Chapter 10 First Signs of Good Fortune 03 I have a feeling she wasn't talking about something...
Before going to the black market, Lin Tingyue made a trip to the supply and marketing cooperative and the department store. The department store was a bit further away, located in the center of the county town.
Do you have palm oil, coconut oil, or olive oil here?
The sales clerk was bewildered by the barrage of questions about oil: "What oil? I've never heard of it..."
"Is there any alkali?"
No, not at all.
"Rubber gloves?"
"It sold out at the beginning of the month."
"...You should have those sunglasses, right?"
"Yes, there is one."
After saying that, the saleswoman turned around and went to the cabinet to take out a dusty one and handed it to her. The design wasn't very nice, but she mainly wanted it for protection when making handmade soap, so she didn't care about its appearance.
Lin Tingyue left as soon as she finished buying, eager to run into the same middleman at the black market.
She rode her bicycle through the streets of the county town, feeling increasingly grateful that she had traded her watch for the bicycle back then; otherwise, she would still be running back and forth on two legs, spending the whole morning on the road.
When she arrived at the alley from last time, there were only a few early-arriving vendors displaying fruits and vegetables. Lin Tingyue glanced around but didn't see the person, so she locked the car to the side, leaned back in the back seat, put on her sunglasses, put her hands in her pockets, and closed her eyes to rest.
Anyone who didn't know better would think she was new to receiving goods.
When Zhou Qichen first arrived, he also thought someone was stealing his business, but when he got closer, he realized that the person and the car looked familiar.
He reached out and took off the sunglasses. "You've changed careers too?"
Lin Tingyue opened her eyes after a while and reached out to take the sunglasses back, but the other person raised their hand high.
She raised an eyebrow. "Stop messing around. I'm asking you to buy something."
Zhou Qichen then returned it to her, instinctively reaching into his pocket to take out a cigarette and light it, but then stopped himself. "What do you want to buy this time?"
"Coketrium is sodium hydroxide, which is used to make soap."
"You want to make soap? There are plenty of soaps and bar soaps sold in stores."
"It's not as good as what I make myself."
Zhou Qichen was skeptical, but he nodded and said, "How much do you want? If you're not in a hurry, you can wander around the city first, and I'll bring it to you before lunch."
"I'll go with you to get it, otherwise you'll have to run back again." As she spoke, she unlocked the car and was about to step onto the seat when the other person stopped her.
"I'll ride it, you don't know the way."
Lin Tingyue had never been given a ride on a bicycle before; she was always the one giving others rides. She was still a little unaccustomed to it, and sitting sideways on the back, she didn't know where to put her hands, so she ended up just grabbing the seat.
Fortunately, the man rode his bike smoothly, and the road was not bumpy. About twenty minutes later, the man parked his bike under the shade of a tree by the roadside.
"You wait here."
The original owner of this body had never been to this area, so naturally this map was not in her memory. There weren't many people around, but there were quite a few bungalows with similar styles.
Lin Tingyue waited for half an hour before she finally saw Zhou Qichen again. He was carrying a net bag, and when he got closer, she could see that there was a pair of rubber gloves and a paper bag of alkali inside.
"You managed to get your hands on these gloves? How much did they cost?"
"Just pay for the gloves, two yuan is fine."
Lin Tingyue didn't ask any more questions. After she gave him the money, the man continued, "You can just go back. Also, think twice if anyone offers to take you away in the future. What if I'm a human trafficker?"
She thought that if it were a human trafficker, the other party would probably be able to run faster than her, but there was no need to explain so much to Zhou Qichen. She replied from a different angle: "Human traffickers are not as handsome as you."
Perhaps he was used to hearing others praise his appearance like that, Zhou Qichen neither took pride nor refuted it, but waved his hand with a slight look of disdain, "Let's go quickly."
So Lin Tingyue rode back along the same route she had come from. When she reached a familiar road, she went to the state-run restaurant and bought a few meat buns to take away.
Back in the village, it was still early, so she put her things down and went up the mountain again. Yesterday, because she encountered a wild boar, she hadn't had time to check the trap, and she couldn't be sure if the prey inside had already been caught and eaten by wild animals in the mountains.
Perhaps her lucky charm was working again, because she saw that the branches and leaves covering the pit had opened up. After moving them all away, she found a hole made horizontally near the bottom of the pit. Upon closer inspection, she discovered a nest of rabbits inside, which were probably born after the pregnant wild rabbit fell in.
The pit was only thirty or forty centimeters deep, and it had a slope, so the mother rabbit could jump out on her own. There was no need to worry about her starving or dying of thirst inside. Lin Tingyue cut some wild grass that rabbits like to eat and put it in. Finally, she restored the branches and leaves at the top of the pit.
After that, she picked another half basket of mugwort and went down the mountain to go home.
When she returned, she could already see wisps of smoke rising from the chimneys. Lin Tingyue didn't rush to the kitchen; instead, she found a few basins and buckets that were piled together and not needed for the time being, and took them to ask Yu Xingzhou if he still needed them.
"These haven't been used in a long time, feel free to use them," Yu Xingzhou said while chopping vegetables. "Have you bought everything?"
"I guess so. I'll figure out how to do it this afternoon."
"I don't have to go to school this afternoon, let's do it together."
Lin Tingyue's eyes lit up. "Great! Have you finished the preparations at your school?"
"Yes, school officially starts next Monday."
Based on this calculation, Yu Xingzhou could rest at home for two more days, and she couldn't be happier to have someone help her.
So the two of them had lunch and rested briefly before starting.
Yu Xingzhou went to heat the lard rendered from yesterday, while Lin Tingyue, wearing protective gear, slowly added alkali to a bucket that had been pre-filled with cold water, stirring until dissolved, and then waited for it to cool down.
At this moment, Yu Xingzhou also poured the heated oil into a basin and took it out, placing it in an open space to wait for the temperature to drop.
Due to limited equipment, the two could only judge the temperature drop by feeling the heat rising from above, and then pour the alkaline solution into the lard and stir. Maintaining the temperature during saponification was also necessary, so a stand was set up below, with a burning candle underneath.
Once saponification is complete, pour it into an unused wooden box and wait two or three days before unmolding.
During this time, I also boiled a pot of mugwort juice, let it cool, and added it to the alkali instead of cold water. So in the end, I made two kinds of handmade soaps and placed them in a cool place to wait for them to be unmolded.
However, the handmade soap that came out of the mold a few days later was not quite satisfactory; at least it did not meet Lin Tingyue's requirements.
They make soap using the hot process method, which has the advantage of not having to wait for at least a month of curing time, and it can be used immediately after unmolding. Also, when it is not possible to monitor the temperature in real time, the hot process method has a relatively higher tolerance for error.
However, its disadvantages are also obvious: the texture is rough and it is not as gentle as cold-process soap.
Fortunately, I didn't dare to use too much material when making these two soaps. If I had used this amount, there would have been enough left to make at least ten more soaps.
So during this period, she would rush home to make handmade soap as soon as she finished work. She failed twice because she couldn't control the temperature difference between the alkaline water and the oil. Fortunately, she finally mastered the temperature control. Later, she brought back a small bucket of goat milk to make goat milk soap. The appearance after unmolding was also very good. She just has to wait a month for it to mature and see the effect of use.
Seeing how hard she had been working these past few days, Yu Xingzhou put a lot of effort into her meals, trying to make sure that each of her three meals a day was different and that she always included some meat.
For example, Lin Tingyue's breakfast order this morning required a pot of minced meat sauce, chopped hard-boiled eggs with scallions and cilantro, a little meat sauce, and a bowl of noodles.
The leftover minced meat sauce will be used to make minced meat and winter melon soup for lunch, along with stir-fried green peppers and eggs. The main dish will be mixed grain rice.
Moreover, at Lin Tingyue's strong suggestion, Yu Xingzhou is now willing to use more oil when cooking, and the dishes he stir-fries are so fragrant that Zhang Daqing, who was passing by the Yu family, couldn't help but drool from the smell.
"Xiao Zhou, what delicious food are you making at home?" Zhang Daqing couldn't help but call out from outside the door.
Yu Xingzhou knew that they should have finished work by now, so he wiped his hands and went to open the front door.
"Brother Daqing."
"I'm not saying this to be mean, but you guys eat way too well every day. I can smell the meat from the morning!"
These days, supplies are scarce, and everyone has to wait until the New Year to have a good meal. Since they don't celebrate the New Year or any other holidays, it's really tempting.
"I'm sorry, Brother Daqing." Yu Xingzhou could only smile.
"It's nothing, I was just chatting with you. To be honest, I really didn't expect your city wife to be so capable. We all thought she was just showing off, but it turns out she's just as good at housework as any man!"
"Really?" Actually, Yu Xingzhou was also worried that she wouldn't be able to do these heavy jobs.
"How could it be fake? Alright, I won't keep you cooking any longer, I'm leaving!"
No sooner had Zhang Daqing left than Lin Tingyue returned.
We'll be busy harvesting spring wheat in late June, and we need to finish before the rainy season, so my activity level has increased a lot these days. I walk home from work a little slower than before.
Yu Xingzhou saw the woman and hurriedly went out to greet her. Just as his hand was about to touch her, she flinched, and he was stunned.
"I'm covered in dirt and sweat," Lin Tingyue explained, afraid he might misunderstand.
"I'll wash my hands later." Yu Xingzhou still held her arm and slowly walked back.
"I want to wipe myself down a bit before eating." Lin Tingyue had to continue working in the afternoon, so she planned to wipe herself down with a towel first and then take a shower when she got back in the evening.
"Sit down and rest, I'll go boil some water for you."
Yu Xingzhou suddenly regretted that he had gone to teach at the school while leaving his wife to do farm work under the scorching sun.
"I'll go find the brigade leader and give you the school teacher's job instead. I'll go work in the fields."
"No need, my body just hasn't adjusted to this intensity yet." Lin Tingyue quickly dried herself off and came out of the bathroom, smiling at the man. "If you care about me, how about giving me a massage tonight?"
"How...how do you massage..." Yu Xingzhou looked at that smile and felt that she wasn't talking about a proper massage.
"I just need to relax my muscles, otherwise I'll be sore all over tomorrow."
"Okay...then you can teach me tonight."
As the stars gradually peeked out from behind the clouds, Lin Tingyue slowly emerged from the bathroom, still wearing her nightgown.
Her hair was thick but short, and it was wet and dripping with water. She was wringing her hair with a towel as she walked into the bedroom when she bumped into the man.
The nightgown was already thin, and she wasn't wearing a bra underneath. When Yu Xingzhou hugged her, he could feel her soft chest and smell her fragrance.
Yu Xingzhou's mind involuntarily began to replay the inappropriate scenes from that night, and his body froze instantly, his ears turning red.
Lin Tingyue happened to look up at him and, seeing his flustered appearance, realized what was going on.
It's also because the original owner had such a well-developed figure, with a prominent bust and buttocks, which she herself liked.
"My hair isn't dry yet, I'll hug you later."
After Lin Tingyue finished speaking, Yu Xingzhou seemed to wake from a dream and let go of her hand, stammering as he explained, "I...I didn't mean to..."
"Go wash up quickly, I'll give you a massage when you get back."
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