sat up straight again.

Zhu Xiaohua smiled, walked around them, returned to the dark room inside, and closed the door.

He looked at the three boxes of film negatives on the table, and then at the time, which was still twelve hours before dawn. In the past, at this time, the photos of these films had already been printed out and hung in the darkroom of the scenic spot to dry.

Today, they are just negatives.

Zhu Xiaohua decided to use the stupidest method to test little by little to find the best ratio of fixer.

He first found 10 bottles, mixed the fixing powder and water in a ratio of 1:1 to 1:9, and labeled each bottle.

Then dip the test paper that has been exposed for about 10 seconds into each of the ten bottles, complete the rinsing process, and find the bottles with the best effect.

Ten sheets of test paper, soaked twice through the fixer, once for two minutes and one minute at a time. Finally, it was put into a pool of clean water to stop the chemical reaction, and the effect was revealed.

Ten test papers, the image on the first test paper appears hard and dry, and the image on the tenth test paper appears soft but blurry, with long hairs around the outline.

On the second to ninth test papers, the image display is somewhere in between, with stiffness to softness, and contours from clear to blurry.

These two diametrically opposed phenomena eventually find the perfect balance on the fifth and sixth cards.

The photographs on the fifth and sixth are clearly defined and the details of the images are soft, neither as stiff as the first nor as blurry as the tenth.

Zhu Xiaohua felt that he was close to the truth.

This ratio should be between 1:5 and 1:6.

He wrote down the proportions on a piece of paper, then cleaned the ten bottles and divided them into ten equal portions again.

This time, he refined the mixing ratio, and mixed the fixer powder and water according to the ratio of 1:5.1, 1:5.2 to 1:6.0, and tested it again.

Looking at the bottles and cans in the whole room, Zhu Xiaohua seemed to be back in the laboratory of his high school days for a moment.

The test results came out quickly, and out of ten test sheets, the first photo was relatively hard, and the tenth photo was relatively soft and soft. The third and fourth photos are moderately soft and hard, basically unchanged, exactly the same.

Further on, the fifth and sixth photos are on the soft side.

After comparison, Zhu Xiaohua finally locked his eyes on the third and fourth photos.

In these two photos, the ratio of fixer powder to water is 1:1.53 and 1:1.54

Zhu Xiaohua wrote down this number on paper.

He let out a long sigh of relief, finally having a clear answer in his mind. This time he was very sure that he could develop the photos in one go.

After finishing this, Zhu Xiaohua stretched his waist and decided to go outside to breathe.

He pushed open the door and went outside, where it was midnight. Through the living room window, you can see the starlight outside.

Xiao Ding and Tang Yimin heard the sound of pushing the door and came to their senses.

Xiao Ding stood up, rubbed his loose eyes, and asked, "Brother Zhu, when did you come back?" Can the photos be washed? ”

Zhu Xiaohua said confidently: "It's okay to wash, you and Xiao Tang, prepare to dry the photos." ”

Tang Yimin also walked into the house and said to himself: "It's strange, why didn't Brother Zhu move at all when he came back." We didn't guard the door. ”

Zhu Xiaohua smiled and said, "When I came back, you two were dozing off. ”

Zhu Xiaohua didn't blame the two of them, after all, this was the first time they had stayed up so long at night.

For the two of them, who have long been accustomed to working at sunrise and resting at sunset, when they meet Zhu Xiaohua, who often stays up late and works overtime after 30 years, they can only raise their hands and surrender, and they still want to guard the door, but there is no way.

Tang Yimin rubbed his face, came to his senses, and began to hang clips on the drying rope. Xiao Ding also moved the tables and chairs in the room to make enough open space.

Zhu Xiaohua took a breath of fresh air and drilled into the dark room in the middle of the well.

He emptied the two sinks where the fixer was placed and remixed it at a ratio of 1:5.3. Put the film under the magnifier, take the same photo paper and start developing the photo.

Start by exposing for ten seconds.

Next, put the 6-inch photographic paper into the developer solution. The developed photographs are clear.

Then lower it down in the second sink to stop the developing reaction.

Wait a few seconds, then place in the fixer pool and let it sit for two minutes.

Place in a second pool of fuser and let it sit for one minute.

Finally, put it in a pool of clear water.

Clear photographs appear on the photographic paper, with images of people, faces, and even strands of hair clearly recognizable.

Zhu Xiaohua used a clip to take the first photo to the living room outside. Xiao Ding, who was waiting at the door, took the photo and clamped it under the rope.

The living room was empty, with windows to the north and doors to the south, and air on all sides.

Two ropes hung in the center of the living room. After Xiao Ding clamped the photo to the string, Tang Yimin quickly clamped two more clips in the lower corner of the photo.

At this moment, the picture immediately hangs.

Zhu Xiaohua was very satisfied, this method was learned by him from the dark room of the scenic spot, and now he taught it to Xiao Tang and Xiao Ding.

He only told them once before entering the darkroom, but he didn't expect the two of them to keep it in their hearts, and the operation was not bad at all.

Xiao Ding looked at the image on the photo and said: "This photo is so clear, with clear outlines and soft colors, how can it feel better than the effect printed in the scenic spot." ”

Tang Yimin also leaned over to watch, and when this one was washed out, it was the art photo of Bai Suzhen, and they had seen it countless times.

See you at this time, I just feel a little better than the previous color effect.

Zhu Xiaohua also hopes that the effect of his own hand-blending is better than that of the scenic spot, but it is still uncertain.

Zhu Xiaohua said: "Now the photo is wet, whether the effect is good or not, we have to wait until it is dry." ”

He worries that the color of the photo will change after drying.

Therefore, just because the print is good doesn't mean that the final photo shows a good result.

Xiao Ding found a towel, wiped all the dusty parts of the room, and said, "If there is any deficiency in a makeshift darkroom like ours, it is dust." ”

Zhu Xiaohua nodded, and while they were busy, he turned around and entered the house.