After coming down from the mountain, Guan Jichun felt a little dazed.
She helped her younger brothers and sisters change their dirty clothes and soak them in the basin, helped pick vegetables and cook, stopped them from fighting at the dinner table, and helped wash the pots and dishes. Finally, she had her own free time.
Usually at this time she would stay in the kitchen for a while, and would not go into the house until her brothers and sisters who were running around in the living room and yard were sleepy.
She rarely goes out to play unless she is with her younger brothers and sisters. She often stays at home all day, always worried that something will need help.
But today she couldn't stay still. She twisted and turned in the kitchen for a long time, then suddenly ran out, said something to her mother, and ran to the sandbox.
"Chun'er, where are you going? Why is everything so busy?" Wang Hongxia didn't know about making wax and pressing oil from tung oil. She just thought that her eldest daughter was unusually impatient, but then she thought that she was obviously at the age where she should be running around and playing, but she was always confined at home.
Wang Hongxia sighed and thought that she had to go to the nursery.
People should not be so pretentious.
Guan Jichun didn't know what her mother was thinking. She ran to the vicinity of Mu's house and began to hesitate. But before she could hesitate for long, she was discovered by Mu Huaixi in the yard.
"I knew you were coming, come and help!"
Guan Jichun wrung his hands, stood there in confusion for a long time, and finally walked over.
Mu Huaixi looked at her awkward look and laughed in her heart. Before going down the mountain, she found a stick and picked some Chinese tallow trees. Guan Jichun was helping to pick them up at the side. She thought she would just follow her back, but she didn't expect the little girl to be very methodical and went home to help with cooking.
Mu Huaixi couldn't help but sigh, Chun'er is such a good child.
There were two large basins in front of her, one filled with twigs of the Chinese tallow tree and the other filled with water. Guan Jichun took a look and squatted down to help pick the seeds from the branches and put them into the other basin for washing.
The two of them quickly picked all the seeds from the tree. Unlike other fruits, the seeds of the Chinese tallow tree would float on the water along with impurities because of their waxy surface.
"Take your time picking, I'll go boil some water." Seeing that she was just working hard, Mu Huaixi didn't want to tease her anymore, so he quickly took out the small stove and iron pot and boiled water.
As early as the Song Dynasty, people made wax from Tung oil tree seeds. Mu Huaixi used the method passed down by his grandfather. He boiled the seeds in boiling water for a while. When the skin softened, he took them out and rubbed them on a sieve. Soon the white wax was filtered out.
The weather in early spring was still a bit chilly, and the wax immediately solidified into lumps. As Guan Jichun scraped the wax, he uttered his first words since arriving here: "It looks like lard."
"The fruit of the Chinese tallow tree is like a chicken head, and its liquid is like lard. You have the same opinion as the ancients." Seeing that the wax was almost kneaded, Mu Huaixi put the dark brown seeds inside into a stone ladle, smashed them into powder, and threw them back into the iron pot to cook.
Guan Jichun did as she said and put the white wax into a ceramic jar for a second melting and filtering, and finally obtained amber wax liquid.
"Hurry up, pour it here!" Mu Huaixi decided to refine wax and squeeze oil because of Guan Jichun. He didn't prepare any candle molds at all. In a hurry, he took two oranges and rubbed them. After cutting off a piece from the top, he used a golden needle to separate the orange segments and orange peel and took them out, leaving two orange peel cups.
"......" Guan Jichun felt that it was a bit unreliable, but he could not resist her repeated urging and had to pour the wax in.
Mu Huaixi looked at the orange candle and nodded. It seemed quite suitable. When it burned, it would probably have a citrus scent. Suddenly, she slapped her forehead, ran into the house and ran out quickly, and inserted the rush into the orange candle.
Guan Jichun was speechless. She had a doubt in her mind: Is Dr. Mu so reckless when he is working?
Mu Huaixi did this on purpose. Like Chun'er, she liked to be fully prepared before taking action, but she also wanted to tell her that sometimes when opportunities come, what is needed is not preparation, but courage.
"Brave people enjoy the world first." Mu Huaixi really wanted to tell her this, but she also knew that preaching was meaningless to children of this age, so she wanted to take Guan Jichun to experience bravery.
"You can take the candles and oil to Captain Wei's house."
When Mu Huaixi collected the boiled catalpa oil, the orange candle had also solidified. She gave both to Chun'er and asked her to deliver them to Sister Yu.
"I didn't grind the seeds finely enough, so the oil yield from boiling them isn't high, but it does prove that you can extract wax from Chinese tallow trees and make oil. Are you relieved now?"
Guan Jichun did not answer directly, but stared at her for a while, then suddenly picked up two things and left, leaving her with only a dashing back.
Mu Huaixi laughed silently, watching Chun'er walk and then run, with her ponytail flying and swaying behind her, which made her mood better.
She cleaned up the stove in the yard, picked up the remaining small bowl of seed oil and went out. When Ying Mingcheng came back at noon and heard her tell him about this, he asked her to make some seed oil and send him a portion. It was too humid in the deep mountains, and the iron cabinets in the soldiers' dormitories were rusted. It would be great if the seed oil could be moisture-proof.
It’s not that lubricants are too expensive to buy, but that the seed oil you refine yourself is more cost-effective!
The regiment headquarters has a lot of work to do, so we have to save wherever we can. Moreover, if the seed oil can be produced and used by ourselves, then the possibility of building this workshop will be even greater.
She delivered the things to the inner entrance booth, turned around and smelled the fragrance coming from the cafeteria. Before she even got there, she saw Sister Liu Qing standing at the door and greeting her.
"Xiao Mu, come quickly, we have your favorite shepherd's purse and meat buns tonight!"
Mu Huaixi's eyes lit up and she walked briskly. After exchanging a few pleasantries, she was about to go into the cafeteria to wait for the first basket of buns to come out of the oven. Unexpectedly, Sister Liu Qing grabbed her arm and hesitantly asked her, "Xiao Mu, after you buy the buns, can you come to the kitchen to find me? I, I have something I want to ask you."
Mu Huaixi nodded in surprise, took two steps towards the cafeteria, turned back, looked carefully at Sister Liu Qing's back, and caught up with her in two or three steps.
"Sister Liu Qing," she asked in a low voice, "are you pregnant?"
"Can you tell?" Liu Qing's eyes widened, and he placed his hand on his lower abdomen, frowning and saying, "I thought I was fat because I ate too much during the New Year."
"Not that fast. I just think the way you walk is a bit similar."
Sister Liu Qing may not have noticed that she now arched her back a little too much when walking. Perhaps she was aware of her pregnancy, so she subconsciously performed the movements she often did during pregnancy.
Mu Huaixi smiled and took her hand, held it and felt her pulse. Under her nervous gaze, he nodded, "Sister-in-law, you are pregnant. It's been more than a month."
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