medicated soap
Outside the city of Linzhou, in Little Bull's courtyard, the hustle and bustle of the city is kept at bay.
Chen Yan sank himself into the large, comfortable solid wood armchair.
The piles of ledgers, letters, and drawings on his desk almost overwhelmed him.
He closed his eyes, his thumb rubbing his throbbing temples hard, a result of days of running around and exhausting himself.
A lingering weariness appeared on his usually radiant and energetic face.
“Master, a message from the Qingzhou branch of the ward via carrier pigeon.”
Old Yang walked in silently and gently placed a small copper tube on the mountain of piles on the table, his movements as light as a feather falling to the ground.
This true pillar of the Shen family, with a few more strands of white frost at his temples, still had a sharp and steady gaze.
Shen Yan opened his eyes, glanced at Old Yang's severed arm, and hummed a muffled syllable through his nose, "Uncle Yang, take care and rest, don't overwork yourself!"
Yang Sijian smiled and said, "It's alright, Xing'er and Chen'er are both filial children."
"And your two boys, what are their names?" Shen Yan suddenly perked up.
"Two clever children, with big, bright eyes like stars, I decided to name them Shen Xing and Shen Chen."
"Great name!"
Shen Yan shook off her fatigue, "You and Old Zhou have been staying with me these past few days. Bring them over; a nanny can't take as much care of them as you can yourself."
Yang Sijian smiled and nodded in agreement, then continued his report.
"The second batch of medicinal herbs transported by waterway from Hongzhou was all stored in the warehouse by noon today. Wenqing personally supervised the inspection, and the quantity and quality match up."
"In addition, Master Zhou... cough, Lord Zhou has sent word that the funds for cotton-padded clothing and bedding for this year's autumn defense have been fully allocated to Jinyun Manor's account. Prefect Chen... is pressing hard, and Manager Su is under considerable pressure."
Upon hearing the words "Master Zhou," Shen Yan's tightly closed eyelids twitched slightly.
That Mr. Zhou who once tried to make a move on Su Wan!
Now, Chen Qinian has a handle on him and has forced him into the position of granary clerk in Linzhou Prefecture.
He became an "insider" of the Shen family workshop within the government office, though unwillingly so.
This move by Shen Yan was not exactly honorable, but it was extremely effective.
"knew."
Shen Yan stood up, her peach blossom eyes bloodshot, but she was not sleepy at all.
"Tell Su Wan that the workshop should prioritize the government's orders. The cotton fabric should be thick and the stitches should be dense, so that Chen Qinian doesn't find any fault with it."
He paused, his fingertips tapping unconsciously on the table.
"At Yunshangji, this is the first time Susu has managed such a large shop on her own. Please ask Aunt Yang to take good care of her. As girls grow up, they become more shy and may be too embarrassed to bother me if something happens."
"Yes, I understand."
Yang Sijian nodded. Now he had bought a house in the prefectural city and finally brought his wife, who had been living in seclusion in his hometown, over.
At least I still have a relative in this world.
Seeing the deep weariness between Shen Yan's brows, he finally couldn't help but whisper words of comfort.
“Master, you should take a break. You didn’t get home until after 1 AM last night, and you went to the workshop before dawn this morning. Even an iron body can’t take it…”
Shen Yan waved her hand, interrupting him, a slightly tired smile appearing on her lips.
“Slow down? Uncle Yang, our business is in a precarious situation, we can’t afford to slow down even for a moment.”
He picked up the copper tube from Qingzhou, skillfully unscrewed it, and pulled out a thinly rolled piece of paper. His gaze quickly swept over it; it was a report from the Qingzhou branch manager on the successful start of production of a new batch of medicinal soap and the stable supply from local pharmacists.
"medicated soap……"
Chen You's weary gaze lingered on the words "medicated soap" for a moment, his weariness seemingly dispelled by something, a strange light flashing in his eyes. He put down the note, leaned forward slightly, tapping the table with his fingertips, his tone carrying an almost childlike stubbornness and excitement: "Uncle Yang, about that thing I mentioned last time, about opening several large 'bathhouses' in Linzhou City, using our Chenji specially supplied medicated soap, with running water, separate for men and women, for a clean bath and back scrub—how are the blueprints and budgets coming along at the workshop?"
A rare, extremely complex expression flashed across Uncle Yang's usually placid face.
A mixture of helplessness, worry, and a hint of barely perceptible... embarrassment.
He cleared his throat, his voice even lower than before.
"Boss... there's a lot of resistance to this. The workshop has revised the drawings several times according to your requirements, and the budget has been prepared. However..."
"Just what?"
Shen Yan raised an eyebrow, his stubborn streak returning.
“There are many wealthy families in Linzhou, but look at those so-called respectable people, there are plenty who don’t bathe for ten days or half a month! The smell on their bodies… tsk! Isn’t our medicated soap better? It repels insects and filth, refreshes the mind, and has a faint medicinal fragrance. Opening a bathhouse so that everyone can take a comfortable and clean bath is a great deed that accumulates merit and does good deeds! It’s much more practical than their donations of incense money!”
He became more and more excited as he spoke, as if he could already see the bustling scene of people in the steaming, fragrant bathhouse.
"Well, boss, that's the way it is."
Uncle Yang sighed and spoke earnestly.
"But those old Confucian scholars insist that men and women sharing a room, even in separate rooms, is still immoral! Their spittle could drown a person. And those old-established bathhouses in the city, their business is already slow. If your 'Chenji Bathhouse' really opens, using our top-quality medicated soap, running water, and a bright and impressive place, wouldn't they have to close down immediately? They've been spreading rumors behind our backs, saying... saying we're trying to invade people's privacy and have ulterior motives!"
"fart!"
Enraged, Shen Yan slammed his hand on the table, causing the wolf-hair brush on the brush holder to bounce a few times.
"Screw peeping! I've got plenty of ways to make money, why would I need to open a bathhouse to peep? Those old fogies, covered in years of grime themselves, complain that others' bathing isn't respectable? And those in the same industry, they're not ambitious themselves, yet they blame others for having better products? I'm going to open one! Not only will I open one, but I'll make it beautiful, so that everyone in Linzhou will love bathing!"
He was like a sulking child, his neck stiff, his peach blossom eyes burning with two flames of defiance.
Uncle Yang found it both funny and heartbreaking to see his employer being so "willful" in this rare way.
Knowing that further persuasion would be useless, he could only shake his head inwardly.
He was trying to figure out how to find a safe balance between his employer's "ingenious idea" and the overwhelming opposition.
Shen Yan's grand plan for a bathhouse was temporarily shelved due to numerous obstacles. Frustrated and unwilling to give up, he finally decided to build a bathhouse that was not open to the public and only served his own people, especially the Shen family's employees, who were given half a day off to bathe every seven days.
Make sure you all go out clean and presentable.
Another production line at Chenji Workshop, bustling day and night, produces medicated soap, which acts like a silent guardian.
It quietly reveals its astonishing power over a wider area.
Medicated soap workshop.
It was a branch of Chenji Workshop in Linzhou, a relatively independent and heavily guarded huge workshop.
The air was filled with a strong yet not pungent aroma of compound herbs—artemisia, atractylodes, mint, honeysuckle, and more.
There was also the antibacterial knowledge Ling Zhan gave him, and several antibacterial medicinal herbs that Shen Yan found and improved upon in ancient books.
A huge copper pot sits atop a raging fire, inside which churns and swirls a sticky, beeswax-like soap base.
Workers wearing uniform indigo work clothes and with their mouths and noses covered by fine cotton masks.
Busy yet orderly amidst the rising steam.
Someone carefully poured the precisely mixed medicinal powder into the boiling soap solution.
Stir vigorously with a huge wooden paddle, allowing the medicine to penetrate evenly.
Some people poured the hot boiled medicated soap liquid into rows of neat wooden molds.
Once it has cooled and set slightly, specialized workers will remove it and place it in a well-ventilated area to air dry.
Finally, there was the "click-clack" sound of cutting soap.
The sharp blade fell, cutting the large piece of soap into uniform, square, and warm-colored medicated soap blocks.
Each bar of soap is clearly embossed with the "Chenji" logo and a small gourd pattern.
These unassuming cubes, through the increasingly sophisticated trade network established by the Shen family, quickly spread to all directions.
The first to feel its power was the Linzhou government office.
A sudden and fierce epidemic, which struck between summer and autumn, quietly shrouded several counties and towns around Linzhou like a dark cloud.
At first, there were only sporadic cases of diarrhea and high fever, but it quickly began to spread.
The government physician was in a state of panic, and Chen Qinian was so anxious that he developed blisters on his lips.
Just as people were filled with anxiety, an urgent official document, along with several large truckloads of Shenji soap, was delivered to the county government office where the epidemic had just begun.
The official document was carefully worded and issued in the name of Shenji Workshop, which naturally reflects the tacit understanding between Chen Qinian and Shen Yan. It advised the people in the epidemic area, as well as the yamen runners and doctors involved in prevention and control, to wash their hands and bathe frequently, and strongly recommended the use of this batch of donated Shenji medicated soap.
"Using medicine to cleanse the filth may prevent the spread of disease."
The document also included a simple instruction manual.
Initially, the villagers, accustomed to traditional methods, and the exhausted yamen runners were quite dismissive of this "expensive and time-consuming" soap.
Until a seasoned old physician.
With a try-it-and-see attitude, it was mandated that all medical staff who came into contact with patients must wash their hands repeatedly with this soap.
They also wiped the doors, windows, and floors of the patient's residence with soapy water daily. A miraculous effect occurred—
None of the medical apprentices who strictly followed this method were infected, while the first few menial workers who were dealt with carelessly collapsed one after another!
The news spread like wildfire.
Fear finally overcame inertia.
People in the epidemic area began to scramble for medicated soap, and clean water became precious. The faint fragrance of medicated soap filled every household.
When the epidemic was finally brought under control and did not escalate into a major disaster that swept through the entire prefecture, everyone in the Linzhou government, including Chen Qinian himself, breathed a long sigh of relief.
In his report to the court, Chen Qinian did not explicitly mention Shen Ji's contributions, but rather briefly mentioned that "local gentry actively donated effective medicines for epidemic prevention, which played an indispensable role in curbing the spread of the disease." Those who were paying attention would naturally understand the implication.
When the news reached Qingzhou, Hongzhou, and other areas covered by Shenji Medicine Soap, local officials took action.
Even though there was no local epidemic, people began to place large orders for medicated soap from Shen Ji, which was then distributed to government offices, post stations, prisons, and even military outposts.
In no time, "Chenji Medicated Soap" became famous.
What started as epidemic prevention supplies has subtly become a symbol of "respectability" and "emphasis on hygiene" for government offices.
Orders poured into the Linzhou workshop like snowflakes.
------
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
